Random Fact Sheet #52 – 35 Facts to Tickle Your Brain

American rapper LL Cool J was asked to be in a Gap commercial but was mad at how they treated him on the phone when they asked. He starred in the commercial wearing a FUBU hat and rapping "For Us By Us" in the ad, giving FUBU over $30 million in free advertising and propelling FUBU to a global brand.

2. Chris Farley was originally the voice of Shrek and had recorded 85% of his lines before he passed away.

3. During the Battle of Germantown, in 1777, a cease-fire was called due to a small terrier wandering on the battlefield.

4. Megachurch pastor Ed Young drove a Ferrari 458 Italia on stage during service, parked it, got out, and said: "God gave me a Ferrari because I AM a Ferrari."

5. In the early 1990s, DJs Opie and Anthony promoted a giveaway of "100 Grand" over several weeks on their radio show in Boston. When the winner was finally chosen, they revealed that the prize was a 100 Grand candy bar and not $100,000.

Individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease may lose the ability to smell peanut butter. The "Peanut Butter Test" may offer an early indication of the disease.

7. Toronto has an underground arcology, a network of underground tunnels where it possible to live without needing to venture outside

8. Sea silk is a highly prized unique material made from Mediterranean clams. The only person (Chiara Vigo) who knows the ancient craft is an elderly Italian woman.

9. Wimbledon employs a bird of prey, Rufus the Hawk, to keep pigeons away from the tennis courts.

10. Carlos Santana took LSD before performing at Woodstock. This performance launched his career into stardom.

Vincent Price was originally cast as Santa Clause in "The Nightmare Before Christmas," but before he recorded his lines his wife had passed away, and the director felt that Price's sadness could be heard in the lines and deemed them unusable.

12. The inventor of the labradoodle named Wally Conron deeply regrets his actions due to a lot of unhealthy and abandoned dogs.

13. In 2010, the city of Belleville, Illinois, banned trick-or-treating for kids over 12. Teens can face fines from $100 to $1,000 for going door-to-door.

14. The creation of public drinking fountains in the US was supported by the Temperance Movement to stop people from drinking alcohol.

15. Dorian Leigh was one of the first supermodels. She was a mechanical engineer who designed airplane wings during World War 2.

The shrine buildings at Ise, Shinto’s holiest site, are torn down & rebuilt every 20 years in line with the belief in the impermanence of all things & as a way to pass building techniques across generations. The buildings have existed for ~1300yrs; the 63rd rebuilding occurs in 2033.

17. Radio waves travel faster than sound waves. If you stand at the base of Big Ben you can hear the chime on the radio before you hear it in real life.

18. The term "Crosshair" comes from when the military used actual hair in optics during World War 2. Mary Babnik Brown was the first woman to have her hair used for military aircraft bombsights because she had never chemically treated or heated her hair with a curling iron.

19. There is a guy named Thomas Thwaites who made an entire electric toaster from raw materials by mining and refining steel, nickel, copper, mica, and making plastic after being inspired by a Hitchhiker's Guide's quote.

20. Iceland as a country smokes the most cannabis per capita than anywhere else, with 20% of the population considering themselves regular smokers.

The AI that beat the world's best DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) player (Danil "Dendi" Ishutin) did so only because it was a 1v1, which forced the player to use the same hero it was using. It also had access to DOTA's API, and ended up losing multiple times after players switched strategy.

22. The popular arcade game NBA Jam was thought to be haunted. During demo mode, the machines would randomly shout "Petrovic", the name of an NBA player (Dražen Petrović) who died in a car accident shortly after the game finished production.

23. On Valentine's day in Japan, women give their male co-workers chocolate. Unpopular co-workers receive cheap giri-choko("ultra-obligatory" chocolate) while others receive honmei-choko ("true feeling chocolate").

24. The Goldwater Rule is a rule that prohibits psychiatrists from giving professional opinions about public figures whom they have not examined in person.

25. During the American Revolution, "Columbia" was used to describe all of America; that is why the capital of the USA is called Washington, District of Columbia.