Random #374 – A Journey Through 50 Remarkable Facts

The production team of "Elf" (2003) approached Macy's to use their store for the film, but Macy's declined due to the presence of a fake Santa. Instead, department store scenes were shot in the cafeteria of a mental hospital in Vancouver.

27. Trench rats were such a nuisance during WWI that they are considered one of the worst aspects of living in the trenches. Only high-ranking individuals were provided with anti-rat beds, and there are even reports of rats injuring soldiers' foreheads, leading to visits to the infirmary.

28. After Zaire, now known as DR Congo, lost all their matches at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the players were forbidden to leave their home country to prevent them from playing for European clubs with offers that came in after the World Cup. The team, although genuinely quite skilled, was promised payments that their government failed to provide. In response to this unmet commitment, they deliberately underperformed during the tournament.

29. When the mistress of Roman Emperor Commodus discovered her name on a list of people Commodus wanted executed, she and others attempted to poison him. Failing that, they had his wrestling partner, who trained him for his gladiator appearances, strangle him while he was in the bath.

30. There was only one civilian casualty during the Battle of Gettysburg. After fleeing to her sister's house from the initial fighting, Mary Wade was hit by a stray bullet while baking bread for the retreating Union army.

Many of Canada's National Parks were constructed by suspected enemies of the state, conscientious objectors, and the unemployed. In 1943, 440 German POWs were brought to Riding Mountain National Park, where they captured a bear and adopted it as the camp mascot.

32. In January 1974, Nixon signed a law making Daylight Savings Time year-round for two years. However, by October 1974, Gerald Ford had reversed it due to its unpopularity during the winter months.

33. Limp mode, a car feature, can activate when the car's computer detects a potential engine or transmission issue. This results in the computer limiting throttle and RPM, putting the car into a fixed gear-usually second or third-to restrict its speed.

34. Feeding bread to birds on a regular basis or as their primary diet is discouraged. Bread provides little to no nutritional value and may contribute to conditions like angel wing disease, which affects the wings of birds.

35. In 1942, the British government bought all the black tea available on the European market, deeming it essential for the morale of their troops in North Africa.

In 1980, British athletes attended the Moscow Olympics against the wishes of Margaret Thatcher. Douglas Hurd, a representative of the government, approached Sebastian Coe's parents to persuade them to discourage their son from competing. Coe's parents responded by telling the government to politely get stuffed.

37. On average, drivers in the US spend about $20 billion annually overpaying for parking spots, with each driver spending approximately 17 hours per year searching for one.

38. India and Pakistan played a Cricket World Cup match in 1999 while both countries were at war with each other.

39. There is a myth about virgin ghosts in Korea, which are believed to be formed when an unmarried woman dies. These ghosts are said to haunt newlywed couples, harboring strong resentment and rendering the possessed individual unmarriable. Countermeasures include phallic shrines, dolls, and burying them upside down.

40. Dean Martin, also known as "the King of Cool," engaged in various jobs before the age of 15, including bootlegging liquor, working in a steel mill, serving as a croupier in a speakeasy, and working as a blackjack dealer. At 15, he turned to boxing, where he claimed to have won all but one of his 12 matches.

Because radio stations at the time preferred songs lasting no more than three minutes, Paul Simon listed the running time of the 1967 Simon & Garfunkel song "Fakin' It" as 2:74 on the label.

42. The original draft of the film "Being John Malkovich" had nothing to do with the actor himself. When pitching the film, New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye questioned, "Why the heck can't it be called 'Being Tom Cruise?'"-a sentiment echoed by John Malkovich.

43. The reason why ABBA and many Swedish bands wore tacky and glamorous outfits in the '70s and '80s was due to tax write-offs.

44. A man named Horace Fletcher, known as the "Great Masticator," advocated for a diet where people should thoroughly chew their food, believing it would lead to better digestion and overall health.

45. There was a company called Psystar Corporation that manufactured computers running Apple's Mac OS X Leopard without their permission, resulting in lawsuits from Apple.

Jellyfish have a single opening that serves as both their mouth and their anus.

47. In 2009, for the first time in history, two satellites (Russian and American) collided in space at 26,000 MPH. The resulting debris was visible falling from the sky on Earth. Even residents of Kentucky heard a sonic boom that the NWS identified as space debris.

48. The Mulberry harbors, constructed in WW2 to support the D-day landings, were reused in 1953 when Holland experienced flooding.

49. American confectioner Domingo Ghirardelli, upset that a Catholic priest did not perform last rites for his daughter, smuggled his family's bodies out of the local Catholic cemetery and moved them to a mausoleum decorated with a prominent Masonic emblem above the door.

50. Joseph Kerwin, the first American physician to go to space, had the first chance to study space medicine on Skylab. Equipped with a minor surgery kit and drugs, the most serious ailment any of the three astronauts experienced was a dislocated finger.