34 Awe-Inspiring Random Facts That Are Quite Intriguing – Part 241

There is a diamond mine in Arkansas that is open to the public. Visitors can keep whatever Gems they find. Till now thousands of diamonds have been found since it opened.

2. The domain name ".tv" is actually the country code domain for Tuvalu, a country in Polynesia. Due to its popularity from its similarity to 'television', the Tuvalu government sought to capitalize on it and nearly 10% of its revenue come from royalties from .tv addresses.

3. American naval officer Victor Vescovo has reached the deepest parts of all five of the earth's oceans. He has also climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents.

4. John Carmack (founder of "id Software" known for his work in the development of Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein) was arrested at the age of 14 for helping a group of children steal Apple II computers using a mixture of thermite and Vaseline to melt the windows to break into the building.

5. In 1958, a technician named Cecil Kelley was working on a plutonium compound that went supercritical, giving him a lethal dose in just 200 microseconds. His colleagues found him outside in the snow screaming “I’m burning up! I’m burning up!”

Marlon Brando tried to purchase the rights to a movie about the Iran-Contra scandal using a former CIA connection. The CIA was able to derail this by creating a front company to outbid Brando for the rights. The man they put in charge of this operation was none other than Colonel Oliver North.

7. David Edmondson lied on his resume to get a position as a Vice President of Marketing at RadioShack in 1990s. He worked his way up over 11 years to become the CEO and resigned in disgrace after it was revealed that his resume was falsified.

8. When Ancient Romans had something stolen from them, they would "transfer" ownership of their stolen items to a deity, so as to make the god responsible for punishing the thief.

9. A Plaque in Plainfield, Indiana marks the spot where a Carriage Driver intentionally drove through a huge mudhole to fling ex-President Martin Van Buren out of the carriage and into the mud. Van Buren had opposed a bill that would have funded improvements to the National Road.

10. A woman in Utah kept her dead husband in a freezer for 10 years so she could collect his veteran's benefits. He left a notarized note saying she hadn't killed him.

The "Herbivore Men" of Japan are the men who have basically given up on marriage and love. They often can’t afford it, and they don’t want to work to death to raise a family, instead they have hobbies or anime or the internet to fill up their time.

12. The Seinfeld episode “The Pen”, in which Jerry and Elaine visit his parents in Florida, is the only episode that doesn’t feature Jason Alexander. After the table read, he threatened to quit the show if they ever wrote another episode without George in it again.

13. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is both a bridge and a tunnel. Considered one of the 7 wonders of modern engineering, it was completed in 1964 and is 23 miles long.

14. In the Wild West, it was most common for 6-shot revolvers to only be loaded with 5 rounds. A live bullet in the chamber below the hammer of a 19th-century single-action revolver can be set off with a sharp knock, hence it was not desirable to carry one fully loaded. This was known as the ‘Cowboy Load.’

15. Actors in the early silent film era often went uncredited because audiences just didn’t care. Then, in 1910, actress Mary Pickford became so popular cinemas started specially advertising her films, making her the world’s first movie star.

In the 1860s, an atheist tobacconist named George Hull created a 10-foot stone statue (Cardiff Giant), buried it, then exhumed it a year later as proof of giants, all to mock a bible verse that states giants once lived on the Earth.

17. Abraham Lincoln wrote poems throughout his life, including this one at the age of 17: Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e], And with my pen I wrote the same, I wrote in both hast and speed and left it here for fools to read.

18. James Franco launched a college course entitled "Master Class: Editing James Franco...with James Franco," in which student editors are to compile a 30-minute documentary on Franco, using behind the scenes footage of Franco supplied by Franco, to "create a cinematic image of James Franco."

19. Hans Munch, the goodman of Auschwitz was the only doctor who refused to participate in the selection process. He created elaborate, safe experiments to keep his subjects from being exterminated. He is the only person to be acquitted at the Auschwitz Trials.

20. In World War 2, a female feudal lord named Sibyl Hathaway took control of over 275 Nazis to force them to fix up her island after German occupation ended in Sark.

Sailors slept in hammocks, as they stayed well balanced even if the ship was in motion. The Royal Navy formally adopted the sling hammock in 1597 much after Columbus discovered them in the Bahamas. Sailors got so accustomed to hammocks that they even took them back on leave.

22. Blue Whales are the largest animal to have ever existed on Earth, being larger than all dinosaurs, and every single big sea animal from the past.

23. Inuits effectively teach their children to control their anger and emotions not with discipline, but through stories.

24. In the final years of World War 2, an Italian businessman named Giorgio Perlasca risked his life by posing as a Spanish diplomat in order to save more than 5,000 Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. Perlasca, a non-Jew, has been honored for his heroism, courage, and compassion by several nations.

25. People with “baby faces” tend to live longer healthier lives than those who look their age.