Random Revelations: Article #60- 45 Engaging Random Facts

To calculate the position of the Voyager 1 spacecraft some 12.5 billion miles away, you only need to use the first 15 digits of the value of Pi to be accurate within 1.5 inches.

2. In 1986, Jesse "The Body" Ventura attempted to unionize the pro wrestling industry. It was promptly shut down after Hulk Hogan informed WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

3. Half of the Irish Travellers (i.e. Gypsies) do not live past the age of 39 and unemployment among male travellers is 73%.

4. Parents are worse at telling if their child is lying than complete strangers.

5. Between 1983-2000, 96% of US plane crash victims survived.

In 1975, an American entrepreneur named Gary Dahl invented the pet rock. He took rocks from a Mexico beach and, over the course of only half a year, would sell each rock for $4, making himself over $1.5 million.

7. The population of the Czech Republic has traditionally been irreligious for a very long time. Ever since the 1600's, the Czech people have been described as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion".

8. The CEO of low budget airline Ryan Air (Michael O'Leary) wanted to charge passengers £1 to use the onboard toilets. The policy was never implemented because it violated EU regulations.

9. The Chancellor of UC Davis (Linda P.B. Katehi) was fired after giving her family jobs with unusual pay hikes. She was later rehired at UC Davis at nearly the same pay rate, with her new job requiring that she teach only one class per quarter.

10. The code to inform US troops that South Vietnam was lost and should be evacuated instantly was a weather report followed by the song, "White Christmas"... in April.

"Drop bears" are an Australian hoax intended to frighten outsiders and tourists by convincing them that some treetops were inhabited by sharp-toothed flesh-eating koala that could drop down from great heights (8 + meters) and attack.

12. Astronauts attach pieces of velcro into their helmets to scratch their noses during spacewalks.

13. Tom Cruise had Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Leah Remini and others over at his house and tried to play hide-and-seek with them, going so far as to run off into 3 acres of land.

14. There used to be a Latin warning describing the Strait of Gibraltar: "NON PLUS ULTRA", or "Nothing further beyond". After Spain reaped huge rewards proving that this wasn't quite true, they made their national motto "PLUS ULTRA", or "Further beyond".

15. In the 18th century England, some wealthy landowners would hire "ornamental hermits", who were poor people dressed in a Druid costume to live in rustic homes in their garden. This may have inspired garden gnome statues.

The caduceus symbol mistakenly used by many American medical companies is actually associated with thievery and commerce, the true medical symbol is the similar looking Rod of Asclepius.

17. Isolating a female cannabis plant from a male can increase production of buds (richest THC source) as the female increases her efforts to attract pollen from the male plant.

18. A small kid who has been nicknamed “Mini Jack Ma” due to his resemblance to 'Jack Ma', founder of Ali Baba Group, comes from a poor Chinese family, and has received donations and at least one offer to fund his education all thanks to his resemblance to the billionaire tycoon.

19. The "National" of the National Hockey League, refers to the nation of Canada, not the U.S.

20. There are scented bowling balls and, contrary to rumor, the creator came up with them because bowling pro shops are stinky places.

In 1961, when Yuri Gagarin returned from space Nikita Khrushchev wanted to boost the Soviet's anti-religion campaign by saying: "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any God there."

22. Three explorers (Bill Wilson, Henry Bowers, and Apsley Cherry Garrard) who wanted to prove that the penguins are the missing link between birds and reptiles went in the middle of the Antarctic winter (– 60°C) to collect penguin eggs in 1911 and when they returned back with the eggs the museum initially refused to look at them.

23. During the Cold War, the Soviets secretly bought clear Coca-Cola from the US and disguised it as vodka.

24. In 1959, a Norwegian insulation company took on the challenge from a radio station of driving a truck carrying three tons of ice from the arctic circle to the equator. The ice only lost 11% of its mass during the 27-day long journey.

25. Edward Stuart Baker survived a panther attack by shoving his left arm down its throat. Despite losing his arm, he remained a formidable tennis player and even won a local tournament several years later.