Random Fact Sheet #144 – 45 Tidbits of Knowledge That Will Captivate You

After 13 Reasons Why's first season aired, searches for "suicide prevention" rose by 23%, but searches for "how to commit suicide" increased by 26%.

2. In 1916, a silent comedy film named “The Mystery of the Leaping Fish” was made featuring a detective named “Coke Ennyday,” who had a fondness for cocaine. It was made as a parody of Sherlock Holmes. He wore a bandolier carrying syringes filled with the drug and frequently injected himself with massive amounts of cocaine to solve crimes.

3. Chiropractic is actually a form of "alternative medicine", where studies have not found evidence that chiropractic manipulation is effective and collectively found that spinal manipulation was ineffective at treating any condition.

4. Peru and Ecuador went to war against each other in 1941. Neither country was part of Axis or Allies. So, this was an international conflict that happened during World War 2, which had remotely nothing to do with any aspect of World War 2.

5. Lego’s brick making equipments and techniques are so accurate that only 18 in every million bricks made are defective, which are then recycled.

Winston Churchill was nearly killed in a car accident in New York in 1931 after trying to cross the street and look at the wrong side of the road forgetting he was in the United States and not in the United Kingdom where driving directions are reversed.

7. Richard Branson has dyslexia and had poor academic performance. On his last day at school, the headmaster told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire.

8. Grigori Perelman, the mathematician who solved the Poincare Conjecture, which is one of the 7-millennium problems, denied the million dollar prize money as well as the Fields Medal. Rest of the 6 problems still remain unsolved.

9. In the middle ages, some kings had clothes made from "Salamander fur" which were completely fire-proof and bright white. The name likely comes from the common belief that Salamanders were "born from fire". The clothes were actually made out of asbestos.

10. The ancient Greeks used to choose their politicians via a method called "sortition", much like how potential jurors are selected today. And, like jury duty, it was seen as an inconvenience to those selected.

A clock is being built inside a mountain in Texas that will keep time for 10,000 years with minimal to no human interaction. One of the reasons for building the clock is to get people to think long term.

12. After George Patton liberated Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, he brought the mayor and the mayor’s wife to see the camp. After they left, they hanged themselves.

13. In 2009, Libyan leader Gaddafi called for Switzerland to be dissolved and divided up between neighboring countries after Swiss police arrested his son for beating up hotel staff. In 2010, he declared jihad on the country.

14. The low pressure and humidity on an airplane dampens your sense of taste and smell by up to 30%, contributing to the poor reputation of airline food.

15. Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” Lady was fired after she appeared in a Prego Pasta Sauce ad saying, “I found it!”

Older adults have a disproportionately good memory of events which occurred when they were 16 to 25 years of age, a phenomenon known as the reminiscence bump.

17. If we could power a smartphone with gasoline, one drop of it has enough energy to run the phone for an entire day. A gallon of gasoline would last for 20 years.

18. There is a road named Passage du gois in France that can only be used twice a day, for a few hours. Then it disappears under 13 feet of water.

19. VHEMT (Voluntary Human Extinction Movement) is an environmental movement that calls for all people to not reproduce. They support human extinction primarily to prevent environmental degradation.

20. “I Want to Break Free” wasn’t popular in the United States, despite the song being a chart-topper worldwide. The reason the song wasn’t popular in America was that MTV wouldn't air the music video due to the members of Queen cross-dressing as female characters from a British soap opera.

Native Americans started the practice of reloading bullet cartridges during the Indian Wars. US military authorities found out and ordered all US soldiers to stomp on their fires cartridges after being fired. Frontiersmen took advantage of this and sold overpriced shells to the natives.

22. Jogging becomes running at 6mph.

23. The neighbor’s name in the show Doug on Nickelodeon, Mr. Dink, actually stood for the acronym Double Income No Kids.

24. Mel Brooks was a mine clearer in World War 2. He once said, “I was a combat engineer. Isn’t that ridiculous? The two things I hate most in this world are combat and engineering.”

25. Ancient Germanic armies would fight with their women wailing loudly from behind their formations, to constantly remind them that they must be victorious or their entire families would be annihilated.