50 Random Facts List #93

The cast of "Cheers" was not allowed by NBC to attend the funeral of Nicholas Colasanto (Coach) because it interrupted filming. John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin) was sent by NBC to represent the cast.

27. When an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City in 1985, a hospital collapsed but nearly all the babies survived. They are known as the "miracle babies" for surviving 7 days without nourishment, water, warmth or human contact.

28. Cycling commuters have 41% lower risk of death from any cause, 52% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and 40% lower risk of dying from cancer.

29. Hutton Gibson, the father of critically acclaimed actor Mel Gibson, is a Jeopardy champion and Holocaust denier. He also believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories and rejects the Second Vatican Council because it is "a Masonic plot backed by the Jews".

30. Charlie Sheen's revelation that he was HIV-positive sparked an increase in testing equivalent to 7 World AIDs Days.

Charles Darwin had a gravel path installed at his home that he would walk around each day as he thought about problems. He would stack stones at the start of his walk and knock them down one by one as he went round, describing the difficulty of the problem as a three, four, or five-flint problem.

32. The Voyager 1 is still alive and well. In 2017, it used its rockets to maneuver for the first time in 37 years.

33. In Japan, there are strict social rules for writing a resume. For example, the photo must be attached, along with detailed personal information. Applicants use a uniform template. If it is written by hand, it must be in black ink, with no white out. Photocopies are not accepted.

34. An English Cartographer named John Spilsbury is credited with creating the first jigsaw puzzle. He cut apart wooden maps to use as educational tools to teach geography. He called it a 'dissected map'.

35. When the head of Universal Studios saw a film by a young student named Steven Spielberg, he called him in for a meeting, offered him a 7-year contract and told him, "a lot of people will stick with you in success; I’ll stick with you in failure."

The reason soccer lost popularity in America was primarily due to the Great Depression which caused many clubs to default and the shutdown of the American Soccer League.

37. There's a Batman miniseries called "White Knight" which reverses the roles of Batman and the Joker. The comic takes place in the world where Joker has been rehabilitated and now has to save Gotham City from the Batman.

38. Around 80% of ‘close door’ buttons on elevators don’t do anything.

39. The marshmallow originally came from boiling the mallow plant found in marshes. It has little in common with today’s sugary treat.

40. Tristan da Cunha is a British island in the Atlantic, about 2400 km away from the nearest continent. It is a commune where all land is communally owned and cattle numbers are restricted to discourage wealth accumulation.

In "Oblomov", the second novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, it takes the protagonist the first 50 pages, to get up from the bed, and move to a chair.

42. ‘Spirit In The Sky’ was written in 15 minutes after Jewish-raised Norman Greenbaum saw a host sing a gospel song on TV. He said, “Yeah, I could do that.”

43. The 'Baphomet Sigil,' also known as the pentagram with the goat in it is actually trademarked by the church of Satan.

44. Platypuses and Echidna do not have stomachs.

45. The total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon.

William Ellis was a Texas-born slave who crossed the border to slavery-free Mexico and became a millionaire. Later on, he attempted to bring African-Americans to Mexico and even served as a diplomat of the US to the King of Ethiopia.

47. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich was invented in 1901 by Julia Davis Chandler.

48. The first Boeing 747 to fly a commercial route was also the first to be hijacked, 9 months after it flew its maiden commercial flight. 7 years later, it was also one of the planes destroyed in the Tenerife Airport Disaster.

49. Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked in the 1500's, taken captive by indigenous peoples, became a faith healer, wandered through what is now Texas, Arizona, and Mexico on foot for eight years before finding his way back to colonized lands of New Spain.

50. Video game company Valve has no managers. Instead, employees choose which projects to work on, who to hire and can assemble their own teams for their new projects.