Random Fact Sheet #193 – 40 Fun Facts That Will Make You the Life of the Party

In the USA, a check does not need to be written on a bank check. It can be written on anything (including clothing) and legally be cashed as long as it includes the proper information.

2. Once a year in parts of England flying ants migrate. Seagulls catch and eat them and then become drunk off the ants' formic acid, causing them to crash into buildings and moving cars.

3. Prior to his death, Steve Irwin designed and funded a study which discovered that crocodiles can “surf” long distances across the ocean. One of the crocodiles in this study surfed 366 miles within 25 days.

4. In Australia when it gets very hot, the nectar in some flowers ferments and turns into alcohol. The bees get "drunk" and are not allowed back into the hive.

5. There is a 1420 book that was found to have cat piss on one of its pages. The author of the manuscript even wrote on the page "Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night in Deventer... and beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come."

In Finland citizens legally have the right to the internet connection, similar to getting an education and health care.

7. Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, a Saudi man, who was then the heaviest person alive and the second heaviest person ever recorded at 1340lbs (610kg) in 2013, was ordered by his King to lose weight. He then lost 1195lbs, and in 2017, weighed just 150lbs (68kg).

8. The Russo Brothers were given the reins of the MCU after Marvel president Kevin Feige saw and loved the Community episode "A Fistful of Paintballs."

9. The opening lyrics from the Lion King’s ‘Circle of Life’ are sung in Zulu, a language which belongs to an ethnic group from Southern Africa. The lyrics translate to “There comes a lion. Oh yes, it’s a lion.”

10. Inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu, who has filed over 3300 patents, dives underwater till he is "0.5 seconds before death", to come up with ideas. He believes that the deprivation of oxygen helps his thinking process.

Buster Keaton was an international mega silent movie star but broke down after movies with sound took over. He became an alcoholic and was institutionalized in a mental ward but escaped his straitjacket using techniques he learned from Houdini. He then married his nurse but had no memory of it.

12. "Sleepunders" are a thing. Kids arrive already in pajamas and do sleepover activities, but everyone leaves before bedtime.

13. Braille is imprinted on beer cans sold in Japan. This is to ensure that blind people won't confuse a can of beer with a soft drink.

14. Switzerland has maintained neutrality in all wars since 1815 and is so adamant about remaining neutral that it rigged its entire infrastructure to explode in an attempt to prevent direct conflict if provoked.

15. The actors playing the rebel soldiers on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, were all members of the Norwegian Red Cross. For their participation in the film, George Lucas made a large donation to the organization.

Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes on "Sherlock," is distantly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the character.

17. Stephen Wiltshire is an autistic savant, who can draw detailed landscapes from memory. He was featured in a BBC documentary as a child and now he has his own gallery in London. He also has a 76 m panoramic memory drawing of New York on display at JFK Airport. He was appointed an MBE ('Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 2006.

18. Harvard Associate Professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon tried to prove pot was harmful to get his friend, Carl Sagan, to smoke less. He then wrote a book on the lies behind the pot and prompted a study into using THC for chemo associated nausea and vomiting, after seeing results in his son with leukemia.

19. Hugh Hefner tried to make sure his beneficiaries won’t blow through his money after his death. His will states that his children will be cut off “if the trustees reasonably believe that (the beneficiary) routinely or frequently uses or consumes any illegal substance."

20. British inventor James Dyson, partly supported by his wife's salary as an art teacher, spent 5 years and made about 5,127 prototypes until the launch of the famous vacuum cleaner that would not lose suction as it picked up dirt.

John Hughes filmed "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" concurrently to save time and money. He even used the same closed high school for the interior scenes but built a second library in the gym for "Breakfast Club" as the original was too small. 

22. Cats that have saggy bellies aren't just fat. It's called the primordial pouch and helps protect them during fights and move easier when running and jumping.

23. The Roman Catholic Church fully accepted the theory of evolution back in 1950. They accept it provided that Christians believe that God created all things and that the individual soul is a direct creation by God and not the product of purely material forces.

24. In 2016, Alex Trebek, the host of "Jeopardy!", donated a total of $7.5 million to his Alma mater, University of Ottawa, to fund a Forum for Dialogue and a Speaker Series. His goal was to expose students to different world views through discussions and panels by speakers from around the world.

25. A cafe in Japan is hiring paralyzed people to control robot servers so that they can still make an income.