25 Kickass Random Facts List #198

Here is 25 Kickass Random Facts List #198.

1-5 Kickass Random Facts

1. Ethiopian Olympic runner Abebe Bikila couldn’t find a comfortable pair of shoes, so he ran the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome barefoot, finished first, and set a new World Record. – Source

2. Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth moon, has a warm ocean at its southern pole with ongoing hydrothermal activity, the first ever discovered outside of Earth. This is the most life-friendly habitat ever discovered outside of Earth. – Source

3. John Dillinger escaped prison by brandishing a wooden pistol. The FBI also used way more money to catch him than he ever stole. – Source

4. Canada too had Japanese internment camps like USA. – Source

5. On the first day of the assault on Iwo Jima, Corporal Tony Stein cleared multiple enemy pillboxes using his custom M1919 machine gun named “Stinger.” During the assault he made a total of 8 trips back to the beach to reload on ammunition and carried a wounded soldier on his back each trip. – Source

6-10 Kickass Random Facts

6. Coast Guard trained pigeons to assist in finding people lost at sea. They sat in a dome attached to a helicopter, pressing a lever after spotting life preservers or debris. They had a 90% success rate in initial trials. – Source

7. In 1991, a 5,300-year-old mummified man (later named Ötzi the Iceman) was found in the Alps who had 61 tattoos. – Source

8. Hitler had captured Stalin’s son as a prisoner of war and offered to exchange him with a German Marshal prisoner. Stalin responded “I will not trade a Marshal for a Lieutenant.” – Source

9. While filming A New Hope, Lucas insisted that Vader’s TIE fighter spiral out into space instead of blowing up, leaving the question of a sequel. The other film members wanted to remove any questions if a sequel was happening, as sequels usually were regarded as inferior or flops. – Source

10. In 1992, aircraft carrier USS Saratoga accidentally launched live missiles during a joint U.S-Turkish military exercise, killing several Turkish naval officers. – Source

11-15 Kickass Random Facts

11. In order to transmit radio signals to submerged submarines, one technique is to place electrodes in the ground many miles apart, using the earth’s core as a giant antenna. – Source

12. In 1950, residents in Mosinee, Wisconsin held a mock Communist invasion which had concentration camps, a purged library, and inflated prices. The mayor, seemingly unaware of the plan, died due to the excitement. – Source

13. Hitler was a creepy uncle to his Niece Geli Raubal, forbidding her to marry, having her accompanied everywhere and practically keeping her prisoner until she committed suicide in 1931, after which Hitler called her “The only woman he ever loved.” – Source

14. Amazon warehouses use a chaotic storage system where products are not stored by what they are, but rather by where in the warehouse they can best fit. – Source

15. Mail carriers are not permitted to accept cash or cash equivalents, such as checks or gift cards. Carriers are permitted to accept a gift worth $20 or less from a customer per occasion, such as Christmas. – Source

16-20 Kickass Random Facts

16. Jan Demczur, a window washer working in the World Trade Center on 9/11, became trapped in an elevator in between floors after the first plane hit. Using his squeegee to pry open the doors, he then broke through the drywall and led the passengers of the elevator out of the building moments before it collapsed. – Source

17. In the past many religions had “sacred prostitutes” that would engage in sexual intercourse for rituals. – Source

18. The 12 days of Christmas refers to the 12 days following Christmas, not the 12 days preceding Christmas. – Source

19. During the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, President George Washington became the only sitting president to ever lead troops in the field. – Source

20. In Feudal Japan, there was an untouchable caste comprised of “impure” professions such as executioners, undertakers, workers in slaughterhouses, butchers or tanners. 400 years later, descendants of this caste still face discrimination. – Source

21-25 Kickass Random Facts

21. Some hummingbirds use spider silk to build their nests. – Source

22. Giraffes are commonly witnessed in the wild gnawing on bones of dead animals to supplement their calcium intake. – Source

23. During the first battle of the American Civil War, hundreds of civilians from Washington D.C. brought picnic baskets and came to watch the battle, sure the Union would easily win. The Union lost, and the civilians were caught in the retreat of the Northern army. – Source

24. Albert Pierrepoint, the most efficient executioner in British history who killed over 400 people, said: “All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder.” He went on to own a pub. – Source

25. Unan1mous was an American reality show that involved locking 9 strangers in a bunker for an indefinite period of time and could only come out when they unanimously voted who among themselves should be awarded $1.5 million. Also the longer they took to make a unanimous decision the more the money would decrease. The winner only got $382,193. – Source