33 Crazy Random Facts That’ll Instantly Make You Feel Smart | Random List #248

Rami Malek watched the YouTube video of Freddie Mercury’s Live Aid performance (1985), over 1500 times in preparation for the film Bohemian Rhapsody.

2. Over a decade ago, Somali Pirates set up an exchange (like a stock market) where people could buy shares in pirate groups to finance their operations. A 22-year-old 'investor' made $75,000 in 38 days after joining the 'company' - after getting a share of ransom money.

3. 4 months after Florida man Ryan Lee Carroll won a Breaking Bad contest to meet the cast, he was charged with running a drug distribution operation when he was found with $1 million in synthetic marijuana. Also seized was a souvenir Hazmat suit signed by the Breaking Bad cast.

4. A Confederate soldier named John Stith Pemberton got stabbed in the chest in battle and afterward became hooked on morphine. He was working on a cure for his painkiller addiction when he accidentally mixed it with carbonated water and invented Coca-Cola.

5. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has his own fire department with one fire truck. He originally had two but donated one to the Muir Beach Fire Department. There are 12 firefighters in his department and they protect his land and surrounding areas from wildfires.

An Arizona man named Paul Menchaca was charged with multiple counts of sex abuse and fraudulent schemes after he allegedly faked having Down syndrome and hired female caregivers to bathe him and change his diapers. Using an online service, Menchaca posed as his mother to lure alleged victims.

7. In June 1942, Lyndon B. Johnson was supposed to be an observer on the Wabash Cannonball, a B-26 bomber in the South Pacific. Before takeoff, LBJ left the plane to relieve himself. By the time he returned, his seat was taken, so he couldn't get back on. The Wabash wound up crashing, killing everyone on board.

8. When Salvador Dali's body (Spanish artist) was exhumed 28 years after his death, his mustache was still perfectly intact.

9. In 1898, about 73% of Alabama's entire annual state revenue came from convict leasing.

10. Rags was a stray mutt who was found by a U.S. soldier during World War 1. Rags became the mascot of the 1st Infantry Division after he saved hundreds of lives by running messages under fire. When Rags was injured he was sent to a field hospital with an order from Head Quarters "The dog gets attention the same as soldiers."

Married men are healthier than men who were never married or whose marriages ended in divorce or widowhood. Men who have marital partners also live longer than men without spouses.

12. The saying "Irish Goodbye," refers to a person ducking out of a party, social gathering, or very bad date without bidding farewell.

13. The baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker was fixated on the number 3. He wore number 33, was married on November 3 at 3:33 and his phone number had “as many threes as the phone company would allow.” In 1993, he signed a $3 million contract.

14. SS Baychimo was a Swedish built 1,322-ton cargo steam-ship that was left abandoned by its crew in 1931 due to fear of sinking. Surprisingly, Baychimo did not sink but instead drifted around as a ghost ship for nearly 40 years without a crew. She was last seen in 1969.

15. Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was married to Edmund Tudor at age 12, gave birth to the future Henry VII at just age 13. A political pawn during the Wars of the Roses, her first marriage took place when she was no older than 3.

Chickens have earlobes, and the color of a hen's eggs corresponds to the earlobe color.

17. The key to American victory in the Revolutionary War was the 75-ton “Great Chain” that stretched across the Hudson River to prevent the British from moving inland. It was such an obstacle, they paid Benedict Arnold £20,000 for the plans to the Chain’s main defenses, at Fort West Point

18. Japan has spent $600 million protecting two rocks that are part of the coral reef Okinotorishima because it gives Japan a 200 nautical mile (370.4 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the atoll.

19. Hypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep during which many hallucinations can occur, including the sensation of being bigger/smaller than yourself, floating, or falling.

20. Cross dominance or mixed-handedness is a motor skill manifestation where each hand is better at different activities. Ex: being a lefty when writing but preferring the right hand for throwing a ball, etc.

Sir Ian McKellen turned down the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise as he felt it would be inappropriate after the previous actor, Richard Harris, called him a 'dreadful actor.'

22. In 1841, during a naval battle between Argentina and Uruguay, the ship from Uruguay ran out of cannonballs. The captain ordered his men to shove the hard balls of cheese they had onboard into the cannons and to fire those. The cheese tore holes in the Argentine ship's sails and killed 2 sailors.

23. Eric Betzig conceived the idea for the world's first super-resolution microscope while being unemployed after quitting his job at Bell Labs due to being frustrated with the scientific community. He built this microscope in his friend's lounge room and went on to win the Nobel Prize.

24. Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System had no real instruction manual. Instead, there was a fake manual with a sticker reading, "Real men don't need instructions". The game also featured dinosaurs, acid-spewing mummies, and robot sentries as enemies.

25. Limewire developed a subscription-based music-streaming service called ‘Grapevine,’ but industry execs wouldn’t accept the inevitable, and chose to sue them into obsolescence instead. Years later, Spotify arrived.