Random Facts Sheet #357 – Curious Nuggets of Knowledge: 35 Little-Known Random Facts That Will Surprise You

Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian pastor who believed in the power of teaching through example, which he felt would be just as powerful as preaching.

27. Feral cats on Guadalupe Island have been observed stealing milk from elephant seals. The cats sneak up on a nursing pup and bat at them until the pup retreats, at which point the cat licks up the milk from the mother's teat. Some cats have been observed being chased off by elephant seals.

28. Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright's houses were famously leaky due to his unconventional design choices and use of materials, which often resulted in moisture issues.

29. Most audio recordings contain a background "mains hum" caused by electric power grid oscillations. This hum can be matched with grid readings to date the clip to the second it was recorded, providing a precise time stamp.

30. Sylvester Stallone is the only actor to have starred in a #1 box office movie across six consecutive decades.

The Big Gulp, a popular drink size sold at 7-Eleven stores, was invented in 1976 after Coca-Cola suggested that they use 32-ounce cups. This was much larger than the 20-ounce cups being used by McDonald's at the time. The first regional order of 500 Big Gulp cups sold out in a week, eventually forcing automakers to make cupholders bigger as the drink's popularity grew.

32. Several people have been caught cheating on game shows throughout history. One of the most notable cases involved Charles Ingram, who cheated his way to winning the jackpot on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" by having an accomplice cough to indicate the correct answer.

33. Beneath the Puerto Rico Trench lies a mass so dense that it has a gravitational pull on the surface of the ocean, causing it to dip somewhat. The Trench is also associated with the most negative gravity anomaly on earth, -380 milliGal, which indicates the presence of an active downward force.

34. Sigmund Freud was addicted to smoking and failed to quit for good throughout a 45-year-long battle that included 33 operations for cancer of the jaw, an artificial jaw replacement, and attacks of "tobacco angina" exacerbated by nicotine. He was known to smoke up to twenty cigars a day.

35. The 1991 Downing Street mortar attack was a failed attempt by members of the IRA to kill then-Prime Minister John Major during a cabinet meeting. Three mortars were launched at No. 10 Downing Street, one of which hit the lawn 30 yards away. It is believed that if this mortar had hit the building, the entire cabinet would have died.