Random Fact Sheet #241 – 40 Curious Facts That Will Keep You Guessing

Blue Whales are the largest animal to have ever existed on Earth, being larger than all dinosaurs, and every single big sea animal from the past.

27. Inuits effectively teach their children to control their anger and emotions not with discipline, but through stories.

28. In the final years of World War 2, an Italian businessman named Giorgio Perlasca risked his life by posing as a Spanish diplomat in order to save more than 5,000 Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. Perlasca, a non-Jew, has been honored for his heroism, courage, and compassion by several nations.

29. People with “baby faces” tend to live longer healthier lives than those who look their age.

30. The Sloppy Joe is a highly controversial sandwich. Historians believe it originated in Cuba. Bar owner José García created a handheld version of ropa vieja to serve to his tipsy customers. Others believe that the loose meat sandwich started in Sioux City, Iowa from a dinner cook named Joe.

One of the Seven Great Houses in Ancient Iran was the House of Karen who once tried to claim independence and refused to pay their tribute, but was ultimately defeated for this.

32. The first large scale human trial for the birth control pill was conducted on Puerto Rican women in the 1950s. These women were unknowingly participating in the clinical trial and the deaths of participants were not investigated. 

33. In 2015, Tu Youyou became the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for helping to create an anti-malaria medicine. In China, she is being called the "three noes" winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she's never worked overseas.

34. Two months before President Franklin Pierce’s inauguration, his last surviving child was killed in a train accident. He refused to be sworn in on a bible, believing God was punishing him for his past sins.

35. Nicolas Cage was considered for the role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler. When taken to a live event, he thought wrestling was real like UFC! In the end, the crew had a meeting where it was determined that Cage looked too healthy for the part, so the role went to Mickey Rourke.

The term "tire", the rubber component of a vehicle's wheel, comes from the word "attire", from the idea that a wheel with a tire is a dressed wheel.

37. The ponds that are common in residential neighborhoods are not installed as water features. They are actually retention basins used to offset the drainage capacity of the ground removed by paving roads and building houses.

38. Several years ago there was somehow a common cold outbreak at a research base in Antarctica after 17 weeks of complete isolation. No cause was found.

39. River Thames is one of the cleanest rivers in the world that flows through a major city, after being declared biologically dead 50 years ago.

40. Sony reportedly fired Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and nearly replaced him with Jake Gyllenhaal because they suspected Tobey of faking an injury to negotiate bigger pay.