Random Fact Sheet #93 – Uncovering 35 Little-Known Facts

The marshmallow originally came from boiling the mallow plant found in marshes. It has little in common with today’s sugary treat.

27. Tristan da Cunha is a British island in the Atlantic, about 2400 km away from the nearest continent. It is a commune where all land is communally owned and cattle numbers are restricted to discourage wealth accumulation.

28. In "Oblomov", the second novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, it takes the protagonist the first 50 pages, to get up from the bed, and move to a chair.

29. ‘Spirit In The Sky’ was written in 15 minutes after Jewish-raised Norman Greenbaum saw a host sing a gospel song on TV. He said, “Yeah, I could do that.”

30. The 'Baphomet Sigil,' also known as the pentagram with the goat in it is actually trademarked by the church of Satan.

Platypuses and Echidna do not have stomachs.

32. The total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon.

33. William Ellis was a Texas-born slave who crossed the border to slavery-free Mexico and became a millionaire. Later on, he attempted to bring African-Americans to Mexico and even served as a diplomat of the US to the King of Ethiopia.

34. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich was invented in 1901 by Julia Davis Chandler.

35. The first Boeing 747 to fly a commercial route was also the first to be hijacked, 9 months after it flew its maiden commercial flight. 7 years later, it was also one of the planes destroyed in the Tenerife Airport Disaster.