Did you know? is a weekly column by Second Magazine that sheds light on five interesting things you may or may not know about the world around you.
Faber-Castell largest pencil
THE WORLD’s TALLEST PENCIL IS ROUGHLY 65ft TALL and built by Faber-Castell, the office supplies manufacturer. Located at the company’s Malaysian facility, it stands tall, encapsulated in a massive glass building where tourists and the general public can come and marvel. I wonder how much one of these would cost around back-to-school time?
A picture of Ox Mountain Landfill
PARKS WERE ONCE LANDFILLS. OK we lied, only some parks used to be landfills, not all of them were. This is because when landfills reach capacity, generally after about 20-30 years of service, they cap off the landfill and cover it in grass. One example of this is the César Chávez Park in Berkeley, CA where it began as a landfill in the 50′s and eventually closed in 1991. The park in Berkeley is not the only landfill-turned-park as Boston’s Millenium Park, Rogers Park in Tampa, and the iconic Fresh Kills Park in New York all used to be municipal landfills. In fact when Fresh Kills was still a landfill, it used to be considered the largest landfill on Earth.
The four members of Queen
QUEEN TOPS ALL when it comes to the four members topping the charts. Out of all the great bands in the past 50 years, Queen is the only band where all four members have had multiple hit singles that topped the billboard charts. Classics like Freddie’s Bohemian Rhapsody or John Deacon’s Another One Bites the Dust; who can forget Brian May’s Anthem We Will Rock You or Roger Taylor’s Radio Ga Ga. All classics that have stolen the charts along with the hearts of millions of Queen fans.
Mary Roach's cover featuring a human cadaver
NECROPHILIA IS LEGAL IN 28 STATES because in those states there are no laws in place to make it illegal. The remaining 22 states in America have created laws to prevent necrophilia from ever occurring probably because in those states, they have found cases of such acts. And according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, necrophilia is the “obsession with and usually erotic interest in or stimulation by corpses.” Finally, in case you were curious to see if someone close to you who has passed is safe from sick perverts, here’s a list of states where it is illegal to fondle with the dead: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin. For those who live in the states we didn’t mention we advise you to visit Great Aunt Bertha’s grave more often. Hopefully no one has been jumping on her bones.
Turtle mistakes plastic for food
THE OCEANS ARE COVERED IN GARBAGE especially in the Pacific Ocean where the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch lives. The “Garbage Patch” is what researches and scientists refer to as a massive pool of garbage, most noticeably plastic that has decomposed into tiny solid bits. The patch was discovered in 1997 by a sailor who accidentally stumbled upon a gigantic stretch of floating trash about the size of Texas. Two years later in 1999 scientists officially surveyed the area and concluded that for every plankton there were about six pieces of plastic. A second survey in 2007 found that the ratio spiked to roughly 30 to 1. The accumulating garbage in the Pacific Ocean has gotten so bad that local animals have been mistaking the pieces of plastic for food resulting in a decline in marine wildlife. The “Pacific Garbage Patch” is a true example of what happens when developed countries such as the United States relies heavily on single-use items and fail to modernize and standardize municipal waste systems across the country.
