14+ Fascinating Pics That Are Also Pretty Informative

Remember when Wikipedia was a new thing and you'd just get lost roaming down a rabbit hole of links, learning about the world until you realize it's two in the morning and you still had to work the next day? Do people still do that?

Well, even if they don't, the great thing is that learning comes at you from unlikely directions sometimes. You don't even expect it to happen, and then you see a weird pic, and boom, you're trying to find out the story behind it. Kind of like with these fascinating pics!

1. For 20 years, Albert Einstein had a self-imposed rule against speaking at universities around America, which he broke to visit Lincoln University in 1946.

Reddit | Mass1m01973

An outspoken civil rights supporter, Einstein tried to draw attention to the problem of segregation in education, but his trip to Lincoln was largely ignored by the media.

2. This is what the tea dumped into Boston's harbor during the Boston Tea Party looked like.

Reddit | PHIL-yes-PLZ

Compressing the leaves into bricks was a common way to transport tea over long distances.

3. The difference between high and low tide in Canada's Bay of Fundy can be quite startling.

Reddit | Caddy2455

In some areas of the bay, the difference can be as much as 53 feet!

4. Some cities have begun installing traffic lights in the sidewalks for pedestrians looking down at their phones.

Reddit | imayneverknow

And they're probably a welcome addition for people with low vision as well.

5. The oldest known drawing is about 73,000 years old.

Nature | C. Foster

Done in red ocher, the simple lines, believed to be a fragment of a larger drawing, were found on a cave wall in South Africa.

6. One of the oldest known pieces of writing in the world is a customer complaint.

British Museum | British Museum

The 3,800-year-old Mesopotamian tablet lays out a complaint about the wrong grade of copper ore being delivered.

7. This beautiful, delicate butterfly has transparent wings.

Wikimedia Commons | Wikimedia Commons

The fittingly named Glasswinged Butterfly gains a handy advantage in the wild from their pretty wings, as they make it difficult for predatory birds to track them in the air.

8. Back in the '60s, this jet-powered hover-train was the future of high-speed travel in France.

Reddit | jaykirsch

The Aerotrain even set a world speed record for overland air cushion vehicles, but it never went into regular service.

9. In the '60s, clever advertising minds decided to use the pigeons that famously populate Venice's St. Mark's Square to market Coca-Cola.

Twitter | @Museum_Pictures

They spread grain on the ground to spell out "Coca-Cola" and let the birds do the rest.

10. Popular breakfast chain Waffle House takes its role in the "Waffle House Index," FEMA's measuring stick of risk management in natural disasters, so seriously that it started its own storm tracking center.

Twitter | @WaffleHouseNews

At least, it did for Hurricane Florence.

11. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when a chicken grows its feathers back after molting, look no further.

Reddit | amyjay1986

It's not pretty, but it's definitely interesting how they come in like little paint brushes.

12. Although it's in a state of disrepair and in a remote hilltop location, Rajgad Fort in India remains a popular tourist destination.

Twitter | @micnewdelhi

It's no Taj Mahal, but it's too big to explore in one day, so visitors can stay there overnight.

13. In Romania, you can visit an amusement park at the bottom of a 2,000-year-old salt mine.

Reddit | schlorpsblorps

Salina Turda sits 120 meters (almost 400 feet) below the surface and boasts an amphitheater, a lake with rowboats, a Ferris wheel, a bowling alley, and mini-golf, among other attractions.

14. And in Colombia, you can challenge your legs to make the ascent to the top of the Rock of Guatape.

Reddit | Mass1m01973

A mere 659 steps up a zig-zagging staircase is all that's required to reach the top.

15. If you're looking for a new definition of "luck," look no further than these three cards belonging to the same man, who is all too aware of his good fortune.

Reddit | hillgerb

Talk about a fateful dental appointment.

16. As French painter Edouard Detaille created a huge battle scene called Vive l'Empereur, his assistant painted a painting of Edouard painting Vive l'Empereur.

Reddit | Barondeus

Vive l'Empereur and the companion piece, Portrait of Edouard Detaille, hang side by side in Australia's Art Gallery of New South Wales.