Random #393 – 50 Fun Facts Straight Out of Oven

26 Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound

Percy Fawcett first mentioned a double-nosed dog in the Amazon jungle in 1913, after an expedition there. However, no one believed him, and the dog remained a cryptozoological beast until the 2000s, when John Blashford-Snell returned with photo evidence of the Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound.

27. At UC Berkeley, the only way to get free parking is to win a Nobel Prize!

28. Car tires are a major source of ocean microplastics, blowing more than 200,000 tons of tiny plastic particles into the oceans annually from roads.

29. Peter Jackson has a perfect replica of Bag End in his basement. You go down to the wine cellar and pull a bottle, which opens a door. Then there’s a long corridor leading to a mock torture chamber. Eventually, you pull a book from a bookcase, the bookcase opens, and you step into his perfect Bag End.

30. The Berlin Gold Hat is a two-foot-tall, 3,000-year-old artifact made of thin gold leaf that was found in Germany. Dating back to 1000 to 800 BC, it is the best-preserved specimen among the four known conical golden hats from Bronze Age Europe. It is believed to have been an insignia of deities or priests in a widespread sun cult, possibly serving astronomical or calendrical functions.

31 Young Girl Sets Rubik’s Record

In 2023, a 6-year-old Chinese girl named Cao Qixian set a new women’s world record by solving a 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube in an average time of 5.97 seconds. She became the first female ever to achieve an average time of under 6 seconds.

32. The “Judas Wolf technique” entails trapping a wolf in a net and equipping it with a radio collar to guide government-contracted shooters back to its pack for their execution.

33. The Luddites were not anti-technology. They were highly skilled laborers who protested wage reductions and job replacements due to automation.

34. The Leaning Tower of Pisa began to tilt early in its construction. To compensate for the tilt, engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other. This led to the tower’s curvature.

35. Because the FDA banned sassafras as a carcinogen in 1960, modern sarsaparilla in the US does not contain sassafras. Today, we make sarsaparilla, a soft drink, from the root of the Smilax ornata plant, a vine native to Central America.

36 Early Puma Fitness Tracking Sneakers

In 1986, before fitness tracking was popular, Puma released a fitness tracking sneaker called the RS-Computer Shoe. It came with a disk, cable, and a 46-page instruction manual, costing $200. It did not sell well, as people asked questions such as, “Why would you want to know how far you run?”

37. Elephants stay cancer-free because they have 20 copies of a key tumor-fighting gene, whereas humans have just one.

38. A child will typically contract the common cold 6-8 times a year.

39. NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sued NFL running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar in 1997 for using his name. He later changed his name to Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar as a result of the lawsuit.

40. During Watergate, in an effort to stop the Oval Office tapes from entering the public record verbatim, the Nixon administration proposed a compromise. They suggested that Senator John C. Stennis, who was hard of hearing, would listen to the tapes and report on their contents. The plan ultimately failed.

41 John Parsons Escapes Prison

In 2006, John Parsons, an Ohioan criminal, escaped from prison for three months using a rope made out of bedsheets, newspapers, and toilet paper. During the time between his escape and capture, he lived in the wilderness in a small shack and planned to go to Canada.

42. Since 1580 A.D., 18 documented, unprovoked attacks by hammerhead sharks (of the genus Sphyrna) have resulted in no human fatalities.

43. Air Force One has taken off more times than it has landed due to a call sign change when Nixon resigned.

44. Danny DeVito made a deal with Quentin Tarantino for his second film, despite never having seen Reservoir Dogs. Danny said, “It was just about him. I liked the way he was talking about it. The guy was just so cool. It seemed simple to me.”

45. Kelp isn’t actually a plant; it’s part of a fourth group of organisms called protists. They are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms that are not fungi, plants, or animals.

15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History

46 Origins of Blue Raspberry Flavor

We have a blue raspberry flavor because red dye No. 2 (the one traditionally used for raspberry) was considered harmful. The flavor was popularized by ICEE.

47. While searching for the three missing civil rights workers in 1964 (Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner) in the Bogue Chitto swamp near Philadelphia, Mississippi, the Navy searchers failed to find the civil rights workers but did find eight other bodies.

48. Pistachios are prone to spontaneous combustion when stored in large quantities. The same is true of sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, and Brazil nuts.

49. The original lyrics to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” were much more depressing. Judy Garland refused to sing the original lyrics to a child, prompting changes to the song. Frank Sinatra then changed them again to give the song a more positive tone.

50. The Spanish governor in Portugal was thrown out of a window, thus ending Spanish rule in Portugal in 1640.