Random #348 – 50 Lesser Known Random Facts

The first Nascar race on the pavement was won by a margin of 9 laps because Johnny Mantz elected to put more durable truck tires on his car instead of racing tires.

27. In 1516, Germany passed the Reinheitsgebot Law stating that only water, barley, and hops were to be used to make beer. This was due to sanitation reasons and because unscrupulous brewers sometimes added hallucinogenic plants to their brew.

28. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. was so hot it turned one victim’s brain into glass.

29. A woman named Carrie Nation fought against widespread alcohol consumption in the USA before the prohibition, by attacking saloons with a hatchet.

30. In 1989, scientists at IBM succeeded in arranging 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to spell out the initials "IBM". It was the first time atoms had been precisely positioned on a flat surface.

Major League Baseball pitcher Ed Porray is the only player in league history to not be born in a country. He was born on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on December 5th, 1888. His birth certificate lists "At sea, on the Atlantic Ocean" as his birthplace.

32. Certain species of wild oats can walk. They have a pair of 'legs' called awns which flex and make the seeds crawl around, to find an ideal place to plant themselves.

33. Since 2004 the residents of La California, a town in Italy, have held farcical ballots for the United States presidential elections. Although votes cast by La California residents do not count, they still send the result of each election to the nearby US consulate in Florence.

34. Leonardo Davinci was famed for buying caged birds at markets and setting them free.

35. Dolphins actually have names for one another, using a unique whistle to distinguish between different members within their pod.

In 1667, the Dutch traded the island of New Amsterdam in the USA to the British for the island of Banda Run in Indonesia to gain control over the nutmeg spice trade. The British then renamed New Amsterdam as New York.

37. In 1999, Martin Lawrence collapsed from heat exhaustion while jogging in heavy clothing and a plastic suit in preparation for Big Momma's House. He recovered in the hospital after entering a three-day near-fatal coma due to a body temperature of 107 °F, his breathing assisted by a ventilator.

38. A "Chernobyl Necklace" is a horizontal scar at the base of the throat that’s the result of a surgery to remove thyroid cancer caused by fallout from a nuclear accident. It takes its name from the large number of people who suffered from thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl disaster.

39. Study done by the Royal Horticultural Society found that ivy is the most effective plant cover for cooling buildings and reducing humidity. They found that a building covered in ivy stayed 7.2°C cooler than non-covered buildings. The left structure also kept the walls dry, lowering humidity and protecting it from corrosion.

40. The first ally soldier to step onto the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion was Leonard Treherne "Max" Schroeder Jr. He made it out alive and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He died in 2009 at the age of 90.

The "official" death of President Zachary Taylor was overconsumption of cherries and milk, but the cause of death has been the subject of conspiracy theories.

42. There is an egg-shaped dwarf planet called Haumea in our Solar System and it even has two moons. Its shape is due to its incredibly fast rotation.

43. McTrain was McDonald’s attempt in the 1990s to turn dining service cars on German trains into mini restaurants. The cars had deep fryers, coffee machines, soda fountains, water heaters, and a 269-square-foot kitchen.

44. Rip was a stray dog who was adopted by an Air Raid Patrol during World War 2. Although not trained for rescue work, he sniffed out over 100 victims trapped beneath buildings. He was awarded the Dickin medal for his work and he has been held partially responsible for prompting the training of search and rescue dogs.

45. Cat's teeth have a "blood groove" that prevents suction when they bite. This allows them to pull out and bite again more quickly.

Before Canada was officially named Canada, other names had been suggested but rejected. Some examples are Albertsland, Borealia, Britannia, Tuponia, and others. The current name likely comes from the aboriginal word "Kanata" which means village or settlement.

47. The Danelectro electric guitar company bought a surplus of women's lipstick tubes, put a bar magnet wrapped directly in copper wire in them, and made one of the most basic and cheapest pick-ups to date.

48. The tortoises have shells not just for protection. The shells are connected directly to the tortoise's nervous system. These nerves give the shell the ability to transmit both pleasure and pain sensations.

49. A dead body left on Mars would dry out and mummify better than Egyptian mummies. The first few stages after death, algor mortis (body cools), livor mortis (blood pools), and rigor mortis (muscle stiffening) would still take place, but there would be no other overt signs of decomposition.

50. During World War One, up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line.