Page 2 - Other Facts

There's a man whose brain sees numbers with shapes, colors and feels. He can recite over 22k digits of Pi!

Savants are fascinating to observe because their brains are so incredible. While completely incapable of performing some tasks, they are so incredibly amazing at doing others that it has captured worldwide attention.

Daniel Tammet is one of these savants, who claims that numbers result in an emotional result in each person. For example, he claims each positive integer up to 10,000 has it's own shape, color, and feel. The number 289 is extremely ugly, while 333 is strangely attractive. Pi he describes as beautiful. 9 is large and towering, while 25 is fun and would be invited to a party.

This may sound bizarre to most of us, but to a savant it makes perfect sense. Tammet currently holds the world record for reciting the most digits of pi at 22,514, and taking only a week per language, learned Romanian, Gaelic, Welsh, Icelandic, and six others!

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A Japanese artist made a sculpture of himself that was so lifelike people couldn't tell the difference between it and himself!

Hananuma Masakichi learned he was dying of tuberculosis, and being an artist, decided he would leave something behind so everyone would know exactly what he looked like back in the 1800’s. Masakichi decided to make a wooden sculpture that would be extremely lifelike.

He worked on each body part separately, and painted and lacquered the wood to match his skin tone and accurately portray every tendon, muscle, bone, vein, and wrinkle. He crafted glass eyes that are also stunningly realistic. Amazingly, he even plucked a tiny hole for each of his pores! He used his own teeth, hair, and nails also!

By the time he was finished, even when standing right next to his work of art, people had difficulty knowing which was real and which was fake!

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Judas Priest was going to be featured in Toy Story 3!

The song "Electric Eye" by the British Heavy Metal band Judas Priest was going to feature in Toy Story 3, but they were unable to obtain the rights for the song, also notable is that multiple staff members were fans of Heavy Metal, most likely being the reason of it's (almost) inclusion.

The song was going to be heard in a short sequence as it blared out of a car stereo. It was present in the private press screening of the movie, but music rights prohibited the song from being on any public screenings of the movie. They replaced the song for another that had the same 'feeling' as Electric Eye.

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There's more than $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards!

We all get gift cards at some point or another, but most of the time it's for birthdays or during the holiday season. Whether or not we actually USE those gift cards is another story altogether.

A recent study done by Plastic Jungle, a company that buys and sells gift cards, there are over $30 Billion worth of unused gift cards in America, which is roughly $300 in every household. You'd think that unused gift cards make retail stores satisfied - because they took your money without actually giving you something you will redeem. However, it's the opposite, retailers WANT you to use your gift cards.

Studies have shown that shoppers who redeem gift cards often spending a significantly higher amount of money at the store than is on the gift card, which results in the store making money. Furthermore, the government takes a percentage of profits made off of gift cards that go unclaimed - which means that the store loses a big chunk of money.

So even though you're dog just died, go use that gift card for the Pet Store that your grandmother gave you last Easter. For more on this study read the source!

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Schools with music programs have an estimated 90% graduation rate compared to schools without music education who average 73% graduation rate.

Schools with music programs have an estimated 90% graduation rate compared to schools without music education who average 73% graduation rate. Think this is important? DoSomething.org and VH1's Save the Music Foundation think so too. Join them to save music education programs around the country from April 30 until June 14 in their Band Together campaign. Not only will you be saving music programs around the country but even have a shot at being in Philip Phillips' cover video of "Gone, Gone, Gone." Sign up at www.dosomething.org/band

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