Random #318 – 50 Undeniably Good Random Facts

Purkinje Effect is the tendency of humans' eyes to get more sensitive towards the blue end of the spectrum as the lights dim. This is the reason why in movie theaters, chairs are usually red. In low light, red is the first color the human eye loses sight of, hence enhancing our viewing experience.

27. There were two versions of the horror movie Dracula (1931) filmed at the same time. An English version (the Bela Lugosi classic) was filmed during the day and at night, a different set of actors filmed a Spanish version using the exact the same sets.

28. After Motown mega group 'The Temptations' fired lead singer David Ruffin, he snuck on stage during a live show, grabbed the mic, and sang a full song, stunning the band and the audience. The band hired more security but Ruffin kept finding ways to sneak on stage, grab the mic, and sing a song.

29. Creatures with compound eyes aren’t watching you when you move around them. The pupil-like dot seems to move because you are looking straight down one of the many long cylindrical structures that make up their eyes.

30. Jerry Seinfeld's association to the phrase "What's The Deal With.." was caused by an SNL sketch he was in mocking Observational Comedians that always say the phrase before a joke. Seinfeld himself rarely said the phrase in his shows and in all 180 episodes of his series he only said it 4 times.

'Smart' motorways in the UK, with 70mph speed limits, are built without a breakdown lane. Coroners have ruled that this has contributed to several fatalities and referred Highways England to prosecutors to consider a corporate manslaughter charge.

32. The Palace of the Parliament in Romania is the heaviest building in the world. Started in 1984, it is still unfinished, with only 400 of 1100 rooms in use. The lowest of 8 basements is a nuclear bunker linked to 20 kilometers of tunnels. It has 480 chandeliers & a million cubic meters of marble.

33. Actress Cassandra Peterson, best known for her horror character Elvira, was severely burned by boiling water as a child. She underwent 17 skin grafts throughout her childhood, covering over 35% of her body.

34. Post-micturition Convulsion Syndrome a.k.a. 'pee shivers' seems to be more frequently reported by men than women, with no definitive researched reason why it happens in the first place.

35. On the first day of the Korean war, the South Korean navy spotted and sunk a ship carrying 600 North Korean commandos near the Southern port city of Busan. Since the city was barely defended, historians believe that had they landed, South Korea would've fallen before UN forces could intervene in the war.

All of the platinum ever mined could fit inside the average person’s living room.

37. From 1948, until 1963, all young men in Britain between the ages of 18, and 30 had to serve two years (later four) national service in the military.

38. In a 2010 Japanese study of more than 95,000 cases of CPR, researchers found that only 8 percent of patients survived more than 1 month. Only about 3% of the survivors could lead a mostly normal life, 3% were in a vegetative state, and 2% were alive but had a “poor outcome”. 

39. Cat food and water bowls should be shallow enough that their whiskers don't touch the sides to avoid whisker fatigue. Whisker fatigue is often the source for picky eaters as well as added stress for cats.

40. While men only need 8 mg of iron a day, women need about 18mg of it a day. This is to compensate for the amount of iron women lose during menstruation. About 1mg of iron is lost for each day of a women's period.

Willie Nelson has a fifth-degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul. Nelson got into martial arts by buying self-defense manuals out the back of comic books when he was a kid. Because of his schedule, Nelson videotapes himself training while on tour and sends the videos to his master for review.

42. After losing her husband and four children to yellow fever, and her job to the great Chicago fire, Mary "Mother" Jones became a labor organizer. She organized a march of working children from Philadelphia to New York, and her speeches provoked workers to organize during the Coal Wars.

43. Prior to humans settling in Madagascar about 1,300 years ago, there were lemurs as big as apes, weighing 350lbs.

44. When Atlanta was awarded the 1996 Olympics over Athens, Greek media blamed a conspiracy organized by Coca-Cola. Bottles of Coke were poured into the sewers of Athens in protest, and Coke's Greek market share took years to recover.

45. The secret service successfully foiled the assassination of President Bill Clinton by Al-Qaeda in 1996 because they overheard the words “wedding” and “bridge” on the radio. Later they found a bomb under a bridge.

Osama bin Laden had 53 siblings. His father, Mohammed, died in a private plane crash in the 60s, leaving behind more than 20 wives.

47. During World War 2, Japan had its own nuclear weapons project named Ni-go and F-go. The initial conclusion was that an atomic bomb was theoretically, but not technically, feasible. They then concluded that the US was probably working on a bomb, but that neither it nor Germany could complete one during wartime.

48. Before mass production of flavored chips/crisps, bags of chips/crisps often included a tiny bag of salt, intended to be sprinkled on by the consumer.

49. There is enough stone in the Great Pyramid of Giza to build a 3 meter (9 foot) wall around France

50. Skunk spray is toxic to dogs. It can cause anemia and organ damage that if it gets severe enough could kill them.