33 Extraordinary Random Facts Out of This World | Random List #297

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26Eugene Debs

Eugene Debs

In 1918, American socialist Eugene Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criticizing the government participation in World War 1. While in prison, he ran for president in the 1920 presidential election and managed to get 3.4% in the popular vote.


27. Lizards in areas hit by hurricanes have evolved grippier, bigger toe pads in order to hang on against high winds, even within one generation. Researchers studied 188 anole lizard species in 70 years of hurricane data. In areas spared by hurricanes, lizard toe pads were smaller.


28. In 1996, Russia launched a Mars Rover called "Mars96". It crashed back to earth after 2 days, containing plutonium-238 fuel which would have survived the impact. Nobody ever bothered to look for it, and it's believed to just be lying around the Andes mountains.


29. Judith Viorst (author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) wrote a poem about her parent's deaths when she was 7-year-old. Both her parents were still alive at the time and were not amused.


30. The rest of U2 were furious at Bono for spending too much time interacting with the crowd during their 1985 Live Aid set, forcing them to cut their hit "Pride (In the Name of Love)". To their surprise, that moment was considered the highpoint of the entire event, and it made them global stars.


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31New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico was the original Sunshine State, unofficially using the slogan prior to statehood in 1912 and eventually adding it to their state license plates in 1932. However, they never made anything official, and Florida managed to adopt an official resolution and steal the slogan in 1970.


32. "It's a Small World" song, which is frequently played at its headline attraction at Disney theme parks, is the only Disney song not copyrighted due to the request by UNICEF. The song was played at the 1964 NYC World's Fair as a salute to UNICEF and is seen as a gift to children around the world.


33. An 18-year-old French forger named Adolfo Kaminsky faked IDs for Jews during World War 2. He once worked for 3 days straight to make papers for 300 children until he passed out. He kept his work a secret. His own daughter only learned the details while writing a book about him.

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