These are facts I find interesting. They are not specific to a category or field. Sorted from most recently added to oldest.

• Times Square is named after the New York Times.


• There always exists a pair of opposite points on the Earth with the exact same temperature.


• "Because" by the Beatles was inspired by John Lennon hearing Yoko Ono playing Moonlight Sonata backwards.


• Humans are the most feared animals in the African savanna. Scientists played audio of humans talking vs. lions growling at a national park in South Africa, and almost all species were far more likely to run from human voices than
  lion sounds
  .


• If you mix 1L of ethanol with 1L of water, you get ~1.9L, not 2L, because the water + alcohol molecules pack together more tightly


• Yankees players aren't allowed to have beards.


• The U.S. Secret Service was initially created in 1865 to combat counterfeiting of U.S. currency after the Civil War and only started protecting the President in 1901.


• Only 5% of deaf individuals reach a reading level of 12th-grade or higher.


• MSNBC is short for Microsoft NBC.


• The placebo effect is mostly regression to the mean.


• Manhattan's population was greater in 1900
  than today
  .


• Aeschylus died when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. According to the lore, the eagle mistook his bald head for a rock.


• MIT owns a
  majority
  stake in the company Bose.


• There are more honey bees alive today than ever in history.


• The life expectancy of an NFL player is 53-59 years old (the variation is due to various positions and studies).


• The creator of Limewire founded Tower Research.


• "Three times faster" doesn't mean "multipled by 3", it means "multipled by 4". (because "1x faster" means speed * 2)


• You're 3x more likely to have a heart attack at 9 am compared to 11 pm.


• The Friendship Paradox: On average, your friends have more friends than you.


• Worldwide insect population has dropped by 75% since 2000.


• One third of all shoplifting arrests in NYC last year (there were 18k total) involved 327 people.


• In the last twenty years, suicide rates decreased by 40% in France but increased by 40% in the US.


• 23% of Congress is over the age of 70. 34% of the Senate is over the age of 70.


• Reducing CO2 concentration by 1000 ppm in the classroom results in a 5% increase in student test scores and a 2.5% increase in attendance.


• A 10dB noise increase in your environment decreases productivity by 5% (due to an effect on cognition,
  not effort
  ).
  


• The common claim "Happiness doesn't increase above $75,000" is completely wrong. That stat in that paper specifically refers to "emotional well-being", measured by asking people their mood yesterday.
  In terms of life satisfaction, happiness, stress, and well-being, they all increase linearly with log income and never plateau.


• Transporting a four-once pear cup from Buenos Aires to Bangkok to LA results in 30g of CO2 emissions.
  Driving a typical car two blocks in Manhattan results in 35.6g of CO2 emissions.


• A motorcyclist who travels 15 miles every day for 20 years has a 2.5% chance of dying in an accident.


• Illegal drugs and alcohol made up 2% of US nominal GDP in 1980.
  Nails made up 0.5% of US nominal GDP in the early 1800s.


• One in five Americans has a family member who was killed by a gun.


• One in five Americans has been personally threatened with a gun.


• When the Mongols under Kublai Khan invaded Japan in 1274 and 1281, their fleets were destroyed by massive typhoons despite them invading outside of typhoon season.
  The Japanese called these storms "divine wind" or "kamikaze" as they claimed the typhoons were sent by the gods to protect Japan.


• How do scientists poll people on sensitive topics such as "Have you gotten an abortion?"
  Ask them to flip a coin. If heads, ask them to respond "yes". If tails, ask them to answer the question.
  True population proportion is 2p(yes) - 1


• Underweight babies with smoking mothers have a lower infant mortality rate than underweight babies with non-smoking mothers. (Simpson's Paradox)


• Biscuit comes from the Latin for "cooked twice", as they were originally baked then dried out in a slow oven.


• Amazon doesn't include product names in receipt emails (check for yourself) to prevent Google from learning what people are buying.


• 20% of Americans over the age of 70 currently have cancer. :(


• 80+% of lab rats are male because of the belief that the estrous cycle of female mice makes them more variable than males.


• Coal use in the UK has declined 97% in the last decade.


• <body bgcolor="davidwitten"> test </body> produces a

  yellow background

  (Check out the source code above for yourself!)


• Mothers who were pregnant during the Dutch Famine of 1944-1945 gave birth to children who had a 50% incidence of obesity, hypertension, or Type II diabetes.


• Observant Jews with the last name Cohen cannot enter a cemetery.


• 94% of Parisians live less than a 5 minute walk from a bakery


• In addition to luxury cars, Rolls-Royce helps manufacture military airplanes for the US government.


• In the United States, 4% of 5-year-olds will never make it to the age of 40.


• The Abu Dhabi government owns a majority share of all parking meters in Chicago.