36 Random Awesome Facts That You Probably Had No Idea About – Part 56

Researchers found that skinks living below a mountain in warmer climates would lay eggs. At higher climates, the cold caused the skinks to hold their eggs inside for longer until they would hatch internally for live births.

2. Kit Harington is a direct descendant of Robert Catesby who is the mastermind behind the plot to blow up Parliament of United Kingdom. Kit also plays Catesby in the BBC drama Gunpowder, retelling the story behind the plot.

3. In 1260, a 10,000 man Mongol army was destroyed by Egyptian Mamluks after being fooled by a feigned retreat and getting surrounded, a tactic often used by the Mongol's themselves.

4. Breaking Bad's popularity coincided with a 51% increase in methamphetamine use in Germany and a 400% increase in meth smuggling attempts in Britain.

5. Instead of providing famine relief, most of Live Aid's money went to funding an Ethiopian Dictator (Mengistu).

Bill Murray attended the musical version of Groundhog Day twice in a row.

7. Loot Boxes in video games are regulated in some countries under gambling laws.

8. The Von Trapp family, made famous by The Sound of Music, lost their fortune in the Great Depression, and the children's singing careers were purely a way to earn a livelihood.

9. In 2009, a woman named Jammie Thomas Rasset was fined $1.9 million by Recording Industry Association of America for illegally downloading 24 songs, i.e., $80,000 per song.

10. Tom Waits won a lawsuit against Audi when Audi used a song similar to Waits's "Innocent When You Dream" sung by Waits' imitating singer. Waits had previously won a lawsuit against Frito-Lay for a similar commercial. Waits donated his settlement money to charity.

In 1982, The Misfits were arrested in New Orleans on charges of grave robbing while looking for Marie Laveau's grave. They bailed themselves out of jail, skipped their court date, and went to play their next show in Florida.

12. The ancient Romans built an artificial waterfall (Cascata delle Marmore) which to this day is the tallest man-made waterfall in the world.

13. Missouri was the first US state to amend wildlife conservation into its constitution in order to prevent it from being easily repealed, by a state-wide referendum. 81 years later, the model Missouri uses for wildlife conservation is still a transnational standard.

14. In June 2017, George Clooney sold his tequila company (Casamigos) for $1 billion.

15. During World War 2, the Japanese submitted multiple groundbreaking studies to peer-reviewed journals they said were conducted on monkeys. In reality, they have conducted on humans as part of Japan's infamous Unit 731 projects (Maruta).

African wild dogs vote on important pack matters by sneezing.

17. Originally, Superman couldn't fly. Until animators wanted him to, he could only "Leap tall buildings in a single bound".

18. 20 minutes spent on the London Underground's Northern Line is as bad for your lungs as smoking a cigarette.

19. The Earth has enough Iron to make three new planets, each with the same mass as Mars.

20. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys (American rock band), who wrote such hits as "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin' USA," has a lifelong fear of water.

Jackie the lion, one of the mascots for MGM, not only survived two train wrecks, an earthquake, a boat sinking, and an explosion at the studio, but also a plane crash that left him stranded in the Arizona wilderness for days.

22. When Norman Lear finished shooting the 'All In The Family' pilot he didn't have enough money left in the budget to do a proper main title sequence. So he shot Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton singing 'Those Were The Days' at the piano in front of a live audience.

23. The police officer (Thomas Delahanty) shot during the assassination attempt on President Reagan sued the gun manufacturer (RG). The case was rejected and set the precedent that gun manufacturers can't be sued for crimes committed with their weapons.

24. The very first video rental store owned by Eckhard Baum, which opened in Germany in 1975, is still in operation.

25. On the day before the 1996 Presidential election, the New York Times Crossword puzzle had a clue that required knowing the future: "Tomorrows headline". Except, either of the likeliest answers fully completed the crossword.