Random Fact Sheet #97 – 40 Facts That Might Interest You

Debbie and Billie were presidential pets of John F. Kennedy. Billie ate his own children, who was then eaten by Debbie, who then died of indigestion.

27. Target created an algorithm to detect which shoppers were in their second trimester of pregnancy. They then sent marketing materials related to newborn babies and mixed them up with other promotional materials like lawn mowers and wine glasses so that people wouldn't suspect them of spying.

28. There is a Mickey Mouse shaped solar farm at Disney World, Florida.

29. Mauna Kea is a mountain in Hawaii. When measured from its base, which is underwater, it is 33,000 feet tall. This makes it the tallest mountain in the world, 4000 feet taller than Mount Everest.

30. Trees in forests have an underground communication and interaction system driven by fungal networks. “Mother trees” pass on information for best growth patterns and can divert nutrients to trees in need, and they are more likely to pass them on to trees of their own species.

56% of the most highly-cited medical research papers in 2005 had results that were never replicated.

32. In 1979, there was an unexplainable nuclear explosion near the Prince Edward Islands (near South Africa). It was detected by the Vela Hotel Satellite but the explosion still has not been claimed by any country.

33. In 2017, Ubisoft partnered with the British Museum to apply machine learning to speed up the deciphering of ancient hieroglyphics.

34. Battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz sank 3 times. When it was raised the second time, the guy in charge of raising it wasn't there, so he made them re-sink it so he could get the photo.

35. Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic individual credited with being the first philosopher ever, the first person to accurately predict a solar eclipse, and the first person in history to receive credit for a mathematical discovery.

You will never see a bin being emptied in Disneyland because of a series of hidden tunnels.

37. Originally built as only a hunting lodge for King Francois I, Chateau de Chambord contains 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces. It is so large that Loire, the longest river in France, was rumored to have been diverted to make room for it.

38. 80% of businesses in Sicily pay a protection fee to the Mafia.

39. During Victorian England, kaleidoscopes were in such a craze that people were distracted and obsessed over them like today's smartphones.

40. Sleep Country Canada and Sleep Country USA are unaffiliated but they share the slogan “Why buy a mattress anywhere else?”