Random Fact Sheet #295 – Intricacies Explored: 30 Facts

Playing action video games can train the mind to make the right decisions faster. Video game players can develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, such as everyday activities like driving, reading small print, or navigating around town.

2. US Presidents used to give out special presidential packs of cigarettes to guests boarding Air Force One. They were later changed to packs of Presidential M&M’s over health concerns.

3. Children have more energy than endurance athletes. They have fatigue-resistant muscles and they recover faster than adults. Much of this stems from their ability to uptake and distribute oxygen, as well as synergize energy faster.

4. Spaghetti Westerns are named for being primarily produced by Italians. In Japan, they are called "Macaroni Westerns."

5. Stevie Wonder wasn’t actually born blind but became so at 6-weeks-old due to the incubator he was placed in after birth containing too much oxygen, leading to Retinopathy of Prematurity.

A German man named Martin Juergens claims the Moon has belonged to his family since 1756 when the Prussian King presented it to his ancestor as a symbolic gesture for services rendered. It was decreed the Moon would pass to the youngest born son.

7. After the release of the film “Jaws”, fishermen started catching as many sharks as possible, believing they were doing a public service, causing a huge decline in shark populations in the North Atlantic. Peter Benchley, the author of the original book, became a dedicated conservationist later in his life.

8. Fugio Cent, the first U.S official coin in circulation designed by Benjamin Franklin had the insignia "Mind Your Business" instead of the modern design "In God we Trust" and had 13 chainrings on the back representing the 13 states.

9. In the extinct Aboriginal Mbabaram language, the word for 'dog' is 'dog'. This is purely coincidental as Mbabaram is unrelated to the English language.

10. The buzzers on "Jeopardy!" will lock contestants out for .25 seconds if they ring in before the host has finished the last syllable of the question.

Clint Eastwood's agent told him not to appear in, "Fistful of Dollars", calling it a 'bad step' for his career. The film launched Eastwood's path to stardom, and he later named his production company, 'Malpaso', Spanish for 'bad step.' 

12. Catherine Zeta-Jones was initially offered the lead role in Chicago, but turned it down in favor of playing Velma just so she could sing "All That Jazz."

13. In the last year of his presidency, Teddy Roosevelt rode a horse 100 miles in one day in order to prove that his new military physical standards (100 miles in three days) were not unreasonable.

14. Sir Anthony Hopkins was actually the second person considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. Sean Connery was offered the role first, but turned it down because he thought the script was “disgusting.”

15. Frederick McKinley Jones was an orphaned black American who, in the 1930s when racial segregation was the norm, invented the first successful automatic refrigeration system for trucks. This led to the development of supermarkets and better combat-zone medical supply.

François and Joseph Blanc, two French brothers hacked a national semaphore-based telecom system in 1834 to beat the stock market. Later caught, they were not convicted because no law existed to prevent their actions.

17. In the 1930s, lots of Mexicans were repatriated from USA. Scapegoated for taking jobs away from “real” Americans during the Great Depression, state and local governments illegally forced hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens into forced exile simply for having Mexican ancestry.

18. During the filming of "Trading Places", Aykroyd's and Murphy's presence on the floor distracted the active traders and over $6 billion of trading had to be halted.

19. The stereotype of Native Americans saying "how" as a greeting comes from the Anglicization of the Lakota word "háu", which was used by men to greet other men. 

20. British actor Roger Moore, best known for playing James Bond, thought he looked awkward running so every scene that showed Moore running was performed by a body double. He also had hoplophobia, a fear of firearms, due to a childhood accident.

Waluigi wasn’t actually created by Nintendo- he was created by Camelot designer Fumihide Aoki solely for the purpose of being Wario’s duos partner/Luigi’s rival in Mario Tennis N64.

22. In 2006, 50 Cent was sued by Luther Campbell's manager for plagiarizing the lines "It's your birthday" in the song "In da Club". However, the lawsuit was dismissed because the phrase was ruled a "common, unoriginal and noncopyrightable element of the song."

23. The martial arts style portrayed by Denzel Washington in the 2010 movie "The Book of Eli" is called Kali and is the national martial arts form of the Philippines. It teaches to focus on and react to angles of attack rather than particular strikes/attacks.

24. During the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal encircled the entire Roman army with his troops and killed between 50,000 - 70,000 Roman soldiers while losing only 6,000 of his own men. Today this battle is often considered to be the perfect defeat of an enemy army.

25. In 1978, two punk bands, "the cramps" and "the mutants", were booked to play a live show at a mental institution in Napa, California. At another point, the mutants played at a school for the deaf, with the kids holding balloons in their hands in order to "feel the music."