Debrain – Amazing facts, random facts, interesting facts

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is the largest tropical storm to hit the Atlantic and is over 900 miles across
Hurricane Sandy was born in Jamaica
The storm is so large, that it affected 6 countries at the same time
Windspeeds of over 110mph were recorded (guardian.co.uk)
NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority subways were flooded because of Hurricane Sandy. Problem is, some of the pumps were so old, there were bought second-hand from the Panama Canal project… which completed in 1914

Smurfs are Belgian
The smurf comics were created after a misunderstanding over salt
Smurfs are said to be “three apples tall”
The smurf franchise generates about $10 million in royalties annually and are worth about $4 billion
Smurfette was created by Gargamel and was originally a brunette
Smurfs were the first to introduce the zombie movie theme to the world in the episode “The purple smurfs”. This was 6 years before ‘The night of the living dead’
A petrol station in the US once had the slogan ‘service with a smurf’
Their creator Peyo, doesn’t like Smurfette
The book that Brainy smurf was always writing is called ‘Quotations by Brainy Smurf’
There are a total of 103 smurfs
Smurfs were once linked to Communism, Ku Klux Klan and even Neo Nazisim. All of which are untrue
Smurfs turn purple when they hold their breath
The world record for the most people dressed as smurfs happend in Swansea in 2009
A lot of smurfs from the comics never made it to the cartoon; Timid Smurf, Enamored Smurf, Finance Smurf

If the US debt was piled up in dollar notes, they would overshadow a skyscraper twice the height of the empire state building
To pay off the US debt of $12 trillion dollars, every person in America will need to come up with $40,000
Increasing the debt ceiling to 14.3 trillion means another $6000 from every person
In 1791, The US owed $75 million dollars. Today, that would only take them 1 hour to accure

In the early days, temples were used as banks and the first loans were taken out against rice
Just before the US started bombing Baghdad, nearly $1 billion dollars was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq and is now the largest bank robbery in history
The Bank of America on Disneyland’s Main Street was in fact a functioning bank (for Cast Members) until the late ’70′s. It was also the only bank in America that was open on Sunday.
The Bank of America was originally called The Bank of Italy
In 2010, the Bank of America was the 3rd largest company in the world
In 2007, the top five hold $6,775,079,249,000.00 in assets. That’s six trillion dollars!
In Papua New Guinea, people can enter a bank just wearing a penis sheath (koteka)

0.3% of solar energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole of Europe
Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447
Enough sunlight falls on the earth in an hour to power our entire population for one year
In 1990, a solar powered airplane flew over 4000km without fuel
Weather related damages in 1998 alone cost more than those between 1980 to 1990 ($82 billion dollars)
The United States of America accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but consume over 25% of its energy

In Iraq, the US spends more in air conditioning ($20 billion) than NASA does in an entire year ($19 billion)

Benjamin Franklin used to keep a list of “13 virtues.” If he violeted one, he would check it off, and use it as motivation to improv e his moral standing.
Benjamin Franklin did not graduate from school but The Harvard and the Yale Universities awarded him honorary degrees. Later in 1762, the Oxford University awarded him a doctorate.
Benjamin Franklin interestingly founded the a fire fighting company
It is a fact that Ben Franklin once wrote in the newspapers under the anonym Mrs Silence Dogood.
Franklin also invented the glass harmonica
Ben Franklin did not like patents and so failed to patent many of his inventions

It is actually an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism

UK show Strictly Come Dancing sold to 38 countries and had a peak audience of 13.3 million vieweds which was almost a 50% audience share
It costs SGD$750,000 to make one episode of a reality TV show compared to SGD$3 million for a sitcom
More than 3000 people auditioned for Afghan model in 2009. Only 10 were women
1 in 10 UK teenager would abandon their education to be on reality TV
Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 was watched by over 120 million people on YouTube
1 in 4 show on US primetime is a reality show
Gordon Ramsay said expletives over 80 times in one episode of Kitchen Nightmares
In 2010, Malaysia casted for Imam Muda where contentents were pitted in tests of Islamic theory, and challenges included counselling teenagers, preparing corpses for burial and Quran reciting. The top prize was a new car, a job as an Imam and a scholarship in Saudi Arabia
Reality TV actually started on the radio in 1947 with Candid Microphone