Random #367 – 50 Unorthodox Random Facts

Popular 1920s actress Madge Bellamy separated from her newlywed husband after just four days due to his fondness for eating ham and eggs, which she considered "plebeian." They finalized their divorce three months later.

2. Anne Ramsey, best known for her role in "Throw Momma From The Train" (1987), exhibited slurred speech resulting from operations for her throat cancer and experienced pain throughout the entire production. Despite her suffering, she received an Oscar nomination. Tragically, she succumbed to throat cancer six months after the ceremony.

3. Snickers salad, a dish originating from the Upper Midwestern United States, frequently appears at potlucks. Comprising chopped Snickers bars, Granny Smith apples, Cool Whip, and pudding, this treat is regarded as either a salad or a dessert depending on its placement at the table.

4. The 2010 book "Barbie: I Can Be A Computer Engineer" faced significant online criticism, leading Mattel to issue an apology. The controversy emerged from the story wherein Barbie enlists her male friends to code the game she designs and fix Skipper's computer, which Barbie had inadvertently infected with a virus.

5. Modern circumstances make nuclear winter almost implausible due to reduced warhead yields and improved city planning, minimizing the likelihood of the required firestorms.

Microsoft didn't create MS-DOS; rather, they bought it in 1981 from programmer Timothy Paterson.

7. Certain shoe companies deliberately sell shoes with "fuzzy bottoms or soles," often found in stores like Walmart and Target, classifying them as "slippers" to reduce import tariffs from 37.5% to a mere 3%, despite these shoes clearly being sneakers.

8. In his later years, Salvador Dalí suffered severe burns caused by his excessive use of the assistance button beside his bed. His frequent presses caused the button to short-circuit and set the bed on fire.

9. The Civilian Conservation Corps, a program from the Depression Era, engaged young men in civil improvement projects, including park development, dam and canal construction, and various other initiatives.

10. Foldering represents a covert method of electronic communication involving the exchange of messages stored in the "drafts" folder of an email or messaging account accessible to multiple individuals. These messages remain unsent, akin to a digital version of a dead drop.

When Joe Frazier triumphed over Muhammad Ali in 1971, Frazier had already legally lost sight in one eye. Cleverly maneuvering through eye tests, he used his swift reflexes to continue his boxing career.

12. In ancient Egypt, under Ptolemy II's decree, every ship arriving in the city was mandated to relinquish its books to the library of Alexandria for duplication. The originals would remain in the library while the copies were returned to their owners.

13. Slaver ants, constituting an entire ant category, forego work and instead conquer and enslave other ants to serve as laborers.

14. Marvel's Spider-Man movies carried working titles like "Summer of George" and "Serenity Now."

15. Estrogen influences the "masculinization" of male brains during early development. Even newborn female mice exposed to estrogen exhibit male behavior, such as mounting other female mice. Estrogen also plays crucial roles in memory, stroke prevention, and overall brain health.

A $25.5 million lawsuit was filed against Mattel regarding a Cabbage Patch Kids' "Snacktime Kid" doll, designed to chew on plastic fries and carrots. It reportedly gnawed a girl's hair down to her scalp, leading the family to require psychological help.

17. The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a covert paramilitary division within the CIA that adopts the motto "Third Option" (Tertia Optio), alluding to the President's alternative when "military force is inappropriate and diplomacy is inadequate."

18. Expressions like "we got down from the car" and "I made the line to pay for groceries" are molding a new dialect in South Florida. These are literal translations from Spanish, emerging due to consistent interaction between Spanish and English speakers.

19. The term "rooster" as a reference to a male chicken emerged in the 18th century as a euphemism to circumvent the original term's sexual connotation: "cock."

20. David Solomon, Goldman Sachs' CEO, is also a DJ, with 550,000 monthly listeners on his Spotify profile. He has performed at nightclubs and music festivals in New York, Miami, and the Bahamas.

Rich individuals have their own personalized apps for various purposes. For shopping, they turn to James Edition, a platform vending everything from jets to chairs made of chrome and AK-47s. "Rich Kids" is their Instagram alternative, at a steep monthly fee of $1,000. Their dating scene involves "Luxy," which reserves the right to exclude the financially inadequate or aesthetically displeasing.

22. The lunar surface shelters an astonishing 1.1 million metric tons of helium-3, of which just 25 tons could meet the entire annual energy demand of the US. Helium-3 fusion produces non-radioactive charged particles. Moreover, it's a renewable resource, perpetually replenished by solar winds on the moon's surface.

23. The capacitor plague struck between 1999 and 2007, witnessing significantly elevated failure rates due to an erroneously copied formula. This mishap occurred via corporate espionage when a scientist pilfered the formula in Japan, which was then introduced into production upon returning to China.

24. Delaware permits the trading of license plate numbers among individuals. Numbers starting from 4 are tradable, and single-digit numbers can command hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2008, the number 6 was sold for an impressive $675,000.

25. Jai Alai, once a gambling alternative to horse and greyhound racing in the US, cultivated a fervent following in Florida. However, only one fronton, the venue where the sport is played, remains active in the state today.