Random #267 – 50 Awesome Random Facts You Got to Know

Teddy Roosevelt was chosen as Vice President due to his support of anti-trust reform, and conservatives knew the VP had little power. Six months into the term, President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President, ushering in an unprecedented era of anti-trust and labor reforms.

2. In 1985, a guy programmed his computer to call Jerry Falwell Sr's toll-free prayer line every 30 seconds for 8 months. It clogged up the lines and cost them over $750,000 in reverse charges.

3. With only 324 households declaring ownership of a swimming pool on their tax form and fearing tax evasion, Greek authorities turned to satellite imagery for further investigation of Athens' northern suburbs. They discovered a total of 16,974 swimming pools.

4. The Japanese government gives elderly people discounts on ramen if they surrender their driver's license.

5. The country dial-code of the Czech Republic is 420 and the rate of cannabis use there is one of the highest in the world. In 2016, Snoop Dogg was a contestant on The $100,000 Pyramid and replied without delay that the country code for the Czech Republic is 420.

About 82% of avocado oil sold in the United States is either rancid or mixed with other oils. While it is a great source of vitamins and minerals when fresh and pure, the vast majority of avocado oil in the United States is of extremely poor quality.

7. Paul Newman's friends loved his homemade salad dressing so much that he started a company to sell it. That company, which now sells a variety of foods, gives 100% of its profits to charities. Newman never took any money and in just its first decade over 50 million dollars was given away.

8. Meth was used as an antidepressant from the 1930s to the 1950s. A man named Gordon Alles patented the drug after he was injected with it and found that he became talkative and gained "a sense of well-being". 

9. In the mid-1990s, a man in Montana was able to build fully armed Cobra attack helicopters out of supposedly demilitarized military surplus parts. He then used them to hunt coyotes.

10. Otters are capable of killing and eating alligators by drastically wearing out the gator in a fight. The lactic acid buildup in the body would intoxicate the gator, eventually killing it. The otter then rips the alligator hide off with its razor-sharp claws and eats the gator organs.

American president Teddy Roosevelt nearly died on several occasions while exploring the previously uncharted River of Doubt. After surviving a close call with a coral snake and an emergency surgery on his leg, he became delirious with a fever and repeatedly demanded to be left alone to die in the jungle.

12. Teddy Roosevelt once had his boat stolen by three armed thieves. With the help of two friends, he built a new boat and personally tracked down and captured the thieves.

13. In 1872, a group of hunters in India captured and 'saved' a 6-year-old feral boy they saw trailing behind a pack of wolves in the forest. The boy only ate meat, despised wearing clothes, sharpened his teeth on bones, and communicated in animal noises. He might've served as inspiration for Mowgli.

14. In 2010 a land dispute between India and Bangladesh was solved by rising sea levels. The New Moore Island/South Talpatti in the Sunderbans was completely submerged by water and vanished thus solving the dispute.

15. "Coyote Time" is an invisible feature in some games where game developers give players who walk off the edge of a cliff time before gravity kicks in to prevent rage quitting.

Sidney Lewis joined the British Army at age 12, fought in the Battle of the Somme at age 13 but was sent home when his mother complained. He reenlisted without her knowledge, fought in Austria in 1918, and went on to fight in World War 2, before retiring to run a pub.

17. The town of Bridal Veil in Oregon maintains a functional post office despite not having had any permanent residents for more than three decades. This is because each year several thousand couples go out of their way to mail their wedding invitations from Bridal Veil for the unique postmark.

18. People really do have a "type" when it comes to romantic attraction. According to a study, 50% of people’s preferences for faces is unique to them, and who we find attractive is most strongly influenced by our life experiences.

19. African American architect Paul Williams learned to draw upside down because white clients were uncomfortable sitting next to a black man. He practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and Lon Chaney.

20. There's a "Women Only" village in Kenya, Africa named Umoja Village that was created in 1990 as a safe haven for women escaping violence.

Ferdinand Magellan didn’t actually circumnavigate the globe. He was killed by a poisoned arrow in the Philippines, and under the leadership of Juan Sebastian de Elcano, his expedition completed the trip without him.

22. Hard Drives are Drive "C:/" because originally PCs only had up to 2 floppy disk drives labeled A and B. Sometime later hard disks got added and became drive C.

23. During the sinking of the Titanic, an order to evacuate women and children first by Captain Smith was misinterpreted to mean women and children only. As a result, men were prevented from entering lifeboats even when there were empty seats. Only 20% of the men survived.

24. During Napoleon's exile on Saint Helena, no ship could leave the island until the governor laid eyes on him to make sure he doesn't escape. Napoleon sometimes hid just to cause problems to ships trying to leave the harbor.

25. Some languages like English and Mandarin Chinese are spoken slower than others, like Spanish and Japanese, with 20-30% fewer syllables spoken per second. However, in "slower" languages, more information is conveyed in fewer words, but the same amount of information is communicated per unit of time.