Random Fact Sheet #3 – 40 Interesting Facts That’ll Blow You Away

British reporter Clare Hollingworth broke the news of Hitler invading Poland. British embassy didn't believe her until she held a telephone out of the window of her room to capture the ongoing sounds of war. Hers was the 1st report the British Foreign Office received about the invasion of Poland

2. A researcher in Antarctica got a date via Tinder with a woman who was at a field camp 45 minutes away

3. The Rajneeshee bioterror attack, in 1984 a cult sprayed salmonella on doorknobs and food in a town in Oregon to poison people so they would be too sick to vote and the cult could take over the town. It was the largest biological attack in U.S. history

4. Target has 2 U.S. based forensic labs where they solve retail crimes, felonies, homicides, and special circumstances cases for law bureaus that need the extra manpower, facilities, resources and time free of charge.

5. The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America. It looks more like a long-legged fox than a wolf. Genetic studies show that it is neither fox nor true wolf, but a distinct species. It is the only member of its genus, Chrysocyon.

British actors are usually cast in American movies as the villain because we associate the received pronunciation with high intellect and low morals.

7. Dr. James D. Watson, Nobel Prize winner & co-discoverer of DNA's double helix structure, believed that babies shouldn't be considered alive until 3 days after birth so that if the baby is sick, disabled, deformed, or deemed otherwise unacceptable, the baby can be legally left to die or euthanized.

8. George Clooney once was asked if he would ever play a gay role, his response was "I already did as Batman"

9. Ravens can speak better than parrots, enjoy playing in the snow, make their own toys, and do weird things with ants

10. Disney almost made 'The Dark Kingdom' at Walt Disney World, a Fifth Park that was themed around its Villains

The name Hotmail was chosen because it contains HTML, and was originally styled HoTMaiL.

12. There is a pecan pie vending machine in Cedar Creek, Texas. The machine is open 24/7, is stocked daily, and contains full-sized pies and other sweet pecan treats.

13. In 2015 a man called into C-SPAN and began talking about West Philadelphia, and got all the way through the first two stanzas of the "Fresh Prince" theme song before being cut off

14. Just before going out of business, the founder of FEDEX took the companies last $5,000, went to vegas and played blackjack, winning enough money to keep the company afloat.

15. Actor J.K. Simmons is the voice of the yellow M&M and has been for over 20 years.

In Star Wars legends, Jar Jar Binks was given a father, named George R Binks, who was so ashamed of his son that he attempted suicide. In order to talk him down, his wife told him to think of his son. He then pulled the trigger

17. Schrödinger did not believe in the possibility of a cat being simultaneously both dead and alive. His thought experiment was meant to criticize the absurdity of the existing view of quantum mechanics.

18. Electric cars and cabs were quite common in 1909, had a range of over 100 miles, had charging stations every few blocks in NY, were quite popular with women, and people would wait for an electric cab instead of taking a gasoline cab

19. United airlines promised to help a blind woman named Jessica Cabot off a plane once everyone had gotten off but they just left her there and the maintenance crew had to help her out.

20. An Australian family used a large black crystal as a doorstop for over a decade before realizing that it held a 733-carat black sapphire, the Black Star of Queensland

Breast cancer research receives more funding than any other cancer, including those more deadly or widespread

22. Programmers for Atari in the late 70s went to the CEO of the company asking for royalties and their names be included in the boxes, when he turned them down they went and formed their own company Activision

23. The newest member of the US Supreme Court must take notes, answer the phone, hold the door and pour the coffee for the more senior members during private meetings.

24. Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that he borrowed the suit with a bullet hole his uncle was murdered in for his high school graduation ceremony.

25. The average American woman now weighs as much as the average American man in the 1960s