37 More Random Inspiring Facts That’ll Make You Curious – Part 31

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" only reached #9 on the US charts when the song was first released in 1976, but reached #2 in 1992 after Wayne's World came out.

2. In 2011, Anthony Carleo stole $1.5 million worth of casino chips but never got to trade them in for the money because the chips were immediately nullified by the casino, so he just had a bunch of useless disks and soon got jailed for 3-11 years.

3. Over 100 million sharks per year are killed to fuel the shark fin industry. This has caused the populations to drop 60-90% over the last 15 years.

4. If the Netherlands stopped all water management 40% of the country would be flooded within weeks.

5. All of the actors in "Pirates of the Caribbean" learned how to work with cannons and swords in Pirates School, which included getting trained by the late famed swordsman Bob Anderson, who also was the lightsaber master who fought battles as Darth Vader in Star Wars films.

After undergoing eye surgery, French impressionist painter Claude Monet allegedly developed the ability to see certain ultra violet wavelengths, which was also reflected in some of his paintings.

7. Two mafia families almost went to war in 2012 over the sauce made by Brooklyn's best pizzeria.

8. China has cities that were made to look like Paris, London, Venice and much more.

9. Wild parrots actually name their children, and that name sticks for life.

10. Heinz Heydrich, the younger brother of Reinhard Heydrich (the architect of the Holocaust), who helped Jews escape Germany by forging identity documents.

There is a movement known as Cascadia, whose purpose is to create a nation from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon becoming the 20th largest country in the world.

12. When Ken McElroy was murdered with at least two different guns, the residents of Skidmore, Missouri refused to identify the shooters. For decades he was known as the 'town bully' due to multiple crimes throughout town, and at that time was on trial for shooting an elderly grocer in the neck.

13. Most of the modern global poultry industry relies on a single breed of chicken (Arbor Acres) from a farm in Connecticut that won the national "Chicken of Tomorrow" competition in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

14. There's a Mediterranean plant (Cistus plant) that can spontaneously self-combust (i.e., a burning bush).

15. The US Embassy in Moscow caught fire in 1977. Sensitive information was stolen by several firefighters who were also KGB agents.

In the 19th Century, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that tomatoes were vegetables.

17. In 2012, a cat named Orlando beat top investment bankers in a year long investment competition, which he chose by throwing his favorite mouse toy at a grid to select companies to invest in.

18. There is an 82-foot tall aquarium that holds more than 1,500 fishes and has a glass elevator that runs up and down the center of the tank. It has to be cleaned by divers 3 or 4 times each day. The German AquaDom is the largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium in the world.

19. In Greek mythology, Zeus thought that the Earth is overpopulated and Trojan War was instigated to depopulate the Earth.

20. The national fruit of Jamaica, the ackee, is poisonous in all but one small portion, and that portion is only safe to eat after the fruit has naturally opened on its own. Eating it prematurely or any other part causes "Jamaican Vomiting Sickness," which can lead to coma or death.

Nicolas Cage lost over $100 Million of his net worth after purchasing 15 homes, including two castles, a private island, four yachts, and a 67 million-year-old dinosaur skull.

22. Everton Football club's official store "Everton Two" is located in the shopping center Liverpool ONE. Its full name is Everton Two - Liverpool ONE.

23. Octopi, octopuses, and octopodes are all correct plural forms of the word octopus.

24. Warner Brothers hated the name "Beetlejuice", and urged Tim Burton to change it to something clever. Burton jokingly suggested calling the movie "Scared Sheetless" and was horrified when the studio actually liked it.

25. The FIFA World Cup trophy is worth nearly $20 million, far more than any other pro-sports trophy. It is made of 6kg (13.5lb) of solid 18k gold. Winning teams are only given a gold-plated replica, the original stays in Zurich.