32 Surprisingly Pleasant Random Facts That’ll Cheer You Up – Part 234

Chinese billionaires are trying to “return” China’s lost cultural artifacts that were looted from the country by colonial powers in the 19th Century. Their efforts range from “buying back” said artifacts to hiring thieves to steal them away from museums and private collections.

2. The American flags at Disneyland don’t have 50 stars and 13 stripes. Therefore they are not classified as true American flags and do not need to be lowered or lit every night.

3. About 67% of millennials see their pet as part of the family and refer to them as a “fur baby.” They would like to take leave from work to care for a new pet if their employer offered it. Millennial dog owners spend an average of $1,285 per year on their pets.

4. When British scientists discovered homosexual behavior in penguins in 1911, they were so shocked that they published the study in Greek so it would remain accessible to only a few scientists.

5. The concept of fairy dust was only added in the later iterations of Peter Pan after several reports came forward of kids hurting themselves attempting to fly from their beds.

Famous chemist and lifelong bachelor Robert Bunsen once proposed to a girl who said yes, but he then lost himself in his work for a few weeks. When he finally emerged from his lab, he couldn’t remember if he ever proposed or not, so he did it again, only to have her turn him down.

7. The first-ever Super Bowl Halftime Show (1967) didn't feature award-winning musicians, but rather two men flying around with jet packs. The spectacle was witnessed by 60,000 in attendance and 50 million watching at home.

8. Throwing rice at weddings will not cause birds to explode and the myth that it is harmful was probably started by churches and wedding venues who didn’t want to clean it all up and for them to avoid potential slip-and-fall lawsuits.

9. When KFC opened in China in the late 80s, the restaurant accidentally translated its famous slogan “Finger-lickin’ good” to “Eat your fingers off.”

10. Hans Litten was a German lawyer that represented Nazi opposition during various trials. In 1931, he subpoenaed and cross-examined Hitler for hours. His bravery eventually resulted in his detainment and torture in various concentration camps, leading to his death by suicide.

Scientists believe that younger Sand Dollars sift through sand and ingest small grains of Magnetite, an iron-rich deposit found in the ocean. These Sand Dollars will then take these grains and store them in chambers inside their body to help weigh them down and keep them from floating away.

12. The last person to die of smallpox was Janet Parker in Birmingham the UK in 1978. She was infected in the laboratory at Birmingham Medical School. When the Professor in charge of the lab found out about her illness, he committed suicide.

13. Jan Baalsrud was a Norwegian who took 11 commandos into the fjords aboard a fishing boat full of explosives to sabotage the Nazis during World War 2. His feet froze solid and an avalanche buried him. He then used a knife to amputate his frostbitten toes and his escape made him into a Norwegian national folk hero.

14. A man in Hanover, New Hampshire used to feed donuts every day to a bear named Mink, but when he died, she started venturing into the town in search of treats. This behavior forced officials to relocate her, but the determined bear walked over a thousand miles back to Hanover.

15. Chimpanzees and monkeys are living in their Stone Age and have been for thousands of years.

In the 1900s Argentina had a tax on unmarried men that included an exemption for single men who had proposed to a woman for marriage but were rejected. Women then started proposals rejection businesses where they would charge to turn down proposals from bachelors seeking to evade the tax.

17. For 70 years, Allied Navies fought over an old photo of Esther Williams. Ship's officers would steal or take it by force, and display it in their ship’s officers' mess. It was retired in 2013 after Esther Williams died.

18. Smuckers Uncrustables sends all of their discarded crusts to be made into animal feed.

19. Martin Luther King was working on a multiracial Poor People's Campaign when he was killed.

20. During a sailing competition in the 1988 South Korea Olympics, the Singapore team’s ship capsized and the two-man team was thrown overboard. They were rescued up by Lawrence Lemieux, who went off course to reach them. Lemieux finished 22nd but was given 2nd place. He later received a medal.

ABBA’s famous outfits were chosen because of Swedish tax law. If they bought clothes for the performance they could get a tax deduction, but they had to prove they couldn’t be worn on the street. According to Björn “we looked like nuts … Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were.”

22. Winston Churchill predicted lab-grown meat 89 years ago. “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

23. Men and women of the Yanyuwa tribe in the Northern Territory of Australia speak different dialects of the same Yanyuwa language. The only time men use the women’s dialect is if they are quoting someone of the opposite sex and vice versa.

24. Alexander III of Russia saved his family when the imperial train derailed in 1888, by holding up the collapsed roof of the dining car. The onset of his kidney failure was later attributed to the blunt trauma suffered in this incident.

25. Coyotes will often befriend badgers in order to form hunting parties. The coyote hunts for faster-moving prey while the badger digs up burrows.