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A baseball team in Japan is believed to be cursed by KFC founder Colonel Sanders.
The Curse of the Colonel, as it’s called, is an urban legend that KFC founder Colonel Sanders placed a curse on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The curse was apparently placed on the team because the Colonel was angry that one of his storefront statues was mistreated.
The Hanshin Tigers are considered the permanent underdogs of Nippon Professional Baseball, but fans still always flock to the stadium. The Tigers have only won one championship, in 1985. That was the year the curse was cast. Apparently the team were so excited over their win that they tossed a statue of Colonel Sanders into a river. It’s been said that they would never win another championship until the statue was recovered.
Dylancholy submitted this to OMG Facts
Samuel L. Jackson requested to have a purple lightsaber in order to make his character stand out in the Star Wars films.
Samuel L. Jackson made his mark in the Star Wars universe when he stepped into the role of Mace Windu, a powerful Jedi Master, during the prequel trilogy of Star Wars. Windu is one of the most powerful Jedi Masters on the Jedi Council, and one of the first Jedi to fall with the rise of Darth Vader.
But before he was killed by Emperor Palpatine, he was a sketch on a drawing board and a conversation between Samuel L. Jackson and producer/director George Lucas. Back in 2005, Jackson revealed that the distinct purple lightsaber Windu had was the result of a personal request he made of George Lucas.
He wanted it both for appearing in the films and with the goal of making his character look more distinguishable, specifically in the climactic final battle in Episode II.
Dylancholy submitted this to OMG Facts
Lactose intolerance is "normal," and most mammal species develop a natural lactose intolerance after weaning.
This is why it’s bad to give cats milk after they’ve grown past the kitten stage. It’s not exclusive to cats, though. Most mammals normally become lactose intolerant after weaning. Humans are an exception to the rule, because we have developed what is called lactase persistence.
Basically that just means lactase production continues into adulthood. Interestingly, 75% of adults show some level of decrease in lactase later in life, proving that it is just a drawn out weaning period, essentially. The frequency at which this happens ranges by location, from 5% in northern Europe to 71% in Sicily to more than 90% in some African and Asian countries.
So if you’re a person who likes milk, you might want to enjoy it while you can. Because depending on where you live, you might have a pretty rapidly ticking clock on how long you can drink it.
Dylancholy submitted this to OMG Facts
There was only one known albino gorilla.
His name was, appropriately, Snowflake, and he was born some time around 1964. Though he died 9 years ago, he is still the only known albino gorilla to exist. He lived out his life in the Barcelona Zoo in Spain. When he was brought to the zoo, he was about two years old. He was physically normal like any other gorilla, except for his white skin and hair.
Snowflake, as a result of being albino, didn’t like bright light and when taking photos would often close his eyes. He also blinked more times than non albino gorillas. He fathered 22 offspring, but none of them were albino. Of the six that survived into adulthood, the last died a few months before he did in 2003.
At his time of death he was thought to be around 40 years old, despite the average wild gorilla lifespan being 25 years, and despite his skin cancer he suffered for the last few years of his life. The cancer eventually got to be too bad, however, and he was euthanized in November of 2003.
Dylancholy submitted this to OMG Facts
Dandelions are completely edible!
It probably hasn’t struck you as edible, but there it is. If you’re ever stuck in a zombie apocalypse with no food left, you can go for the dandelions. Dandelions are found on every continent, so everyone should be familiar with them to some degree. The dandelion has been consumed since pre recorded history, often blanched to remove bitterness.
Dandelions have been part of traditional Chinese and Korean cuisine, too. In Greece, the leaves are often eaten by locals in salads. The flower petals are also used to make dandelion wine. If the roots are ground and roasted, they can be made into caffeine free dandelion coffee. The dandelion is also an ingredient in root beer. It even contains many vitamins and minerals, mainly A, C, and K, and is a good source of calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese.