38 Interesting Random Facts To Turn Your Curiosity Into Discovery – Part 94

Angel' by Sarah McLachlan (the song famously used for the ASPCA animal cruelty PSA's) is actually about the fatal overdose of Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin.

27. The International Debutante Ball is a biennial, invitation-only event hosted in the New York City Waldorf Astoria hotel that presents well-connected young ladies from upper-class families to high society. The participation fee alone starts from $22,000.

28. Disney World has its own government, allowing the corporation control over sewage, roads, building permits, and many other facets of municipal control in the area. This includes issuing themselves liquor licenses.

29. The Smash Mouth hit song "Walkin' on the Sun" is about the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

30. Chilly Bang! Bang! was a kids' juice in a water pistol. Kids would put the barrel in their mouths and pull the trigger to drink it. It was pulled from store shelves.

12,000 bears are farmed for their bile in Asia which is used in traditional Chinese medicine and generates $2 billion per year. Farming always involves surgery on the bears to insert a catheter or to cut a hole through the abdomen by which the bile leaks. Bear bile has no medicinal effect.

32. Breaker boys between age 8-12 were employed to work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week to separate impurities from coal. Despite public disapproval, the practice of employing children in this line of work lasted for decades, only finally ending in the US in the 1920s.

33. The introduction of the Davy lamp was followed by an increase in mine accidents, as it emboldened companies to mine in areas that had previously been regarded as being too unsafe.

34. The original founders of Tesla were Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They created the company's first car, the Roadster, and were eventually ousted by the board of directors.

35. Texas Hold 'em opening hand of Ace-King off suit is sometimes referred to as an Anna Kournikova - both for the initials (AK) and because the hand looks good, but does not win much.

The core of the Earth is about 2.5 years younger than the crust. This is due to gravitational time dilation, a consequence of General Relativity.

37. Seth Green almost ended up playing Jay (of Jay and Silent Bob) in Mallrats. The studio didn't want Jason Mewes in the role and he was forced to audition for it. While Kevin Smith successfully fought off studio executives, Mewes had to audition for the role alongside both Seth Green and Breckin Meyer.

38. Leon Ray Livingston was a famous hobo and author who traveled under the name “A-No. 1.” He perfected the hobo symbols system, which let other hobos know where safe places were, always dressed immaculately, and retired after the lifestyle “bought him to the brink of psychological collapse.”