Random Revelations: Article #67- 30 Astonishingly Surprising Random Facts

Scientists were able to use a spinach leaf as scaffolding to build a mini working human heart.

2. The first speeding ticket for an automobile driver was given by a policeman in Dayton, Ohio, in 1904, to Harry Myers for going 12 miles per hour on West Third Street.

3. In 2016, a gang of five men were jailed for stealing £25,000 worth of Jammie Dodgers (British biscuit) from a factory in Torfaen, Wales. As they were being led away from the docks, one of the defendants called out "Does anyone want a biscuit?".

4. Issac Newton and Robert Hooke were bitter rivals, and Newton’s famous quote “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”, was most likely a passive-aggressive attack on Hooke, who stood significantly shorter than Newton.

5. Throughout the 1970’s the Grateful Dead (American Rock band) used a 32 feet tall PA system that could deliver perfect sound 600ft away. It had to be hauled in caravans of semi trucks and took 4 hours to assemble. They called it “The Wall of Sound”.

Mehmed the Conqueror requested his father, who had abdicated earlier, to come back and claim the throne in the time of trouble by saying: "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies."

7. In 2014, after North Korea banned Choco pies, South Korea airlifted 10,000 of them across the DMZ with balloons.

8. In Brazil, it's so common to get robbed in the streets that a lot of people carry an extra cellphone (they call it the "thief's phone") so they can give it to the robber when the crime happens.

9. 'Tubular Bells' (famously used in, 'The Exorcist') is an album released in 1973 consisting of two complexes, twenty-plus minute instrumental compositions, both of which were written, played and recorded by a 19-year-old Mike Oldfield.

10. In 2004, Sega released the extremely well received NFL 2K5 for $19.99, beating EA’s Madden 2005 to the market by 3 weeks and at less than half the price. The success of 2K5 prompted EA to buy the exclusive right to make NFL video games which insured Madden would be the only console-based NFL game.

Smell hallucinations are called phantosmia and can be caused by infections, neurological damage, or epilepsy.

12. George Lucas hated the Star Wars Holiday Special so much he said, "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it."

13. Avocados must be picked to ripen, can stay on the plant for 7 months as "storage", and take 13 months to grow a mature avocado.

14. 1/3 of John F. Kennedy's secret service staff were hungover on the day of his assassination.

15. Over 14,000 high-resolution photos from Apollo missions 7 to 17 have been uploaded to Flickr by a group of enthusiasts, scanned from the original astronauts' camera film magazines.

Mary Jane Rathbun (also known as Brownie Mary) was an elderly hospital volunteer who became known for baking and distributing cannabis brownies to San Francisco AIDS patients in the 1980's.

17. George Lucas was one of the camera operators at the Rolling Stones' Altamont concert where a fan was stabbed to death.

18. Out of the 101 oldest people who have lived/are still living, 95 of them are female.

19. People knocked on wood to request good luck from mystical creatures they believed lived in the trees or to distract spirits with evil intentions.

20. The typical brain comprises about 2% of the body’s total weight but uses 20% of its total energy and oxygen intake.

In 2004, David Bowie had a heart attack on stage, paused for a minute then continued the show.

22. Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, was only given the name "Ham" after successfully completing his mission. He was known as Number 65 before that, as NASA believed that it would be bad publicity if a "named" chimp burned up in the atmosphere or otherwise died as a result of mission failure.

23. 30+ minutes of running, 5 days a week, has been linked to 9 years of less aging on the cellular level.

24. When Rupert Murdoch (then-owner of 20th Century Fox) was shown a rough cut of "Titanic" to appease him over how much money James Cameron was spending on the film, Murdoch said, "I can see why you like the movie, but it's no Air Force One."

25. Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl is such a huge fan of UK rock band Killing Joke that he did all of the drummings on their self-titled 2003 album free of charge.