16-20 Kickass Random Facts
16. LA had the largest urban farm in the US until it was torn down for warehouse development. The farm had been established by the L.A. Regional Food Bank. – Source
17. Construction on the remote Galehead Hut in the White Mountains was once halted because the design was found to not be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The mountaintop hut, accessible only via a rugged hiking trail with 2,200′ of vertical ascent, now features a wheelchair ramp. – Source
18. A doctor in China used CRISPR to edit the genes of twin girls to be more resistant to HIV, creating the first genetically engineered “designer babies.” The Chinese government sentenced him to 3 years in prison for illegal medical practice. – Source
19. The owner and only resident of this ghost town in Utah is a former Prague University engineering student who at 24 escaped the Iron Curtain in 1984 using his DIY glider powered with a 600cc Trabant engine and landed undetected at Vienna International Airport. – Source
20. Applejack is the name of an apple brandy that was popular in Maine due to liquor laws. Apple orchards were plentiful and applejack is easy to make by freezing fermenting cider, draining the ice, and keeping the high concentration liquor that stayed liquid. – Source
21-25 Kickass Random Facts
21. Tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis died at the age of 40 while visiting a friend’s home in Southampton, New York. An improperly installed pool heater caused carbon monoxide gas to seep into the guesthouse where he was sleeping, causing his death by carbon monoxide poisoning. – Source
22. Categories for hurricanes as high as “Category 7” have been proposed but are “not necessary” as almost all human structures are obliterated at Category 5 anyway. – Source
23. Grant Wood was a sugar addict that put half a cup in his coffee and poured it on lettuce. With frequent dental visits he became enamored with his dentist’s hand and grim face, once commenting “This is a marvelous hand”. That dentist became the farmer in American Gothic and his hand a focal point. – Source
24. The sounds made by the bugs in the movie Cars are sped-up VW Beetle engine sounds. – Source
25. Scientists found evidence that a natural nuclear reactor existed in Africa 2 billion years ago. There was a uranium deposit large enough to sustain a chain reaction. It was first noticed when a French power plant’s uranium shipment from Africa had decreased levels of fissile uranium-235. – Source
