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Page 1566 - Top Facts

The founder of McDonalds was reluctant to introduce the 'super-size,' because he felt people didn’t need that much food!


There are all sorts of plausible reasons for why our nation is becoming obese, including sedentary lifestyles, technology, affluence, and poverty. The cause before the causes is simply that when food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat. Since 1977, the average American consumes 10 percent more calories daily.

Obesity is most often traced back to the 1970s when America embraced a cheap food farm policy and began dismantling forty years of programs designed to prevent overproduction. Ray Croc, the founder of McDonalds, was faced with his own dilemma that has since shown he had good reason.

He contemplated introducing the “super-size” meal, because he felt it was too much food for a person to consume. It is unnecessary to eat so much in one sitting.

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Incans in Peru would purposely deformed infants’ heads to stretch their skulls out permanently.


The practice of manipulating a young child’s soft skull is not unique in human history. It was perhaps most prominent in the Paracas culture that resided on the coast of Peru, south of the capital Lima. At least 5 distinct shapes of elongated skulls have been found by archeologists, each being predominant in specific cemeteries.

The manipulated skulls were a sign of nobility and/or high social class. Deformation usually begins just after birth for the next couple years until the desired shape has been reached or the child reaches an age where his/her skull is no longer malleable.

Flat shaped, elongated heads were produced by binding the head between two pieces of wood and rounded ones were produced by binding in cloth.

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Ants take slaves. Sometimes, the slaves even rebel.


 

If you read enough of this website, you know ants can lift twenty times their bodyweight and that they build and designate graveyards. Now you’re about to learn that they take slaves too.

The biggest question must be “What does an entire species built on being 100% subservient to one master need slaves for?” The answer is cooler than you might have guessed. The slave ants go on violent raids of nests of other species, killing the residents and kidnapping the larva.

The kidnapped larva then grow up to become slaves too- even if they’re totally different species. That’s how the slavery continues. However, it should be noted that some slaves rebel and kill the pupae of their captors in an attempt to put a stop to it all. You can read much more about it at the source. It’s pretty fascinating stuff.

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Someone once tried to pay Mr. T to assassinate someone.


Laurence Tureaud, or “Mr. T” as everyone knows him, is an actor best known for his role in the television series The A Team and the movie Rocky III. He’s easily best known for his distinct hairstyle and catch phrase, “I pity the fool!” So the question is this: if you were looking for a hitman to kill your friend, would Mr. T be the first you would go to? 

The answer is yes for at least one man. Mr. T was once offered $75,000 to assassinate someone. He received a file in the mail and a $5,000 advance payment. According to Mr. T, “He offered me $75,000 to kill his friend. The last envelope and letter contained a round-trip airline ticket, first class, United. Plus there was $5,000 wrapped in a little package, fifty and hundred dollar bills. I tell you the honest truth, when I saw that money I didn't believe it was real." 

Mr. T flat out refused and tried to warn the victim, but he was too late. The man died in a car accident. Though assassination was out of his line of work, he often served as a bodyguard. He had two rules for accepting clients: A client couldn’t lie to him, and all clients had to shop around before coming to him. 

So if you need an assassin, you should look elsewhere. If you need a bodyguard, however, you’re in the right market. 

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The 1806 version of “Jack and Jill” has 15 stanzas and they face many misfortunes!


 

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. " That's the classic, shortened version you're probably familiar with. However, in different versions, it's much longer than that.

The rhyme was a song that was published circa 1765. The number of verses it actually contains varies from version to version. It is much longer than the nursery rhyme that we’ve shortened it to. Check out the source below to read the whole thing!

The rhyme is considered a nonsense rhyme for many reasons. The first, being that water is found at the base of hills, not at the top. Other parts of the rhyme were real, like the part about using brown paper and vinegar to fix Jack’s head. Vinegar and brown paper were used as a home cure to draw out bruises.

The origins of the rhyme or unknown, but like most, it is considered to be a complicated metaphor. 

One theory is that the rhyme is a version of a Norse mythological story. Another theory was that Jack and Jill were priests. No matter the purpose of the rhyme, you should know that earlier versions of the rhyme had 15 stanzas and that Jack and Jill were a very unfortunate duo. 

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