46 Intense Random Facts Few People Know | Random List #243

Pelorus Jack was a dolphin that used to guide ships through a notoriously dangerous channel in New Zealand. In 1904, someone aboard the SS Penguin tried to shoot Jack with a rifle, but Jack survived and he continued to guide all ships except the SS Penguin.

2. In 1978, an architectural student discovered that a skyscraper (Citigroup Center) in New York could topple if strong winds hit the building. The engineer that is credited for designing the building then made secret nightly repairs in collaboration with the New York Police Department, without alerting the general public to the danger.

3. Professors of universities during the Vietnam War inflated students' grades in order to help them avoid the draft.

4. Stephen Baldwin has a tattoo on his left shoulder of the initials "HM" for Hannah Montana. He got it because Miley Cryus told him he could cameo on the show if he had the initials tattooed on his body. He was never given the opportunity to cameo and now regrets getting the tattoo.

5. Canadian singer Michael Bublé was fired as an extra from The X-Files because he stole a hot dog off the craft services table.

Peanut butter manufacturers fought a 12-year legal battle with the FDA over the minimum peanut content required to be legally labeled as "peanut butter". Anything under 90% of peanuts must be labeled "peanut spread."

7. Shoveling snow is a known cause for heart attacks. Increased blood pressure combined with cold air constricting arteries creates the right environment for it to happen.

8. Moviegoers seeing "13 Ghosts" in 1960 could choose if they wanted to see the ghosts or not. The ghosts were added with a red filter on scenes with a blue filter. People were given glasses with red and blue cellophane, and depending on which one they looked through could “remove” the ghosts.

9. Despite publishing vast quantities of literature, only three Mayan books exist today due to the Spanish ordering all Mayan books and libraries to be destroyed for being, “lies of the devil.”

10. When Japanese actor Mako Iwamatsu, the voice actor of Aku from Samurai Jack, and Iroh from Avatar, died in 2006, many of his voice roles were taken on by soundalike voice actor Greg Baldwin, whose voice was almost indistinguishable.

During the response to a major bridge collapse (I-40 bridge) in Oklahoma in 2002, an ex-con took command of the disaster site by impersonating a US Army Captain. He directed FBI agents, appropriated vehicles and equipment, and led the rescue/recovery effort for two days before fleeing the scene.

12. On the set of Kill Bill, Uma Thurman had been on a serious car crash because director Quentin Tarantino insisted she perform her own driving stunts. Thurman knew the car wasn't safe but Tarantino insisted and she caved. Thurman permanently damaged her neck and her knee.

13. When Steven Spielberg re-enrolled at California State, Long Beach to earn his BA more than 30 years after dropping out, he was given three-course credits in paleontology for making Jurassic Park.

14. There is an Antarctic dialect of English, which has developed among researchers in Antarctica who have their own slang and speech patterns. Since this is one of the few linguistically isolated areas in the world, it is being used to understand how dialects originate.

15. The ‘Memorial in memory of the burning of books’ in Berlin, Germany is a library that is built underground. It is not accessible to the public, and can only be viewed through a glass plate that shows enough empty bookcases to hold 20,000 books, the amount burned in a book-burning event on May 10, 1933.

In 2019, a corporate whistleblower revealed that Apple contractors ‘regularly hear confidential details’ on Siri recordings and have even heard drug deals, medical details, and people having sex.

17. In 2004, a black bear was found passed out in a Washington State campground after drinking 36 beer cans. When rangers tried to scare it away, it climbed up a tree to take a nap. It was caught the next day after returning for more beer.

18. Christopher Nolan waited to make Dunkirk until he had earned the trust of a major studio to let him make it as a pure British film, but with an American budget. He said, "Hollywood studios are interested in films about Americans, and there were no Americans involved."

19. Computers are incapable of producing true randomness. Therefore when performing tasks like procedural generation they use outside sources like the mouse position or the fan noise as a starting point and sometimes even use “pseudorandom” generation algorithms using pre-made numbers.

20. Horses have blind spots on the front and back of their body. Keeping a hand on their body while walking around them, decreases the chances of them kicking out of shock or fear.

Minesweeper's theme was so controversial in some countries that Microsoft was forced to replace the mines with flowers in some locations and rebrand it as "Flower Garden."

22. In Russia, the first day of school is called “Knowledge Day.” It falls on September 1st and is a national holiday. Kids and parents celebrate by bringing their kids to school carrying balloons and presents for their teachers. It’s special for first graders.

23. The Pentagon has no marble within it. This is because the Pentagon was built during World War 2 and the source of marble for the government which was Italy was considered an enemy nation.

24. Sergei Krikalev is a Russian astronaut who was stranded aboard the Soviet “Mir” Space Station during the collapse of Soviet Union. The mission ended up being twice as long as planned, and he is referred to as “The Last Soviet Citizen.”

25. The commonly cultivated strawberry does not occur in nature. It is a hybrid of the Virginia wild strawberry and the Chilean beach strawberry, invented in France in the 18th century.