Here is 25 Kickass Random Facts List #243.
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. In 1944, Mary Babnik Brown became the first woman to have her hair used in crosshairs for military aircraft bombsights. The hair had to fit strict criteria such as being blonde, over 22 inches long and never been treated with chemicals or hot irons. – Source
2. U.S. Army pressured the filmmakers of Black Hawk Down to change the name of the war hero portrayed by Ewan McGregor because the real life soldier is serving a 30-year prison term for raping his 6-year-old daughter. – Source
3. Every year, OSHA publishes a list of workplace deaths with a one line description of what happened. – Source
4. National Radio Quiet Zone is a 13,000-square-mile area that covers the eastern half of West Virginia where radio transmissions are restricted, and microwave ovens, wifi routers, and cell phones are prohibited because of the presence of radio telescopes. – Source
5. In 2008, Christopher Hitchens, then a supporter of waterboarding as a form of interrogation, volunteered to be waterboarded, and quickly changed his point of view. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. A woman shot lightning out her butthole after it went in through her mouth because rubber shoes prevented it exiting through her feet. – Source
7. In the 1950s, full size B-47 nuclear bombers would do a partial backflip called an “Immelman maneuver” and fling their nuclear weapons in a parabolic arc towards the target. This was done so that they would not be consumed by the 40,000 foot tall fireball from their own weapons. – Source
8. In 2012, JCPenney tried to do away with fake retail sales and implemented flat rate pricing. They failed miserably and lost 700 million dollars. – Source
9. The earliest voice recording (made in 1860) could not be played back until 2008. – Source
10. Chick Sexers are trained professionals whose job is to determine the gender of a newborn chick. Average salary is $60,000 per year. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. The most recycled material in the US is asphalt. 99% of all asphalt is recycled and used to fix/build roads. US taxpayers saved $2.2 billion in 2011 by using recycled materials to pave roads. 66.7 million tons of reclaimed asphalt pavement and 1.2 millino tons of reclaimed asphalt shingles went into paving projects. – Source
12. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln wrote to the cotton workers of Manchester, UK to thank them for their stance on anti-slavery. – Source
13. In 1971, a day before Bangladesh officially won its Liberation War, Pakistani soldiers kidnapped the brightest Bengali intellectuals – writers, philosophers, historians, mathematicians, physicists, poets and slaughtered them in the middle of the night. – Source
14. During the Civil Rights Movement, the Soviet Union purposely inflamed racial tensions by mailing forged threats from the KKK to black neighborhoods. – Source
15. Cambyses II of Persia used cats to fight a battle. Against the Egyptians in the battle of Pelusium in 525 B.C. he ordered his men to paint cats on their shields and brought hundreds of cats to his front lines. The Egyptian archers refused to fire on the cats as injuring one was punishable by death. – Source
16-20 Kickass Random Facts
16. There’s an island called Monkey Island off the coast of Puerto Rico, where the monkeys naturally have Herpes B, which can kill humans. So the first rule of Monkey Island is “don’t get peed on.” – Source
17. Within one year after a vasectomy, 60% to 70% of men who underwent operation develop antisperm antibodies. – Source
18. The lyrics of O Canada in English talk about protecting the country, while in French they talk about the country protecting its people. – Source
19. A teenager named Guillaume Dumas snuck into Ivy League schools over 4 years, gaining free education from Yale, Brown, Stanford and many others. – Source
20. Goats can eat poison ivy with no ill effects. There are farmers that rent out goats to clear parks, golf courses and historical sites without using chemicals and herbicides. – Source
21-25 Kickass Random Facts
21. Catholic Church objected lightning rods until a gunpowder explosion in Brescia caused by a lightning strike killed 3000. – Source
22. A failed experiment of an 18 year old English chemist in search of a treatment for malaria in 1856 produced one of the world’s first synthetic dyes for the color purple, which severely impacted economic trade as some natural dyes were major commodities more valuable than silver or gold. – Source
23. When the islands of St. Kilda were evacuated, the local subspecies of house mouse quickly went extinct as it depended so closely on human settlement. – Source
24. In 1963 Wendell Scott became to first African American to win a Nascar Race. Though being two laps ahead of the other cars, he was ignored because the winner was to kiss a white beauty queen. He was awarded the trophy in 2010, 20 years after his death. – Source
25. Two pharmacists were responsible for the creation of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in 1835. While unpalatable at first, the pair let it ferment for 3 years before discovering its value as a flavoring sauce. – Source
The Number 8 JC Penny link presents an interesting theory, but it fails to mention the nationwide boycott of JC Penny during this time, because of their aggressive pro-gay marketing strategy as exhibited in their ads.