50 Random Facts List #178

American singer Paul Simon thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year in his acceptance speech for the 1976 Best Album Grammy. Stevie had won the previous two years, and would, indeed, win again in 1977.

27. Before the Civil War, uniforms were custom-sewn. Such a massive number of people had to be outfitted that uniforms needed to be mass produced. Soldiers were put into subtypes: large, medium, and small—classifications that eventually found their way to civilian clothing.

28. Taco Bell provides tortillas for NASA to use in lieu of bread, which cause problems due to crumbs getting caught in instruments - these Taco Bell tortillas are ideal due to their long shelf life.

29. The movie "Death Wish III" was changed to "Death Wish 3" because the Cannon Group conducted a survey and found that nearly half of the U.S. population could not read Roman numerals.

30. The Spongebob Squarepants producers originally used royalty-free marching music at the end of "Band Geeks," but couldn't find music they liked. They instead used David Glen Eisley's "Sweet Victory." The song went from nearly unknown to selling 300,000 downloads on iTunes within a year of the episode airing.

A Starbucks hot “venti” latte and “grande” latte each have exactly two shots of espresso. The extra dollar you are paying for the larger size is essentially buying you 4 ounces of frothed milk.

32. More high-ranking Nazi officers died in the Czechoslovakian car Tatra 77a and 87 than in active combat, prompting Hitler to ban his officers from driving them. It was nicknamed the "Czech secret weapon" by the Allied forces.

33. The top two sumo referees, Tate-gyōji, have daggers on hand while officiating matches. These daggers symbolize the referees' willingness to ritualistically disembowel themselves if a call of theirs is overruled. In modern times, they submit resignation letters when they make a poor call.

34. A hippopotamus can defecate so much in the water they are in, that fish start to die because the bacteria in the hippo's feces use up the majority of the oxygen contained in the river.

35. A single Canada Goose has between 20 and 25 thousand feathers. Just a fraction of an inch of this feather insulation can keep a bird's body temperature at 104 degrees, even in freezing weather.

Ph.D. students display twice as many symptoms of psychiatric disorders such as depression than other people.

37. The frigate bird can fly continuously for 185 days, going more than 35,000 miles (56,327 km.) They are seabirds that can't land in or take flight from water, do not have waterproof feathers and can travel up to 40 minutes without having to flap their wings.

38. English drummer Phil Collins was the only artist to perform at both Live Aid 1985 benefit concerts. He played at Live Aid Wembley, went by helicopter to Heathrow, flew to New York on the Concorde, then another helicopter to Live Aid Philadelphia.

39. For the first Harry Potter film, some scenes were filmed twice, with the actors saying 'Philosopher's Stone' for the UK version and 'Sorcerer's Stone' for the US version.

40. A Belgian-French explorer named Alexandra David-Néel snuck into Tibet in the 1920s to learn about Buddhism when it was closed to outsiders. She lived until the age of 101 and her writings influenced Jack Kerouac among others.

Crows have the ability to remember human faces and if they don’t like you they won’t forget you either. The children of the crows would later carry on the same grudge.

42. Peru has 90 different microclimates, including 30 of the 32 world climates, making it one of the most diverse countries in the world in microclimates.

43. Ahmad Shah Massoud led a resistance to the Taliban that protected 30% of Afghanistan's population. He promoted gender equality, had no reports of human rights abuses under his leadership and warned about 9/11.

44. Louis Braille was blinded as a boy when using an awl. At the age of 15, also using an awl, he invented a reading system for the blind. It was never adopted during his lifetime, but after his death, it grew to worldwide popularity and is now known as "braille".

45. In 2015, a Washington high school senior named Ibrahim Ahmad strapped fake explosives to his body and asked a girl to prom with a sign saying "I know it's a little late but I'm kinda the bomb. Rilea will you be my date to prom?" The school gave him a five-day suspension but the girl said yes.

We are paid to give plasma but not blood because people will lie about communicable diseases when paid for blood.

47. After losing a son to drug-related suicide, American actor Carroll O'Connor publicly outed his son's dealer and pushed for a law allowing families and employers to sue drug dealers to recover losses and costs of drug treatment.

48. A warrior poet named Götz von Berlichingen lost his right arm by cannon fire in 1504. He had a mechanical arm invented so that he could still hold a sword and fought in numerous battles, led rebel armies, was attributed with coining the phrase "he can kiss my a*s" and died at the age of 82.

49. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis clashed during the filming of Groundhog Day. Murray wanted the movie to be more contemplative while Ramis saw it as more of a comedy. After filming was completed the two didn't speak to each other for 21 years, only reconciling shortly before Ramis' death in 2014.

50. Blood transfusions for newborns below 4 months of age need to be compatible to the blood type of the mother, not of the newborn due to newborns not creating their own antibodies, but instead only having maternal ones.