1Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael, the island which served as a filming location for the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and several scenes in The Last Jedi, was founded by a Gaelic Christian monastery between the 6th and 8th century and remained continuously occupied until abandoned in the late 12th century.
2. All mammals, from mice to whales, have roughly the same number of heartbeats in a lifetime: 1 billion.
3. There's a family (Da Silva family) in Brazil where every member has 12 fingers.
4. Christmas used to be illegal in Massachusetts and much of New England and remained taboo in that part of the country until at least 1870 when the Feds declared it a national holiday
5. Peter Jackson made a huge push to get Andy Serkis nominated for his role as Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings.’ The Academy denied his request, stating that the motion-capture performance was ineligible as it “technically wasn’t the actor being nominated for the role, but rather the character.”
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Snoop Dogg
The singer of Peanut Butter Jelly Time died in an 11 hour police standoff during which time his brother-in-law Snoop Dogg attempted to calm him down and surrender.
7. When German World War 2 U-boats would cruise below the surface with diesel engines running, waves swamping the snorkel tubes would cause the engines to suck air from the boat to keep running, producing a partial vacuum. Crews reported it was very painful, and eardrums were sometimes ruptured.
8. Gavrilo Princip, the man that assassinated Franz Ferdinand and started World War 1, was arrested and when in prison, contracted Skeletal Tuberculosis. It started eating his bones so badly that when his arm was amputated, he weighed 40 kilograms (88 pounds).
9. American politician and former vice president Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) argued against the idea of a standing army, comparing it to a standing penis: "An excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure."
10. Half of the 12 men who've walked on the moon still are alive, youngest is Charles Duke at 82, oldest is Buzz Aldrin at 87.
11Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Beethoven's 9th Symphony is traditionally performed in Japan at the end of the year, which was introduced in World War 1 by German prisoners. In December 2009, for example, there were 55 performances of the symphony throughout Japan.
12. When Coca-Cola created the modern image of Santa Claus in their advertisements, Santa was depicted without a wedding ring, causing fans to write to Coca-Cola asking whether he was still married to Mrs. Claus.
13. Terminal patients may exhibit a burst of energy and lucidity near death. It is known as Terminal Lucidity.
14. There are 5 times more former vegetarians/vegans than current ones.
15. 9 out of the 18 songs on Eminem’s “Marshall Mathers LP” make references to killing women.
16Louie Louie
The Kingsmen's famous "Louie Louie" had sold only 600 copies before it was played in a "worst album of the week" radio spot, eventually propelling it to a million sales and the Billboard #2 hit. The band had already broken up.
17. The raven in It's A Wonderful Life was called Jimmy and starred in over 1000 films over a 20 year period.
18. The gene for having an extra finger is dominant opposed to the normal 5 fingers in each hand which is recessive.
19. The old man that fixes Woody in Toy Story 2 is named Geri and is actually a character from a previous Pixar short, Geri's Game.
20. Among OkCupid users, men ranked women's attractiveness in an almost perfectly even distribution and the majority as average. Women ranked 80% of men as worse looking than average, and all the site's male founders as "significantly worse looking."
21PT Barnum
American showman PT Barnum bought a blind, elderly slave with a shrunken appearance and toured the country with her while claiming she was 161 years old and had breastfed George Washington when he was a baby. When she died, Barnam then sold her to a surgeon and had her autopsy performed live on Broadway.
22. Bangkok's real name is "Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit".
23. Kim Peek, a savant who was the inspiration for the Rain Man movie, could read both pages of an open book at once, one page with one eye and the other page with the other eye.
24. Our weeks have 7 days because the ancient Babylonians had one day for each known celestial body: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.
25. The tradition of putting Christmas lights up outside started in Denver, Colorado on Christmas Eve, 1914. D.D. Sturgeon, the founder of Sturgeon Electric, wanted to give his ill son some Christmas joy, so he wrapped his pine trees with electric bulbs, which were dipped in red and green paint.
