Random Fact Sheet #200 – 40 Facts That Will Expand Your Understanding of the World

The Stevie in Stevie Wonder is not short for Steven or Stephen, but Stevland.

2. Peña, the man who says "Bye, Have a Beautiful Time" at the end of American Dad episodes was the former security officer at the office building where Family Guy and American Dad! were produced.

3. Bob Graham's (38th Governor of Florida) political campaign included performing a full eight-hour workday of the various jobs that Floridian voters held. Starting in 1974, and totaling 408 workdays, jobs he worked included being a teacher, police officer, busboy, and construction worker.

4. Of the 1,213 warships involved in D-Day, only 200 were American and 892 were British. Of the 4,126 landing crafts involved, 805 were American and 3,261 were British.

5. Lego used to bury its used molds in the concrete foundations of buildings to prevent them from being reused.

Mexico's official name is the United Mexican States.

7. Rice farmers often put fish into their water-laden fields in a process called “rice-fish culture.” The fish act as pest control, improve oxygen circulation, and can even fertilize the soil with their droppings. This can increase the crop yield by 10% or more.

8. Hanns Scharff, German Luftwaffe's "master interrogator," instead of physical torture on POWs used techniques like nature walks, going out for a pleasant lunch, and swimming where the subject would reveal information on their own. He helped shape US interrogation techniques after the war.

9. Left-handed people's brains are so different from right-handed that they are often excluded from many psychological research studies.

10. The "whistling" noise used to indicate bombs falling in movies and TV shows is almost always the wrong way round. Anyone underneath a bomb that made such a sound (only specific WW2-era bombs) would hear the pitch increasing as it got closer, not decreasing, due to the Doppler effect.

For millennia Autism and other sudden disabilities were explained by the Changeling folklore. A fairy or demon would steal a normal baby and replace them with their own child in disguise. The Changeling would cry, scream, not display social behavior, or just become completely unresponsive.

12. Skilled archers can make shot arrows turn in mid-air, hitting targets behind obstacles.

13. A Scottish scientist named Dr. Henry Faulds discovered that fingerprints were unique, and asked Charles Darwin to help him promote the idea. Charles Darwin shared this with his nephew, who then claimed the finding as to his own.

14. In the 1930s, residents of Munich would take a small side street so they didn't need to render the Nazi salute to the shrine of the Nazis who died in the Beer Hall Putsch. This side road came to be called "Drückebergergasse" or "Shirker's alley."

15. The band name Smashing Pumpkins doesn't mean breaking a gord; the "Smashing" in it is an adjective, not a verb. So smashing as in "fantastic."

Female Komodo Dragons can impregnate themselves without a male through a process called parthenogenesis. By forcing the duplication of sex chromosomes they can give birth to male Komodo Dragons and keep their species alive.

17. Speed cameras in Germany take photos of drivers who sit in the left side of the vehicle, so a driver using a British car put a muppet in the passenger seat to hide their identity.

18. There is a Native American version of a Trojan Horse. In 1763 Native Americans played an early version of Lacrosse outside a British fortress during the Pontiac's Rebellion. They hit the ball through the open gate and both teams chased after the ball. Once inside, they killed the soldiers.

19. Marilyn Bell, at the age of 16, became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario in 1954. Her 32-mile route was greatly lengthened by high wind and high waves. Fanged lamprey eels attacked her in 65-degree water. She accomplished this feat in 21 hours.

20. Sea turtles are among the most ancient animals still in existence today with the oldest fossil dating back 215 million years – older than the oldest dinosaur.

There is only 1 reported death from radiation at Fukushima, but over 1600 reported deaths from "evacuation stress" such as suicide and health access.

22. Scientists in Tel Aviv have found that soon after a bee flies past an Evening Primrose, the flower increases the sugar content of its nectar by 30%. Playing bee sounds has a similar effect, but there is no effect on the flower when other vibrations are emitted.

23. In 2013, fraudsters in China cost Apple over $2 billion by returning fake iPhones for refunds.

24. McDonald's used to have a mascot named Captain Crook who stole Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, as opposed to the Hamburglar's hamburger thievery.

25. Dietary Iron is required for production of sleep monoamine neurotransmitters, so lack of Iron will cause severe sleep disturbance. A study showed that those who were Iron deficient also had a significant increase in anxiety and depression.