Random Useless Facts Thread

The 5.1 surround sound formats (which are standard for most modern movie theaters and a lot of home theaters) actually consist of 6 speakers. The center speaker is usually dedicated to dialogue, the front left and right speakers are for the on-screen sound effects, the two rear speakers are for the surround effects, and the subwoofer is where the majority of the bass comes from.
 
Bonus fact: the front and center speakers at the movie theater are usually behind the screen.

Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a game.

Thomas Paine, the one responsible for publishing the pamphlet “Common Sense” which encouraged Colonial America to push for independence, was elected to the French Parliament in 1792 despite not speaking French.

Most of the methane that cows produce don’t come from their farts, it comes from their burps.

If a rat can fit its head through a small hole, it usually has no trouble fitting the rest of its body through that small hole.

There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C.

During all two World Wars, Switzerland was neutral throughout and never fought

Despite the 1993 movie Jurassic Park being just over 2 hours long, the amount of screentime that the dinosaurs actually get in the film is only 17 minutes in total.

According to Box Office Mojo, all the Star Wars films that have ever been released in theaters have grossed a worldwide total of $9.4 billion. (And that’s if you don’t adjust for inflation.)

U-Haul is the world’s largest advertiser in the Yellow Pages.

Violet Jessop was a ship nurse in she which served on each of the three Olympic-class ocean liners: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. All ships suffered maritime incidents when Olympic collided with a warship severely damaging her hull but never sank, then the sinking of Titanic after hitting an iceberg on the North Atlantic Ocean, and the sinking of Britannic after hitting a mine on the Aegean Sea. All three she was aboard at the time of those incidents and survived.

The original Mario Party on the Nintendo 64 is infamous for causing control sticks to wear out fast and blisters on players’ hands.

Approximately 70 percent of the earth is covered by water. Only 1 percent of this water is drinkable.

The plastic tip at the end of shoelaces is called the “aglet”

People with blue eyes are better able to see in the dark.

The death of Chris Benoit’s wife was written in Wikipedia 14 hours before the body was found.

Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music.

@SuperPinkiePie64  

The Pittsburgh Steelers were originally called the Pirates.

Contrary to popular belief, Hitler never invented the Autobahn, it was already under construction when he rose to power, but he did help expand it.

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them!

The most remote known brony community is in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory off the Northeastern coast of Australia.

Men laugh longer, louder, and more often than women.

Around 10% of all the bombs dropped on Germany during World War 2 did not explode upon impact

Saturn’s moon, Titan, has more water several times than all of Earth’s combined fresh and sea waters.