50 Random Facts List #84

Polish intelligence officer Witold Pilecki volunteered for a resistance operation to be imprisoned in Auschwitz in order to gather intelligence about the camp. He organized a resistance movement in the camp, sent information to the Allies about what was happening there, and escaped in 1943.

2. Horses can communicate with humans by pointing to symbols. Researchers trained the horses to understand 3 symbols which meant “blanket on,” “blanket off,” and “no change.” After training, they were tested in different weather conditions and researchers found the choices matched the weather.

3. There exists a dying Mexican language called Ayapenaco. The only two people (Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez) left in the world that can speak it are a pair of elderly men who refused to talk to each other until 2014 when they decided to make amends to try to prevent the language from going extinct.

4. The term "Dumpster" is actually a brand name, just like Kleenex is for tissues.

5. Harold and Kumar were written to go to Krispy Kreme, but after the company declined to be featured in the film, White Castle was selected instead. Happy about the free advertising, White Castle become the first fast-food chain to have an R-Rated comedy advertised on fast food containers

Ikea's founder, the late billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, was incredibly frugal: He disciplined his employees for not using both sides of the paper. He was once turned away from Businessman Of The Year Award for arriving by bus. He also assembled all his furniture himself.

7. Cruise ships cause significant environmental harm by burning bunker fuel, the "nastiest and deadliest" fuel in the world.

8. Despite spending half his career in the saddle, Clint Eastwood is allergic to horses.

9. Researchers at King's College London found that the drug Tideglusib stimulates the stem cells contained in the pulp of teeth so that they generate new dentine - the mineralized material under the enamel.

10. The first recorded battle in history was the Battle of Megiddo in 1457 B.C. It left such an impression on the Levantine people there that they believed the final battle of humanity would take place there as well. That's where the word Armageddon comes from.

In 2013, police busted a meat packing plant in Guangxi, China that was selling 20 tons of chicken meat slaughtered in 1967. It had been treated with hydrogen peroxide to make it look presentable in markets and stores.

12. Washington state sends it's most dangerous sex offenders to an island in the Puget Sound (Special Commitment Center), which is accessible only by a restricted state-run ferry.

13. A man named Janusz Korczak accompanied 192 orphans to a concentration camp, refusing to save himself, while cheering and entertaining the children. He boarded the trains with them and was never heard from again.

14. Pill bugs (also known as Roly polies, Potato bugs, etc.) are not insects but are closely related to shrimp and other crustaceans. They also have gills.

15. A tiger is heavily favored in a fight with a lion and a tiger once killed a lion with a single paw swipe at a zoo in Turkey.

Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death and consume the human equivalent of 140,000 calories per day to compensate. They enter a mini-hibernation mode (torpor) each night just to survive the suspension of calories.

17. In 1971, a crazed fan shot a flare-gun towards Frank Zappa and his band during a concert in Switzerland. The resulting fire injured several audience members, melted the band's equipment, and destroyed the venue. This incident was the inspiration for Deep Purples, 'Smoke On The Water.'

18. The least-visited national park in the U.S. is the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which lies entirely north of the Arctic Circle and has "no established roads, trails, visitor facilities, or campgrounds."

19. A woman named Lee Wachtsetter pays $164,000 per year to live on a luxury cruise ship.

20. A man named Robert Evans has discovered over 40 supernovas (exploding stars) mostly using a 16-inch telescope in his backyard in New South Wales.

In 1901, the Wright brothers built their own wind tunnel out of wood, old hacksaw blades and bicycle spokes; using it to test more than 200 wing shapes which were handmade from pieces of sheet steel and wax. The data it generated was critical to their first powered flight two years later.

22. The 'Frisbee' was named so after a local pie company 'Frisbie Pies' sold many to students at the local college who used to finish the pie and throw the empty tray around for fun, yelling 'Frisbee' in case anyone nearby was in danger of being hit.

23. There is a sport named Archery Tag that is basically like dodgeball but with foam-tipped arrows.

24. Upon reading all of the 18 volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica he had received as gift for his enthronement, Shah Fat'h Ali of Persia decided to change his official title to include "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopaedia Britannica."

25. The last words of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was “I’m bored with it all." It was spoken after suffering a stroke at the age of 90.