Random Fact Sheet #338 – Knowledge Nuggets: 30 Engaging Random Facts

One of the original ingredients for a Milkshake was Whiskey.

2. In 1997, Corporal Courage II, the wedge-tailed eagle mascot of the Australian Army 2nd Cavalry Regiment, refused to cooperate with handlers during a training session, flew away, and could not be found for two days. He was charged with being AWOL and demoted to trooper.

3. Neuticles are implantable fake dog testicles invented by Gregg Miller, a man who believed that neutered male dogs miss their balls a lot. The first commercially implanted Neuticles went into a dog in 1995. Since then he has sold over half a million pairs at an average cost of $310 per pair.

4. 1.6% of the general population has Borderline Personality Disorder, a disorder that is characterized by hypersensitivity to rejection and resulting instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, affect, and behavior.

5. The American Dental Association supports chewing sugarless gum since it increases salivary volume and flow, thus protecting against cavities.

USS Nautilus was the first nuclear submarine used wooden bearings for its propeller. It used lignum vitae, which is the hardest traded wood, the fourth hardest wood ever discovered, and is "self-oiling."

7. Prior to the advent of city parks, it was quite common for people to picnic in cemeteries.

8. Due to rising yearly deaths in American football (18 in 1905, 26 by 1909) colleges in California switched their predominant game to rugby. By 1920 all colleges went back to American football. However, their expertise in Rugby helped the USA win the rugby gold medal in the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games.

9. Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-Khatib was an 14th century Andalusian polymath who proposed the idea of transmissible diseases. More precisely, he proposed that the Bubonic Plague was transmitted from person to person, centuries before Louis Pasteur and John Snow.

10. In 1925, William Randolph Hearst purchased the cloisters of a Spanish monastery, had it dismantled brick by brick, and shipped it all to the US. The pieces sat in a Brooklyn warehouse for 26 years until two entrepreneurs bought them and rebuilt the structure in North Miami.

On the eve of the Beatles' 1964 World Tour, Ringo Starr was hospitalized with tonsillitis. Instead of canceling the tour, session drummer Jimmie Nicol was hired as a stand-in. Nicol played with the band for the first 7 shows before Ringo recovered and reunited with the band.

12. During the Falklands War, the British Royal Navy killed 3 whales with torpedoes and depth charges after mistaking them for Argentinian submarines.

13. The Truman Show was originally a dark thriller that took place in a New York-style city. It took many drafts of the script to arrive at the comedy-drama that eventually made it to screen.

14. Franklin D. Roosevelt was 39 years old when he contracted "infantile paralysis," the contemporary name for polio.

15. Dogs can be trained to sniff out electronics. Triphenylphosphine oxide is a chemical used in the manufacturing process of electronics as it prevents overheating and dogs can be trained to sniff this chemical.

Cleopatra was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn to read, write, and converse in Egyptian. She could also speak 7 languages.

17. The rusty-spotted cat is a very rare wild cat native to India and Sri Lanka. Referred to as the hummingbird of the cat family, they weigh in at 2-4 pounds and are thought to be the smallest wild cat species.

18. The Ramones took their name from Paul Ramon, the fake name Paul McCartney used to check into hotel rooms during the height of The Beatle's fame.

19. Timothy Olyphant was originally offered the role of Dominic Toretto in The Fast and The Furious. Olyphant passed thinking the movie would bomb at the box office and the role was given to Vin Diesel

20. "Guerilla Ontology" is a term coined by Robert Anton Wilson. Its purpose is to expose a dogmatic individual to radically unique ideas, thoughts and words. As a consequence, that person will experience cognitive dissonance and have their beliefs about reality challenged.

Until 1929, the legal age of marriage in England and Wales was 14 for males and 12 for females. With ‘The Age of Marriage Act’ released in 1929, it increased to 16 with the consent of the parents or the guardian, and to 21 without that consent.

22. The White House built a vinyl record collection during the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter from more than 2,000 donated albums. It is a time capsule of 1970s trends. Among others, the collection includes records of Pat Boone, Barry Manilow, John Denver, the Beatles, Isaac Hayes, The Clash, and Elvis Costello.

23. In 1979, Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct until, in 1981, a Wyoming ranch dog brought home a black-footed ferret. Researchers discovered the last 120 ferrets in Meeteetse, Wyoming.

24. In an effort to keep morale high for World War 2 troops fighting in the Pacific, the British built a floating brewery and dispatched it to the South Seas.

25. Based on fossil evidence, the longest crocodile ever to live was a Sarcosuchus imperator, who measured 40 feet long and weighed 17,600 pounds.