26Brown

The Japanese word for “brown” is 茶色 (cha-iro). The first character means “tea”, and the second one means “color”. Thus, literally translated, it means “tea color.”
27. The song "Sultans of Swing" was inspired by Mark Knopfler witnessing a shoddy pub band playing to a small, drunken crowd. At the end of their set, the singer finished with “Goodnight and thank you. We are the Sultans Of Swing.”
28. Aluminum was once so valuable that Napoleon III served dinner to his most honored guests on aluminum plates, while the less distinguished was served on gold and silver plates.
29. Pink Floyd musician David Gilmour CBE auctioned his guitars for charity. His Black Strat sold for $3,975,000 making it the most expensive guitar sold at auction. Proceeds of the auction, which raised $21,490,750, were donated to ClientEarth environmental charity.
30. Sarah Hyland, of Modern Family fame, was diagnosed with kidney dysplasia when she was young, received two kidney transplants from her father and her brother and has undergone 16 surgeries, even during the shooting of Modern Family
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan would write personal checks to individuals with financial struggles. He was known to drop $4,000 or $5,000 checks into the mail for certain people. He was also known to call upon the Air Force to aid in the transport of children who were experiencing medical emergencies.
32. Australia actually sells sand to Saudi Arabia. The reason behind this is that the type of sand used to make concrete is different than the sand usually found in the deserts of Saudi Arabia (and other countries in the region), so for Dubai to build the Burj Kalifa they had to import the sand to make the concrete to build it.
33. Sharks can expel the entire contents of their stomach by literally forcing the stomach inside-out all the way past its teeth. This is called 'stomach eversion' and it's a way to get rid of indigestible objects but occasionally the stomach is unable to retract, which can be fatal.
34. American rocket scientist Jack Parsons was a follower of occultist Aleister Crowley. He was defrauded of his life savings by his friend L. Ron Hubbard, worked for Howard Hughes, homebrewed his own absinthe, and died in a lab explosion which a colleague claims was intended to create a homunculus (humanoid creature).
35. Pablo Escobar called off a hit on a man who had fatally shot a member of the Medellin Cartel when he found out that the shooter, Gianni Russo, had starred in The Godfather.


RE: Fact #29 (David Gilmour CBE) – It was sold again in 2026 for $14,550,000