Mulan was originally conceived as a straight-to-video film called China Doll, about a poor, oppressed Chinese girl who is whisked away by a white guy to live a happier life in the West. When a writer discovered the Chinese poem "The Song of Fa Mu Lan," the studio decided to combine both projects and create Mulan. Knowing the film's slightly racist, tone-deaf origins, on the other hand, casts the film in a whole new light.

Hans Christian Anderson, a children's author, inspired Anna's name. Hans Christian Anderson wrote the fairy tale The Snow Queen, which served as the inspiration for the film Frozen. The author's sons, Hans, Kristoff, and Sven, are also named after him.

Belle's blue dress visually depicts her status as an outcast in her village. The colours of her dresses also reflect her emotions. Belle is depressed and lonely when she wears blue.

William "Willy" Patrick Hitler, Adolf Hitler's half-brother, was born in Liverpool to a British mother and a German father. Willy wrote an essay in Look magazine titled "Why I Hate My Uncle" when Anglo-German ties began to deteriorate as a result of his uncle's flamboyance. As the war broke out, he relocated his family to the United States, where he attempted to enroll in the United States Navy but was denied. After the Japanese destroyed Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt reconsidered Willy's application and ultimately authorized him to fight the Nazis.

Harold Gillies established the field of plastic surgery, pioneering the first attempts at facial reconstruction, inspired by the sight of soldiers' faces ravaged by shrapnel, many of which remained covered by masks. In addition, blood transfusions became commonplace in order to save soldiers, with the first blood bank established on the front lines in 1917.

It was HIGHLY SECRET work! Even the factory workers who put the vehicles together were kept in the dark. They were informed that they were developing mobile water tanks for desert warfare. Tanks were originally referred to as "landships," but this was changed to "tanks" in order to confuse the enemy.

Obviously, it failed. McDonald's has been introducing healthy choices onto its menus for the last decade. It now provides a wide variety of salads, and in 2011, it made it possible to substitute apples for fries in Happy Meals. However, before settling on apples, the fast food company experimented with a variety of fruits and vegetables, most notably broccoli. But not just any broccoli will do. Recognizing that youngsters dislike the waxy green vegetable, McDonald's designed it to taste like bubblegum.

If you're ever in a need, toss some Doritos on the grill and watch them sizzle. Though almost anything may be used to produce kindling, the flavored corn chips are especially useful since they burn for a long time. According to The Star's study, most chips are effective fire starters since they are comprised of combustible hydrocarbons saturated in oil. The more powdered flavoring they have on them, the longer the fire will last!

During International War I, Europe was at war, and world powers like Britain were organizing their armies. By 1917, one renowned British admiral of the Royal Navy had retired and wrote to Winston Churchill to express his thoughts on the day's headlines, some of which were so thrilling that he wrote, "O.M.G. (Oh! My! God!)." How could he have realized that the acronym he created would go on to become one of the world's most-used phrases?

The original Beauty and the Beast fable was written in 1740 by French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, and the beast was a horrible mix of an elephant and a fish. The story was designed to persuade girls to accept arranged marriages, "for an alliance that entailed effacing their own wants and surrendering to the will of a monster," according to children's literature expert Maria Tatar.

A collection of coded writings called as the Beale Ciphers (named after a prospector named Thomas Jefferson Beale in the early 1800s) are believed to indicate the location of a huge treasure worth $43 million in gold, silver, and gems. One of the three manuscripts has been broken, indicating the location of the treasure in Bedford County, Virginia.

Uncracked codes are shown in a sculpture outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The Kryptos sculpture, created by artist Jim Sanborn, has four inscriptions, three of which have been broken but the fourth remains a mystery.

Officials in the Netherlands erected a rodent-only bridge to ensure safe passage for squirrels attempting to cross the N44 highway. While it was a generous gesture, it may not have been the most cost-effective: the bridge cost £120,000 and was utilized by only five squirrels over a two-year period. "Three squirrels were observed on the bridge in 2014, and two squirrels were spotted in 2015," the ministry stated in a statement.

She was regarded as the "Mother of Modern Physics" for her work with radioactive materials and the discovery of elements such as polonium and radium. Unfortunately, her study took a heavy toll on her health, eventually leading to aplastic anemia, which led to her death. The radioactivity not only damaged her, but it also impacted the majority of her things, including her clothes, furniture, and books. Marie Curie's notes must now be preserved in a lead box more than a century later since they are still radioactive (and will be for another 1,500 years!).

A volunteer for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence received a 72-second transmission from a distant star system 120 light years away in 1977. Because it was loud and came from an area that no one had ever visited, the gentleman who got it scribbled "Wow!" next to the original printout of the signal. It is still known as the "Wow! Signal." The noise, according to researchers, was picked up by a passing comet.

The moon used to be a hotspot of volcanic activity. As molten lava from the volcanoes solidified billions of years ago on the lunar surface, it contributed to the formation of distinct craters. NASA stated in 2014 that an Arizona State University team detected "irregular patches" on the moon caused by volcanic eruptions as recently as 50 million years ago. Fortunately, the moon's volcanoes have been dormant since then, so we won't be seeing any eruptions anytime soon.

Every month of the year has a full moon, and each one has its own distinct name. The lunar phases have been used to keep track of each month for ages, from January's Wolf Moon through September's Harvest Moon and December's Cold Moon. According to National Geographic, "old societies all across the world have given these full moons names depending on the behavior of the flora, animals, or weather during that month." When you see a full moon in November, you may boldly point to the sky and wow your friends by pointing out the Beaver Moon.

China landed its Chang'e-4 spacecraft on the moon in 2019, but the crew didn't just land anywhere. The spaceship landed on the far side of the space-based entity, maybe wondering what all the hoopla was about. It was "the first spacecraft in history to try or complete a landing on this unknown region, which is never visible from Earth," according to history. The Chinese astronauts investigated the huge lunar craters on the frigid surface while there.

That quantity may appear to be very astonishing at first, but keep in mind that the moon does not create its own light; rather, it reflects the light of the sun. And not particularly well. "The brightness of the Moon depends on the exact angle between the Earth, Moon, and Sun... the brightness of a Full Moon is typically reported as a magnitude around -13, roughly 14 magnitudes or 400,000 times fainter than the Sun," according to Sky & Telescope. That implies the moon has a lot of work ahead of it if it wants to be as visible as our brightest star.

The United Nations signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, two years before astronauts first landed on the moon, to avert a dangerous game of claiming dibs on the moon or any planet. The treaty's highlights include a determination that "the research and use of outer space, including the moon as well as other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the beneficial and in the interests of all countries," as well as a rule that treaty parties "shall not place in orbit around the earth any objects transporting nuclear weapons or any other types of weapons of mass destruction." That's certainly reassuring!

When you find your dog eating on something he shouldn't, he averts his gaze and assumes a submissive stance. That indicates he recognizes his error and expresses regret, correct? Scientists believe it's unlikely. It's more likely that the behaviors that owners identify with a dog's remorse are a reaction to being reprimanded. They just do not consider their violation as thoroughly as you do.

Not only do dog owners live longer lives than non-dog owners, but they are also more likely to survive and recover from catastrophic health crises such as a heart attack or stroke. Why? According to the American Heart Association, "interacting with dogs can increase your production of 'happy chemicals' such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine." "This can result in a higher sense of well-being as well as a reduction in levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Having a dog can also help decrease blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as alleviate depression and enhance fitness."

While the turkey is now America's favorite portion of the Thanksgiving dinner, these large birds were proclaimed as vehicles of the gods by the Mayan people around 300 B.C. and were venerated as such, so much so that they were tamed to play roles in religious ceremonies. They were power and prestige emblems that may be found throughout Maya iconography and archaeology.

Napoleon Bonaparte, the great conqueror, was once assaulted by...bunnies. The emperor had asked for a rabbit hunt for himself and his troops. His chief of staff organized it and had soldiers collect up 3,000 bunnies for the occasion. The hunt was set to begin after the rabbits were freed from their cages. That was the plan, at least! The rabbits, on the other hand, raced toward Bonaparte and his soldiers in a vicious and relentless onslaught. And we were told that Waterloo was the greatest defeat of the conqueror...

A student went 264.4 hours without sleep while still in high school, winning first place in the 10th Annual Great San Diego Science Fair in 1964. Randy said emphatically "no" when asked if he'd do it again. Others claim to have broken Randy's record, but none of their attempts were done under close scrutiny, as Randy's were, so there's no way of knowing if they're genuine.