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

Story Musgrave is the most formally educated astronaut with six academic degrees. He is a consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California, and is the only astronaut to fly on all 5 Space Shuttles.

27. The PS3 launched in 2006 at $599 making it one of the most expensive consoles of all-time. But despite its high price, Sony continued to lose money on every PS3 sold until 2010.

28. The streets of London were once paved in gold called fool's gold. Martin Frobisher shipped over a thousand tons of fool's gold from what's now Canada to London under the impression that he was shipping gold ore. It was later discovered that it was iron pyrite and it was used for road metalling.

29. In the midst of the messy divorce, Charles Dickens referred to his wife as “dearest darling, Pig” and attempted to have her committed to an insane asylum so he could live with his 18-year-old mistress.

30. The Matrix wanted Sandra Bullock as 'Neo' before Keanu Reeves took the role. The producers had such a hard time finding the right man for the role that they briefly considered changing Neo into a female character. She was also considered for the part of Trinity and regretted not taking it.

John Laurens was an officer in the Continental Army who strongly opposed slavery, and tried unsuccessfully multiple times to institute black regiments in the struggle for independence. His abolitionist views were admirable, considering his South Carolina birth and father’s ownership of slaves.

32. President Coolidge and his wife had a pet raccoon named Rebecca who lived with them in the White House. Rebecca was supposed to be eaten for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner, but they adopted her instead.

33. The smaller chunks that break off of icebergs are officially called "bergy bits."

34. In 1846, a species of land snail named the eremina desertorum was collected and glued to a museum index card, presumed dead. 4 years later, the specimen was being looked at with warm water, when it suddenly awoke and looked around to see what was going on.

35. Tar and Feathering wasn't fatal because it was done with pine tar not the asphalt tar used in modern times.

In 1942 BBC issued an appeal for postcards and photographs of the coast of Europe from Norway to the Pyrenees. It was actually an intelligence-gathering exercise. They were sent to the War Office to help determine a suitable location (Normandy) for the eventual D-Day landings of 1944.

37. A man named Robert Shields wrote the longest diary in history - 37.5 million words written over a 25 year period until he was disabled by a stroke. He spent hours every day chronically the most minute details of his daily life and even limited sleep to 2 hours at a time to record his dreams.

38. Albert Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for relativity and he did not attend his prize giving, despite being informed that he was about to receive the prize. He chose to continue with a lecture tour of Japan because he simply no longer valued it.

39. James Avery (Uncle Phil) served in the US Navy in Vietnam from 1968-69. He then moved to San Diego to write poetry and TV scripts for PBS and won an Emmy for his effort. He got a scholarship from UC San Diego and graduated there with a Bachelor’s degree in Drama and Literature in 1976.

40. When Batman TV show of the 60s was canceled by ABC after 3 seasons, it was on the verge of being rescued by NBC for a fourth season but it was discovered that the sets of the TV show were already destroyed. NBC rescinded the offer not wanting to spend hundreds of thousands building the set.