Fact Cards

3211. McDonald's Million-Dollar Tragedy-The 1988 McDonald's Million Dollar winner was Scotty Landret, a 13-year-old boy whose mother went on to claim the prize. She then squandered a significant portion, and her boyfriend stole what was left. He lost his mother 10 years later, no longer speaks to his sister, and was trimming trees for a living (as of 2018).

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3212. John Ruffo's Disappearance-In 1998, a court sentenced John Ruffo, a convicted fraudster who orchestrated a $350 million bank scam, to 17 years in prison. The government set his bail at $10 million, and his family pledged their homes as collateral to cover it. Ruffo then disappeared, leading the government to seize the homes of his wife, mother, mother-in-law, and other relatives.

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3213. Kazakhstan's Borat Tourism Campaign-Borat's first movie was banned in Kazakhstan, but when the second one was released, the country launched a tourism campaign around the catchphrase

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3214. Hurricane Camille's Deadly Rain-During Hurricane Camille in 1969, rainfall in Virginia was so intense that birds drowned in trees, and people had to cup their hands around their faces to breathe. The weather service reported that it was likely the maximum rainfall that meteorologists calculate as theoretically possible.

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3215. Circuit City's DIVX Failure-In 1998, Circuit City created and launched a proprietary disposable DVD called DIVX, which was viewable for only 48 hours after the initial viewing unless an additional fee was paid. The product's failure in just one year cost the company so much money that it is believed to have contributed to their eventual bankruptcy.

Source

3216. Million-Dollar '5th Grader' Winners-Only two individuals have won $1 million on the Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? game. The first was a superintendent of Georgia public schools, and the other one was a Nobel Prize winner in physics.

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3217. Misleading Microwave-Safe Label-The

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3218. Howard Hughes' Hotel Purchase-Howard Hughes, a billionaire entrepreneur, once refused to leave a hotel room in Las Vegas. Instead, he decided to purchase the entire hotel. Hughes then expanded his holdings in the city, becoming the largest employer in Nevada. People credit him with significantly contributing to the modern transformation of Las Vegas.

Source

3219. Lincoln's Quorum-Blocking Tactic-In 1840, Abraham Lincoln and four other Illinois legislators jumped out of a window to prevent a quorum on a vote that would have eliminated the Illinois State Bank. It was reported that this wasn’t the first time Lincoln had used this tactic to block a vote.

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3220. Spartan Bridal Haircut Tradition-In ancient Sparta, brides would have their hair cut short and be dressed in men's clothing on their wedding night to appear less threatening to their grooms.

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Would you mind if I started to post these facts on iFunny? I really think people would love them and I would of course credit and link your website.

    1094
  2. Your page (re)numbering makes it almost impossible to find something on your site. The search option doesn’t seem very helpful.. I tried to search for Harris Rosen or Fact #62 after seeing it on Bored Panda, but had to do a brute force search to find this page…

    1096
  3. I just went through all the facts pages. A few things I’ve noticed:
    1. #451-#470 (pgs 46 & 47) have images that are broken.
    2. #841-#1140 (pgs 85-114) are complete duplicates of earlier pages.

    11
    • Thank you for your valuable feedback. Last night we implemented a new page numbering system for our fact cards. I really messed up with facts #451-#470 which I have fixed now. I have fixed the other problem too.

      10
  4. Just stumbled onto your site via an Imgur post. Cool stuff.

    Re. one of the citations above: “The oldest D20 dice was uncovered in Egypt…”

    One “die,” many “dice.” The headline in the source given had it right; “Ancient d20 die emerges from the ashes of time.”

    Credibility is always enhanced by proper grammar.

    18
  5. I really enjoy your site. I visit it regularly at this period of my life to use up time, while entertaining myself, and increase my awareness of life through the amazing insights into stories behind what we often overlook. It is almost therapeutic I would think! For one thing, I feel grateful not to be one of the warped personalities you often report on, but on the other hand, I feel sorry for the suffering that is really behind so many people you note through our shared history, who have the apparency of many successes, but are in fact imperfect and suffering souls like all of us, on the road to something better we hope eh?

    5
    • History gives us an opportunity to look into the mistake our ancestors made, but also the feats they achieved. The lives they suffered, so that the future generations could have the freedom. I am happy to have been part of such an important part of your life, Stuart.

      6
  6. I’m sure it’s like asking a magician how his tricks are done, but I would love to know the workings of the research you have to go through to find/verify everything I’ve read on your site. To say they are entertaining would be an insult. I read several pages daily. I have found them to be fascinating, educational, informative, and downright important.

    When I was a child and went on long road trips with my parents, my Mom would would bring a box of Trivial Pursuit cards to read and ask questions to pass the time for everyone in the car…My Wife now reads these to our kids on our vacations.

    Do you take fact submissions, or do you rely on your own people to research and present them to your team/site? The only thing I can say about your site, is some click ads could be modified or even done away with. Political opinion polls, etc…I would sooner see and ad for shaving cream that some of those useless and probably biased ads (not you, just the people conducting them) But, I love what you do and am so glad that your site exists!

    1224
    • Thank you Ryan. It’s the readers like you who keep us going. It gives us immense pleasure to know that you love reading facts on our site. We do take submissions. About 10% of our facts come from submissions. You too can submit facts by filling out this form Contact Us. The ads are what keeps the servers running. We don’t take any donations, use patreon or sell merch on our site so ads are how we generate income. Though, we will take your advice to tone down the ads (we can’t really see what kind of ad our readers see as it’s decided by Google).

      7
  7. 1454: She wasn’t found “shortly” after, which might imply that 911 had tried to help and just didn’t arrive in time; she was found HOURS after.

    1182
  8. Each of these pages of facts should have its own page for commenting instead of many fact pages and only one place to comment. I’d also delete my post about each fact having its own page since the aforementioned idea is better, but I can’t.

    1270
  9. I love this website I use it all the time and it allows me to attain info that I have been able to use irl all the time. Keep up the great work!

    5
  10. Also Rickinator for 610 killing bears is not a good thing due to most species of bears being endangered it is just a fact/statistic

    1115
  11. Your fact card is WRONG! You state Queen Elizabeth II is related to George Washington (which is correct), however, then you all say “Their last living common ancestor is Augustine Warner, Sr. who died in XX.”

    That’s incorrect! i am related to both Col. Augustine Warner, Sr. and George Washington and I’m very much alive as are my family members and 1 uncle and his 2 sons.

    1

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