Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 559, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. Ashvamedha ia a ritualistic horse sacrifice in ancient India where a horse is allowed to wander for 1 year protected by the king’s guards. If no rivals manage to kill or steal the horse after a year, it is returned and sacrificed in the city capital, legitimizing the soverignty of the king. – Source
2. Scientists used 2,000-year-old seeds to regrow an extinct species of the date tree. The tree long disappeared from the Judean desert but archeologists found seeds on digs. Surprisingly, the seeds worked and grew a male and female of the species. They hope to use them to produce biblical era dates. – Source
3. In 1920, the town of Jackson, Wyoming elected an all-female town council by a margin of 2-1 over the men, drawing the most voters the town had ever seen. Known as the “pettycoat rulers,” the women served for 3 years and did a great deal to clean up the notoriously lawless town. – Source
4. Sister Nancy, singer of Bam Bam which has been sampled many times by the likes of Kanye West and Jay-Z, didn’t get any royalties from her record up until 2014. She was working in a bank in New York and decided to take the record label to court. She now gets 50%. – Source
5. Coca-Cola makes most of its money from selling syrup to companies that manufacture and distribute their drinks and, as a result, it has a group dedicated to sending resources and experts to help any that are in financial trouble. This helps avoid image and logistical problems for the brand. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. During the US prohibition era, medicinal liquor was fraudulently exploited in many scams, one doctor cited for writing 475 prescriptions for whiskey in one day. Charles R. Walgreen, the founder of Walgreen’s pharmacies expanded from 20 stores to a staggering 525 during the 1920s. – Source
7. Bogs are Ireland’s original refrigerators. And they are pretty good—even 3,000-year-old bog butter is edible. We know this because archeologists tended to eat it. The secret is the anaerobic nature of the bog. Without oxygen, neither the butter nor its wooden container decomposes. – Source
8. A bank robber escaped the scene of a crime by hiring a dozen identically dressed and unwitting civilians to be standing at the exact place and time of the arrival of the armoured car he intended to hijack. – Source
9. Instead of “They lived happily ever after”, German fairytales end with “if they haven’t died, then they are still living today.” – Source
10. A Filipino singer made a song with Chinese-sounding gibberish. Some of the Chinese community at the Filipino province of Cebu wanted it removed from jukeboxes. According to the singer, a plan to bring it to court failed because no one could find a single Chinese lyric in the song. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. There were TWO pandemics running together during WWI. ”Encephalitis Lethargica” affected 5M and killed over 1,5M. The patients were conscious – yet not fully awake; they would sit motionless, totally lacking initiative, affect, or desire; they registered the inputs with profound indifference. – Source
12. The reason why Ancient Greek male statues are depicted with small penises is that they were symbolic of the ideals of male beauty at that time; youthfulness, strength, and modesty. Large penises were considered to be vulgar and were associated with savages and evil spirits. – Source
13. Tom Stuker, the world’s most frequent flyer, who had flown 21 million miles as of 2019 (the last million taking only 6 months), has paid out of pocket for every one of his trips, saving his miles to give to family members, charities and others. – Source
14. The reason for the Netherlands not being underwater is due to its complex network of dikes, ditches, canals, and pumping stations that have been built through the course of its history. It is so intricate that controlled flooding can create a ring of fortification around Amsterdam, it’s capital. – Source
15. A man suffering from gastrointestinal distress in a Kansas Home Depot men’s room provided a friendly warning to other bathroom goers by saying: “You need to get out of here because I’m fixin’ to blow it up.” Police were called on suspicion of a bomb threat. No charges were laid. – Source
