Who Knew?

The largest employer in the world is the United States Department of Defense with a little over 3.2 million employees. Next up is The People’s Republic of China with 2.3 million employees, Then Walmart with 2.1 million.

Bubble Wrap was originally invented in 1957, but not to be used as a packaging material. Rather, for use as wallpaper.  Needless to say, it didn’t sell well. Nor did their next idea to use it as greenhouse insulation.  Finally, in 1959 its creators got the idea that it could be used to protect the IBM 1401 during shipments. That one worked out and the rest is history.

Nintendo’s name comes from the Japanese “Nintendou.” Roughly translated “Nin” means “entrusted” and “tendou” means “heaven,” so basically “leave luck to heaven.” If this seems a strange name/slogan for Nintendo, perhaps it is important to note that it started out as a playing card company in 1889.

It wouldn’t be until 15 years after basketball was invented before someone got the bright idea of putting a hole in the bottom of the basket to allow the ball to pass through it, so it wouldn’t have to be manually retrieved every time someone made a shot.

The Lone Ranger’s sidekick’s name, Tonto, means “moron/fool/stupid” in Spanish. As a result, in the dubbed Spanish version, the character’s name is change to “Toro,” meaning “bull.”

All clownfish are born male. If the female of a group dies, the dominant male will then begin to gain weight and will become the female of the group. After he becomes a she, she selects a breeding partner from the available males, which is almost always the largest male available.