Random Fact Sheet #325 – Dive into the Unknown: 40 Wonderful Facts That Will Expand Your Horizons

HBO Max did not choose its name to be descriptive. Rather, it's a portmanteau of HBO and Cinemax, which are owned by the same company.

27. The only person to die playing baseball is Ray Chapman who in 1920 died at the age of 29 after being hit by a pitch. His death led to the ban on spitballs after the season and a rule was implemented requiring umpires to replace dirty balls. His death also led to the use of batting helmets, albeit 30 years later.

28. Venom wasn’t originally supposed to appear in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. He wanted to use that movie to set up the Vulture instead.

29. Your brain/eyes will generate a "light show" (known as the Prisoner's Cinema) if kept in darkness for long periods of time. The phenomenon is reported by prisoners confined to dark cells and by others kept in darkness as well as; truck drivers, pilots and practitioners of intense meditation.

30. Charles Strite invented the pop-up toaster (and nothing else) out of frustration. At the time, bread had to be turned manually in order to toast both sides, which resulted in cafeterias serving burnt toast most of the time.

In 2018, once the mission was declassified, the US Air Force awarded 4 retired Swedish pilots the Air Medal for their role in saving an SR-71 Blackbird 31 years prior.

32. Giant Anteaters have killed people. There have been 2 documented attacks in the wild both resulting in the death of people hunting them. The anteaters slashed at the hunters with their long claws, hitting the femoral artery, making the victims bleed to death.

33. Sika deer in Nara Japan are conditioned to bow their heads for treats. This has caused issues as male deer instinctively bow to signal they are about to charge and headbutt.

34. Byssus fabric was called “sea silk” because it was made from the filaments of Mediterranean mollusks. It was farmed/collected by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, who wove them into clothes that when treated with lemon juice, turned golden and this color never faded.

35. F7U Cutlass was one of the worst US Navy Jets ever. Underpowered and prone to catching on fire, it nearly crashed on its Blue Angels debut and was kicked off USS Hancock. One even disintegrated in flight in front of thousands of onlookers. One-fourth of all the F7U Cutlasses ever made were destroyed in crashes.

Shakespeare’s Globe which is a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre is the first and only building in London permitted to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire of 1666.

37. Puma sued Dolce & Gabbana over a slipper design they believe was copied. D&G argued that their design was for a different clientele and used real fur. Puma lost because D&G only sold 3 pairs with 2 being bought by Puma’s test buyers. The judge said there was no competition.

38. In World War 1, California’s schoolchildren were enlisted in a war on squirrels with one-sided casualties exceeding 100,000 ground squirrels.

39. A Chicken Gun is a compressed air cannon that fires bird carcasses in excess of 400 MPH at aircraft components in order to simulate high-speed bird strikes during the aircraft's flight. Engineers use them to test plane safety.

40. Giraffes live in two tribes, male and female. They only come together for mating. Outside of that male giraffes have sex with other males, often after necking contests where the winner dominates the loser with penetrative sex.