50 Random Facts List #200

There is a Native American version of a Trojan Horse. In 1763 Native Americans played an early version of Lacrosse outside a British fortress during the Pontiac's Rebellion. They hit the ball through the open gate and both teams chased after the ball. Once inside, they killed the soldiers.

27. Marilyn Bell, at the age of 16, became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario in 1954. Her 32-mile route was greatly lengthened by high wind and high waves. Fanged lamprey eels attacked her in 65-degree water. She accomplished this feat in 21 hours.

28. Sea turtles are among the most ancient animals still in existence today with the oldest fossil dating back 215 million years – older than the oldest dinosaur.

29. There is only 1 reported death from radiation at Fukushima, but over 1600 reported deaths from "evacuation stress" such as suicide and health access.

30. Scientists in Tel Aviv have found that soon after a bee flies past an Evening Primrose, the flower increases the sugar content of its nectar by 30%. Playing bee sounds has a similar effect, but there is no effect on the flower when other vibrations are emitted.

In 2013, fraudsters in China cost Apple over $2 billion by returning fake iPhones for refunds.

32. McDonald's used to have a mascot named Captain Crook who stole Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, as opposed to the Hamburglar's hamburger thievery.

33. Dietary Iron is required for production of sleep monoamine neurotransmitters, so lack of Iron will cause severe sleep disturbance. A study showed that those who were Iron deficient also had a significant increase in anxiety and depression.

34. Story Musgrave is the most formally educated astronaut with six academic degrees. He is a consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California, and is the only astronaut to fly on all 5 Space Shuttles.

35. The PS3 launched in 2006 at $599 making it one of the most expensive consoles of all-time. But despite its high price, Sony continued to lose money on every PS3 sold until 2010.

The streets of London were once paved in gold called fool's gold. Martin Frobisher shipped over a thousand tons of fool's gold from what's now Canada to London under the impression that he was shipping gold ore. It was later discovered that it was iron pyrite and it was used for road metalling.

37. In the midst of the messy divorce, Charles Dickens referred to his wife as “dearest darling, Pig” and attempted to have her committed to an insane asylum so he could live with his 18-year-old mistress.

38. The Matrix wanted Sandra Bullock as 'Neo' before Keanu Reeves took the role. The producers had such a hard time finding the right man for the role that they briefly considered changing Neo into a female character. She was also considered for the part of Trinity and regretted not taking it.

39. John Laurens was an officer in the Continental Army who strongly opposed slavery, and tried unsuccessfully multiple times to institute black regiments in the struggle for independence. His abolitionist views were admirable, considering his South Carolina birth and father’s ownership of slaves.

40. President Coolidge and his wife had a pet raccoon named Rebecca who lived with them in the White House. Rebecca was supposed to be eaten for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner, but they adopted her instead.

The smaller chunks that break off of icebergs are officially called "bergy bits."

42. In 1846, a species of land snail named the eremina desertorum was collected and glued to a museum index card, presumed dead. 4 years later, the specimen was being looked at with warm water, when it suddenly awoke and looked around to see what was going on.

43. Tar and Feathering wasn't fatal because it was done with pine tar not the asphalt tar used in modern times.

44. In 1942 BBC issued an appeal for postcards and photographs of the coast of Europe from Norway to the Pyrenees. It was actually an intelligence-gathering exercise. They were sent to the War Office to help determine a suitable location (Normandy) for the eventual D-Day landings of 1944.

45. A man named Robert Shields wrote the longest diary in history - 37.5 million words written over a 25 year period until he was disabled by a stroke. He spent hours every day chronically the most minute details of his daily life and even limited sleep to 2 hours at a time to record his dreams.

Albert Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for relativity and he did not attend his prize giving, despite being informed that he was about to receive the prize. He chose to continue with a lecture tour of Japan because he simply no longer valued it.

47. James Avery (Uncle Phil) served in the US Navy in Vietnam from 1968-69. He then moved to San Diego to write poetry and TV scripts for PBS and won an Emmy for his effort. He got a scholarship from UC San Diego and graduated there with a Bachelor’s degree in Drama and Literature in 1976.

48. When Batman TV show of the 60s was canceled by ABC after 3 seasons, it was on the verge of being rescued by NBC for a fourth season but it was discovered that the sets of the TV show were already destroyed. NBC rescinded the offer not wanting to spend hundreds of thousands building the set.

49. The word quarantine comes from an Italian variant 'Quaranta giorni', meaning 40 days, the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague.

50. On February 14, 1990, Michael Jordan wore a nameless no. 12 jersey because his no. 23 jersey had been stolen. He scored 49 points, setting a franchise record for players wearing that jersey number.