It’s never easy to prove a negative, and it’s hard to pay attention to things you never notice. That’s kind of the point. But there’s a whole secret world around us that works because we don’t know it works. Things that happen in the background, under the cover of night, or well out of the range of perception because it either doesn’t matter or people don’t want us to know. Not sure what all that means? Let’s take a look.
10. Disney Garbage Cans Empty Through Tunnels
If you have ever been to a Disney theme park you’ve probably enjoyed your fair share of rides, stood in too many lines, and had fun with the most cheerful, overheated, costumed people in the world. There’s a lot going on. But what isn’t going on is trash.
Despite over 57,000 people visiting the Magic Kingdom every day, no one is ever seen dragging trash out of the park’s multiple garbage cans. That’s thanks to the advanced, underground trash system used in the park. Every 15 minutes, tubes open up under the trash cans and suck everything down to be processed and disposed of out of sight.
The tubes pull down trash at 60 miles per hour and send it on a journey to a compactor located behind Splash Mountain. The same corridors that shuttle garbage around are used by staff members so you never see someone out of costume running from one part of the park to another.
9. You Don’t See Foreign-Built Pickup Trucks Thanks to the Chicken Tax
Here’s something you probably don’t think about often when you’re out and about. How often do you see foreign built light duty trucks on the road? The answer is you don’t, and it’s thanks to something called the Chicken Tax. This tax has been around for 50 years and has ensured that foreign built light duty trucks and smaller SUVs are not on the roads in the US, giving the Big 3 automakers in America a serious advantage in that section of the industry.
The so-called Chicken Tax is a massive 25% tariff on foreign built trucks. Most foreign built vehicles face a 2.5% tariff making them more reasonable to import. It dates back to the 1960s. European nations put a tax on American chicken and, in retaliation, America put the tax on trucks. The goal was to cripple Euro automakers like Volkswagen.
For companies like Ford and Chevy, this tax has given them a massive advantage for decades. Ford’s F-150 has literally been the best-selling truck for 46 years in a row. It’s hard to deny that this is, in part, because competition is limited..
8. Flying Squirrels are the Most Common Squirrels in Ohio
Squirrels are a ubiquitous part of life for many people in the US and Canada. There are a few species that roam freely in cities and parks, and they are typically gray and black, with a few red and white species here and there as well. Surprisingly, the most common squirrel found throughout Ohio is none of those; it’s the Southern flying squirrel. No one sees them because they’re nocturnal.
For most people, a flying squirrel is something of a novelty. People keep them as exotic and quirky pets but in the wild they seem like something that must live elsewhere, in some other part of the world. Turns out, if you want to find some, you just need to hang out around Ohio woodland areas after dark.
7. You Won’t See Neckties in Iran
In many parts of the world, the way you dress is dictated by culture. Certain clothing items are more traditional than others to certain parts of the world. In parts of Africa you may see someone wearing a kanzu. In Mexico you can find a charro suit. And in Japan you can find people wearing traditional kimonos. But other fashion items have spanned the globe and been readily adopted everywhere. There probably isn’t a country on earth where you won’t find blue jeans or sneakers, for instance. But what about neckties?
Many cultures have adopted the neck tie as part of men’s formal fashion. People were suits in government and in business in many parts of the world. And while you will find Iranian men in formal wear including suits, you’ll almost never see an Iranian man in Iran wearing a necktie.
In 1979, during the Islamic Revolution, the necktie became a fashion victim of the transition. Neckties were seen as symbolic of Western culture and ideals and so they were outright banished. They couldn’t even be sold in the country.
6. You Almost Never See Macadamia Nuts in the Shell
Sometimes you feel like a nut, right? Peanuts, cashews, almonds, they’re all delightful. And macadamia nuts are some of the most prized, though they can be a little pricey. What you are unlikely to ever see in the store if you go looking is macadamia nuts still in the shell, even though most others are sold that way. It’s also for your own good as well, as you’d have a heck of a time eating those macadamias.
Macadamia nuts are some of the hardest nuts in the world to crack. Even companies that sell the nuts have to give you tips on their websites for how you can break into them if you’re committed to trying. The problem is that they take 300 lbs of pressure per square inch to crack. That’s about twice a human’s bite strength. Cracking them often requires a hammer and some patience.
5. Most Hotels Never Provide Toothpaste for Guests
If you’re a frequent traveler, then you probably have developed a baseline for what you expect at any hotel where you stay. Maybe you know which chains have the best breakfast buffets, or the cleanest rooms. And there are a handful of things you’d expect anywhere, such as clean towels and tiny soaps in the bathroom. Every hotel has those, right? But there is one thing hotel bathrooms almost never provide, and that’s toothpaste.
You may have never thought about this but it does seem odd when you consider that soap, shampoo and conditioner are always standards. Why not toothpaste? There are actually a myriad of reasons.
To start, a lot of people don’t ask for it so hotels aren’t motivated to provide it. But also, hotels don’t want to provide it. Toothpaste is classified as a drug for regulatory purposes, in the sense that lots of stuff from a pharmacy is categorized in such a way, and that makes it more expensive to buy even in bulk.
Finally, there’s the matter of toothpaste not being worth it. To get the highest rating you can get as a hotel, whether that’s five diamonds or stars or whatever it may be, toothpaste is not a requirement. If a hotel can get a perfect rating without providing toothpaste, they don’t have a lot of motivation to provide it.
4. The Simpsons House Has an Almost Never Seen Rumpus Room
This is one of the most unusual entries on the list and it plays fast and loose with physics only insofar as there are no physics involved here because this is all made up. There is a room in the Simpsons’ house that you almost never see. It’s the rumpus room, and it’s off the kitchen.
Obviously no one expects a cartoon, least of all The Simpsons, to portray the world with any realism or accuracy. But there’s at least a thread of semi-consistency that exists in Springfield. The Simpsons live at 742 Evergreen Terrace. Ned Flanders is their neighbor.They have a dog and a cat. Those things change a little bit now and then but tend to snap back to the status quo by the time a new episode airs.
The rumpus room, however, is a weird outlier in Simpsons reality. It wasn’t a one-off, a sight gag that never needed to come back again, because it did come back. They’ve made use of it in eight episodes of the more than 740 that exist. It just pops up on the rare occasion it’s needed and then vanishes again when it’s not.
3. You Almost Never See Pigeon Babies
In some cities in the world, pigeons are a serious nuisance. At one point, pigeons were accused of causing about $1.1 billion in damages per year across the US, mostly from their droppings. It’s estimated that New York alone is home to four million of the birds, and they seem to exist in pretty much every major city. So when’s the last time you saw a baby pigeon? Have you ever seen one?
This is almost a trick question but, since people in cities are so used to seeing pigeons, it can give you pause for a moment. In fairness, you almost never see any baby birds because they stay in their nests. It’s just that pigeons are so prevalent in human spaces it seems more unusual that we don’t see baby ones ever.
Pigeon babies do live where you’d expect them to live, in pigeon nests. But the nests are usually hidden away for obvious reasons. And when a pigeon is able to leave the nest and take flight, the fledgling birds look nearly identical to the adults so that we can’t ever tell the difference.
2. You’ll Almost Never See a Mosquito at Disney World
We already know you’re not going to see trash removal at Disney World but that’s not the only thing suspiciously absent from the Florida theme park. There’s also a noticeable lack of mosquitoes, something not typical for the area at all.
There are actually 80 different species of mosquito in Florida so it’s usually hard to escape them. But they don’t call Disney World the Magic Kingdom for nothing. Their anti-mosquito system is remarkably in-depth and includes surveillance as well as insect repellant in the form of liquid garlic so it’s non-toxic, natural predators in the form of bats, and carbon dioxide traps so they can gas the little fiends and then study them to ensure they’re fighting them off as effectively as possible. And that’s just the start.
The park has as little standing water as possible to ensure mosquitos have no place to breed. The park is filled with drainage ditches to keep standing water away from populated areas and ensure the water that is there is always moving. All water is moving either because it’s draining somewhere or a fountain circulates it. Even the buildings are designed to have no place where water can pool.
1. Most Elevators Don’t Have a Button for the 13th Floor
If for no other reason than Friday the 13th, both the films and the actual day, most of us know the number 13 is considered bad luck. The origins of the superstition almost don’t matter anymore, it’s such an ingrained thing. In fact, it’s taken so seriously that you are unlikely to ever see a 13th floor in a building even if it has more than 13 floors.
Obviously a building with 20 floors has a 13th floor, we can’t change basic math. But we can change buttons on elevators and that’s what most of them do. Otis Elevators, one of the largest makers of elevators in the United States, has said that about 85% of elevators don’t include a 13. They go from 12 to 14, generally speaking. You’ll even see this in stairwells as you go up with the sign marking the 14th floor coming right after the 12th,
Skipping 13 seems to be more common in hotels and residential buildings. And it’s entirely due to the superstition or, more accurately, management of those buildings worried that tenants will be superstitious and not want to pay to be on the 13th floor.