37 Impressive Random Facts That’ll Leave You Fascinated – Part 92

Any expensive watch is most likely a fake if it makes an easily audible ticking noise.

2. In 2015, Americans left 658 million vacation days unused. 222 million of those days were lost because they could not be rolled over, meaning Americans worked $61 billion dollars worth of time for free.

3. During the 80’s, drunken calls to Hanna-Barbera studios from Flintstones fans curious to know what Barney Rubble did for a living were so common that the security guard in charge of answering the phones at night would simply reply: "He worked in the quarry."

4. The last name of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" author Dale Carnegie was not originally named Carnegie. In an example of how to influence people, he changed the spelling from Carnegey to resemble the name of the more influential Andrew Carnegie.

5. Rubbing an injury right after it happens alleviates pain because the spinal chord preferentially forwards pressure signals (to the brain) over pain signals.

American singer Marvin Gaye’s real last name was “Gay”. His father was a crossdresser, making Marvin a target of bullying. It was because of this, added with rumors of Marvin's own homosexuality, that Marvin added an "e" to his last name when he became famous.

7. Buddy Bolden, the man who is credited with creating the musical innovations that would lead to the birth of Jazz, had acute schizophrenia and was permanently committed to a mental institution at the age of 30.

8. Anita Hemmings was the first African-American female to graduate (1897) from Vassar College. She did this by pretending to be Spanish, however, she was discovered the day before graduation. She still received her diploma.

9. Before Norm MacDonald's first appearance on the Tonight Show, his dressing room was crashed by Robin Williams. While in the room, he pretended to be a Jewish Tailor, talked to Norm's friend on the phone pretending to be a Chinese Restaurant employee, dressed Norm, and then left.

10. When the World War 1 began, it was compulsory for all British officers to have a mustache. Poignantly, that edict was revoked in October 1916, because the new recruits were so young that some could not rustle up more than a thin, mousey streak.

President Teddy Roosevelt was given strong coffee and puffs of the cigar as a child to 'help' with his asthma. As an adult, his coffee drinking became legendary and he drank up to 40 cups per day. His son, Theodore Jr., remarked that his father's ideal coffee cup might be "more in the nature of a bathtub".

12. When Tater Tots first hit store shelves in 1956, people did not buy them because they were very inexpensive and there was no perceived value. When the price was raised by stores, people began buying the product.

13. NPR CarTalk co-host Tom Magliozzi's gravestone has "It's not hard work that killed him" inscribed in Latin.

14. In 1981, horse meat labeled as beef was discovered at a plant that supplied hamburger and taco meat to Jack in the Box. The meat was originally from Australia, and during their checks on location, inspectors discovered other shipments destined for the US that included kangaroo meat.

15. California is the 6th largest economy in the world behind the USA, China, Japan, Germany, UK. It's bigger than India, France, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Canada, Spain, Australia, South Korea, Mexico.

The apples in the phrase "how do you like them apples" refer to World War 1 trench mortars nicknamed "toffee apples" used by the British.

17. Arnold Schuster was a private citizen who appeared on television in 1952 to discuss how he assisted the police in catching a bank robber. He was later gunned down in the same year by an unrelated mobster who saw him on TV and hated "squealers" (informants).

18. American stand-up comedian George Carlin recorded a comedy album called "I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die" 2 days before 9/11. After 9/11, he decided not to release it. It was ultimately released in December 2016.

19. Martin Lawrence is permanently banned from hosting SNL. The comedian hosted once in 1994 and performed a monologue where he criticized the vaginal hygiene of women. The rant, in which he went into detail about what he felt was a drop in feminine hygiene standards, will never be re-aired.

20. In 2011, a man suffered a fatal stab wound from a knife-wielding chicken while watching an illegal cockfight in California.

Dogs can become afflicted by Happy Tail, a syndrome where the tail is wagged so hard that it hits walls, furniture, and people until it begins bleeding. Because of the wagging, that blood is then flicked onto walls, ceilings, and anything else in the vicinity.

22. Chinese folklore's "Pixiu" was a creature that was banished from the heavens for being unruly. It was spanked by the Jade Emperor so hard that its butthole was sealed, leaving it cursed to a diet of gold, silver, and jewels but unable to expel any of it.

23. In the Sack of Rome in 390 B.C., after the Romans were routed and the city was all but destroyed, the Romans figured their only option was to pay the invaders to leave. It worked.

24. When American composer Sun Ra played a gig at a mental hospital, it prompted a patient to talk for the first time in years. She got up in the middle of the set, stood next to him at the piano, and a few minutes later leaned over and almost screamed, "Do you call that music?!"

25. Potato chips cause more weight gain than any other food.