Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 404, click here.
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. Dennis Ritchie who invented the C programming language, co-created the Unix operating system and is largely regarded as influencing a part of effectively every software system we use on a daily basis died 1 week after Steve Jobs. Due to this, his death was largely overshadowed and ignored. – Source
2. During the American Revolution, an enslaved man was charged with treason and sentenced to hang. He argued that as a slave, he was not a citizen and could not commit treason against a government to which he owed no allegiance. He was subsequently pardoned. – Source
3. There was an early 1900s act named “Sober Sue”, whose draw was she never smiled. A theater offered $1000 to anyone who could make her laugh, attracting big comedians. Crowds came out to watch them try, and fail, giving them a free show. Later it came out that Sue suffered from facial paralysis. – Source
4. When Apple was building a massive data center in rural North Carolina, a couple who had lived there for 34 years refused to sell their house and plot of land worth $181,700. After making countless offers, Apple eventually paid them $1.7 million to leave. – Source
5. “Weird Al” Yankovic would take dates to see The Naked Gun without telling them he was in it. He would also wear the same Hawaiian shirt he wore in the movie. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. Serial killer Ted Bundy dated a girl who broke up with him for being immature and unambitious. Years later, after becoming successful and put together, he rekindled the relationship before completely ghosting her. He explained, “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could have married her.” – Source
7. Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt once sneaked out of a White House event, commandeered an airplane, and went on a joyride to Baltimore. – Source
8. Sweden is actually increasing forest biomass despite being the second largest exporter of paper in the world because they plant 3 trees for each 1 they cut down. – Source
9. Beethoven was paid 4,000 florins a year from 1809 on the condition that he remained in Vienna for the rest of his life. This allowance was originally paid by three patrons but after the death of Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky, Archduke Rudolph paid the amount in full until Beethoven died. – Source
10. The Japanese government has been hosting speed-dating events in hopes that the result will lead to more children as the countries population has dropped by more than 1 million since 2010. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. The Greek Titan Atlas was condemned to hold up the sky, not the Earth. The sphere he holds is the celestial sphere, not the globe. – Source
12. Juan Catalan spent nearly 6 months in jail for the murder of a teenage girl until his lawyer found unused footage from HBO’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ that proved he had been at a Dodger’s game with his 6 years old daughter. – Source
13. Macy’s originally agreed to be the department store in “Elf” however one stipulation was that Santa couldn’t be revealed as a fake. Jon Favreau was unwilling to change the content so he changed the store to “Gimbel’s” and filmed it in the cafeteria of a Vancouver mental hospital. – Source
14. During the filming of the Lord of the Rings, Christopher Lee (a WWII veteran) corrected director Peter Jackson on the right noise a person who got stabbed in the back and dies would make: it’s not an “argh” scream, but an “uh” because “the breath is driven out of your body”. – Source
15. Only 14.5% of American men are 6 feet tall or taller. About 3% are taller than 6 feet 2 inches. Interestingly, however, 58% of CEOs in the U.S. are over 6 feet. – Source
