Random Fact Sheet #312 – Facts Galore: 35 Remarkable Random Trivia

Capybaras, the largest extant rodent, have adapted well to urbanization in South America, and they can be found in many urban parks and lakes. Capybaras are quite docile and often allow humans to pet them though it is discouraged as the mammals’ ticks can carry the Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

2. Native Australians, often thought of as pure hunter-gatherers, were farming fish 6600 years ago.

3. The Mozart Effect, the idea that classical music makes babies more intelligent, is largely unfounded. However, listening to music one enjoys does lower cortisol levels and anxiety, offering benefits to studying as long as it isn’t too distracting.

4. Poland and the Soviet Union were the two most affected countries in World War 2 in terms of deaths as a percentage of the population. In Poland 5.7 million died in the war, over 17% of its population. In the Soviet Union, an estimated 26.6 million people died, over 15% of its population.

5. Yi Sun-Sin was a 16th century Korean Admiral, who in spite of having no prior naval experience, remained undefeated at sea and never lost a single ship. In his most famous battle, he commanded 13 ships against the Japanese who had 330 vessels. He won, all whilst recovering from having been recently tortured.

Kim Kardashian sued Old Navy claiming the use of Canadian actress Melissa Molinaro violated her publicity rights by using a lookalike in an ad. Old Navy countered that the actress was famous in her own right and the case was settled out of court.

7. There's an ethnicity known as the “Magyarab,” who are the descendants of Hungarian mercenaries who settled in Sudan and Egypt under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century.

8. Magic Shell syrup gets its hardening properties from coconut oil, which is high in saturated fats. Once it contacts something cold like ice cream, the fats rapidly cool down and solidify.

9. During a game between the Barbados and Grenada national football teams in 1994, a bizarre rule was added according to which goals in extra time were counted double. This meant it was more beneficial for Barbados to score an own goal. Grenada then tried to score an own goal to counter this, so Barbados had to defend both goals.

10. On Aug. 4, 1972, U.S. military pilots flying south of Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam saw something unexpected. More than two dozen sea mines suddenly and without apparent explanation exploded in the water. The cause behind it, discovered decades later, was found to be a solar flare.

When constructing a walkway for the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, the original design was replaced by a cheap one, which was never checked by an engineer. The new plans only had 1/3 the strength needed. The walkway collapsed in 1981 and killed 114 people, the deadliest accidental structural failure in US history.

12. In the USA, it is quite common for new homeowners of older homes to find inside their walls, piles of razor blades. Old bathroom mirrors had slots to slip the old razors in.

13. In 2018, an electrical engineer on board the Bellingshausen Research station in Antarctica stabbed a fellow coworker in the chest multiple times because the colleague had been giving away the endings of books available in the research station’s library.

14. Psychogenic death or psychosomatic death is the phenomenon of sudden death that is brought on within days after a person mentally gives up on life. It occurs when someone experiences a trauma they feel they cannot escape, and the person views death as their only option.

15. When United Nation’s Nordic Battalion was sent to Bosnia in 1993 it disobeyed orders, broke rules of engagement, faked loss of communication to HQ, and became known as one the most trigger-happy peacekeeper units. This enabled them to achieve their mission objective: to protect civilians at all costs.

In 2010, a woman was evicted from her £3,000,000 castle in Scotland after she refused to pay a £230 bill for a bridal-wear rental.

17. While Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, the White House served notoriously terrible meals. First Lady Eleanor wanted to set an example for the country during the Depression by serving economical meals made from scraps.

18. Some hunter-gatherer tribes follow the practice of “Insulting the Meat.” To keep the best hunters from thinking themselves above the rest of the tribe, Ju/’hoan people insult the quality of the meat and lightheartedly mock the hunter who brought the animal down. The bigger the kill, the greater the insults are.

19. The band ‘The Vapors’ were so sure their song “Turning Japanese” would be a huge hit that they intentionally released a different single ahead of it so that they wouldn’t be thought of as a one-hit-wonder.

20. Ben and Jerry’s once sued a company that was naming its porn after their ice cream flavors. There were multiple movies in the “Ben and Cherry’s” series, and the titles included “Boston Cream Thighs,” “Chocolate Fudge Babes,” and “Peanut Butter D-cups.”

Forest fires in Germany can detonate leftover unexploded bombs from World War 2, putting firefighters at risk.

22. The animatronic gopher in the 1980 film Caddyshack cost around $500,000 and was built and filmed after the movie had been completed. The first cut was a cocaine-fueled mess and it was suggested in post-production that the gopher should be part of an expanded storyline to tie everything together.

23. Before elevators, the 2nd floor of buildings were the most sought after because you didn’t have to walk up a lot of stairs and you were above the street level, avoiding all the noises and smells. It’s why a lot of older buildings have larger/nicer rooms on the second floor.

24. Hitler was frustrated that Himmler was performing archeological studies in Germany, as he was worried that they would show the world that “Aryans” lived in mud huts while other civilizations were more technologically advanced.

25. Claiming his first belt at 20 years, four months, and 22 days old, Mike Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title.