Random Fact Sheet #84 – 35 Mind-Blowing Facts to Knock Your Socks Off

Because of the Universe's expansion, a signal from an event happening at present will never reach the Earth if the event is more than 16 billion light-years away.

27. Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, was first used as a recreational party drug by Britain's wealthy class in the 1700s before it was ever utilized for medical reasons.

28. The limo JFK was assassinated in went to on be used by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter before being retired in 1977.

29. Nigeria has a space program and has successfully launched several satellites into orbit.

30. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to abolish sign language and believed deaf people to be inferior. He proposed many ideas to breed a more “nobleman” and reduce the intermarrying of the “deaf and dumb”.

In 1996, an American pathologist named Beck Weathers was left for dead twice after falling into the coma while climbing Mount Everest. At some point, his body warmed up and he regained consciousness. Blind, numb and severely frostbitten, he stumbled 300 yards into Camp IV. He was saved in the 2nd highest altitude helicopter rescue in history.

32. The island (Pheasant island) of Faisans in the middle of the Bidasoa river, on the border of Spain and France, switches countries every six months. This was agreed to as part of the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. This sort of joint sovereignty is called a condominium.

33. LEGO refuses to make sets that are military themed despite the fact they are forfeiting profits. This is because the company has a policy not to portray war as child's play. They state that they want their play experiences to remain in the "realm of fantasy".

34. Most birds dislike the taste of monarch butterflies because they still contain poisons from when they were caterpillars (monarch caterpillars' favorite meal is poisonous milkweed).

35. There are radioactive elements called "bone seekers" because they are chemically similar to calcium and the body tries to use them to build bones.