Random Facts Sheet #351 – 40 Fact Files: A Compilation of Intriguing Trivia

Since The Beatles stopped performing in public in 1966, classic albums like Sgt. Pepper and The White Album were never performed live.

27. The Mexican P-47 fighter squadron that fought against Japan in World War II was the first Mexican military unit to ever deploy outside of Mexico.

28. The arachnoids, which may stretch up to 200 kilometers in length, are massive spiderweb-like formations unique to Venus's surface. There may be a connection between arachnoids and volcanoes, yet it's also possible that different kinds of arachnoids develop in various ways. The upwelling of magma from the interior of the planet might be to blame for the fissures in the surface.

29. Camels belonging to the Kharai species are found only in India. They are a peculiar camel species in that they prefer marine environments and can swim. They feed on mangroves and help regenerate the mangrove forests they feed on.

30. Since there are no ventilation systems or windows aboard a spaceship, eating beans might result in "1-3 cups of flatus" and is therefore banned during space missions.

The total number of presents in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is 364, which is the same as the number of days in a year minus December 25th.

32. Companies in the Philippines must provide their regular staff with a one-month basic pay bonus known as "13th month pay" by December 24th of each year. This bonus is calculated based on the number of months the employee has worked for the company.

33. The death of swing music and dance in the United States may be traced back to 1944, when the federal government imposed a hefty 30% tax on any food-serving facilities (like clubs) that featured dancing. Not until the 1960s would it finally be abolished (though it was reduced a few years after implementation).

34. On one occasion, Orson Welles unintentionally showered the audience with arrows. Welles had the archers shoot offstage in his Boston production of Henry the Fifth, but the stage revolved around them. Welles was already aware of the issue, but he had wrongly assumed that the Harvard students wouldn't act irresponsibly by firing arrows into the audience.

35. In 1966, the Beatles gave their final public performance in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The event was a huge disappointment and far from a sellout, with over 20% of tickets remaining unsold. After that, the Beatles never played for a paying crowd again.

Coins featuring characters from Disney, Pokémon, Peanuts, Star Wars, and more are legal tender on the Pacific island nation of Niue. This strategy has long been employed by smaller nations. The Maldives sell a set of stamps featuring Clint Eastwood; Lesotho sells stamps with the gorillas from Gorillas in the Mist; and Bermuda sells a coin featuring The Queen from the Netflix series.

37. The TwitterPeek, released in 2009, was a mobile device that could only be used to send and receive tweets.

38. Creed, a Christian pop-rock band from the 1990s, originally went by the name "Naked Toddler" when they played their first gig. Once the group realized how horrible it sounded, they promptly changed their name.

39. Chicago lights its gas burners at the track switches on its railroad lines to keep trains running smoothly and on time during the harsh winter months. Most of the switches in other cities in the USA are heated electrically.

40. Thomas Jefferson, then-vice president, was notified of a large, bright light in the Louisiana sky in the year 1800. A while later, he gave a report on his findings to the American Philosophical Society and documented the experience in his journal.