50 Random Facts List #179

A rabbit named Dory helped save her owners life when he slipped into a diabetic coma. When Simon Steggall passed out watching TV, Dory jumped on his chest and thumped furiously. Her odd behavior caught the attention of Steggall's wife (she thought he was just sleeping) who called for help.

27. When Salvador Dali was exhumed 28 years after his death in 2017 for DNA tests, it was discovered that his famous “10 past 10” mustache still remained perfectly intact.

28. A freed slave named Samuel McCulloch was the first Texian soldier to be wounded during the Texas Revolution, in 1835. A law later prohibited freed slaves from residing in the Republic of Texas but specifically excluded McCulloch, his family, and his descendants in recognition of his service.

29. To test the Dr. Fox Effect, researchers once created a jargon-filled, contradictory, and nonsensical lecture. Audiences rated the lectures highly if the presenter was expressive, even though the lecture was gibberish.

30. The Ikh Khorig or Great Taboo is an area of almost a hundred square miles in Mongolia believed to contain Genghis Khan's resting place. The area was patrolled by elite guards and their descendants for centuries and was only opened to archaeologists in 1989.

In curling, good sportsmanship and politeness are essential. Congratulating opponents on plays and abstaining from trash talk are part of what’s known as the “Spirit of Curling.”

32. The inspiration for creating SimCity game came when its creator Will Wright was developing a helicopter shoot'em up and found that he enjoyed messing around with the tool that creates the landscape maps more than the game itself.

33. Leonardo da Vinci’s last name isn’t “da Vinci.” It just means “from Vinci” as in Vinci, Florence in Italy (where he’s from).

34. In the Godfather, Vito Corleone's cat was actually a stray cat that they found in the middle of the Paramount lot.

35. The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, which was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico is now known as the Great Carrier Reef.

One way the Romans measured time was through Saeculum - the period of time from the moment an event occurred (for example the founding of a city) until the point in time that all people who were alive to see it happen were dead.

37. Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pastafarians) are allowed to officiate weddings in New Zealand.

38. In the 1940s, the Canadian government deliberately starved indigenous children and used them as test subjects just to study the value of vitamins.

39. The reason mint feels cold is due to it containing menthol. Menthol activates the same receptor (TRPM8) that detects cold temperatures, so the brain will interpret it as something cold. 

40. In 1909, Chicago publisher W. D. Boyce was visiting London and was lost on a foggy street when a Boy Scout helped him find his way, but refused a tip saying it was his good deed ("good turn") for the day. Four months later W. D. Boyce started Boy Scouts of America.

Napoleon Bonaparte signed the Louisiana Purchase in his bathtub at the Tuileries Palace. An American hotelier in Louisiana bought the tub in 2006 and put it in a hotel in New Orleans for guests to bathe in.

42. Mr. Rogers had a deep friendship with Koko, a gorilla who knew over 1000 words in sign language. He even had her on his series titled "You and I Together", dedicated to helping children get over their fears of meeting new people or being in different situations.

43. The experience of walking into a room and forgetting exactly what you came in there to do is called the Doorway Effect. Walking through an open door and entering a new room creates a "mental block" in our brains and resets the memory to make room for the creation of new memories.

44. In the 1940s President Johnson, at that time as a Congressman, he used to drive around with a snake in his trunk because he believed black people were scared of snakes. He used to go to fuel stations, get served by black guys and made them open the trunk. He was once almost beaten with a tire iron.

45. The Austrian Embassy in London has been at 18 Belgrave Square since 1866. It is the only Austrian embassy still in place since the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Some tree species have “crown shyness” where the uppermost branches don’t touch the nearby trees resulting in gaps that resemble channels or zig-zagging.

47. Peanut butter was originally invented as a substitute for people who couldn't eat meat because of how bad their teeth were.

48. When a domestic cow and an American Bison mate the offspring is called a "Beefalo."

49. The very first Medal of Honor recipient, Private Jacob Parrott received the honor in 1863 after stealing a train just north of Atlanta and riding it north to the Tennessee border. Along the way, they destroyed track switches and cut telegraph lines, severely limiting Confederate communications.

50. 90% of "dead" cell phone batteries returned to the manufacturer are repaired and resold.