Random Fact Sheet #165 – 35 Surprising Facts That Will Stump You

The NHL designed a puck with IR sensors in it to track it. That's how they made it glow in the '90.

2. A man named Sonny Graham received the heart of a suicide victim named Terry Cottle, married his widow named Cheryl Cottle, and years later killed himself in the same way the donor did.

3. There exists a museum named Museum of Bad Art in Massachusetts which is dedicated to exhibiting sh*tty art that is "too bad to be ignored".

4. The first same-sex marriage license in the US was issued 43 years ago (1975), in Boulder, Colorado by county clerk Clela Rorex, who later refused a marriage license to a man and his horse because the underage horse did not have parental consent.

5. The White House used to be partially powered by solar panels starting in 1979 before they were taken down by the Reagan Administration in 1986.

There is a screenplay named 'Atuk' which has never been made into a movie because anyone who has shown interest in playing the lead role has died unexpectedly, including John Candy, Chris Farley, John Belushi, and Sam Kinison.

7. When ketchup is labeled "Fancy" it's actually a United States Department of Agriculture grade meaning it's thicker than standard ketchup.

8. Genghis Khan's chief adviser was a captured scholar named Yelu Chucai. His contribution to the Mongol Empire was to suggest that the Mongols not kill everyone, but tax them instead.

9. Layne Staley (former lead singer of Alice in Chains) was found over a week after he died not because his friends or family notified someone, but because his accountant noticed he hadn't withdrawn money from his account in a week.

10. In Armenia, all children aged 6 and up are taught chess at school, as it is a mandatory part of their curriculum.

In 1955, a 6-year-old boy named Brian Kilbreath incredibly fought off a starving cougar while his friend ran for help taking 45 minutes before finally finding an adult who believed him.

12. The reason all videos are subtitled on Netflix is because the National Association for the Deaf filed a class-action lawsuit against them in 2010.

13. In 1959, Richard Berry who wrote "Louie, Louie" sold the song's rights for $750 to pay for his wedding. In the mid-80s, he was living on welfare with his mom in South Central LA, when a lawyer convinced him to take action to get the rights back. He settled out of court and became a millionaire.

14. When meeting with Pele, Ronald Reagan said: "My name is Ronald Reagan, I'm the President of the United States of America, but you don't need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pele is."

15. Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Marion Moon.

Actor John Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years and is a sixth-degree black belt.

17. Steve Jobs once argued that’s it completely unnatural to touch the screen on a PC. He reportedly said people's arms would fatigue and called the idea “ergonomically horrible.”

18. Years ago Hulk Hogan missed a call from his agent to sponsor a new indoor grill who then gave it to George Foreman, who was also his client. George Foreman earned nearly $500 million off marketing the grill.

19. In Italy, six scientists were charged with manslaughter because they didn't predict a 2009 earthquake which killed 309 people.

20. Originally Mr. T's gold chains came from customers at the nightclub where he worked. People had either lost them or left them behind after a fight.

In 2009, The Sun attacked Gordon Brown for misspelling the name of a soldier (Jamie Jones instead of Jamie Janes) killed in Afghanistan, but in doing so misspelled the name themselves.

22. Scientist Nikola Tesla drank whiskey every day because he thought it would make him live to 150.

23. Matthew McConaughey has a food fetish and sometimes has to stop eating because he gets too sexually aroused by the food.

24. The outspoken feminist and author Camille Paglia has actually been a strong critic against modern feminism, stating that "feminism has become a catch-all vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses."

25. In 2008, after becoming fed up with people uploading their videos to YouTube, Monty Python started their own channel, uploading HQ versions of their most popular sketches. This move resulted in a 23,000% increase in their DVD sales.