Random Fact Sheet #202 – 35 Fascinating Facts to Impress Your Colleagues

Kano Jigoro, the father of Judo, asked to be buried in his white belt to be remembered as a learner and not the black belt master that he was.

2. In Germany, there exists the only tree in the world with its own mailing address. The "matchmaking" tree receives about 1,000 letters per year from singles looking for love. Anyone can take letters from the tree and respond. It is estimated the tree is responsible for over 100 marriages.

3. Alexa commercials are intentionally muted in the 3,000 Hz to 6,000 Hz range of the audio spectrum, which tips off the system that the “Alexa” phrase being spoken isn’t, in fact, a real command and should be ignored.

4. About 95% of serotonin is produced in the gastrointestinal tract which is lined with a hundred million nerve cells, or neurons, that are influenced by bacteria. The inner workings of the digestive system don’t just help digest food, but also guide moods and emotions.

5. Juneteenth is an American holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans throughout the former Confederate States of America.

Japan has a National Wolf Association fighting to reintroduce wolves to the country to deal with a massive roaming deer population.

7. During World War 2, the Luftwaffe planted buoys in the English Channel for downed pilots to survive in, containing food, alcohol, clothing, and games.

8. Hugh Jackman was inspired to quit playing Wolverine after having a conversation with Jerry Seinfeld about when to retire from a long-running series.

9. Vanity sizing is the practice of assigning smaller sizes to clothing to flatter customers and encourage sales. For example, a Sears dress with a 32 inch (81 cm) bust was labeled a size 14 in the 1930s, a size 8 in the 1960s, and a size 0 in the 2010s.

10. School bus yellow was specifically created for use on school buses at a conference in 1939. Attendees at the seven-day conference included paint experts from DuPont and Pittsburgh Paints. The color was chosen because it attracts attention and is noticed quickly in peripheral vision.

Country Time Lemonade has a program in place to help reimburse children that are fined for running lemonade stands.

12. Flossie Wong-Staal was the first researcher to clone HIV. She also completed genetic mapping of the virus which made it possible to develop HIV tests.

13. Researchers have discovered that the most humane way to anesthetize octopuses is by dunking them in ethanol — a procedure with no lasting side effects.

14. The Nazis tried to hide the fact that the first gasoline car in Germany was made by a jew named Siegfried Marcus.

15. Sam Houston, the general who led Texas to victory in its war for independence from Mexico and who served as its president during its 10 years of independence, was removed from office as Governor of Texas when it seceded in 1861, after refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.

The cast of Friends television show (which wrapped up in 2005), still each earn $20 million in royalties per year and NBC earns $1 billion per year in revenue from the show.

17. In 2016, the oldest living leap year baby (Daisy Belle Ward) celebrated her 25th birthday on her 100th year of life.

18. The common black garden ant queen has an average lifespan of 15 years, with some living up to around 30. Also, under laboratory conditions, worker ants can live at least 4 years.

19. Gerard Way, the co-founder and the lead vocalist of My Chemical Romance, is also the creator and writer of the comic book series, The Umbrella Academy.

20. Marvel collected royalties from Hulk Hogan for 20 years and it all stems from originally being introduced as "The Incredible Hulk Hogan." Once WWF used it, they couldn't just drop "The Incredible" to avoid infringement. Had he been "Hulk Hogan" from the start, there wouldn't have been an issue.

Most Asians suffer from lactose intolerance and humans, in general, become lactose intolerant after weaning. Only with the advent of modern agriculture were some races able to properly digest milk and other dairy products into adulthood.

22. Clone High, an adult animated tv series about the clones of famous historical figures going to high school, was canceled due to its portrayal of Gandhi as a loose party animal, causing great controversy in India. It began hunger strikes and even a national protest where members of parliament got involved.

23. The granite used to build the US Capitol is so radioactive that the building would fail federal safety codes regulating nuclear power plants.

24. The song Greensleeves is from 1580 and while often said to refer to a promiscuous woman or prostitute whose clothing was stained green from having sex in the grass, it is more likely associated with green being the color of romance in that time period. 

25. The residents of Chernobyl had a new city (Slavutych) built for them by workers from 8 former Soviet republics. The city has a range of different architectural styles such as pink stoned Armenian buildings and wooden Baltic-style houses. City districts are named after a city from each republic.