50 Random Facts List #138

Rinconada, Peru is the world's highest elevated city at 16,732 ft above sea level and its economy is based around a gold mine. The mine operates on a unique system where employees work for 30 days without payment, and on the 31st day they are allowed to take as much ore as they can carry.

27. In 2002, a soccer team named AS Adema scored 149 own goals against SO l'Emyrne in one match protesting a controversial referee decision in the previous game.

28. The T-shirt was invented in 1904 and it was primarily marketed towards bachelors as "bachelor undershirt." It was stretchy enough to be pulled over the head. "No safety pins - no buttons - no needle - no thread."

29. At the age of 15, Jim Carrey quit school and became a janitor to support his family after his father lost his job. They were living out of a van. He also used to carry a baseball bat in his janitor cart because "I was so angry I just wanted to beat the heck out of something."

30. New York City's Flatiron building used to cause enough downdrafts to lift the skirts of women passing by, giving a "daring" view of their ankles and legs. The phenomenon was notorious and resulted in groups of young men regularly gathering on 23rd street to watch.

The longest prison sentence ever requested was 384,912 years of jail, against a 22-year-old postman named Gabriel March Granados in Spain was accused of failing to deliver 42,768 letters. This sentence was requested by the prosecutor, while actually he was sentenced only to 14 years and 2 months of imprisonment.

32. The feat for the fastest red card in football history was achieved by Lee Todd of Cross Farm Park Celtic in a mere 2 seconds into the match. Lee Todd was sent off for foul language after he exclaimed "F*ck me that was loud" after the starting whistle.

33. In many states in the USA, you can be charged with a DUI even if the car is parked and you are sleeping in it.

34. There is a lake in the country of Palau (Pacific Islands) where jellyfishes have evolved without stingers. This happened after the lake's connection to the sea closed, leaving them isolated from their natural predators. These 'Golden' jellyfish are totally harmless to humans and you can swim with them.

35. Rice thrown at weddings poses absolutely no danger to birds. It is just a myth that the rice grains suck up water from the birds' moist innards and cause them to violently burst.

Freddie Mercury got a degree in art and graphic design and eventually used his skill to design the Queen logo, also known as Queen Crest.

37. In 1994, NBA MVP Hakeem Olajuwon released a $35 sneaker instead of endorsing shoes from Nike or Reebok because "How can a poor working mother with three boys buy Nikes or Reeboks that cost $120?...She can't. So kids steal these shoes from stores and from other kids. Sometimes they kill for them."

38. In 1992, a lawyer and a judge were looking for files on a former prisoner in a police station near Paraguay. Instead, they stumbled upon archives documenting an international conspiracy involving the torture, murder, and imprisonment of 480,000 people. It is now known as the Archives of Terror.

39. Keith Moon hated drum solos and refused to play solo in concert. During one show, Townshend and Entwistle decided to spontaneously stop playing to hear Moon's drum solo. Moon immediately stopped too, shouting "Drum solos are boring!"

40. Igloos can retain a temperature of 60°F on the inside during -50° weather. Ice is a bad conductor of heat. Any heat generated from inside the igloo, usually from body heat or a small fire, stays inside. A fire inside an ice structure? Won’t that melt the igloo? The warmth inside the igloo does melt the inner layer of snow and ice, but the air outside–often much colder than the air inside–freezes it back. The result is an additional sheet of ice on the interior walls, which adds to the insulation.

Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, American Airlines and two other corporations released a movie called Proud American in 2008. The movie featured an overly-patriotic storyline about the wonders of American life. It was a failure and became IMDB's worst movie of the 2000's.

42. J.R.R. Tolkien was rejected for a Nobel Prize because of 'poor storytelling'.

43. In World War 2, the US Army asked Americans to loan their dogs to the war effort. The dogs' handlers even sent letters home to their owners for Christmas and to inform them of their dog's performance throughout the war.

44. Restaurants often serve a fish called Escolar, disguised to be Tuna on the menu. Eating too much of this fish, more than 6 ounces, will cause explosive, oily, uncontrollable orange diarrhea. Accidents can also happen while passing gas.

45. Gordon Ramsay challenged James May from Top Gear to eat three delicacies as a "test of a man." The third delicacy was a rotten shark, which Ramsay spat out, while May finished and responded, "You disappoint me, Ramsay."

North Korea has a "three generations of punishment" system, where individuals found guilty of a crime are sent to the labor camps with their entire family. The subsequent two generations of that family are born in the camp and live their lives locked up inside.

47. Russell Crowe was born in New Zealand, not Australia. However, despite living most of his life in Australia, identifying as Australian, and appearing on Australian stamps, he was refused Australian citizenship in 2006 and 2013.

48. Bikram Yoga was invented in the 1970's by a man called Bikram Choudhury, who decided to copyright poses developed from those available for free for centuries. He also compares himself to Jesus and sues everyone who tries to "copy" his business.

49. In 2010, a law student named Dustin Kolodziej filed a lawsuit against an attorney named James Cheney Mason made a public offer on Dateline to give $1 million to anyone who could cover the distance between Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and a hotel named La Quinta Inn (where 4 people were murdered) in less than 30 minutes. The student did it in 19 minutes, but the attorney refused to pay up.

50. In 1913, it was legal to mail children. With stamps attached to their clothing, children rode trains to their destinations, accompanied by letter carriers. A newspaper reported it cost 53 cents for parents to mail their daughter to her grandparents for a family visit.