Random #296 – 50 Fascinating Random Facts

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26Staying awake

Staying awake

Staying awake for more than 24 hours brings deficiencies in performance equivalent to having a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.10. Most western developed countries consider 0.05 Blood Alcohol Concentration as the threshold for intoxication.


27. A Japanese journalist named Kiyoshi Shimizu helped solved a series of child kidnapping cases and released an innocent man from further prosecution. He also helped solve the murder of Shiori Ino which led to the changes to the legal treatment of stalking in Japan.


28. In the 1960s, an American doctor named Chester M. Southam tested if his patients could develop immunity to cancer by injecting them with cancer cells without their consent. He went on to be president of the American Association for Cancer Research.


29. The Apollo Guidance computer was programmed in metric but showed imperial values in the displays. Using metric meant fewer calculations thus optimizing the use of the limited processing power and the astronauts were used to imperial so that's what they saw on the display. 


30. Argentina has the most pets per capita, with 80% of the population having a pet. Argentineans have the most dogs (66% of pet-owners), Russians have the most cats (57% of pet-owners), Turks have the most birds (20% of the population), and Chinese have the most fish (17% of the population).


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31Jeremy

Jeremy

When her son Jeremy began showing symptoms of schizophrenia, Professional glass artist Elli Perkins refused to consult a psychiatrist due to her Scientologist beliefs and tried to cure him with alternative medicine instead. This resulted in Jeremy murdering her because he believed she was trying to poison him.


32. A Christian sect called "Millerites" believed that Christ would return by October 22, 1844. When that didn't happen, the "Great Disappointment" caused them to fall into confusion and disband, with some former Millerites reinterpreting their doctrine and forming the Seventh Day Adventists.


33. Cats commonly have white bellies and paws because when pigment develops in the womb, it starts along what will become the spine and works its way around to the front. Sometimes pigmentation doesn’t make it all the way around, resulting in color on top and white on the bottom.


34. Alexander Graham Bell was a eugenicist and feared the creation of a "deaf race", advocating for the elimination of sign language and deaf schools in order to prevent deaf people from reproducing


35. Isaac Newton studied the occult and predicted the end of the world as we know it to happen around the year 2060. He believed humanity would then progress into an era of divinely inspired peace. 


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36Lakitu

Lakitu

The first character on the screen in Super Mario 64 is Lakitu, Mario's camera operator. Because the 1996 game was the first in the series to have 3D gameplay, the developers needed to teach players that they were controlling both Mario and the camera.


37. King George II of Britain died from his heart bursting from exerting too much pressure while pooping.


38. Crowd noises for the movie 'Spartacus' [1960] were recorded at Spartan Stadium of MSU. Prior to a football game between MSU and Notre Dame, 76,000 spectators were instructed by actor John Gavin [Caesar] to roar, 'Spartacus! Spartacus!', 'Hail Crassus' and of course, 'I'm Spartacus!' 


39. Elizabeth Coleman White, whose family owned a cranberry farm, teamed up with botanist Frederick Coville to develop and cultivate the first blueberry crop. White paid people for each bush they found with blueberries that measured at least 5/8 of an inch. Coville uprooted and grafted them. 


40. When cartoonist Tom Batiuk lost the ownership of his comic strip John Darling to his syndicate in 1990, he had the main character murdered with no warning. With the protagonist dead, the syndicate had the rights to an unusable property and the strip ended the next day.


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41Secret of Nimh

Secret of Nimh

"Nimh" in the movie "Secret of Nimh" stands for "National Institute of Mental Health" and is based on a book about the institute that did horrific studies on rats.


42. A video game named Castle Infinity was shut down in 2000 but was brought back when the servers were recovered from a dumpster by a former player and programmer. He then established a new development team and relaunched the game online.


43. During the American Civil War, several divisions of the confederate army had a large snowball fight. It started when a couple of hundred men from Texas plotted a friendly fight with men from Arkansas, which spiraled into a brawl involving 9,000 soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia.


44. In 1994, students in Kaktovik, Alaska created a new system of numerals to reflect the way counting is done in their language: in base 20. The system is relatively easy to learn and even makes basic math easier. It has since been widely adopted in Inupiaq communities.


45. At birth, the eyes of a baby aren’t developed enough to perceive color or depth. It usually takes about 6 months for their vision to reach adult levels.


46Plant Signals

Plant Signals

Certain plants can warn other nearby plants of danger. When these plants are damaged, they release airborne chemicals that tell other plants to start producing compounds that can hurt and repel herbivores. They can also produce smells that attract insects that attack herbivores.


47. A babirusa's tusks grow upwards through the skin, curve back, and can get so long they penetrate the babirusa's own skull, killing it. 


48. During the sinking of the RMS Titanic, many passengers refused to evacuate, insisting they were safer on the ship than in the tiny lifeboats. Chief baker Charles Joughin eventually took it upon himself to forcibly drag reluctant passengers onto the deck and hurl them into the lifeboats.


49. During the 2008 Olympics 200 meters race, Shawn Crawford finished 4th, but after 2 sprinters were disqualified for running outside their lanes, he received the silver medal. After the Olympics, he gave the medal to the 2nd-placed athlete, with a note saying “You ran a silver medal race and deserve this.”


50. A zombie taxon is a fossil specimen that somehow gets washed out and re-deposited into much younger rock, making it seem like the animal was walking around long after it had gone extinct.

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