50 Random Facts List #14

A Comcast customer who was constantly dissatisfied with his internet speeds set up a Raspberry Pi to automatically send an hourly tweet to @Comcast when his bandwidth was lower than advertised.

2. During World War 2, JFK was stranded in the Solomon Islands and ended up carving a message into a coconut, that a native delivered to the nearest US base and saved his life

3. Hitler once asked 18-year-old figure skater and future actress Vera Ralston "would you like to skate for the swastika", to which she replied "I'd rather skate on the swastika".

4. Robin Williams attended Juilliard and was one of two students chosen to be in the advanced program. However, he dropped out in his junior year of the program at the recommendation of his professor because his professor told him, "there was nothing more Juilliard could teach him."

5. A man went to jail for 5 days, lost his job, had his car towed and sold all for trying cashing a Chase-issued check at a Chase bank

The 1981 sex comedy Porky's is the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time with slightly over $111 million

7. For 3 decades legendary female pro wrestler The Fabulous Moolah effectively controlled most of the female wrestling in the US, would allegedly sexually and financially exploit the women she managed and sabotaged any female wrestler who could pose the threat of taking her place professionally.

8. The median age of the country of Niger is 14.8 years old. 50% of the population is under the age of 15.

9. Gunsmoke, the longest-running television series of the 20th century, was canceled so abruptly that CBS didn't even bother to tell the cast and crew. They read about it in trade publications the next day.

10. The Queen is above the law and cannot be charged civilly or criminally.

Politicians in ancient Rome kept slaves named "nomenclators", whose sole job was to remind their masters of the names and pertinent details of all the different people they met.

12. In 2003 an Ohio man was convicted of the murder of his family in California after an entomologist identified that some of the bugs caught in the radiator of his car were local to California, thus refuting the suspect's alibi.

13. Ken Osmond, Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver movie, became a police officer for the LAPD and was shot three times while on a foot chase with a car thief. He was placed on disability and later retired after 18 years on the force.

14. “Killing Season” is a British medical term used to describe the time around August, when the newly qualified doctors join the National Health Service.

15. NOAA has had a 400 sq ft underwater research base for 30 years; long-term residents are called 'aquanauts'

Astronauts use liquid salt and pepper because the normal type would just float away and be a safety hazard.

17. OK Go wanted to distribute their album in the form of DNA and became the first band whose album was blocked by the FDA.

18. In Mississippi, punishable by jail time of not less than 30 days, it's illegal to have a second illegitimate child.

19. Sum 41's album, Chuck, was named after a peacekeeper that saved the band (by acting as a human shield) from mortar fire.

20. There is a program called Rigs-to-Reef that transforms old oil rigs into reefs, and that there are over 3800 oil rigs on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

Among other pranks, the pirate Benjamin Hornigold once captured a ship and its crew only to take their hats, telling them that they had gotten too drunk the night before and thrown them overboard.

22. Spain had a king named Charles II of Spain who was so malformed due to incest that he couldn't close his mouth and ended up destroying his entire dynasty.

23. Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American Oscar winner, was required to sit at a segregated table; her white agent, William Meiklejohn, sat at the same table. The hotel hosting the ceremony had a strict no-blacks policy but allowed McDaniel in as a favor.

24. Sword swallowing is not an illusion of any kind: the performer actually pushes the sword down their esophagus and into their stomach. 29 deaths resulting from sword swallowing have been reported since 1880.

25. In Polynesian mythology, Maui from "Moana" died when he was crushed to death inside of a toothed vagina after shapeshifting into a worm.