You may have heard someone say that there are three types of falsehoods: lies, darn lies, and statistics. Despite the imputation, statistics can be very compelling. Adding a statistic to your argument […]
How to Lie With Statistics
How Fast is a Finger Snap?
Snapping one’s fingers is a universally-understood way of communicating how easily and quickly something can be accomplished. If you want to be a bit more precise, you might want to know just […]
Dip Your Frog to Keep Your Milk Fresh
We are beginning to believe frogs may be the true superheroes of the natural world. We have previously documented their amazing powers of levitation, and times when it literally rained frogs on […]
The Nose Knows an Astonishing 1 Trillion Smells
Just how sensitive is your nose? We know that animal noses tend to be much more nuanced to different aromas than their human counterparts. Even so, how many different scents do you […]
Why Is That Song Stuck In Your Head and What Can You Do About It?
You know the experience. You hear a song on the radio or remember a catchy tune and it enters into an endless loop in your head. Mentally, the song plays over and […]
How Sweden’s King Experimented on Prisoners With Coffee
Coffee seems to have had a love/hate relationship with royalty. For centuries, many people viewed the caffeinated beverage with suspicion. Around the year 1600, many in Roman Catholic circles viewed coffee as […]
The Ones and Twos of Going Number 1 and Number 2
Did you ever complain while doing your math homework and ask, “Why do I need to learn this?” Probably someone responded by telling you that no matter what you choose to do […]
Can Giraffes Swim?
If you are at all like us at Commonplace Fun Facts, you often lie awake at night, pondering things such as, “Why does walking with a cup of coffee cause it to […]
Will You Choose Door #1 or Door #2? Understanding the Monty Hall Problem
The television game show Let’s Make a Deal hit the airwaves in 1962. One of the most popular features of the program involved the host, Monty Hall, giving the contestant the option […]
How Many Licks Does it Take To Get to the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootsie Pop?
In 1970, the world was asked the question, “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” The question was posed in an animated […]
The Pink Poop Pandemic and the Breakfast Cereal That Caused It
What do monsters eat for breakfast? When Mary Shelley described Frankenstein’s monster, her words were remarkably descriptive. She did not, however, disclose what kind of breakfast cereal the freak of nature might […]
There are More Trees on Earth Than Stars in the Milky Way
When it comes to incredibly-large numbers, it’s hard to outdo the stars in the sky. Take anything on earth and compare its numbers to the stars in the Milky Way, and it […]
Piercing the Penguin Poop Projectile Predicament
If we at Commonplace ever find ourselves at a loss for something to write about, the Ig Nobel prizes are sure to be a goldmine of inspiration. One of the 2005 laureates […]
The Colorful Connection Between Television and Black and White Dreams
Think of the most vivid dream you can remember. Was it in color? If so, there’s a good chance you did not spend much of your childhood sitting in front of a […]
Feasting on the Buttered Toast Phenomenon
Drop a piece of buttered toast on the kitchen floor, and we all know what is going to happen. It will land buttered-side down, of course. At least, that’s what we expect, […]
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