37 Authentic Random Facts That’ll Get Your Day Going | Random List #250

In 1962, when Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall refused to integrate his team, President Kennedy forced his hand by refusing to allow the team to play in their then-new stadium, which was on Federal land. Marshall relented and became the last NFL owner to integrate.

27. A starfish does not have the capacity to plan its actions. If one arm detects an attractive odor, it becomes dominant and temporarily over-rides the other arms to initiate movement towards the prey.

28. To shoot a documentary called Kadoma, 2 American Pro Kayakers and their South African guide named Hendri Coetzee attempted the first descent of the Lukuga River in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Seven days into their expedition, the guide was snatched out of his kayak by a 15-feet crocodile and never seen again.

29. In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested a 1 kg copper cylinder from France, to be used as a weight standard in adopting the metric system in the United States. The ship carrying the copper was blown off course into the Caribbean, where it was looted by pirates.

30. South Korean singer PSY, famous for Gangnam Style, stayed up late for about 30 nights to come up with the dance. He had tested various "cheesy" animal-inspired dance moves with his choreographer, including panda and kangaroo moves, before settling for the horse trot, which involves pretending to ride a horse.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was instrumental in the creation of the Hummer as a civilian vehicle. He fell in love with the military trucks he saw in a convoy on TV and pestered the defense contractor to make a civilian version, thus starting the Hummer craze of the early 2000s.

32. The first mathematical theorem to be created and proven on TV was on Futurama (The Prisoner of Benda). It theorized and proved that if two people could switch unique pairs of bodies only once, it requires only two extra individuals to return everyone to their original bodies.

33. Tony Gemignani, the first non-Neapolitan to win the World Pizza Cup in Naples had to be escorted off the stage by police for fear of being attacked by the crowd.

34. Carrie Fisher was originally cast as Miss Scarlet in the 1985 cult classic film ‘Clue’ but was replaced last minute by Lesley Ann Warren after the insurance company for the film wouldn’t cover Carrie Fisher because she had just checked into an outpatient rehab for cocaine addiction.

35. Ethiopia named one of its cities squares in Addis Ababa after Mexico because it was one of only 5 countries that refused to recognize Italy's annexation of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

Despite their fearsome reputation, Spartan warriors were no more effective in battle than any other Greek solider. Sparta lost as many battles as it won, and Spartans' brutal training resembled indoctrination of child soldiers and not combat training.

37. Each state in USA is allowed to donate two statues to be displayed in the United States Capitol building to honor persons notable in their history.