Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 365
January 30, 2018
January 29, 2018
It’s National Corn Chip Day. Time to Smell Your Doggo’s Feet (and Eat ALL of the Fritos)!
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Happy National Corn Chip Day! There is no better way to celebrate than by smelling your dog’s feet! Wait…What?
Sweat it Out
Ever lie on the floor next to Fido, his paw gently crosses the path of your nose and the distinct smell of corn chips makes it way into the nostrils? This unique odor is not because you have last night’s Dorito dust still sprinkled on your face. It’s simply one of their bodily odors, just like your stinky armpit or fresh-out-of-the-shoe foot.
Dogs don’t sweat like us, but they do perspire through their paw pads (which they, for some reason, enjoy licking—yum). They also explore a lot of places, trekking through some seriously suspicious substances. This combination makes for a bacteria breeding ground!
Two specific bacteria are the corn chip culprits: Proteus and Pseudomonas.
Frito Feet
For the most part, “Frito Feet” is just another distinct dog smell. Strange in scent, but not strange enough for Ripley’s. So, to fill your crazy corn chip void for today, we present to you…Corn Chip Believe It or Nots!
Charles Elmer Doolin purchased the patent for Fritos from a Mexican gentleman via a classified ad for just $100.
Fritos were introduced a decade before mass-produced tortilla chips and are as old as Johnny Cash!
Casa de Fritos, Disneyland’s first Mexican restaurant and the alleged birthplace of Doritos.
Disneyland’s first Mexican restaurant, Casa de Fritos, opened in 1955 and featured an animatronic version of the company’s now retired mascot, Frito Kid.
Jennifer Lawrence isn’t the only one who loves Doritos.
According to the film’s costume designer, Jennifer Lawrence was notorious for accidentally sullying her American Hustle costumes with Doritos.
The origin of Frito pie is heavily disputed and remains a mystery.
The 2013 State Fair of Texas recognized Fritos’ 80th birthday by creating a record-breaking 1325-pound Frito pie that required 660 cans of chili and 635 bags of Fritos!
The elusive (on-the-go) Frito pie.
Source: It’s National Corn Chip Day. Time to Smell Your Doggo’s Feet (and Eat ALL of the Fritos)!
January 28, 2018
January 27, 2018
January 26, 2018
Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Middle East Discovered
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[January 21-27th, 2018] 96,000 pounds of beads are pulled from the New Orleans sewers, a good reason not to hold in your sneezes, and a 177,000-year-old jaw bone.
Mardi Gras Beads Clog Drains
Recent flooding has been getting worse in New Orleans, causing the mayor to issue an order to clean the drains. As sewage workers in the City of Jazz were cleaning out storm drains, they discovered a lot of blockage from Mardi Gras. In total, they pulled 93,000 pounds of beads from beneath the streets.
Sneeze Ruptures Throat
According to the British Medical Journal, a 34-year-old man stopped his sneeze by pinching his nose and holding his mouth closed. Moments later he noticed his voice had changed and his neck had swollen. He had ruptured his throat, forcing air pockets into the soft tissue of his neck.
Male Vulture Lays Egg after 20 Years
Harold the vulture has lived at the Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation for 20 years, but he surprised staff this week by laying an egg. It turns out Harold was a female vulture, shocking staff.
Bats Melt in Australia
While sharks are freezing in America, a heatwave in Australia is ravaging wildlife. Hundreds of flying fox bats have fallen victim to the heat, literally dropping out of the sky. As temperatures climbed to 117˚ F, wildlife experts in Campbelltown reported they were scooping dead bats off the ground. “It affects their brain,” said colony manager Kate Ryan, “their brain just fries and they become incoherent.”
177,000-Year-Old Jaw Bone
Researchers at the University of Vienna believe they have found the oldest human fossil discovered outside of Africa. The jaw is 177,000 years old and predates other human evidence in the Middle East by 60,000 years. Though no one is questioning the date, some anthropologists doubt the jaw really belonged to a human.
By Gerard Weber, University of Vienna
Source: Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Middle East Discovered
These Animals Literally Puke Their Guts Out to Clean Up
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
While humans just vomit the contents of their stomach up the way they came in, a few animals vomit their entire stomach, even sometimes their intestines, instead of hurling. Known as stomach eversion, it’s a thorough—if inelegant—way to clean your insides.
Frogs
Many species of frogs will vomit out their own stomach. They gain this ability once reaching maturity, allowing them to expel toxins they may have eaten. Some frogs can even be seen giving their stomach a quick scrub with their feet. After pulling any remnant food off of their stomach, they swallow their organs, as if nothing happened at all. This process is normally incredibly quick, taking as little as 0.3 seconds.
Some frogs intentionally eat toxic wasps and ants to build up their own poisons. Poison dart frogs, who have been known to expel their innard, eat ants high in alkaloids to become poisonous themselves.
Sharks
Bones, feathers, turtle shells, anything that a shark should not have consumed must also be ejected this way. Sharks also exhibit this stomach-churning tactic when under stress. If a shark feels it is in danger, it will react by vomiting the contents of its stomach. With an empty belly, the shark can possibly swim more quickly to safety.
Believe it or not, some gluttonous sharks will vomit simply so they can eat more. Sharks feeding on baleen whale carcasses are known to vomit once full and then immediately return to eating.
Sea Cucumbers
Sea cucumbers don’t just vomit their stomachs, they also eject long tendrils of intestines. Instead of everting to dispel toxins, they do it as a means of self-defense. Their ejected guts are meant to tangle up and frighten predators. The intestines even have the ability to break off, if need be, while the sea cucumber escapes. The cucumber will simply regenerate them later!
Whether it’s to get rid of something they shouldn’t have eaten in the first place or to scare off predators, stomach eversion isn’t for everyone. Humans, fortunately, have special throat muscles preventing us from throwing up our stomachs, so if anyone can evert, remember to submit at ripleys.com.
Source: These Animals Literally Puke Their Guts Out to Clean Up
January 25, 2018
Tongue Rolling Isn’t Genetic and Practice Makes Perfect
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Or Not
In today’s world many misconceptions have been perpetuated—becoming modern day “facts”—when, in reality, myths and hearsay have taken over. Sorry to burst your bubble, but in this weekly column, Ripley’s puts those delusions to the test, turning your world upside down, because you can’t always…Believe It!
Today: Tongue rolling isn’t genetic.
Tongue Rolling
If you can roll your tongue, congratulations, most people can. In fact, as much as 86% of people can. You might have heard a special gene is responsible for the remaining 14% of the world who cannot perform this tongue-twisting feat, but many studies suggest it might have nothing to do with genes at all.
The tongue rolling myth goes back to the 1940s when geneticist Alfred Sturtevant claimed tongue acrobatic ability was the result of a dominant gene. Though he was disproven 12 years later, this little “fact” continues to make its way into science classes across the country.
The proposed heredity of Sturtevant’s non-existent gene.
Philip Matlock first disproved the tongue rolling myth while studying identical twins. He found that 20% of the siblings had one twin who could roll and one who could not. Possessing identical genes, this meant that it couldn’t be simple heredity.
Likewise, many parents who cannot roll their tongues have children who can, proving it either isn’t a genetic trait, or a lot of people’s parents aren’t who they say they are.
Practice, Practice, Practice
A study conducted at the University of Delaware took ten students seemingly incapable of rolling their tongues and had them attempt rolling each day for a week. By the end of the study, one student could successfully roll their tongue. If you find yourself shunned by the tongue rolling community for your lack of dexterity, this means you could join the club by just practicing.
If you’re young, you may have even less reason to worry. A study of Japanese schoolchildren found that, as they grew up, more and more of them could roll their tongue. They believed muscle development and coordination were responsible.
CC Gideon Tsang
Nature vs Nurture
Though scientists are sure there is no magic tongue rolling gene, they do caution that genetics might play some role. If a person’s genes affect their muscle coordination or development then genetics could be blamed for a lack of tongue rolling. Genetic disorders like Duchenne muscular dystrophy could technically be responsible for keeping someone from tongue rolling, but this is far from a universal marker.
According to biological sciences professor John H. McDonald, there is also a possibility that other external factors could be responsible–like position in the womb—but echoes that there’s no way it’s totally genetic.
Source: Tongue Rolling Isn’t Genetic and Practice Makes Perfect
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