50 Random Facts List #124

Osama Bin Laden had the "Charlie Bit My Finger" video in his computer's audio/visual collection.

2. Ida Craddock was a 19th-century sex educator, wrote pamphlets that advised couples on the importance of foreplay, complications of having too big of a penis, and how to properly rupture the hymen. She later committed suicide after being sentenced to prison for breaking obscenity laws.

3. French grammarian Dominique Bouhours's last words were "I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct."

4. In 2010, a couple (Neal and Maddie Love) purchased the town of 'Wauconda', in Washington, for just $360,000. It came with a café, a gas station, a post office, a four-bedroom house and their own zip code.

5. It costs $6 to visit Karl Marx's grave which is located in Highgate Cemetery, London, United Kingdom.

Sacha Baron Cohen left the Freddie Mercury biopic over creative differences with Queen Band. He was told that Mercury died in the middle of the film. Impressed, he thought they meant a non-linear story structure like Pulp Fiction but realized the second half would be how the band “carried on.”

7. The Queen doesn't have a passport and doesn't need one because passports in UK are issued in her name.

8. Suicides nationwide increased by 10% after Robin Williams’ death. Researchers found a convincing parallel between the increase and sensationalized coverage/headlines of his death that violated CDC guidelines, focusing on the method of death.

9. Erik Wolpaw who wrote the dialogue for the video game “Portal” was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis while working on it. He tried to quit Valve, but Gabe Newell gave him an extended leave and told him that his only job was to get better.

10. Four times as many people are killed by ants every year than are killed by sharks.

American stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, which put one of his trademark white shirts and red ties on display. When he handed the shirt to the museum's curator, Rodney joked, "I have a feeling you're going to use this to clean Lindbergh's plane."

12. On their 2000 album 'Hooray for Boobies', the Bloodhound Gang included a track called "The Ten Coolest Things About New Jersey". The song is just 10 seconds of silence.

13. Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, King of Jamnagar in India took in and agreed to look after 1000 orphaned Polish children Jews and Catholics alike who faced an uncertain future during World War 2. The Maharaja told the children, “You may not have your parents, but I am your father now.”

14. The Carménère grape was considered extinct, until 1994, when an oenologist went to Chile and discovered that the Merlot he tasted was in fact Carménère. Turns out the grape was accidentally planted and preserved when it was mistaken for Merlot.

15. A woman refused to board a lifeboat when the Titanic was sinking as she refused to be parted from her dog. Several days later, passengers on the SS Bremen passing by the wreckage in the water, saw the body of a woman tightly holding a large shaggy dog in her arms.

Poop pills are capsules containing only bacteria from donors' poo which are used to treat gut infections. They have no scent, taste and are as effective as traditional fecal transplants while being much cheaper.

17. Mackinac Island, Michigan is culturally preserved in time and has banned motorized vehicles for over 100 years. Its residents mostly travel by horse-drawn carriages and bikes.

18. The Simpsons' co-creator Sam Simon left most of his fortune to animal charities and feeding the hungry when he passed away from cancer in 2015.

19. Cup Noodles was invented after Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen, watched as American supermarket executives broke up his ramen to fit into styrofoam coffee cups, added boiling water and then proceeded to eat the ramen with forks.

20. In the 1980s, Pharmaceutical Company Bayer knowingly sold medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS, infecting thousands of people around the world. After realizing their product was contaminated, Bayer still kept sending the same medicine to Asia and Latin America while selling a new safer version in the West.

The famous 500-year-old Treaty Oak was deliberately vandalized in 1989 with enough herbicide to kill over 100 oak trees. It managed to survive and still thrives today, albeit two-thirds of its original size.

22. In Switzerland, it's perfectly legal to download any movie or games you want on the internet for a private usage. You can even share it with your friends.

23. During Prohibition, Pabst Brewing Company stopped making beer and switched to cheese production, selling more than 8 million pounds of Pabst-ett Cheese. When Prohibition ended, the company went back to selling beer, and the cheese line was sold to Kraft.

24. Humans are the only species on earth capable of accurately throwing objects.

25. Emperor Wu of Jin (China) had so many concubines that he had trouble choosing between them, so he often rode his goat-driven carriage around the palace until the goats decided to stop. Because of this many of the women planted bamboo leaves and salt outside their bedrooms to attract the goats.