Random Fact Sheet #299 – Curiosity Chronicles: 35 Fascinating Facts

In a promotional Volkswagon experiment, one randomized group of subway commuters was given the choice of regular stairs and the escalator while a second group could choose between musical "piano stairs" and an escalator. The piano stairs convinced 66% more people than normal to choose stairs.

27. In 1967 when war broke out between Egypt and Israel, 14 cargo ships got stranded in the Suez Canal and remained stranded there for 8 years. With nowhere to go, the crews eventually moored together, and formed an unofficial micronation of sorts, calling themselves the “Yellow Fleet.”

28. Though it has “Australian” in the name, and they commonly go by “Aussies” for short, the dog breed Australian Shepards are completely American.

29. Hector Boiardi was an accomplished Italian chef and at the age of just 17, he was put in charge of catering President Woodrow Wilson’s wedding. He later went on to found the “Chef Boyardee” brand.

30. A Vickers Heavy Machine Gun could fire 5 million rounds near continuously and remain within specification.

Over 90% of the planet's coal is from the 'carboniferous' era. It was an era that had evolved trees, but not anything to break them down. Trees died, fell down, and piled on top of each other eventually compressing all the trapped carbon into coal.

32. The name of the famous punk club “CBGB” stands for “Country, Bluegrass, and Blues.” Its founder originally wanted only these genres to be played at the venue.

33. Frankie Lymon, who wrote and sang "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" at the age of 13, died at the age of 25. He was married three times, became addicted to heroin, got straight, then on the eve of recording what would be his comeback record, died of a heroin overdose.

34. Creatures the size of Godzilla or King Kong cannot exist in real life. If you were to scale up an animal by 10 times in each dimension, it would have 100 times the muscle power, but 1000 times the mass, likely crushing this creature to death. An animal this big would look very different.

35. Mark Ruffalo won his role in Shutter Island by sending a fan letter to Martin Scorsese in which he told him how much he’d love to work with him. Ruffalo's future co-stars Robert Downey Jr and Josh Brolin were being considered for the role.