50 Random Facts List #58

28 fossils of the largest extinct species of the snake were discovered in a coal mine of Columbia. The "Titanoboa" lived about 65 million years ago. The species clocked out at about 48 feet long and weighed roughly 2,500 lb.

2. A 2012 survey of 1,000 Americans found that 45% of them wished they could skip Christmas due to financial pressures.

3. The German Parliament has the graffiti "I f*ck Hitler in the a*s" preserved as a historic monument on one of its walls.

4. The 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge has a program that sends a crew member to drive people across if they're too afraid to drive themselves. It gets between 1,200 to 1,400 calls every year.

5. The World Bank stopped tracking inflation in Zimbabwe in November 2008, when it reached 79.6 billion percent. One year later, the country abandoned its currency. The exchange rate at the time was 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars to $1US.

The city of Melbourne gave email addresses to trees so locals could report problems, but they received thousands of love letters instead.

7. As a child, martial arts actor Jet Li was asked by Richard Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!"

8. Sir Richard Branson (English business magnate) dislikes the formality of neck ties so much that he often carries around a pair of scissors with him, ready to cut the ties off of unsuspecting tie wearers. He even has a cushion that he keeps at his home on Necker Island made up from the ties of some of his victims.

9. Aeschylus, the ancient Greek tragedian, was supposedly prophesied to die from a falling object, and therefore stayed outdoors. He was killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on him, mistaking his bald head for a rock.

10. During Charles Manson's trial, the judge began carrying a revolver under his robe after Manson charged at him with a pencil.

The ADE 651 is an inert rod of metal with a plastic hinge that was sold as a bomb detector. It was used by the militaries of Iraq, Afghanistan, and more than a dozen other countries for years before anyone noticed that it did nothing at all.

12. Most Americans aren't aware of blackcurrant flavor (one of the most popular soft drink and confection flavors in the world) due to a ban on the plant in the 1900s because of its role in spreading disease among white pines, a principle industry of the growing American republic.

13. Wayne Gretzky was so dominant in Fantasy Hockey, that many leagues split his stats into two players: Gretzky (Goals) and Gretzky (Assists).

14. Nintendo sued Galoob (Toy company) to prevent the release of its NES cheating device, the Game Genie; a legal battle followed. But for the Sega Genesis version, Sega not only allowed its release but officially licensed it.

15. The word "dashboard" originated as a barrier of wood or leather fixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the driver from mud or other debris "dashed up" (thrown up) by the horses' hooves.

Because Germany dubs Hollywood movies to their native language, for every Hollywood movie-star there is an equivalent German voice actor who is used again and again in the same films as their counterpart.

17. Carrie Fisher used gaffer's tape to hold down her breasts because George Lucas 'didn't want her looking too aggressively feminine'. Carrie Fisher joked about it saying: 'No breasts bounce in space, no jiggling in the Empire'.

18. Adding salt on pineapples makes it sweeter. The salt reacts with the acids of the fruit, thus converting into a neutral compound and losing the sour taste. Because of this, the pineapple then becomes sweeter.

19. The human eye is capable of seeing some ultra-violet light but it is filtered out by the lenses in our eye. Painter Claude Monet had that lens removed due to cataracts and may have been able to see ultra-violet in his right eye.

20. The stormtrooper who hit his head on the door in the original Star Wars was also the stormtrooper who got mind tricked with “these are not the droids you’re looking for”. His name is Wanten.

The Simpsons in its early seasons was controversial, with parents and conservatives criticizing Bart Simpson as a poor role model for American children. First Lady Barbara Bush thought it was "the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen", in which Marge Simpson wrote a letter to her in response.

22. Because of the austerity measures following the war, Queen Elizabeth had to use clothing ration coupons to pay for her wedding dress. She was given hundreds of clothing coupons by brides-to-be to help her, but she had to return the coupon gifts as it was illegal to transfer them.

23. During Prohibition, Grape bricks/juice came with warnings on how "not" to make wine so people could make their own wine.

24. Early humans hunted animals by chasing them to exhaustion. "Persistence hunting" takes advantage of humans' two legs and ability to sweat, which makes us stronger distance runners than prey.

25. In 2008, Dmitry Agarkov changed a credit card (Tinkoff Credit Systems) agreement to his benefit and the bank signed it. When in 2010 the bank wanted him to pay late fees, he sued it, as according to the changed deal, it owed him money 24 million rubles ($727,000). It all ended with an out-of-court settlement.