Random Fact Sheet #204 – 35 Eye-Opening & Unexpected Facts

Playboy Hugh Hefner's young son, Cooper Hefner, teaches a course called "New Landscape of Media" at Chapman University. Hefner is also on the Board of Directors for Children Of The Night, an organization that has been dedicated to fighting human trafficking and child prostitution.

27. Henry Rollins became the lead singer of Black Flag after jumping on stage to sing at a concert, but he had to quit his day job as a manager at a Häagen-Dazs.

28. The Southern Pacific Company, while best known for its railroad operations, also owned and operated telegraph and telephone lines under the name Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony, which would later become the telecommunications company known by the acronym “SPRINT.”

29. Every eclipse belongs to a family of identical eclipses, separated by 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. There are 40 active eclipse families (saros cycles).

30. A German sailor named Jürgen Kantner was captured along with his wife by militant group Al Shabab when sailing off the coast of Somalia in 2008. After 52 days, they were freed from captivity after a large ransom was paid. Kantner later returned to Somalia and stole his boat back from the militants.

The Powerpuff Girls had an episode called the Beat-Alls where almost every line and plot point are lyrics from the Beatles.

32. The flags of many African nations have the colors green, gold and red borrowed from the flag of Ethiopia, which remained outside European control during the colonial era by defeating Italy. As a result, the country drew the admiration of many newly independent states in Africa.

33. 'Greeble' is the name given to the texture applied to Sci-Fi spaceship models to make them appear more complex.

34. Elton John's smash hit "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" was written by his longtime partner Bernie Taupin and is about Bernie's rejection of fame, high society riches and his desire to go back to a simple way of living. Bernie was raised on a farm without electricity as a child.

35. In 2015, a call center named iQor in New York was infested with bedbugs. The workers unwittingly brought them home. The company demanded the workers pay to have their own homes fumigated and prove it before returning to work. They were also cited by OSHA for conducting fumigation during work hours.