Random Fact Sheet #267 – 40 Bizarre Facts That Will Leave You Wondering

There are 500 varieties of mangoes, and they are related to the cashew and pistachio family and are one of the most consumed fruits in the world.

27. Bats can breathe through their wings. Wings make up 85% of a bat's surface area and can contribute up to 10% of its gas exchange.

28. It was once popular to name your children after the President of the United States. Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is an example of this phenomenon. The trend fell out of style during Nixon’s term.

29. When Academy Award-winning actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco - becoming Princess Grace of Monaco - the religious ceremony took only 15 minutes, but the following recitation of the 142 royal titles acquired by Kelly took another 25 minutes.

30. There is a Portuguese messianic mystic belief called Sebastianism in which a child King from the 16th century that vanished in battle will come back to save Portugal in its darkest hour.

Physicist Wallace Sabine was assigned the impossible task of fixing the sound quality of a poorly designed lecture hall. Despite having no background in acoustics, he discovered a relationship between chamber size, absorption surface, and sound quality, thus founding the field of acoustics.

32. During her wedding in 1981, Princess Diana deviated from tradition and omitted the line in which she promised to "obey" Prince Charles.

33. In 1950, Edith Sampson became the first African-American to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. She later became the first Black U.S. representative to NATO and became the first Black woman to be elected judge in the state of Illinois.

34. When the power goes out in an area, the majority of people who utilize rooftop solar panels (the form most commonly used by the public) will lose power along with everyone else; even when still in direct sunlight. A solar battery can be installed to use this power later but isn't the "norm".

35. Sandra Perron was the first female infantry officer in the Canadian Army. Viewed as a threat by the male officers, she was beaten, tied to a tree, and left in the snow for two hours without boots. Her experience forced the army to revise its procedures to prevent harassment.

Bob Marley was buried with his Gibson "Les Paul" guitar, a soccer ball, a marijuana bud, a ring that had been given to him by the Prince Asfa Wossen of Ethiopia, and a Bible. A month before his death, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.

37. Beethoven wanted to dedicate his third symphony to Napolean. But when Napolean crowned himself the Emperor of France, Beethoven was outraged and changed the name of the symphony to Sinfonia Eroica (Heroic Symphony).

38. Almost all mammals except for primates are red-green colorblind. This is because all living mammals descend from a small shrew-like species that lived in burrows and mostly came out at night, which had partially lost its sense of vision due to its dark habitat.

39. While on death row, Ted Bundy reached out to a detective investigating the Green River Killer offering to help get inside the mind of a murderer. His insight helped lead to an arrest. 

40. One of the symptoms of getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type is ‘an impending sense of doom’.