50 Random Facts List #228

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are separated but not divorced due to how close they still are.

27. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled.

28. While most air traffic communications around the world use the NATO phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, etc.), Atlanta doesn’t. Taxiways, Gates, and others including a ‘D’ are referred to as ‘Dixie’, so as not to cause confusion with Delta Air Lines. Atlanta is Delta’s hub.

29. The word “Apple” didn’t always refer to the specific fruit. As late as the 17th century the word was used for all fruits that weren’t berries.

30. On May 19, 1983, Diane Downs shot her three children and drove them at 5-7 mph to the hospital. Her 7-year-old daughter was already dead, her other 2 children were in critical condition. She’d also shot herself in the forearm. She claimed she’d been carjacked. She was sentenced to life plus 50 years.

The parliament of Iceland, the Althing, is the oldest surviving parliament in the world, having been founded in 930.

32. Saudi Arabia’s royal family’s net worth of $1.4 trillion makes the family roughly 16 times as wealthy the British royal family, which has a net worth of $88 billion.

33. The Parthian shot was an ancient military tactic where archers on horses would feign retreat and then turn their bodies while at full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy. It required great skill to master. Without a stirrup, the rider relied solely on pressure from his legs to guide his horse.

34. Matvey Kuzmin a.k.a the 'Lone Wolf' was the oldest person to be awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. During World War 2, a Nazi battalion paid a Russian peasant named Matvey Kuzmin to lead them to the rear of Russian defenses. Instead, he led the battalion directly into an ambush. Realizing his betrayal, the Nazis killed him. He was 83.

35. World’s oldest mouse, Yoda, reached the age of 4 years in a pathogen-free environment at the University of Michigan, living with his cage mate Princess Leia. His lab director said, “100-year-old people are much more common than 4-year-old mice.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft at 37 years old, predating Windows by three years.

37. Viggo Mortensen was offered the role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Hobbit film trilogy, but he turned it down since Aragorn never appeared in Tolkien’s Hobbit.

38. Reindeer meat is actually some of the healthiest meat out there. It contains way less fat than beef, and Norwegians are known to eat smoked reindeer, grilled reindeer, reindeer pizza and reindeer tartare.

39. Touchstone Pictures was created by Disney to release PG-13 and R-rated films. Ever since then, Disney has released films deemed inappropriate to be released under the Disney label as Touchstone.

40. In 1719 prisoners in Paris were offered freedom at the condition that they would marry a prostitute and move to Louisiana.

In the 1970s, a 15-year-old girl named Mary Vincent hitched a ride with a stranger. She was then brutally assaulted in the van, had both of her arms chopped off, and was then thrown over a cliff to die. She miraculously survived and later faced her attacker in court.

42. Bill Nye originally got his break into the entertainment industry after 4 times of being rejected to join NASA’s astronaut training program in the late 1970s and stumbled into a new career path by winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest in 1978 that launched his career into stardom.

43. Ancient Romans held mock sea battles known as naumachia for entertainment. In some cases, whole amphitheaters like the Colosseum would be flooded and the ship battles would take place within them while spectators would watch from their seats.

44. The first successful artificial insemination was performed in 1884 on a Philadelphia housewife without her knowledge. The doctor anesthetized the woman and took sperm from his “best-looking” student and impregnated her. The doctor and the woman’s husband never revealed the truth to her.

45. In 1891, Tesla made a risky demonstration to discredit Edison company’s claims on the safety of AC. During the demo, for a moment, 250,000 volts raced across the surface of his body, causing him to be surrounded by what one newspaper called “the Effulgent Glory of Myriad Tongues of Electric Flame.”

In Ancient Rome, bestiarii or gladiators who fought animals often killed themselves rather than fight. In one instance, 29 prisoners strangled each other to death rather than to fight in the arena.

47. In April of 1997, the internet faced a blackout due to a single bad router in Florida. The bug spread like a plague across the world, crashing networks everywhere.

48. Hitler privately expressed great admiration for Mussolini; however, Mussolini had little regard for Hitler. Mussolini said that the Germans were the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil, and Augustus.

49. More than half of American adults still have their childhood stuffed animals.

50. The McIlhenny Company is one of just a few U.S. companies to have received a royal warrant of appointment that certifies the company as a supplier to Queen Elizabeth II. The warrant held is “Supplier of Tabasco HM The Queen – Master of the Household – Granted in