Random Fact Sheet #145 – 45 Fascinating and Obscure Facts

- Sponsored Links -

26Kidney transplants

Kidney transplants

Kidney transplants do not replace the old diseased kidneys but instead adds 1 or more kidneys in the lower abdomen of the body.


27. In 2012, a tourist in Iceland was arrested for running naked around the Prime Minister’s office. He explained that he had been tricked by some Icelandic girls who told him that it was tradition to run around naked on the Prime Minister's lawn.


28. The most powerful radio station ever built was so strong that locals could hear the radio in pipes, bedsprings, and pots and pans. It was located in Ohio and its broadcast covered the eastern half of the United States.


29. Prehistoric rock art in the Saharan desert indicates that there were ancient hallucinogenic mushroom cults as far back as 9,000 years ago. The mushrooms were used in rituals of a mystical-religious nature, with drawings of Gods draped with the venerated mushrooms appearing repeatedly.


30. Peter Jackson has a secret passage in his house that leads to an underground reconstruction of Bag End.


Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History


31Trial by combat

Trial by combat

In the late Middle Ages, a man accused of murder fought the victim's dog in a trial by combat. As the dog's jaws were around his throat, he confessed and was hanged.


32. Chinese dumplings are called "Peking ravioli" in the Boston area because when Joyce Chen opened her Chinese restaurant in Cambridge she thought it would sound more appealing to the large Italian population in the area.


33. Prior to 1963, it was not uncommon for students in the United States to be required to read from The Bible as part of their elementary education. A lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court, ended the practice that year.


34. The indigenous Native American tribes of Miwok in Northern California used to play a game similar to soccer. Played by both sexes, girls were allowed to do anything, including kicking the ball and picking it up and running with it, while boys were only allowed to use their feet, but if a girl was holding the ball he could pick her up and carry her.


35. The Roller Coaster Tycoon game was programmed by only one person, Chris Sawyer, in Assembly language.


- Sponsored Links -

36Organ donation

Organ donation

While 95% of U.S. adults support organ donation, only 54% are actually signed up as donors.


37. Burger King Russia offered free Whoppers for life to any woman who got pregnant by a World Cup 2018 player. The company later apologized.


38. In the early 70s, Hans Zimmer embarked on a career in music after making a move to the UK and joined a few bands here and there, where he played mainly Keyboards and Synthesizers. Simultaneously, he worked in the advertisements to make the ends meet. In 1980, he received mild fame through an LP he did with the Buggles, titled ‘The Age of Plastic’.


39. J.K Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone was accepted by Bloomsbury and even then only at the insistence of the chairman's eight-year-old daughter.


40. Not only would you need an infinite energy source to reach the speed of light, you would also need an infinite energy source to slow down from the speed of light.


- Sponsored Links -

41Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School surveyed 182 senior managers in a range of industries about meetings: 65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work; 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient; 64% said meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.


42. The shortest war in history was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar in 1896 and lasted 38 to 45 minutes. At 09.02 British ships started a bombardment of the sultan's palace which ended at 09.40. 500 Zanzibaris were killed, but only one British sailor was injured.


43. When Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders made their famous charge up San Juan Heights, they were entirely on foot. The only one riding anything was Roosevelt. They had left the horses in Florida.


44. Pouring water on your head cools you down more effectively than drinking.


45. Stalin’s son Yakov once attempted suicide in his room via firearm. He missed his heart and hit his lung instead. While his stepmother Alliluyeva tended to his wound and called the doctor, Stalin was quoted as saying, “He can’t even shoot straight.”

1
2
- Sponsored Links -

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here