Random #251 – 50 Random Facts You Need to Know

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1Lord of War

Lord of War

In Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, they bought 3000 real guns for the filming because it was cheaper to buy real guns and resell later than buying props. They also rented 50 tanks which were only available for a short period because the source had to sell them to Libya later.


2. After writing the main riff of the Seven Nation Army, Jack White planned to save it in case he was ever asked to write a James Bond theme. Deciding this was unlikely to happen, he recorded the song anyways. Five years later, he was asked to write the theme song for the Bond film Quantum of Solace.


3. Even though Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of electronic television, was disappointed by it for most of his life, he changed his mind the day he saw Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon thanks to his invention, telling his wife "this has made it all worthwhile."


4. Bill Burr repeatedly mocked the Star Wars franchise and its fans before accepting the role of Mayfeld in The Mandalorian. He was cast because it was believed his past criticism of the franchise would make his casting more amusing.


5. In 1940, the Nazis sent 12 spies to Britain to pave the way for an invasion. However, the plan failed due to the ineptitude of the agents. None of them were fluent in English and they lacked basic knowledge of British customs.


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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History


6Beer cans

Beer cans

In Japan, beer cans have braille text on them so blind people do not mistake them for soft drinks.


7. A Swedish sailor named Carl Emil Pettersson shipwrecked on an island inhabited by cannibals in 1904. He was captured and taken to a local king, whose daughter fell in love with him. He married, had nine children with her, and became the king after his father-in-law.


8. Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman in space. She also was a doctor in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, started her own business, writes children’s books, has produced and directed modern dance plays, and was also in a few episodes of Star Trek.


9. Multiple Star Wars lead actors have struggled with a habit of making their own sound effects for fight scenes to the point where numerous takes needed to re-shot because you could see the actors making lightsaber noises.


10. In 2019, the National Spelling Bee titled 8 co-champions after running out of words in a 3.5-hour final. Starting with 562 contestants, the final eight continued for 20 straight rounds of spelling words without any errors.


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11Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

As a child, Jimi Hendrix carried an actual broom with him everywhere around the school for over a year, as a pretend guitar. The school's social worker tried to get funding for a real guitar, insisting that leaving him without one might result in psychological damage.


12. The South Korean government started massively subsidizing (1%+ of GDP) its entertainment industry in 1994 after realizing one Jurassic Park film made as much as the combined sales of 1.5 million Hyundai cars.


13. Donald Glover used to have the social media handle of @donglover. Unfortunately for him, many people wrongly read this username as Dong Lover instead of Don Glover. So, the actor later changed the name. He now sports the username @donaldglover on Twitter and @childishgambino on Instagram.


14. In 1908, William "Bigfoot" Anakin, a local champion was taken along by a publican to court to help demonstrate that darts were not gambling, it was a game of skill. Bigfoot showed that whatever number the court mentioned, he could hit on the board. The judge agreed darts was a game of skill.


15. Charles Bello bought 240 acres of redwoods for $45,000 in 1968 to protect them from logging and continues to live there today in a parabolic cabin powered by solar power.


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16Jelly Belly

Jelly Belly

Jelly Belly once tried to make a cheese-pizza flavored jelly bean. The taste was so bad that they used it as the vomit flavored Bertie Bott’s jelly bean instead.


17. Orion P. Howe was a 14-year-old drummer boy who received the Medal of Honor during the Civil War for volunteering to supply ammunition under heavy fire. He experienced 14 battles, and after the war, he joined the Naval Academy because he was still too young for West Point.


18. Your printer puts information in every sheet you print that will allow authorities to track any printed page back to your printer. This hidden information most likely survives scans and photos of your printed documents, allowing those to be tracked as well.


19. Cheetahs are native to Asia in addition to Africa. The Asiatic cheetah is a critically endangered subspecies whose range has shrunk to Iran's central plateau. It's believed that there were fewer than 50 individuals in the wild as of 2017.


20. Jack Phillips, a 25-year-old Godalming-born telegraphist was aboard the Titanic when it hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912. He stayed at his post until the ship sank, frantically contacting nearby ships, in an attempt to save hundreds of lives. His body was never found.


21Phil Collins

Phil Collins

Phil Collins of Genesis band is the largest private collector of Alamo Memorabilia valued in the tens of millions. He donated the collection to the state-owned historical site. He is also considered a leading expert on the battle and wrote a book documenting the collection and history.


22. The days of the week come from the Norse names for the 7 Ptolemaic planets: Sun's day, Moon's day, Tiw's day, Woden's day, Thor's day, Freya's day, and Saturn's day.


23. Nikola Tesla, widely known as the inventor of the AC power system, also installed the first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls in 1896. It was around this time that Tesla also disavowed coal and oil in favor of renewable energy sources.


24. The skin of a Honey Badger is tough enough to resist several machete blows and is almost impervious to arrows and spears.


25. McDonald's buys a lot of apples. As of 2016, McDonald's sold more than 10% of all sliced apples in the US. At its core, the apple industry resurgence over the last decade can be traced, at least in part, to McDonald's.

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