50 Random Facts List #218

The Akan people of Ghana consider the second twin to be born as the elder, as they were mature enough to help their sibling out first.

27. Over 60 old police cars were purchased for the making of the 1980 movie Blues Brothers' chase scenes, and none of them survived.

28. Daddy long legs is actually not one of the most venomous spiders in the world as it lacks big enough fangs to bite. Its fangs are as long as a recluse, they lack venom, and they are harvestmen, not even spiders.

29. Chanel's directors were Jewish. During the Nazi invasion of France Coco Chanel used her position as an “Aryan” to claim sole ownership. The Wertheimers, anticipating the move, turned the control over to a Christian French businessman who, after the war, returned the company to them.

30. Tenzing Norgay was one of the first two men who reached Mount Everest. He didn't know when his exact birthday was. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May 1953, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter.

China was one of the only places in the world that did not release Elvis Presley's music at the time of its initial release. The few Elvis fans who managed to get their hands on his records often saw the material set ablaze by Red Guards and the government denounced his music as pornography.

32. When coffee first appeared in the Ottoman Empire, it was considered a drug and its consumption was forbidden.

33. American singer-songwriter Alice Cooper used to babysit Canadian actor Keanu Reeves.

34. Sour Patch Kids were originally called Mars Men, but the name changed in 1985 to capitalize on the popularity of Cabbage Patch Kids.

35. Lady Gaga has been named godmother to Elton John and husband David Furnish’s baby son Elijah. The pop singer is already the godmother to John and Furnish’s two-year-old, Zachary, and the couple were so impressed with her guidance that they doubled down on Gaga’s godmother duties.

During the Punic Wars, the Romans realized they had no clue how to build ships. They decided to rent row boats, run aground a Carthaginian ship, and plagiarize the designs. The entire first fleet of their new Navy was based off this ship, but learning to row proved more challenging.

37. Babies don't have object permanence, meaning the concept of something existing without them perceiving it is foreign to them. Anything they can't see, doesn't exist.

38. A former fried chicken tycoon named David Bamberger turned rancher that bought and restored 5,500 acres of the most badly damaged, overgrazed land in all of Texas, restored it completely and transformed it into a showpiece for environmental restoration.

39. Martin Luther King had really bad handwriting, and after his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was smuggled out of jail on scraps of paper, his deputy Wyatt Tee Walker typed it up because he was the only one who could read it.

40. A skeleton from 7150 B.C., found in an English cave was a DNA match for a history teacher named Adrian Targett living nearby.

When Israel got attacked during the Yom Kippur war, the fact that it was a holiday likely helped rather than hindering their response. Since roadways were clear and most folks were together in synagogue, the military was able to better mobilize reserve forces more quickly.

42. Researchers have found 37 million-year-old fossils of a “Mega Penguin” in Antarctic that stood over 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 250lbs.

43. Stephen King has a system where he will license his short stories to aspiring filmmakers for just $1. This gives the filmmakers an affordable source material. These are referred to as "Dollar Babies."

44. "Sherpa" is an ethnic group and not a job title for those assisting people with climbing mountains.

45. Migros which is Switzerland's largest retail company gives a share to every Swiss adult for free, allowing them to vote in general assemblies. Furthermore, if the earnings before interest/taxes exceed 5%, the supermarkets are forced to lower their prices.

Male billy goats smell so bad because they urinate on their own head, beard, and front legs to smell more attractive to females during their mating season.

47. It is impossible to predict the paths of colliding billiard balls after only a few collisions. Tiny differences in initial positions accumulate to such a degree that by the sixth or seventh collision even the force of gravity from people standing near the pool table changes the outcome.

48. Blind people may detect and respond to light if it is a kind of sky-blue light at 481nm. "There is more to the eye than rods and cones — the discovery of a third photoreceptor is rewriting the visual rulebook."

49. When a Spartan named Pausanias was accused of treason for conspiring with the Persians, he sought refuge in a temple so that he couldn’t be tried and executed while inside. His mother went to the temple to lay the first brick at the door, which was sealed until he died of starvation.

50. In 1649, King Charles I was tried for treason and other high crimes. The King responded in his trial "the King can do no wrong" and therefore couldn't be tried or convicted. Ten days later, he was beheaded.