50 Random Facts List #68

In 2013, it was estimated there were more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the world, mostly in the densely forested areas of South America, Central Africa, Asia and New Guinea. Knowledge of the existence of these groups comes from infrequent and sometimes violent encounters and aerial footage.

27. Schools in Philadelphia went on lockdown in 2013 after a teacher misheard The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song lyrics as "shooting some people outside of school," instead of "shooting some b-ball."

28. In 1999, NASA spacecraft (Mars Climate Orbiter) burned up in Mars' atmosphere because all the units were in the metric system except for one contractors' (Lockheed Martin) numbers, which were in US Industrial units.

29. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has had the longest-running theatrical release in film history (Since 1975).

30. The last claim under the 1866 Homestead Act, which entitled a person to free frontier land if they lived on it for 5 years and built a farm, was made on 80 acres near the Stony River in Alaska in 1979.

The WHO has some very specific disease code classifications, such as "hurt at opera", "bitten by orca", "burn due to water skis on fire", and "unspecified spacecraft accident injuring occupant".

32. During the Watergate investigation, the Nixon team offered to let a Democratic Senator listen to the 'Nixon tapes'. The Senator was hard of hearing and on pain medication.

33. When a child actor is cast in California, a trust fund, or Coogan account, is set up to store at least 15% of their earnings. This was after the parents of Jackie Coogan, a child star from some early Charlie Chaplin movies, squandered nearly all of his fortune before he reached adulthood.

34. A region (Rio Omerê Indigenous Territory) in Brazil is home to the remnants of two native tribes, consisting of four and five people, respectively, who “speak mutually unintelligible languages, but are linked by marriage,” as well as “an unknown man who lives alone and is thought the be the last survivor of a different tribe.”

35. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote letters with illustrations to his kids for Christmas, every year until his youngest was 14 years old.

The number of girls in India who drop out of school due to menstruation is 1 in 5 (20%).

37. Cheddar cheese wasn't the dominantly produced cheese in Britain until World War 2, when cheese factories were forced to produce Cheddar due to its high yield per liter of milk. This was necessary due to the introduction of rationing.

38. When Isaac Watts (English Christian minister) wrote: "Joy to the World", he didn't intend it to be about Christmas, but rather about Christ's promised return at the end of time.

39. In 2006, Jasmine Richardson at the age of 12 stabbed her little brother to death while her 23-year-old boyfriend murdered her parents. She's the youngest person in Canada to get charged with murder.

40. Poles (Polish people) once held the strong belief that they were the descendants of an old Iranian tribe.

An 18th century German named Matthew Birchinger, also known as "the little man of Nuremberg," played instruments, was a calligrapher and a famous magician. He performed tricks that have never been explained. Yet he had no hands, legs, or thighs, and was less than 29 inches tall.

42. The weeks before Christmas is the most popular time for couples to break up, according to data analyzed from Facebook.

43. There are myths of an advanced civilization of red-haired people who disappeared after the last ice age (5,000+ years ago).

44. Grace Slick, the lead singer of psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane, planned to spike President Richard Nixon's tea with 600 micrograms of LSD after being invited to a tea party at the White House.

45. The Daisy Cutter was a bomb specifically designed to create helicopter landing pads in the thick jungle forests of Vietnam. The blast would level a 300+ feet circle while leaving the ground itself relatively unaffected.

Jazz legend Billie Holiday was raised in a brothel by teenage parents, worked as a prostitute alongside her mother, was addicted to heroin her entire life and, weeks before her death at 44, was arrested for heroin possession in her hospital bed.

47. During the Manhattan project, Albert Stevens was injected with plutonium without his knowledge or explicit consent. He survived over 20 years, accumulating a total radiation dose of 64 Sv, the highest known in any human being.

48. Rudolf Hess (Prominent Nazi politician) spent over 20 years as the sole inmate of the 600-cell Spandau Prison.

49. US Navy's new class of aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford can accomplish 25% more aircraft launches per day than the Nimitz class and requires 25% fewer crew members. The Navy estimates it will save $4 billion in operating costs over a 50-year lifespan.

50. There is a 2,700 km long wall (Moroccan Wall) running through the Sahara desert. Created in 1987 it is still manned 24/7/365 by thousands of soldiers, supported by radar and surveillance equipment, and it features the longest continuous minefield in the world.