50 Random Facts List #214

Saturns’ rings are, cosmically speaking, a very brief event. We are about halfway through their 200 million year lifespan and are very lucky as a species to be alive to witness them. “Some velociraptor with a telescope looking at Saturn would not have seen rings.”

2. Sea urchins are called "sea urchins" because hedgehogs were called "urchins" until about the 15th century. Therefore, sea urchins are ocean hedgehogs.

3. Immediately after the end of slavery was declared in America, there was a surge in Wanted Ads placed in newspapers across the country. African-Americans used them to search for family members sold or escaped, sometimes decades earlier.

4. All "warranty void if removed" stickers are illegal in the US since 1975.

5. Geoffrey de Charny, a French knight, a veteran of the Hundred Years War, writer of Book of Chivalry, dedicated parts of his book to preventing psychological trauma from warfare, and cautioned his comrades that “when they would be secure from danger, they will be beset by great terrors.”

The Greek word for “Carpenter” more accurately translates as “home builder” and since Judea built structures primarily out of stone, Jesus was probably a stonemason.

7. Red hair occurs naturally in 1-2% of the human population. However, in Ireland, the percentage of population with red hair is estimated to be around 10%, making it the world’s highest concentrated population of redheads.

8. British comedian Tony Hawks became so frustrated with being mistaken for pro skateboarder Tony Hawk that he has published a book called "Tony Hawk's The A to Z of Skateboarding" that contains nothing about skateboarding.

9. FOX network refused to pick up the South Park series, saying the talking poo character (Mr. Hankey) would stain "[their] network." The series was then brought to Comedy Central, and it became the highest-rated show that made the network one of the fastest-growing U.S. cable channels at the time.

10. Christopher Reeve bulked up over 40lb of muscle mass to play Superman with the help of David Prowse. Superman and Darth Vader were gym buddies.

The maximum power that can be produced by one horse is 15 Horsepower.

12. George Lucas made the working title of Star Wars Episode II "Jar Jar's Great Adventure" to troll the cast and crew, even labeling the script as such in the original drafts.

13. The New Zealander singer Wing sent Trey Parker of South Park a letter of thanks as a result of the boost of sales of her records after she was featured in a South Park episode.

14. Cleopatra, while born Egyptian, traced her origins to Greece. She may have been more renowned for her intellect than her appearance. She spoke as many as a dozen languages, was well educated and was later described as a ruler “who elevated the ranks of scholars and enjoyed their company.”

15. American attorney Fred Phelps was excommunicated from Westboro Baptist Church before his death for having a change of heart about his religious beliefs and acknowledging the "Equality House," a local LGBT support organization, as "good people."

In 2018, scientists observed Proxima Centauri releasing a superflare so powerful that it scorched its “habitable” planet Proxima Centauri b, therefore eliminating any chance of habitability.

17. At least 43 buildings in New York City actually have their own zip code, due to their size, or amount of people who work there, or money they generate.

18. In 2009, a Californian politician named Michael D. Duvall accidentally left his microphone on during a meeting break and was caught graphically boasting about two different affairs he was having. He resigned less than 15 hours after the story broke.

19. Paul Warner Powell, a convicted killer had his death sentence thrown out when it couldn’t be proven that he had assaulted a girl he had murdered. Believing he was now immune, he sent a taunting letter to the prosecutor, admitting the assault. It was used to successfully re-convict him to death.

20. Queen Elizabeth II was immune from prosecution, could drive without a license, and could fire the Prime Minister of Australia or Canada as she pleased.

Costco purposefully designed their store without signs to force people to wander through all the aisles and find things to buy.

22. During the Erfurt latrine disaster of 1184, a party of nobles gathered in a room within the Church of St. Peter in Erfurt, right above the latrine pit of the monks. Due to the weight of the party, the floor of the room collapsed and up to 100 nobles died plummeting into the fecal pool.

23. Bill Watterson never licensed Calvin and Hobbes. Anything sold with Calvin and Hobbes on them, such as the Bumper stickers depicting Calvin urinating on something are unlicensed knock-offs. He once said: "Only thieves and vandals have made money on Calvin and Hobbes merchandise."

24. Garfield phones have been washing up on a beach in France for over 20 years. They have been washing up after shipping container full of them fell off a cargo ship during a storm and the locals can do nothing about it.

25. John Lennon was so fed up with people trying to over-analyze Beatles lyrics and trying to find a hidden meaning in them that he started purposefully putting in meaningless nonsense into songs like "the Walrus was Paul" just to confuse them.