10+ Unbelievable “Wikipedia” Pages You Won’t Stop Reading

Wikipedia is not only a resource with useful information, but it is also a source of unusual stories and unusual facts that can make even the most avid internet users laugh and be amazed. If we mention, for example, the Belarusian Arabic script or the bright green pigs (yes, they exist!), we are sure it will be something new for you.

O awesome.club went to the depths of Wikipedia and unearthed the articles that prove that life has enough cards up its sleeve to never cease to amaze us.

It’s a pseudo-paradox that arose from the combination of two popular beliefs: that cats always land on their feet and that sandwiches always land buttered side down. And what would happen if we strapped the sandwich to the cat’s back? Someone came up with the idea and jokingly said that if that happened it would create an anti-gravity field or the cat would lick the butter and land on its feet.

More serious researchers have also commented on this paradox. Donald E. Simanek wrote: “There is actually no contradiction. Even if we assume that the cat always lands on its feet and that the sandwich always lands butter side down, then in the first situation the cat lands on its feet and the sandwich it stays in the same place, without falling to the floor.In the second option, on the contrary, the sandwich lands with the butter side down and the cat does not reach the floor.

Nozhnov AV states that a cat with a sandwich tied around it would be considered a composite object and therefore could not be just a cat in the first situation or just a sandwich in the second.

In 1926, Charles Vance Millar, a wealthy Toronto lawyer, offered the bulk of his fortune to whichever woman bore the most children within 10 years of his death. And so the “Great Stork Race” began, a competition in which dozens of mothers with many children participated, constantly becoming pregnant and giving birth. Despite numerous attempts by Millar’s relatives and the Canadian government to challenge the will’s legality, the money had already been distributed among the 4 winners. Each had 9 children and each received $100,000 (which today is equivalent to approximately $2 million).

The transgenic pigs were an achievement of Chinese scientists. They inserted the gene for fluorescent jellyfish into the DNA of a pig embryo and, as a result, piglets were born with a greenish-yellow tinge to their skin and eyes, and which glow under ultraviolet light. Researchers say this will help them observe tissue development during stem cell transplants.

This is what the border between Old Bavaria and the rest of Germany is jokingly called. Just because white veal and pork sausages (“weisswurst”) are a typical food in Bavarian culture. There is no exact geographical line. Some cut the white sausage equator along the Danube River, others along the Main River.

Metal band Caninus is famous for its vocalists: two pit bull terriers, Basil and Badji, who were saved from euthanasia by the band’s musicians. They trained the dogs in the studio, recording their barks and growls, and thus created musical compositions with these sounds. Caninus musicians are strict vegans who advocate for the ethical treatment of animals and assert that animals should have the right to their own voice. At the moment, the band’s projects have been put on hold due to the death of one of the vocalists’ dogs.

All natural products contain small amounts of the radioactive isotopes of potassium-40, and some of them, such as potatoes, beans, seeds and nuts, have higher than average levels of radiation. One banana contains about 0.42 g of potassium. Therefore, it is easy to use bananas to measure small doses of radiation in the home environment. Obviously, bananas do not increase the level of radiation in the body, but they have repeatedly caused false alarms in ionizing radiation detectors, which are used to prevent the illegal entry of radioactive materials.

“Lion-Eating Poet in the Den of Stone” (施氏食獅史) is a poem by Chinese-American linguist Yuen Ren Chao, written in Traditional Chinese. The poem contains 92 characters in which each syllable has the sound of “shi”, and each syllable is pronounced in one of 4 tones. Phrases consisting of identical sounds in speech are also found in other languages, for example in the English language “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” (Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo intimidate, intimidate Buffalo buffalo).

“Zyu letter” is a phrase that denotes a strange and unnatural position of the body. The emergence of this phrase, according to some linguists, was influenced by the writings of the futurist poet Alexei Kruchenykh (he wrote in a language called Zaum or Transmental Language): “Zyu tsyu e strom”. In the 1980s, this phrase portrayed the hunched body position that was common among drivers who spent a lot of time fixing cars and farmers who spent hours tending their land. Furthermore, “Zyu” is also an unofficial nickname of a Russian politician named Gennady Zyuganov, who handles it humorously.

The International Organization for Standardization (yes, there is one) in 1980 determined how to make tea correctly. The kettle should be white porcelain or earthenware and have a small hole in the lid. Large kettles should weigh up to 200 g and have a capacity of up to 310 ml, whereas smaller ones should weigh up to 118 g and have a capacity of 150 ml. For every 100 ml of boiling water, 2 g of tea and water are poured up to 4-6 mm from the edge. You need to infuse the tea for 6 minutes. Water with a high concentration of minerals (hard water) should not be used. And finally, there you have it, an ideal ready-made tea.

The Belarusian Arabic alphabet, or Arabitsa, emerged in the 15th century as a means of writing the Belarusian language with the help of the Arabic script. It consists of 28 graphemes and differs slightly from the common Arabic alphabet in that it uses sounds from the ancient Belarusian language. Books written in such a way are called “Kitab”.

The World Toilet Organization (WTO) was created in 2001 in Singapore and is composed of 19 toilet associations from different countries. They usually deal with bathroom problems and sanitary issues. The organization decided to designate the 19th of November as World Toilet Day, when the World Toilet Meeting is held annually, in addition to other events, such as the International Symposium on Sanitary Infrastructure and Water Circulation in Nature.

Although this article seems funny, the organization addresses some very serious issues. The aim is to have clean, safe toilets available to all people.

The names used to refer to Kim Jong-il, who led the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 1994 to 2011, sound strange to European ears. There is a special list on Wikipedia with just his names. Here are some: “Favourite leader, who fully embodies the beautiful image a leader should have”, “The sun of the communist future”, “Guiding sunbeam”, “Beloved father”, “The symbol of the unification of the Fatherland”, “The destiny of the nation”, “The glorious commander who descended from heaven”.

This article lists weird, unusual and funny Wikipedia articles. To make it easier, they are separated by themes. There is a Portuguese version, where you can read about what “Year Zero” is and find out here which is the smallest park in the world.

Do you know of any weird Wikipedia articles that we didn’t mention? Write in the comments!