Before 'Billie Jean', MTV did not air videos by black artists because they were not perceived as 'rock' enough.

Michael Jackson broke several musical boundaries with his music throughout his lifetime, but perhaps none was more revolutionary for both music and civil rights than when Billie Jean aired on MTV in 1983. Before that song, there had never been a black artist’s video shown because they weren’t considered “rock” enough for the channel.

Jackson claimed that he knew the song would be a massive hit. In fact, the story goes that when leaving the studio after recording he was so focused and excited that he didn’t notice that his car was on fire! “Off The Wall” was his first album released outside of the Jackson 5 and while it was stunningly successful, Jackson was angry that it didn’t win Album of the Year and decided he would make another CD even better. The result was one of the most famous albums of all time, Thriller.

MTV still refused to air the video, and it wasn’t until the president of CBS, who owned Jackson’s record label, threatened to pull all CBS funded music off of MTV that they changed their minds. Fortunately for MTV, people forgot how ignorantly racist they were and they reaped massive renown and increased profits from one of the most famous songs of all time.

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One could crawl through the arteries in a blue whale’s heart.

You probably know that the blue whale is the biggest marine mammal in existence. But would you ever have thought you could crawl through its heart? Well at the very least you can crawl through its major arteries. Blue whales are so large that an adult blue whale’s heart can be almost 2,000 pounds.

It only beats once every ten seconds and the beat is so loud that it can be heard two miles away. If you’re agile enough, you could crawl right through its arteries because of how big they are. The heart is actually so big, it’s the size of a mini cooper.

Some other facts about just how big blue whales are: Their lungs are pretty big too. Each lung is the size of an average closet. Also, their tongues are so heavy that they outweigh elephants! As far as overall size goes, you've probably heard they can be as large as two city buses. Let’s just be thankful they don’t eat people.

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The male orb-web spider has detachable genitalia so that he can flee while finishing intercourse so that his mate won't eat him.

You may know that many kinds of spiders have a bad habit of eating their mates after being impregnated. The male orb-web spider has a countermeasure to this. Like some other types of spiders, Nephilengys malabarensis is sexually cannibalistic, meaning the female likes to eat the male after intercourse. 

These spiders have only up to two chances to mate. The males have sperm transferring organs called “palps” that detach either when their bodies are eaten by the females or when they break them off and run away. This isn’t too uncommon in spiders though. Many scientists are perplexed by this because they aren’t able to see how having a break-off reproductive organ is a good thing. 

Evolutionarily speaking, not being able to mate isn’t a very desirable thing, so it’s a little understandable why such a thing would be an advantage. If anything, we can just be glad this isn’t a genetic trait also shared in humans. 

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There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe

This is because the number of atoms is estimated to be about 10^79, while the number of unique chess games is 10^120. Here are some interesting facts for our chess fans: 

• The word "Checkmate" in Chess comes from the Arabic language. The original form is "Shah Mat," which means "the King is dead." 
• From the starting position, there are eight different ways to Mate in two moves and 355 different ways to Mate in three moves. 
• The folding Chess board was invented by a priest in 1125. It was intended to make the board look like two books laying together when it was folded, thus concealing the board. This was done because the church forbid priests to play chess.
• Rookies or, players in their first year, are named after the Rook in Chess. Rooks generally are the last pieces to be moved into action, and the same goes for Rookies. 
• There is a form of chess that is played while blindfolded. Many good chess players can do this, but it gets tricky after many moves since you need to see the board clearly. The record was set in 1960 in Budapest by Hungarian Janos Flesch, who played 52 opponents simultaneously while blindfolded – he won 31 of those games. 

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Starbucks’ white paper cups are impossible to recycle due to the plastic liner on the inside!

The white paper cups are used for hot beverages and are lined with polyethylene plastic to keep the paper intact by protecting it from the hot drink. The paper on the outside of the cup is needed for its rigidity and to keep the form of the cup. Unfortunately, the plastic liner makes the cup unrecyclable in most paper recycling systems. 

Starbucks says they continually look for other options so that their cups may be recyclable, but have yet to find anything. Their hot beverage sleeves were made to eliminate double cupping and are recyclable. They are made of 60 percent post-consumer recycled fiber. They also give a 10 cent discount when customers use their own cups instead of Starbucks’ disposable ones. 

Starbucks has also begun to offer “for here” mugs to customers who stay in the store to enjoy their coffee. They also recycle milk jugs, cardboard, and paper used by the coffee chain to store their supplies. 

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