Random Fact Sheet #98 – 37 Fascinating Facts That Are Hard to Believe

Actress Nancy Carell who played Carol Stills on The Office has been married to Steve Carrel since 1995.

2. Researchers found that beards were only more attractive if they were uncommon. In a study, if researchers showed a single bearded man amongst many shaved men, the bearded person was ranked as more attractive. If shown amongst other bearded men, it lost its benefit.

3. Every year on Veterans Day at exactly 11:11 am, sun perfectly aligns with 5 Ellipses in 5 Pillars, illuminating the United States Seal at Anthem Veterans Memorial in Anthem, Arizona, thereby representing each branch of the military.

4. Blue LED lights are installed at certain Tokyo train stations to deter suicides. Researchers have found that the presence of blue lights resulted in an 84% decrease in suicides. Although the exact reason is unknown, it is theorized that blue light has a positive calming effect on mood.

5. Attacking your avocado tree can shock it into bearing fruit.

San Diego Zoo maintains a so-called "frozen zoo", a facility in which they preserve DNA from rare and near-extinct species.

7. The Subaru logo (Automobile manufacturer) represents the stars in Pleiades constellation which is known as 'Subaru' in Japanese.

8. Hyena is not a canine species. Instead, it's part of the feliform suborder and thus closer to a cat-like species.

9. The "big fat phony" guy from Family Guy is credited as "Holden Caulfield", the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's classic 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, who often accused others of being “phonies”.

10. A Wyoming woman named Lucille Clarke Dumbrill maintains and regularly uses a 122-year-old sourdough starter to make pancakes. The starter is older than the state of Wyoming itself.

Joseph Stalin’s real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. He decided to change his name to Stalin in 1902, which meant “steel” in Russian. He believed it would make him appear tough.

12. 'The Lost Generation' is a sad poem about the society that ends with "all this will come true unless we choose to reverse it." If you read it backward, each line has an opposite meaning, and it becomes happy.

13. There are actually eight continents, with the eighth, being nearly 95% submerged, called Zealandia (southwest Pacific Ocean).

14. 74% of mothers and 70% of fathers reported preferential treatment toward one child.

15. In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt was gifted a letter opener made out of the arm bone of a Japanese soldier but had to return it due to the shock and outrage it caused in Japan and the U.S.

Hugh Jackman buys lottery tickets for the entire cast and crew every Friday while filming a movie. It's a tradition he started in an effort to get to know one another and encourage comradery and teamwork among the crew.

17. American bank robber John Wojtowicz used scenes from "The Godfather" as an inspiration of how to pull off his infamous 1972 bank robbery. A movie was made based on the robbery called "Dog Day Afternoon". It starred Al Pacino and John Cazale, both famous for starring in "The Godfather".

18. In 2017, officers from Devon and Cornwall (UK) Police commandeered a double-decker bus, using the top deck to monitor motorists illegally using their mobile phones while driving. In two days, they caught 39 drivers using their phones and 36 not wearing a seatbelt.

19. During the Kangi Famine (1229-1232) in Japan, it was made legal for families to sell their children in hope of raising money to buy food, and also, grant their children a more fortunate household. This had the long-term effect of creating a significant servile class which remained for the next 400 years.

20. In 1881, the Isle of Man (British Isles island) became the first nation in the world to give women the right to vote.

Snoop Dogg once tried to rent the entire country of Liechtenstein for a music video shoot.

22. NASA had detailed plans to get humans to Mars by as early as 1981, but the mission didn't get enough support from the Nixon administration and was shelved.

23. 102-year-old cyclist Robert Marchand held the 100-plus category one-hour record of 24 kilometers and 251 meters. He broke his own record at the age of 102 years by riding 26 kilometers and 927 meters in one hour.

24. Lee Harvey Oswald was not arrested initially for killing John F. Kennedy. He was arrested for murdering American police officer J. D. Tippit.

25. In winter, dogs with white or light-colored fur will often lose pigment in their noses, leaving a pink or light brown streak in the middle. This is called 'Snow Nose' or 'Winter Nose.'