Random Fact Sheet #70 – 32 Facts to Keep You Guessing

When German World War 2 U-boats would cruise below the surface with diesel engines running, waves swamping the snorkel tubes would cause the engines to suck air from the boat to keep running, producing a partial vacuum. Crews reported it was very painful, and eardrums were sometimes ruptured.

27. The singer of Peanut Butter Jelly Time died in an 11 hour police standoff during which time his brother-in-law Snoop Dogg attempted to calm him down and surrender.

28. Peter Jackson made a huge push to get Andy Serkis nominated for his role as Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings.’ The Academy denied his request, stating that the motion-capture performance was ineligible as it “technically wasn’t the actor being nominated for the role, but rather the character.”

29. Christmas used to be illegal in Massachusetts and much of New England and remained taboo in that part of the country until at least ­1870 when the Feds declared it a national holiday

30. There's a family (Da Silva family) in Brazil where every member has 12 fingers.

All mammals, from mice to whales, have roughly the same number of heartbeats in a lifetime: 1 billion.

32. Skellig Michael, the island which served as a filming location for the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and several scenes in The Last Jedi, was founded by a Gaelic Christian monastery between the 6th and 8th century and remained continuously occupied until abandoned in the late 12th century.