50 Random Facts List #145

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26American citizenship

American citizenship

Between 1907 and 1922, American-born women who married non-citizens automatically lost American citizenship. In 1917, hundreds of American women who had married German men were forced to register with the government as 'enemy aliens.'


27. Amethyst was considered one of the five most precious gemstones, alongside diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald. When large deposits were found in Brazil, the value of amethyst plummeted, and today it is considered only semiprecious.


28. The Babylonians actually discovered Trigonometry about 1,500 years before the Greeks. Not only were their tables more accurate because of their base-60 numerical system (which made thirds more accurate), but their approach using ratios is something relatively novel to us even today.


29. In 2015, it was announced that Alexander Hamilton would be replaced on the $10 bill by the portrait of an as yet undecided woman, starting in 2020. However, due to the surging popularity of Hamilton, a hit Broadway musical based on Hamilton's life, in 2016 this decision was reversed and Hamilton will remain on the $10 bill, and instead a woman will appear on the $20 bill.


30. Kidney transplants do not replace the old diseased kidneys but instead adds 1 or more kidneys in the lower abdomen of the body.


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31Arrested

Arrested

In 2012, a tourist in Iceland was arrested for running naked around the Prime Minister’s office. He explained that he had been tricked by some Icelandic girls who told him that it was tradition to run around naked on the Prime Minister's lawn.


32. The most powerful radio station ever built was so strong that locals could hear the radio in pipes, bedsprings, and pots and pans. It was located in Ohio and its broadcast covered the eastern half of the United States.


33. Prehistoric rock art in the Saharan desert indicates that there were ancient hallucinogenic mushroom cults as far back as 9,000 years ago. The mushrooms were used in rituals of a mystical-religious nature, with drawings of Gods draped with the venerated mushrooms appearing repeatedly.


34. Peter Jackson has a secret passage in his house that leads to an underground reconstruction of Bag End.


35. In the late Middle Ages, a man accused of murder fought the victim's dog in a trial by combat. As the dog's jaws were around his throat, he confessed and was hanged.


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36Peking ravioli

Peking ravioli

Chinese dumplings are called "Peking ravioli" in the Boston area because when Joyce Chen opened her Chinese restaurant in Cambridge she thought it would sound more appealing to the large Italian population in the area.


37. Prior to 1963, it was not uncommon for students in the United States to be required to read from The Bible as part of their elementary education. A lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court, ended the practice that year.


38. The indigenous Native American tribes of Miwok in Northern California used to play a game similar to soccer. Played by both sexes, girls were allowed to do anything, including kicking the ball and picking it up and running with it, while boys were only allowed to use their feet, but if a girl was holding the ball he could pick her up and carry her.


39. The Roller Coaster Tycoon game was programmed by only one person, Chris Sawyer, in Assembly language.


40. While 95% of U.S. adults support organ donation, only 54% are actually signed up as donors.


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41Pregnant woman

Pregnant woman

Burger King Russia offered free Whoppers for life to any woman who got pregnant by a World Cup 2018 player. The company later apologized.


42. In the early 70s, Hans Zimmer embarked on a career in music after making a move to the UK and joined a few bands here and there, where he played mainly Keyboards and Synthesizers. Simultaneously, he worked in the advertisements to make the ends meet. In 1980, he received mild fame through an LP he did with the Buggles, titled ‘The Age of Plastic’.


43. J.K Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone was accepted by Bloomsbury and even then only at the insistence of the chairman's eight-year-old daughter.


44. Not only would you need an infinite energy source to reach the speed of light, you would also need an infinite energy source to slow down from the speed of light.


45. Harvard Business School surveyed 182 senior managers in a range of industries about meetings: 65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work; 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient; 64% said meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.


46Anglo-Zanzibar war

Anglo-Zanzibar war

The shortest war in history was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar in 1896 and lasted 38 to 45 minutes. At 09.02 British ships started a bombardment of the sultan's palace which ended at 09.40. 500 Zanzibaris were killed, but only one British sailor was injured.


47. When Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders made their famous charge up San Juan Heights, they were entirely on foot. The only one riding anything was Roosevelt. They had left the horses in Florida.


48. Pouring water on your head cools you down more effectively than drinking.


49. Stalin’s son Yakov once attempted suicide in his room via firearm. He missed his heart and hit his lung instead. While his stepmother Alliluyeva tended to his wound and called the doctor, Stalin was quoted as saying, “He can’t even shoot straight.”


50. New buildings in Hong Kong must have 1.6 female toilets for every one male toilet.

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