the idea of a 'soul mate' comes from greek mythology. it posits that human beings originally had 2 heads and 8 limbs until zeus split us in half, cruising us to spend our loves looking for our 'better half'.

the u.s. government spent us$8 billion on k-12 education in 2016 (the most recent year for which data was available at the time of this posting). local municipalities, by contrast, spent us$795 billion. this is why 2 public schools located in different states - or even in neighboring cities - can have completely different spending amounts per student, class sizes, resources, and outcomes.

to put it plainly, if you live in a rich town - or even on the rich side of town - that spends more on its public schools, you'll get a much better education than the kids who live in a town that spends less.

to put it even plainer: equality of education in u.s public schools does not exist, and never has.

the american pilgrims landed in what is now provincetown, massachusetts, and signed the mayflower accord there. they arrived at plymouth rock 5 weeks later.

artist vincent van gogh didn't cut off his entire ear - just part of the lobe. we're not sure whether he gave it to a girl or not.

celebrities don't die in 3's. since 1990, more than 400 celebrities have died, but only 7 died within 5 days of each other.

the roman vomitorium was not a place that romans went to eat and vomit. the word vomitorium means the entrance to a stadium.

shaving doesn't thicken hair. it just looks that way because it's growing back with a blunt, chopped-off tip.

most goldfish have a memory of about 3 months. not 3 minutes.

drinking milk doesn't increase the amount of mucus that your body produces.

police don't require you to wait 24 hours to file a missing person report. the sooner you report someone missing, the better the odds that they will be found alive.

41% of americans think that humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

(no joke - they really do.)

einstein didn't fail math; he was always good at it. he failed an entrance exam for a school - that's it.

putting salt in a pot doesn't make the water boil any faster.

bulls are colorblind to red and green.

in case you don't know, you can't catch warts from a toad or a frog.

chameleons change color to indicate their temperature and/or mood - not to blend in with their surroundings.

if you cut an earthworm in half, only the front half grows back into a complete worm. the back half dies. cut a planaria worm in half, though, and both halves grow into a complete worm.

birds will not reject their young if humans touch them. birds can't even smell humans.

more than 50% of icelanders believe in elves.

despite the fact that the usfda recognizes acupuncture needles as 'medical equipment', there is almost no reliable evidence that they provide any health benefit.