There were technically 6 Backstreet Boys!

Lou Pearlman was the successful impresario behind some of the biggest bands in the 1990s. He was responsible for both the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. Turns out, he was also the Backstreet Boy. Well, technically at least.

Pearlman was technically the sixth member of the Backstreet Boys so that he could get paid as a member. He was triple dipping in the BSB venture: As a manager, producer and band member. The 5 members filed a suit when they found out that they had only received $300,000 for their work when Pearlman had made millions.

'NSync, Aaron Carter, LFO, Take 5, Aaron Carter, Natural US5, Smilez and Southstar and others were also represented by him. They all sued him. Pearlman was eventually convicted of perpetrating one of the largest and longest-runnning Ponzi schemes. He was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.

(Source)

On average every US airplane will be hit by lightning at least once a year!

If you're scared of flying, this might give you comfort or make you more terrified. The truth is: Airplanes get struck by lightning all the time. In fact, the average US airliner will be hit by lightning once a year.

If that scares you, take comfort in this: Lightning has not caused an airliner crash in the USA or of a U.S. Airline plane anywhere in more than 50 years. The last time that happened was in 1962, when a PanAm Boeing 707 got hit and a spark ignited fuel vapor in a tank.

After that happened, the rules changed to prevent a spark from ever doing that. However, pilots still avoid thunderstorms because there are a lot of other dangers like wind speeds and visibility that can be dangerous. However, next time you're on a plane and it gets hit by lightning, don't worry: That won't do the plane any harm.

(Source)

Dogs stick their heads out car windows because of smell!

Everyone's probably been perplexed at some point as to why dogs love to stick their heads out of moving car windows. Turns out, it's not that they really like the feeling of the wind. It's because they get an awesome overload of smells.

It might seem strange to us, but consider that we only have about 5 million olfactory receptors, while a dog has more than 225 million receptors. Our olfactory membranes are about the size of a postage stamp, while a dog's is the size of a handkerchief.

To a dog, sticking his head out the window of a moving car is the equivalent of a human going from a standard television TV to a giant IMAX movie screen and trying to soak in all the colors and visuals that it entails.

(Source)

You can marry dead people in France!

Since World War I, the French government was allowed what's called posthumous marriage. It started when a few women were married to soldiers that had died a few weeks earlier. In the 1950s, that practice was extended to civilians.

Nowadays, anyone in France can file for posthumous marriage. They have to send a request to the President of France. It makes it's way down the chain. Two requirements must be met: The couple must have had wedding plans originally, and the family of the deceased has to approve. Then, it gets kicked back up to the President. About 75% of cases are approved.

The reason people do this is mostly to legitimize children a woman may have, or for emotional reasons. The law does not permit the living spouse to receive any of the other spouse's money or property. People cannot do this for financial gain.

(Source)

Clocks with Roman numerals use IIII instead of IV. Nobody really knows why!

Next time you look at a clock with Roman numerals, look closely. Odds are, it will use IIII instead of the more normal IV. Although there are many suggested explanations for this, no one really knows why. However, here are some of the most common ones:

Many clocks use IIII because that was the tradition established by the earliest surviving clock.

Others say that it's because IV represented the Roman God Jupiter, so they avoided using that on clocks.

It's said that Louis XIV, King of France preferred IIII to IV, and asked his clockmakers to use it instead.

It might also be that it's for symmetry. IIII on one side, with IV on the other. There's also radial symmetry because the I would only appear in the first 4 hours of the clock, the V only in the next four hours, and the X only in the last 4 hours.

(Source)