We’ve been doing themed Top 10’s all year, so to finish out the year we’d like to do an absolutely random facts article. So here are ten completely random facts:

1.  In 2000, computers around the world ran into the Y2k problem, otherwise known as the “Millennium Bug.” When computers made the switch from 1999 to 2000, they got a bit, confused. They counted 1998, 1999, 1900, instead of 1998, 1999, 2000. This is because of the abbreviation of the years, are confined to their last two digits, so the years 2000 and 1900 are indistinguishable.

Something similar will happen in 2038, how time is kept in most modern devices is a 32-bit number, that has been climbing +1 per second, since January 1st 1970. What’s wrong? Well, since it’s only a 32-bit number, it has a binary limit, and will run out exactly 03:14:07 on January 19th 2038.  To fix this, we’d need to upgrade to a 64-bit number. This would end up running out on December 4th in the year 292,277,026,596, and if our current understanding of the universe is correct, the universe will more than likely cease to exist by that point. I like how instead of solving the problem, we decide to delay it long enough so we don’t have to!

2. 12+1=11+2, “twelve plus one” is an anagram of “eleven plus two”. 11+2 and 12+1 equal 13, just like how the two phrases have 13 characters each.

3. A man who has been nicknamed DB Cooper who has an uncanny resemblance to one of the “Agents” from The Matrix (just thought that should be pointed out), hijacked a Boeing 737 between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington the day before Thanksgiving in 1971. He demanded $200K and four parachutes. He refused instructions on how to use them and jumped out of the plane and landed in the woods, never to be seen again. Nobody knows where he went or what he’s doing now, or if he’s even still alive.

4. Ever wondered what the largest, playable, area in a videogame is? Think about it for a bit. Got your answer? Good.

The correct answer is Minecraft. The game’s playable world is a staggering 60 Million (L) x 256 (H) x 60 Million (W), meters. Recognized by Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest playable area in a videogame, it clocks in with a whooping, 912,600,000,000,000km3 (nine hundred and twelve quadrillion, six hundred trillion kilometers cubed)! This is 409 PETOBYTES of data, if your world is full of stone.

5. No human has beaten a super computer in a competition standard chess game since 2005 and because computers are becoming more and more advanced it’s likely that it will never happen again.

6. Australia literally LOST a Prime Minister. Harold Holt was the Prime Minister of Australia for no more than a year before we took a swim off Cheviot Beach near his holiday home at Portsea in Victoria and just never came back.

7. And now, Facebook facts: Nearly 30 million Facebook accounts belong to people who have died. 20% or all divorce cases in the US, have the word “Facebook” in them. Mark Zuckerberg, first named the site “FaceMash”, then “The Facebook”, then “Facebook”. He is, also, red-green colorblind and can only see in shades of blue, this is why he chose blue for Facebook’s theme color.

8. Donald Duck is a Nazi. OK, Maybe not entirely, but in a cartoon that was aired back in 1943, called “Dur Fuher’s Face” Donald was portrayed as such. It was a propaganda film that featured Donald working in a nightmarish Nazi factory. It even won the Academy Award for best animated short film, the same year it was released. Disney has since tried to sweep it under the rug due to it’s controversial nature.

9. Speaking of Disney, if you read a lot of Creepypastas, you may have read Abandoned By Disney, and if you haven’t The Eagle Eye has done a story on the Top 10 Creepypastas that included Abandoned by Disney, link to that story at the bottom of the page.  This particular creepypasta, tells of a man investigating an abandoned Disney theme park in North Carolina.

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Well, what if you were told that Disney has, not one, but two abandoned parks, both visible from the Bay Lake Tower and Wilderness Lodge in Orlando Florida? If you’ve ever been there and looked out into Bay Lake, you can see an island that is home to one of the abandoned parks, Discovery Island. If you’ve gone camping at Disney World and drove up Big Pine Road out to W Wilderness Road, then you’ve passed the other park, called River Country.  Both parks used the lake water for it’s attractions. In 1999 Dicovery Island was closed, and River Country followed two years later because of a change in Florida regulations, prohibiting the use of natural water sources in Water Park attractions.

There was also claims of a lethal bacteria found in the waters of the lake. After the parks closed, Disney met up with the creators of the game Myst, to make an interactive attraction on Discover Island, where guests would adventure around the island and uncover clues that lead them to the next clue and so on, leading them down the path to solving a mystery on the island, but this never made it past the concept stage of development. The island and neighboring, River Country, have remained untouched for 16 years.

10. And finally, funny US Laws!

In Nevada, if someone shoots your dog on your property it is LEGAL to hang them.  In Kansas, Rabbits may not be shot from a motorboat. In Pennsylvania, dynamite, or TNT may not be used to fish. Another one from the Keystone State, You may not sleep on top of a refrigerator while outdoors. In Florida, should an elephant be tied to a parking meter, a fee must be paid the same as if a car where there. In Oklahoma, it is illegal to go whale fishing, Think about that for a minute. And finally, in Kentucky, It is legal to dye a duckling blue and offer it for sale, as long as six or more are offered at a time, otherwise it’s illegal. Eh, let’s throw in one last law from another country in here too: in China, you are able to be fined five yuan for stopping at a crosswalk if you drive a power-driven vehicle, so just don’t stop at crosswalks in China?

Be sure to check out our Creepypastas article – psst- it’s number 9.