Random Facts Sheet #362 – Trusted Trivia: 35 Credible Facts To Add to Your Knowledge Bank

Despite outside temperatures as low as -49°F, an igloo can maintain an internal temperature ranging from 19°F to 61°F solely through body heat.

2. In 2022, a chess robot broke the finger of its 7-year-old human opponent during a chess tournament in Moscow after the boy made a swift move without waiting for the robot to complete its turn.

3. The acronym "R.I.P." has been engraved on tombstones since at least the fifth century. It stands for "Rest in Peace," which is the English translation of a Latin phrase with the same acronym.

4. When flies land on your food, they essentially spit on it because they need to release digestive juices to liquefy it into a predigested, slurpable soup that they can ingest.

5. Liu Yiqian, a former taxi driver turned billionaire, purchased a $170 million painting in 2015 with his American Express card, earning enough reward points for a lifetime of first-class travel for his family.

In 1938, Studebaker created the world's "largest living advertisement" by planting 8,000 pine trees in the shape of "STUDEBAKER," visible when viewed from the sky. Despite Studebaker's absence for over 50 years, their pine tree logo still thrives and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

7. In 2010, the PS3 game "MAG" received recognition from Guinness World Records as the "Most Players in a Console FPS," featuring 256 players participating simultaneously in matches.

8. Switzerland remains the only country in the world that acknowledges the dignity of plants in its constitution.

9. The video game industry experienced a severe recession in 1983, with US video game revenue plummeting from $3.2 billion in 1983 to $100 million in 1985. Nintendo is credited with revitalizing the industry through the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

10. Six doctors conducted an experiment in which they each swallowed a Lego head to determine the typical transit time of commonly swallowed objects. They presented their findings using a "Found and Retrieved Time" (FART) score, which averaged 1.71 days.

During the infamous Paul Masson wine commercial shoot, Orson Welles was not drunk but rather under the influence of a sleeping pill. After a few hours of rest, Welles was able to complete the commercial within an hour, and the director described him as a delight to work with.

12. Desperation pies are defined by their use of inexpensive staple ingredients for filling. These pies were particularly popular during periods of depression, the World Wars, and before the advent of refrigeration. Varieties include green tomato pie, shoofly pie, chess pie, and vinegar pie.

13. Ernest Hemingway had a transgender daughter named Gloria Hemingway (born Gregory Hancock Hemingway). Gloria, who was an American physician and writer, lived most of her life publicly as a man. However, she grappled with her gender identity from a young age and underwent surgery to transition in her sixties.

14. A funeral home in Michigan offers a drive-thru option where you can view the deceased through a window and pay your respects. The location also provides a registry book and a memorial box for dropping off cards.

15. Contrary to popular belief, Benjamin Franklin did not propose the turkey as the national bird of the United States. In a letter, he actually criticized the use of the bald eagle as the emblem of a fraternal society, describing the bird as "lazy," "a rank coward," and "of bad moral character." Instead, he suggested that Turkey was a more respectable choice.

Salieri syndrome refers to individuals who are mildly talented within larger organizations and are in a position to help you, but instead, they undermine your success.

17. Renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud suggested that addictions, including tobacco, served as substitutes for masturbation.

18. Cockaigne is an imaginary land of plenty in medieval myth, where physical comforts and pleasures are always readily available. In Cockaigne, nuns are upside down to reveal their bottoms, abbots receive playful beatings from their monks, and cheese rains from the skies.

19. The oldest time capsule in the United States was buried in 1795 by Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House. It was accidentally discovered in 2014 by workers who were trying to fix a water leak.

20. Évariste Galois, a mathematical prodigy who revolutionized group theory in his teens and had an entire mathematical field named after him, died from wounds sustained in a duel over a woman when he was only 20 years old.

Super Bowl halftime shows used to be rather dull until the sketch comedy show 'In Living Color' aired a live special opposite the Super Bowl XXVI halftime show in 1992. The special attracted over 20 million viewers. The following year, the NFL booked Michael Jackson for the halftime show.

22. Ancient pottery from West Africa has undergone chemical analysis, revealing organic residue that provides insights into their diet. The Nok people from 3,500 years ago enjoyed a nutritious diet that included greens such as African eggplant, okra, cowpea, and bombax, enhancing the flavors of their starch-based staples.

23. Martha's Vineyard is one of only five natural place names that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has allowed to include an apostrophe.

24. When the Game Boy was initially released in 1989, the North American version was bundled with Tetris as the only game. Only four other games were available at the time: Alleyway, Baseball, Super Mario Land, and Tennis. However, within ten years, more than 1,000 games became available for the Game Boy.

25. The song "Tubular Bells" from the movie 'The Exorcist' was actually a 25-minute track featuring 20 instruments. It was funded by Richard Branson, who used it to jumpstart his new record label, Virgin Records.