Random #241 – 50 Amazing Facts About Everything

In the Wild West, it was most common for 6-shot revolvers to only be loaded with 5 rounds. A live bullet in the chamber below the hammer of a 19th-century single-action revolver can be set off with a sharp knock, hence it was not desirable to carry one fully loaded. This was known as the ‘Cowboy Load.’

27. Actors in the early silent film era often went uncredited because audiences just didn’t care. Then, in 1910, actress Mary Pickford became so popular cinemas started specially advertising her films, making her the world’s first movie star.

28. In the 1860s, an atheist tobacconist named George Hull created a 10-foot stone statue (Cardiff Giant), buried it, then exhumed it a year later as proof of giants, all to mock a bible verse that states giants once lived on the Earth.

29. Abraham Lincoln wrote poems throughout his life, including this one at the age of 17: Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e], And with my pen I wrote the same, I wrote in both hast and speed and left it here for fools to read.

30. James Franco launched a college course entitled "Master Class: Editing James Franco...with James Franco," in which student editors are to compile a 30-minute documentary on Franco, using behind the scenes footage of Franco supplied by Franco, to "create a cinematic image of James Franco."

Hans Munch, the goodman of Auschwitz was the only doctor who refused to participate in the selection process. He created elaborate, safe experiments to keep his subjects from being exterminated. He is the only person to be acquitted at the Auschwitz Trials.

32. In World War 2, a female feudal lord named Sibyl Hathaway took control of over 275 Nazis to force them to fix up her island after German occupation ended in Sark.

33. Sailors slept in hammocks, as they stayed well balanced even if the ship was in motion. The Royal Navy formally adopted the sling hammock in 1597 much after Columbus discovered them in the Bahamas. Sailors got so accustomed to hammocks that they even took them back on leave.

34. Blue Whales are the largest animal to have ever existed on Earth, being larger than all dinosaurs, and every single big sea animal from the past.

35. Inuits effectively teach their children to control their anger and emotions not with discipline, but through stories.

In the final years of World War 2, an Italian businessman named Giorgio Perlasca risked his life by posing as a Spanish diplomat in order to save more than 5,000 Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. Perlasca, a non-Jew, has been honored for his heroism, courage, and compassion by several nations.

37. People with “baby faces” tend to live longer healthier lives than those who look their age.

38. The Sloppy Joe is a highly controversial sandwich. Historians believe it originated in Cuba. Bar owner José García created a handheld version of ropa vieja to serve to his tipsy customers. Others believe that the loose meat sandwich started in Sioux City, Iowa from a dinner cook named Joe.

39. One of the Seven Great Houses in Ancient Iran was the House of Karen who once tried to claim independence and refused to pay their tribute, but was ultimately defeated for this.

40. The first large scale human trial for the birth control pill was conducted on Puerto Rican women in the 1950s. These women were unknowingly participating in the clinical trial and the deaths of participants were not investigated. 

In 2015, Tu Youyou became the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for helping to create an anti-malaria medicine. In China, she is being called the "three noes" winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she's never worked overseas.

42. Two months before President Franklin Pierce’s inauguration, his last surviving child was killed in a train accident. He refused to be sworn in on a bible, believing God was punishing him for his past sins.

43. Nicolas Cage was considered for the role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler. When taken to a live event, he thought wrestling was real like UFC! In the end, the crew had a meeting where it was determined that Cage looked too healthy for the part, so the role went to Mickey Rourke.

44. The term "tire", the rubber component of a vehicle's wheel, comes from the word "attire", from the idea that a wheel with a tire is a dressed wheel.

45. The ponds that are common in residential neighborhoods are not installed as water features. They are actually retention basins used to offset the drainage capacity of the ground removed by paving roads and building houses.

Several years ago there was somehow a common cold outbreak at a research base in Antarctica after 17 weeks of complete isolation. No cause was found.

47. River Thames is one of the cleanest rivers in the world that flows through a major city, after being declared biologically dead 50 years ago.

48. Sony reportedly fired Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and nearly replaced him with Jake Gyllenhaal because they suspected Tobey of faking an injury to negotiate bigger pay.

49. Both "canceled" and "cancelled" are acceptable ways to spell the past tense of the verb "cancel". Americans favor "canceled" (one l), while British English and other dialects prefer "cancelled" (two l's). However, there is only one correct spelling of the noun "cancellation".

50. Thousands of monkeys in the Lopburi province of Thailand are split into two gangs: temple and city monkeys. The monkeys rely on tourists for food but due to the lack of tourism during the Coronavirus pandemic, the monkeys starved and took to waging large scale 'gang wars' over as little as a single banana.