Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 399, click here.
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. In the UK there are 53 “Thankful Villages” where all of the troops that left to fight in WWI returned alive. Of that list 13 are “Doubly Thankful” and had the same fortune in WWII. – Source
2. Members of Lewis & Clark’s expedition took mercury-bearing pills to “treat” constipation and other conditions, and thus left mercury deposits wherever they dug their latrines. These mercury signals have been used to pinpoint some of the 600 camps on the voyage. – Source
3. Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother has an essentially infinite runtime. The final track Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast ends with the sound of a dripping faucet etched into a runoff grove that never resolves and will play until the listener stops the record. – Source
4. A study titled “Where Are They Now?” in 1978 followed up on 515 people who were prevented from attempting suicide using the Golden Gate Bridge from 1937 to 1971. About 90% were either alive or had died of natural causes, concluding “suicidal behavior is crisis-oriented” rather than inexorable. – Source
5. Mel Brooks put on a prosthetic 11th finger for adding his handprint on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. Hachikō the Akita dog became famous in the 1920s for meeting his master every day at a railway station. He continued to make the journey nine years after his owner’s death, and is held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity. – Source
7. Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, came up with “I hate Elvis” badges to earn money from his detractors. Elvis and Parker directly profited off their haters. – Source
8. The saw used to cut off a cast cannot cut human skin. The saw vibrates rather than rotating which can be absorbed by the skin but splits the cast. – Source
9. Aldous Huxley was injected with LSD on his deathbed and essentially tripped into death. – Source
10. Walter Morrison, a UPS worker, in 2014, stole a $160,000 diamond and traded it for $20 worth of weed. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. Monty Python put out a “three-sided” comedy record that would have completely different material depending on where you started the record. It was mastered with two grooves on the second side and no track listing so when people played it they would be surprised to find new material. – Source
12. When you get a kidney transplant, they don’t replace your kidney(s), they just stick a third one in there. – Source
13. New York City has entire fake buildings that act as vents for the underground subway. – Source
14. The Sioux have refused $1.3 billion in restitution for the seizure of the Black Hills by the U.S. Government, holding out for the return of some of their sacred ancestral lands. – Source
15. In 1926, the famous pianist Fats Waller (then 21) was kidnapped by Al Capone’s gang to play piano for his birthday. He basically went missing for 3 days and was returned unharmed but drunk. – Source
