Random Fact Sheet #158 – 40 Fact To Get Your Brain Working

A paranoid schizophrenic man’s diary served as Freud’s primary source to understand the condition and write the book “The Schreber Case.” Daniel Paul Schreber believed he was receiving cosmic rays through his anal glands by God in order to transform him into a woman so that he could herald and breed a new race.

27. Charlie Bucket, the main character in Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", according to Dahl's widow, was originally written as "a little black boy". Dahl's agent, who thought a black Charlie would not appeal to readers, insisted that Charlie be white.

28. Rock star success was once highly regional. In June 1976, Bob Seger played to 78,000 fans in Detroit, only to play to less than 1,000 in Chicago the very next day.

29. J. R.R Tolkien, Otto Frank (The father of Anne Frank), and Adolf Hitler where all present as foot soldiers at the battle of the Somme.

30. Isaac Newton became a member of Parliament but only spoke once, telling someone to close the window.

Internet speed is measured in Megabits, not Megabytes. Bytes hold 8 bits, thus making an internet speed of 100megabits/s actually only 12.5 megabytes/s.

32. Despite its modern association with vampires, one of the key principles of Gothic architecture is to allow in as much natural light as possible.

33. After successfully ditching his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in 2009, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger was granted lifetime membership in the Seaplane Pilots Association.

34. A German naturalist named Renous in the 1830's was arrested for heresy for claiming he could turn caterpillars into butterflies.

35. A man named Roberto P. Hernandez was jailed for a robbery he did not commit in 1985. The authorities confused him with another man because the two had the same name, birthday, weight, height, brown hair and eyes, and tattoos on their left arms. Only their Social Security Numbers differed, and that too by only 1 digit.

The title of Pantera's 1992 album "Vulgar Display of Power" was inspired by a line in "The Exorcist". When Father Karras asks Regan why she can't make the straps restraining her disappear if she's supposedly the devil, she replies, "That's much too vulgar a display of power, Karras."

37. The bell on early cash registers (circa 1884), not marketing, is why prices like $1.99 rather than $2.00 exist. The 1¢ change back to the customer forced the cashier to open the till ringing the bell and make a change. Otherwise, the sale could more easily be pocketed by the clerk.

38. When Beethoven conducted the premiere of Ninth Symphony in Vienna, he was completely deaf. After it ended, one of the soloists had to turn him around so he could see the audience applauding.

39. During World War 2, Britain drafted women, starting with 20-30-year-old singles, and eventually employing almost 90% of all single women and 80% of all married women in essential war work in roles such as mechanics, engineers, munitions workers, air raid wardens, bus and fire engine drivers.

40. NASA Vehicle Assembly building interior volume is so vast that it has its own weather, including "rain clouds form[ing] below the ceiling on very humid days."