Random Fact Sheet #122 – 35 Surprising Truths You Never Knew

One of the mint plant's first known uses in Europe was as a room deodorizer. The herb was strewn across floors to cover smells since stepping on the mint helped to spread its scent through the room.

27. Ciabatta (Italian white bread) has only been around since 1982.

28. During the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev said to Mao Zedong that “Berlin is the testicles of the West. Every time I want to make the West scream, I squeeze on Berlin.”

29. Warren Buffett eats breakfast every day at McDonald's, never spends more than $3.17 and cheaps out to $2.95 /$2.61 on days when the markets are down.

30. Tom Hanks never actually played the ping pong in 'Forrest Gump'; the ball was added using CGI. Hanks and his competitor was just swatting air, timing their action to clicks.

While on the Earth, we enjoy blue skies and red sunsets the opposite is true for Mars. On the red planet, rust-colored skies will give way to blue sunsets.

32. Files kept secret for 60 years indicate British intelligence may have knowingly sent more than 50 of its own agents to almost certain death in occupied Holland during the World War 2 as part of a complicated "double-double agent" game played against the Germans.

33. Behind Lincoln's head on Mount Rushmore, there's a Hall of Records with 16 porcelain plates describing the U.S.'s history. They're kept in a teak box inside a titanium vault.

34. If the Moon was brought 21 times closer to the Earth it would break apart and give the Earth rings, due to what's known as the Roche Limit.

35. Documents recently released by the United Nations, indicate that the US, UK, and Soviet governments were aware that at least 2 million Jews had been murdered and a further 5 million were at risk of being killed as early as December 1942.