50 Random Facts List #140

Liam Neeson was once a school teacher but got fired because a student pulled a knife on him, and Neeson punched him.

2. The Indian Government banned the use of Dolphins for commercial entertainment, calling them ‘non-human persons’, and declaring that it would be morally unacceptable to capture them for entertainment.

3. In 2004, on the Montel Williams Show, a psychic named Sylvia Browne told the mother of a kidnapping victim named Amanda Berry that her daughter was dead. In 2006, Amanda’s mother passed away without ever knowing that Amanda was still alive and being held captive.

4. Early in life, each dolphin creates its own unique vocal whistle that gives it an individual identity. Because each whistle is unique, dolphins are able to call to each other by mimicking the whistle of a dolphin they want to communicate with. It's the equivalent of calling each other by name.

5. Caribbean Sperm Whales have regional accents and dialects, and tend to associate only with other whales that have the same "culture" as they do.

In 1988, Native Hawaiian singer-songwriter Israel Kamakawiwoʻole called a studio at 3 am and asked if he could record because he had a good idea. The studio owner said yes even though he had already closed the studio. About 15 minutes later he recorded Israel playing his ukulele and recorded “Over the Rainbow” in one take.

7. Monty Python's "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" is the top requested funeral song in the United Kingdom.

8. English singer Mick Jagger's youngest son is younger than one of his great-grandchild.

9. Actor Dick Van Dike didn't know his actual birthday until he was 18. His parents lied to him about his birth date to cover up the fact that he was conceived out of wedlock.

10. During the Depression, a banker convinced local residents of the small town of Quincy in Florida to buy Coca-Cola Stock. This decision resulted in the town becoming the richest town in America with more millionaires per capita than any other town in USA. A single share bought at $19 would be worth $10 million in 2013.

The United States is considered by many military experts to be entirely un-invadable due to country's large size, infrastructure, diverse geography and climate.

12. A 2011 study from UC Berkeley found that Mercedes and BMW drivers were nearly 5 times as likely to cut others off compared to drivers in non-luxury cars.

13. An anonymous biologist managed to get a fake scientific research paper accepted into four supposedly peer-reviewed science journals, to expose the problem of predatory journals. He based the paper on a notoriously bad Star Trek episode where characters turned into weird amphibian-people.

14. A woman named Elisabeth Anderson Sierra suffers from hyperlactation syndrome, i.e., an overproduction of breast milk. Instead of dumping her milk, she decided to donate it. She spends 4-5 hours each day pumping milk and in two years she has donated 609 gallons of breast milk, most of it going to feeding premature babies.

15. Elizabeth of Russia received little education, no one wanted to marry her because her mother was a peasant, and her fiancé was murdered. Regardless, when she became the Empress of Russia she built the University of Moscow, the Winter Palace, and would pay the dowry of future brides.

A man named Allan Savory had the African governments slaughter 40,000 elephants to reduce desertification and degradation of environment. He later found out it wasn’t actually related.

17. The longest known brooding period for any species on the planet goes to the Graneledone boreopacifica, an octopus that guards its eggs for an astounding 4.5 years.

18. The only member of Pink Floyd to comment on the rumor that Dark Side of the Moon was intended to be played over "The Wizard of Oz" was drummer Nick Mason, who said "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It was all based on 'The Sound Of Music.'"

19. Leslie Nielsen had essentially two acting careers. He spent two decades playing leading men and the occasional villain. After Airplane movie came out in 1980, he played almost exclusively comic roles.

20. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

The motto of Spain was originally Non-Plus Ultra ("Nothing further beyond") but after the discovery of the New World it was reversed to be Plus Ultra ("Further beyond").

22. Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones hated Space Jam so much that when Warner Brothers asked him to give a speech at a dinner for the Space Jam producers, he tried to give his honest opinion in a polite manner, but got escorted off the lot by security.

23. Humans and other primates have evolved to have special neurons that can detect snakes faster than flowers.

24. American restaurant chain T.G.I. Friday's founder Alan Stillman, despite having no restaurant business experience, opened the restaurant because the neighborhood he lived in had many young, single people and he wanted to meet women.

25. The average lifespan of an MLB baseball is 8 pitches and approximately 90 are used each game.