Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 495, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. In 2007, when Halo 3 released it broke records on video game sales, making $170 million on the first day. Film executives blamed Halo for a 27% drop in the box office for that week. – Source
2. When a jury convicted Jane Wenham of witchcraft in 1712, due to witnesses accusing her of flying on a broomstick and bewitching servants, the skeptical judge refused to execute her and instead sought a royal pardon, noting that there was “no law against flying.” – Source
3. Actress Tilda Swinton comes from an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the Middle Ages, & is one of only three British families that can trace their unbroken land ownership and lineage to before the Norman Conquest. – Source
4. After being called out on local TV, 2 porch pirates caught on camera returned a package of replica WWE belts (belonging to a 5-yr-old autistic boy with a brain tumor) with a note that read: “After seeing ourselves looking like low lives on the news, we have both decided to get clean and sober.” – Source
5. Donald Duck is an extremely popular pop-icon in Germany, where you can buy his comics at most newsstands. In their version, Donald uses a highly sophisticated level of language, and “many Germans credit him with having initiated them into the language of the literary classics”. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. John Carmack (founder of “id Software” known for his work in the development of Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein) was arrested at the age of 14 for helping a group of children steal Apple || computers using a mixture of thermite and Vaseline to melt the windows to break into the building. – Source
7. The Concorde airplane flew so fast, if you left London (or Paris) in the evening flying west towards New York, to the passengers in the plane, the sun would actually appear to begin rising again shortly after reaching cruising speed. The plane flew faster than the Earth’s rotation. – Source
8. Charlize Theron’s abusive father was shot dead by her mother, in self-defense. This happened on a night when he sprayed bullets into Charlize’s room door, which Charlize and her mother had held shut for protection. Upon their miraculous survival, her mother immediately shot him down. – Source
9. Thanks to the U.S. version of the sitcom “The Office”, Scranton, Pennsylvania has gone from a former coal city into a major tourist attraction, revitalizing its downtown area. – Source
10. The domain name “.tv” is actually the country code domain for Tuvalu, a country in Polynesia. Due to its popularity from its similarity to ‘television’, the Tuvalu government sought to capitalize on it and nearly 10% of its revenue come from royalties from .tv addresses. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. For hand washing, regular soap is just as good as antibacterial soap. – Source
12. Marlon Brando tried to purchase the rights to a movie about the Iran-Contra scandal using a former CIA connection. The CIA was able to derail this by creating a front company to outbid Brando for the rights. The man they put in charge of this operation was none other than Col. Oliver North. – Source
13. David Edmondson lied on his resume to get a position as a Vice President of Marketing at RadioShack in the ’90s. He worked his way up over 11 years to become CEO and resigned in disgrace after it was revealed his resume was falsified. – Source
14. A guy filed a change-of-address form to the USPS where he changed the address of the UPS headquarters and got all their mail sent to his apartment. It took three months before this was discovered. – Source
15. Abraham Lincoln wrote poems throughout his life, including this one at the age of seventeen: Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e], And with my pen I wrote the same, I wrote in both hast and speed and left it here for fools to read. – Source