Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 318, click here.
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. After large animals went extinct, such as the mammoth, avocados had no method of seed dispersal, which would have lead to their extinction without early human farmers. – Source
2. Japanese Kamikaze pilots were allowed to return if they didn’t find a suitable target. One pilot was shot after his ninth return. – Source
3. It is mandatory for all North Koreans to vote, even though there is only one candidate for each office on the ballot. – Source
4. In 1997 Pepsi held a contest to win a life-size replica of the Simpsons house or $75,000. The contest winner chose the cash. The house, which cost $120,000 to build, was renovated to look like a normal home and re-sold. – Source
5. The phrase “Great minds think alike” is only half of it. The full phrase is “Great minds think alike, but fools rarely differ.” – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts and 34% have no savings at all. – Source
7. Bill Murray actually bowled the 3 tournament winning strikes at the end of Kingpin. – Source
8. Moles have worm “larders” where they keep up to 1000 worms. Their saliva paralyzes the worms and they store their still-living prey for later consumption. – Source
9. A surprise inspection of a men’s prison in Acapulco unearthed 100 plasma TVs, 2 sacks of marijuana, 2 peacocks, 100 cockerels for cockfighting and 25 women. – Source
10. A Teenage Fry Cook went to college to study Marine Science, then Art, then went on to create SpongeBob SquarePants. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. said to his wife, “This is what is going to happen to me also. I keep telling you, this is a sick society.” – Source
12. Despite actually being a boxing slang, there is a widespread notion that the phrase ‘Saved by the bell’ originated as an expression that relates to people being buried alive having a bell that was attached to the coffin, thus ringing it and be saved. – Source
13. Curly, from The Three Stooges, would lay down and run around in circles on the floor when he forgot his lines. His ability to improvise led directors to have cameras roll freely to let Curly improvise. Writers would leave gaps in scripts as well. – Source
14. Children from some ethnic groups of Southeast Asia (called Sea Gypsies) are capable of seeing clearly underwater and this skill wears off as they grow up. Some suggest that with practice any young person could achieve the underwater vision. – Source
15. Gary Powers survived being shot down in his U2 spy plane from 21km (70,000 feet) altitude over USSR in 1960, but he died after his news reporting chopper ran out of fuel over LA in California in 1977. – Source
