50 Random Facts List #53

When the 24-7-365 restaurant Denny's decided to close for Christmas in 1988 many stores realized that they didn’t have any keys, or even locks, since they never used them. 700 of the 1221 restaurants needed to get new locks installed for the holiday.

2. In 2011, a Brazilian man (Joao Pereira de Souza) found a penguin (Dindim) covered in oil and close to death. He nursed him back to health and since then the Penguin swims 3 to 5 thousand miles every year to spend time with his human soulmate.

3. In 1994, a lawyer was hired for a traffic case in DuPage County, Illinois. Instead of sitting his client at the witness table, he dressed another lawyer to look like the client. When the only witness (a policeman) was asked to point to the defendant in the room he pointed to the fake client. The real defendant was found not guilty.

4. Most Converse sneakers have a very thin layer of felt applied to their soles, in order to legally classify them as slippers. This saves the company more than 33% in import tariffs.

5. A Polish pilot who, after being shot down during the Battle of Britain, landed at a country club and proceeded to play and win a game a tennis before an RAF truck came to pick him up.

Gary Webb was the reporter from the San Jose Mercury News who first broke the story of CIA involvement in the cocaine trade. He was found dead with "two gunshot wounds to the head." His death, in 2004, was ruled a suicide.

7. In the original Pinocchio novel, Pinocchio spends several months as a donkey, performing in a circus until he breaks his leg, gets sold, and is drowned in the ocean for his leather. The puppet inside survives, trapped in the dead donkey form until a school of fish eats away the flesh.

8. Some Chimp infants have been observed caring for rocks like human children care for dolls. This implies that, like humans, chimpanzees are capable of imagination.

9. A "devil's advocate" was a person sanctioned by the Vatican to argue against the canonization of a potential new saint by pointing out their flaws and critically evaluating their miracles. Christopher Hitchens served as a devil's advocate for Mother Theresa.

10. Fordite is hardened automobile paint taken off factory floors that is cut and polished and can be made into jewelry.

A 40-acre Montana fire was caused by a hawk landing on power lines while clutching a large snake. The wriggling snake touched a second power line, completing the circuit and electrocuting both animals with up to 700,000 volts.

12. "Eye Of The Tiger" was created to be the theme for Rocky III because Queen wouldn't give Sylvester Stallone the rights to use "Another One Bites The Dust".

13. In the original Little Mermaid novel, the mermaid's legs constantly feel as if she is walking on sharp knives. The prince likes to watch her dance, which she does for him, despite excruciating pain. Then he marries someone else and the mermaid kills herself.

14. The 'Swiss Army Man' directors had a dummy made up of Daniel Radcliffe, assuming he didn't want to do the weird, nude, farting stunts and lay around in the dirt. But he loved it so much, he insisted on doing every scene.

15. The use of bowls to house goldfish comes from a misunderstanding of Chinese display vessels--small, temporary containers to show guests goldfish that were otherwise housed in ponds. Fishbowls are so detrimental to goldfish's health that they are prohibited in places like Rome for animal cruelty.

The reason that Cersei and Bronn never appear in the same scene in "Game of Thrones" is that the actors used to date, had a terrible breakup, and now have stipulations in their contracts that they can't be made to act in the same scene together.

17. Beaver's teeth are orange because they contain iron. This gives them strength and prevents against tooth decay.

18. There is a system where cows can choose when they are milked. The whole process is automated, customized for each cow, and has seen cows living 30% longer than those at farms that use traditional methods.

19. A drifter named Theodore Coneys, also Known as the Denver Spider-Man, broke into a man’s house and hid in the tiny attic, ended up murdering the man, then continued to hide in the attic for months during the murder investigation, while the murdered man’s wife still lived in the house.

20. Michael Jackson had an entire shopping mall closed down and had people he knew pretending to be customers, so he could go shopping like a normal person.

After the last bucardo (a wild goat species) died, scientists brought a clone to life, making the bucardo the first species to become de-extinct. The clone died after seven minutes, also making it the first species to go extinct twice.

22. There are 2 ATMs in Antartica and only one of them works at a time. The reason for this is so if the working one breaks down, the other can be cannibalized for parts. A repairman also stops by every 2 years to perform routine maintenance.

23. An American psychologist named Timothy Leary was able to get out of prison after he filled in a psych test which put him as low-risk which he himself designed.

24. 93% of all humans who have ever existed are dead.

25. The actors on Mad Men were smoking Ecstacy herbal cigarettes, that have no tobacco or nicotine in them, partly because actors smoking real cigarettes get agitated and nervous according to the show creator.