The umbrella was invented to block the sun, not the rain.

In fact, ancient umbrellas would be pretty worthless in the rain, since they were made out of paper. The Chinese were the first ones to figure out how to waterproof their umbrellas with wax and lacquer. 

The "umbra" in umbrella is actually Latin for "shadow", which gives you an idea of what they were originally intended for. Umbrellas became popular in the 1500s in Europe, but only for women. Men's umbrellas didn't come out until the 1700s. 

Squirrels plant trees. ON ACCIDENT.

Despite the fact that they've yet to learn to look both ways before crossing the street, squirrels are actually pretty smart. They have an elaborate system for preserving their food. This includes burying nuts and acorns underground so that they can get to them much later. Sometimes if they don't get around to eating their buried treasure, the nuts grow into trees. This is actually really important because it allows for trees to grow farther away from other trees so that forests can spread.

Squirrels know exactly how well the nuts and acorns they find can stay preserved, which means that when they find nuts they know which ones to bury at which time and where. They also have a process to make acorns last longer: taking out the embryo!

They're also really sneaky. Give a squirrel some nuts and he'll dig several "dummy" holes for each actual nut that he buries. This throws off other animals watching them who would try to steal their food. Sometimes they even pretend to bury nuts to send their competition on a wild goose chase.

Bananas are awesome!

You can use the inside of a banana peel to polish leather shoes and silverware and stop mosquito bites from itching

It helps to get rid of all that stringy stuff on the inside first. You can also turn a banana into a smooth paste to use as a moisturizer for your face. Or you can rub the banana peel on your houseplants to make them look shinier. Heck, you can tenderize a roast with a banana too. Bananas are awesome!

You can use your headphones as a microphone!

You can use your headphones as a microphone. Just plug them in you mic input, and say something in them. It really works!


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Square Watermelons!

In Japan they have square watermelons!

They get square watermelons by growing them inside of square glass cases. That way they can fit easily into a refrigerator, and you can stack things on them. Square watermelons are expensive though (10,000 yen or about $82). Compare that to regular round watermelons which cost about $15-20 in Japan.

Source: CNN Archives

The Soldier who refused to surrender...

A Japanese soldier refused to surrender to U.S. forces after WWII. Instead, he hid in Guam for 27 years.

Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese sergeant in World War II, returned to Japan in 1972, 27 years after World War II ended. Two American hunters discovered Yokoi in the jungle in Guam. They turned him over to the police, and he was sent back home. He had been hiding in the jungle rather than surrender to U.S. forces at the end of the war.

Yoichi was living in a cave, eating fish and rats, and made clothes out of tree bark. Like other Japanese troops, he was trained to fight to the death and told that surrendering was shameful. Upon returning to Japan he discovered that he had been declared dead in 1944.

The Japan that he came back to was very different than the one he left. He had never heard of jet planes, television, or the atomic bomb. ''I am ashamed that I have returned alive,'' he said.

Shoichi Yokoi wasn't the only Japanese WWII vet to hide out that long, either. Two years later, a lieutenant named Hiroo Onoda was discovered hiding out in the Philippine jungle.

Source: NY Times