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

The letter 'E' was used to designate a failing grade until it was phased out by the 1930s over the fear of students interpreting it to mean 'excellent'.

27. Over 800 people tried to accurately guess the weight of an ox at a fair in 1906. Although not a single person guessed the correct weight, the mean (average) of all the guesses was within 0.8% of the ox's actual weight.

28. A crevice and a crevasse are not the same thing. A crevice is a deep crack in the rock and a crevasse is a deep crack in the ice.

29. The Wright Brothers' first powered flight in 1903 "did not create public excitement. If people even knew about them, the news soon faded." In fact, they were largely mocked and disregarded until a demonstration in France nearly 5 years later.

30. British Physicist Alf Adams came up for the idea of the 'strained-layer quantum well laser' walking on the beach with his wife. He paused for a moment and asked her to stop talking for a moment to let him think. These lasers are now used in almost every household today in optical disc players.

In 1957, a terminal cancer patient named Mr. Wright was given a worthless drug that caused his tumors to "melt like snowballs on a hot stove." When he found out it was proven worthless, his cancer returned. He was given a placebo version and it went away again. He learned the truth, then died soon after from cancer.

32. In 1999, a Florida man auctioned his kidney on e-bay. The post read "You can choose either kidney. Buyer pays all transplant and medical costs. Of course, only one for sale, as I need the other one to live. Serious bids only." The bids reached $5.7 million before e-bay abruptly ended it.

33. The reason cats and dogs like to lie in the sun is so the oily cholesterol on their skin is converted to vitamin D3. Due to thick fur, they lick (while grooming) the oil off it rather than it being absorbed through the skin like in humans.

34. When Michael Bay was a kid, he used to put firecrackers on his toy trains and film the results.

35. During World War 2, a U.S. soldier named Dirk J. Vlug was ambushed by 5 Japanese tanks. He single-handedly destroyed all 5 and was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor.