Interesting Facts - Page 74

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366

Before there was genetic engineering, there was atomic gardening. This was a form of horticulture where plants were exposed to radiation in the hope that they would develop useful mutations. And it worked! It created the Ruby Red grapefruit, as well as other plant varietals.

367

The world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall is Angel Falls in Venezuela. The waterfall is so remote that it was unknown to the outside world until 1933, when American aviator Jimmie Angel flew over it in a plane.

368

In Chinese characters, Beijing is spelled 北京 meaning, literally, "Northern Capital". Nanjing is 南京 or "Southern Capital". Tokyo is 東京 - "Eastern Capital".

369

Ever wonder why liberals are "left" and conservatives are "right"? It started during the French Revolution. Delegates to the National Assembly would gather according to their political allegiances, with liberals on one side of the hall and conservatives on the other.

370

Volodymyr Zelensky is the current President of Ukraine, elected in 2019. Prior to becoming a politician, he was a comedian who starred in a TV show where he portrayed... the President of Ukraine.

30 Comments

Level 89

Dec 24, 2019

At least "left" and "right" are consistent. What always weirds me out is that red and blue have opposite meanings in the U.S. from what they have in other places (at least the U.K). I know deep down that it probably makes more historical sense for liberal/socialist parties to be red, but it still looks wrong to me.

Level 58

Dec 26, 2019

This is mostly so in America because of the media. Originally, the media showed the Republican colors for the electoral college as blue and red for Democrat. Eventually, they switched it around the 2000 election. The rationale for the permanence of the change was that red and Republican both start with r.

Level 86

Dec 27, 2019

I saw a video that said that this "change of colors" was done during the 1980 election, when they decided to mark in Red both Reagan and Republican (and, as you pointed, the rationale was that all started with r)

Level ∞

Dec 27, 2019

Added the red/blue thing as fact #381.

Level 76

Feb 20, 2020

No one's gonna mention the loony farmers who somehow got away with new breeds of fruit instead of being charged with deliberate food contamination? Okay.

+17

Level ∞

Feb 21, 2020

This is the type of ignorant prejudice that scientists constantly deal with.

Level 55

Feb 2, 2024

Four years later, but I'm going to ask. What contamination? rofl

Level 65

Apr 1, 2026

Radiation at least

I can't pee on toilet seats after chemo or radiation bc ii will hurt others.

Like 3 days later, sure!

Level 77

May 20, 2020

Regarding 368, 京都 (Kyoto) just means "Imperial Capital". They got a bit lazy, apparently.

Level 81

Feb 5, 2023

Apparently, Kyoto got its name before Tokyo does.

Level 65

Jun 22, 2024

Kyōto was the capital of Japan before Edo (now Tōkyō), with both characters meaning capital and city interchangeably, making Kyōtō's literal translation "Capital City".

Level 56

Oct 15, 2025

Actually, Kyoto was also called Saikyō, 西京, "Western Capital".

Level 71

Sep 8, 2020

Confusing, because in Australia, the conservative party is called the "Liberals".

Level 59

Oct 10, 2021

Yeah cause they're liberal conservatives. Liberalism and conservatism are not mutually exclusive; both are right-wing.

Level 42

Mar 10, 2022

The common saying is that the Labor party can't spell (they use the American spelling of labour) and the Liberal party can't use a dictionary.

Level 55

Jan 2, 2021

China’s capital in the east is in Japan! @#&$$%&#&&@&@

Level 81

Feb 5, 2023

Tokyo is named thus is probably because Japanese is similar to Chinese, and that Tokyo is east of the former capital, Kyoto.

Level 50

Mar 5, 2025

Japanese uses Chinese script, but the languages themselves are completely unrelated.

Level 66

Jan 22, 2021

"other plant varietals."? Is this a typo?

Level ∞

Jan 22, 2021

Level 51

Jun 15, 2021

damn hes a really committed comedian

Level 46

Jun 17, 2021

Liberals aren't left

Level 66

Sep 7, 2021

I would assume that liberals are to the left of conservatives and that conservatives are to the right of liberals, no?

Level 70

Sep 15, 2021

#367 ...... Glad the pilot was not called Jimmie Little, otherwise the tallest waterfalls would be called the 'Little Falls'

Level 63

Jan 24, 2022

The tallest waterfall in the world being called Little Falls… now that would be an interesting fact.

Level 72

Apr 25, 2022

370 though... Especially now...

Level 34

Jun 25, 2022

In Australia, which to be fair is a fairly centrist country, Liberals are the centre-right party, then Labor are the centre-left party, then the Nationals are the mid-right party and the Greens are the mid-left party, with a few smaller parties on both sides of the spectrum.

Level 71

Dec 11, 2022

You can tell #370 is old by the fact that it has to explain who Volodymyr Zelensky is. Now everyone knows who he is! Crazy how in about 3 years, he went from being a comedian to a wartime leader.

Level 55

Sep 14, 2024

Crazy how the world works huh?

Level 67

May 8, 2025

Isn't 366 kind of misleading? It says that "the Ruby Red grapefruit, as well as other plant varietals" were created through atomic gardening using radiation, but the Ruby Red grapefruit actually wasn't. Only it's "other plant varietals" were—the Star Ruby grapefruit and the Rio Red grapefruit.

It's not a big deal just saying.