Random Fact Sheet #178 – Discover the Unexpected With These 35 Facts

For the first Harry Potter film, some scenes were filmed twice, with the actors saying 'Philosopher's Stone' for the UK version and 'Sorcerer's Stone' for the US version.

27. A Belgian-French explorer named Alexandra David-Néel snuck into Tibet in the 1920s to learn about Buddhism when it was closed to outsiders. She lived until the age of 101 and her writings influenced Jack Kerouac among others.

28. Crows have the ability to remember human faces and if they don’t like you they won’t forget you either. The children of the crows would later carry on the same grudge.

29. Peru has 90 different microclimates, including 30 of the 32 world climates, making it one of the most diverse countries in the world in microclimates.

30. Ahmad Shah Massoud led a resistance to the Taliban that protected 30% of Afghanistan's population. He promoted gender equality, had no reports of human rights abuses under his leadership and warned about 9/11.

Louis Braille was blinded as a boy when using an awl. At the age of 15, also using an awl, he invented a reading system for the blind. It was never adopted during his lifetime, but after his death, it grew to worldwide popularity and is now known as "braille".

32. In 2015, a Washington high school senior named Ibrahim Ahmad strapped fake explosives to his body and asked a girl to prom with a sign saying "I know it's a little late but I'm kinda the bomb. Rilea will you be my date to prom?" The school gave him a five-day suspension but the girl said yes.

33. We are paid to give plasma but not blood because people will lie about communicable diseases when paid for blood.

34. After losing a son to drug-related suicide, American actor Carroll O'Connor publicly outed his son's dealer and pushed for a law allowing families and employers to sue drug dealers to recover losses and costs of drug treatment.

35. A warrior poet named Götz von Berlichingen lost his right arm by cannon fire in 1504. He had a mechanical arm invented so that he could still hold a sword and fought in numerous battles, led rebel armies, was attributed with coining the phrase "he can kiss my a*s" and died at the age of 82.