50 Random Facts List #115

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26Soap opera virus

Soap opera virus

In May 2006, over 300 Portuguese school children received medical attention for an illness which caused rashes and shortness of breath. The illness was later cited as being a case of mass hysteria caused by an episode of a soap opera which dealt with a deadly virus outbreak in a school.


27. Donkeys can be used to guard livestock from coyotes and wolves. They instinctively attack, by biting and kicking and if they get the chance they will even kill.


28. Branches from a 3000 year old, still living, Greek olive tree (Olive tree of Vouves) were used to weave victors' wreaths for the winners of the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


29. New-born human infants can differentiate between genders, showing a clear preference for females. They're especially attracted to their own mother's face. They're also better at adults when recognizing features on a monkey's face.


30. The United Kingdom has invested in the world's biggest stockpile of plutonium (well over 100 tonnes) that could either provide us with thousands of years of unlimited energy or become a massive financial and environmental white elephant as nobody can agree on what to do with it.


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31Choi Jin-Sil

Choi Jin-Sil

Following the suicide of the famous Korean actress Choi Jin-sil, the frequency of suicides in Korea increased by 162.2% for 3 weeks confirming the “Werther effect,” according to which a suicide can trigger others who are on the edge to also commit suicide.


32. Snake oil was introduced to the US by Chinese laborers who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad. Derived from the Chinese water snake, snake oil was rich in the omega-3 acids that helped reduce inflammation and was quite effective, especially when used to treat arthritis and bursitis.


33. Charles Darwin ate many exotic animals he discovered including the Galapagos turtle.


34. In 2013, a Tennessee magistrate judge ordered a woman to change her son’s name from "Messiah" to Martin DeShawn McCullough because “The word Messiah is a title that has only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ.”


35. Crows use cars to crack open nuts. To avoid being run over, they drop their nuts at pedestrian crossing.


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36Adam Clayton

Adam Clayton

U2 rock band has performed only one show without the full band; Adam Clayton got so drunk the night before a show in Sydney that he couldn't go on stage and was replaced by one of the band's technicians. Clayton felt so bad he missed the show that he quit drinking. U2 rock band has performed only one show without the full band. Adam Clayton got so drunk the night before a show in Sydney that he couldn't go on stage and was replaced by one of the band's technicians. Clayton felt so bad he missed the show that he quit drinking.


37. Veterinary doctors have a high suicide rate and experience psychological distress at a rate nearly double that of the general public.


38. The Immortal Game is a casual match that is played between chess grand masters in the interim of the first international chess tournament. Despite not being an official match, it is considered one of the most famous matches of all time.


39. A 95-year-old war veteran named Huang Yung-Fu saved his abandoned village in Taiwan from demolition by covering the entire settlement with colorful painted-characters. “Rainbow Village” is now a protected cultural site and tourist destination.


40. There in an organism named Endolith which lives inside rock, coral, animal shells, in the pores between mineral grains of a rock or on the ocean floor. They reproduce every 10,000 years and are perhaps millions of years old.


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41Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War 2. He was classified as F4 (registrant not acceptable for military service) because the US Army considered him “not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint.”


42. A very nearsighted person can see more or less normally underwater because the faulty refractive index of the eye is negated by the water’s refractive index.


43. Oscar nominee “Shape of Water” actor, Richard Jenkins got his start by being mistaken for the actor who auditioned before him. He overheard the guy before him, playing guitar, and how much they loved him. He realized what happened when the director asked him to play guitar, which he couldn’t do.


44. Until the 1960s, computing power was measured in “Kilo-girls,” as the earliest computers where humans and more often than not, female.


45. F-117 Nighthawks are stored in Type 1000 storage which requires them to be flown every 4 years and maintained until recalled for active service again.


46Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr

When Niels Bohr escaped from Denmark, he was smuggled out in the bomb bay of a Mosquito bomber. Because he didn't wear his helmet, he didn't hear the pilot instructing him to put on his mask, causing him to pass out from oxygen starvation for most of the flight.


47. Mike Myers' 2008 film "The Love Guru" was so badly received by critics that he hasn't had an on-camera starring role in a film since. One critic, in his review, predicted it would be "career-killing" for Myers and "one of the worst films of at least the past several years."


48. Blood passes through the kidneys at a rate of 1.1 liters per minute. The human body has about 5 liters of blood. This means your entire blood gets filtered by your kidneys every 5 minutes.


49. Jack's nude sketch of Rose in the movie Titanic was actually drawn by director James Cameron himself on set.


50. Amnesics who play Tetris and have no memory of playing Tetris still experience the "Tetris Effect."

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