Random #277 – 50 Interesting Random Facts

A very frugal librarian, the late Robert Morin, left millions of his life savings to the University of New Hampshire where he worked as a librarian. Then the University spent $1 million of that money on a scoreboard for a new football stadium.

2. When future US President Lyndon Johnson was Senate majority leader, he instructed his staff to make his scotch and soda significantly weaker than his guest’s, so that he could keep a clearer head.

3. The USSR expected to win the final of the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships, held in Moscow but lost to Sweden. The organizers did not have the Swedish national anthem ready for the medal ceremony, so the Swedish players sang a drinking song and it was broadcast over the PA system.

4. When the Union abandoned a fort (Castillo de San Marcos) in Florida, they left behind a single soldier as caretaker. When the Confederacy marched on the fort, the lone soldier refused to surrender without a receipt for the fort. He received one, and the fort was taken without a shot fired.

5. In 2007, a 33-year-old man named Steve Way weighed over 100 kg, smoked 20 cigarettes a day, and ate junk food regularly. In order to overcome lifestyle-related health issues, he started taking running seriously. In 2008, he ran the London Marathon in under 3 hours, and, in 2014, he set the British 100 km record.

An electric eel from an aquarium in Tennessee has been named Miguel Wattson and it has its own Twitter account. Whenever he discharges a large enough jolt, a tweet will be automatically sent out to his account EelectricMiguel. Apart from sending tweets, he also helps power up Christmas trees at the aquarium.

7. President Andrew Jackson was gifted a 1,400-pound block of cheese by a New York dairy farmer. The cheese remained on display at the White House for over a year but was entirely eaten by a large crowd during Jackson's final party as President.

8. A 1,500 lb grizzly bear named Bart gave such a moving performance in the 1988 film "The Bear " that a campaign formed to encourage his Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, the academy refused to nominate an animal actor.

9. Richard Rowland Kirkland was a Confederate soldier who risked his life to tend to wounded soldiers from both sides of the Civil War in the middle of the battle at Fredericksburg. Both sides held their fire as they watched him help every wounded soldier regardless of allegiance.

10. The secret formula for WD-40 is stored in a bank vault and has only left it twice; once was on its 50th birthday when the CEO of WD-40 rode through Times Square on a horse with a suit of armor on and the formula in hand.

25% of Jamaican citizens claim Irish ancestry, the second-largest reported ethnic group in Jamaica after African ancestry.

12. Basketball Hall of Famer George Raveling volunteered as security during MLK's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Immediately after the speech, he asked MLK for the original typewritten manuscript, which he gave him. He still has it and has refused offers of more than $3,000,000 for it.

13. Octopuses have 2/3 of their neurons in their arms. When in captivity they regularly occupy their time with covert raids on other tanks, squirting water at people they don't like, shorting out bothersome lights, and escaping.

14. Ronald Reagan won 49 states and 525 electoral votes in the 1984 presidential election which is the most in history.

15. The 7-minute long shot in the Charlie Work episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" was entirely filmed by camera operator Adam Sklena, without dolly tracks or a rig. "This is a man holding a camera who had to walk backward—and we got it without screwing up on take 1," said Charlie Day.

Director/producer Greg Garcia (My Name Is Earl) worked at Burger King to collect funny stories during a writer’s strike. He was given 1 of 12 known special Burger King Crown Cards that gives people like Robert Downey Jr., Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Hudson and Jay Leno unlimited free food for life.

17. YoungKio sold one of his beats to Lil Nas X for just $30. However, the agreement stated that he had 50% of the publishing rights to the finished song, and in this case, he became half-owner of the smash hit “Old Town Road.”

18. Hazel Ying Lee was the first Chinese-American pilot that supported the US Army during World War 2. One time, her aircraft made an emergency landing on a farm. The farmer saw her, grabbed a pitchfork, and chased her around the plane, shouting to neighbors that the Japanese had invaded Kansas.

19. Radium doesn't itself glow, it makes the medium around it glow due to its ionizing radiation, which is why it appears to glow.

20. On August 24, 2001, when Air Transat Flight 236 lost all of its fuel mid-air, the captain (who was an experienced a glider pilot) proceeded to glide the Airbus A330, with its 306 occupants, without any power, for 19 minutes, covering some 120 km, until landing hard at Lajes Air Base with 0 casualties.

Vulnerable Narcissist is someone who thinks that they are really important, really smart, or really special but people just don’t notice it.

22. Hyenas are not members of the dog or cat families. Instead, they are so unique that they have a family of their own, Hyaenidae.

23. In 17th century England, after English statesman Oliver Cromwell had been dead for 7 years, his body was dug up, put on trial, found guilty, then executed and burned.

24. In 1881, an Egyptian obelisk named Cleopatra's Needle was erected in NYC's Central Park. A capsule buried beneath holds the 1870 census, a Bible, a Webster’s Dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

25. Wonderwall was a movie from 1968 about a lonely professor and his increasing obsession with his female neighbor, a fashion model whose life he spies on via a hole in the wall. George Harrison from the Beatles wrote the film’s music which in turn inspired the hit song “Wonderwall“ from Oasis.