50 Random Facts List #38

Futurama writer named Ken Keeler with a Ph.D. in applied math created a mathematical theorem just for the purpose of using it in a Futurama episode to expose young people to higher level math.

2. The reason the Colorado Rockies mascot is a triceratops is because a dinosaur rib bone was unearthed during the stadium's excavation.

3. Medals from 2016 Rio Olympic Games are defective and show rusting, chipping.

4. During World War 2, a Japanese Kamikaze hit the USS Missouri and his body landed on deck. Though an unpopular decision, the Captain demanded a proper burial for the Japanese soldier. He explained to his crew that: after death, he is no longer your enemy, and the crew hand stitched a Japanese flag.

5. David Letterman created a scholarship for the average "C student," recognizing that it's not all about marks, some are extraordinary and amazing in other ways.

On a trip to China, Prince Philip joked to students that "if you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed". After initial concerns of offense, it was revealed that Chinese authorities were unconcerned. They explained that traveling Chinese students were likewise warned not to go "round-eyed".

7. In 2008, a man named Mr. Monk at a ski resort in Italy stole a rubber padding used on a barrier to stop people at the bottom of a sledding hill. He used the padding to sled down the hill, hitting the barrier that he stole the padding from and died.

8. Lawrence McKinney got $75 after being wrongly imprisoned for 31 years. The Tennessee Board of Parole denied McKinney's request to exonerate him by a 7-0 vote at a hearing. A formal exoneration could open a pathway to $1 million in compensation.

9. In 2006, a Washington woman filed for public assistance and was taken to court because 4 different maternity tests claimed she was not the true mother of her children. Turns out she had absorbed her twin in the womb and her reproductive organs have different DNA than the rest of her body!

10. When Daler Mehndi was criticized for using beautiful women to make his music popular, he made a video featuring only himself. It rose to become a hit in India and an internet meme.

The story that the Titanic engineers remained inside the ship until the end to keep the electricity running didn't actually happen.

12. Disney World once considered building a fifth theme park dedicated to villains, called "The Dark Kingdom".

13. Aliens moving faster as you kill them in Space Invaders was a byproduct of the processor freeing up more memory as they could be rendered more quickly the fewer there were on screen. It was left in the game to make it more challenging.

14. The Price Is Right rigs the Plinko game for promotional ads using the fishing line so that the chip lands in the $10,000 slot. The wire was mistakenly left in place and a contestant dropped 3 consecutive chips before it was noticed. She was allowed to keep the money.

15. JRR Tolkien initially fell in love with his future wife named Edith Bratt at 16 years old. His guardian, a Catholic priest ordered him to not have any contact until he was 21. He obeyed and met her under a railroad viaduct and she broke up her engagement, converted to Catholicism and married Tolkien.

During World War 2, there was an Australian dog named Gunner whose hearing was so accurate that it could warn air force personnel of incoming Japanese planes 20 minutes before they came and before they showed up on the radar. He could also differentiate the sounds between allied and enemy planes.

17. Naloxone (Narcon) has became a mainstay of hospital emergency rooms and medical wards. It can be injected or sprayed up the nose and can stop/reverse a heroin overdose in under 2 minutes. It's so vital that the World Health Organization placed the drug on its list of essential medications in 1983.

18. Steve Jobs got a new Mercedes every 6 months because a car didn't need a license plate until it was 6 months old.

19. In 1982, a man named Clay Thompson died while vandalizing a saguaro cactus for fun. He shot the cactus repetitively and then went up to poke it to try to get it to fall over. Instead, the 500-pound saguaro arm fell and killed him.

20. Sweden is so good at recycling that, for several years, it has imported garbage from other countries to keep its recycling plants going.

The Federal Trade Commission once issued a cease and desist order to Campbell's Soup company for using marbles in their soup ads. The marbles were placed in the bottom of the soup to push the solid ingredients to the top, which was considered deceptive.

22. Although deaf schizophrenics who have never heard do report "hearing voices", they are not referring to true auditory hallucinations. Instead, communication comes via the mind's eye: visual hallucinations of moving lips, or disembodied hands and arms making sign language movements.

23. Genoa airport in Italy makes one exception to the 3 ounces of liquid rule - for pesto, which goes through a special pesto scanner.

24. Cristiano Ronaldo was asked to donate boots to raise funds for an ill child's surgery. Instead, he paid for the full cost of treatment.

25. Although park authorities deny it, Central Park officially has a population of 25 residents according to the 2010 census.