25 Kickass Random Facts List #591

Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 590, click here

1-5 Kickass Random Facts

1. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has disdain for money and large wealth accumulation. In 2017, he said he didn’t want to be near the money, because it could corrupt your values. When Apple went public, Wozniak offered $10 million of his stock to early Apple employees, something Jobs refused to do. – Source

2. When game designer Tim Schafer was interviewed to work at LucasArts, he said he was a fan of their game “Ballblaster.” The interviewer told him their game was titled “Ballblazer” and only pirated copies were named “Ballblaster.” He eventually got the job and co-created Secret of Monkey Island. – Source

3. Susan Travers, the only woman ever to serve in the French Foreign Legion, waited until she was 91 to write her autobiography so everyone mentioned had already died. – Source

4. People who quit smoking before the age of 40 may live as long as people who never smoked at all. Researchers found a smoker loses roughly 10 years of life to the habit but regained most of that time if they quit before 40. The benefit is increased the sooner before 40 you quit. – Source

5. Despite her repeated claims to be more than 85% correct, a 2013 article found that “psychic” Sylvia Browne was accurate in 0/33 of her predictions. For example, she had predicted that she would die at age 88; she died at age 77. – Source

6-10 Kickass Random Facts

6. Pope John Paul II liked Yoohoo. During his visit to Denver, Colorado, he requested a couple of cases be brought back with him. Because popes don’t give commercial endorsements, the Vatican was forced to release a statement denying the pope had a preference for American chocolate milk drinks. – Source

7. Robert Frost couldn’t read the poem he wrote for John F. Kennedy’s inauguration due to the glare on the snow being too strong. So he instead recited one he knew from memory. – Source

8. Despite increases in computer power, each Shrek film has taken about twice as many hours to render as the one before it. Dreamworks calls this “Shrek’s Law”. – Source

9. In January 2015, Marshawn Lynch was threatened with a $500,000 fine by the NFL if he didn’t make himself available for Super Bowl Media Day. He showed up, set a timer on his phone, answered 29 questions with some variation of “I’m here so I won’t get fined,” and left the podium within 5 minutes. – Source

10. Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard was placed in command of a Navy Ship during WWII. He wound up being engaged in combat with absolutely nothing for 68 hours and accidentally conducted live-fire exercises on a Mexican Island, which led to him being fired. – Source

11-15 Kickass Random Facts

11. Snoop Dogg’s real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. His “Snoop Dogg” nickname came from his mother who thought he looked like Snoopy from the Peanuts. – Source

12. At the peak of the financial crisis of 2008 Volkswagen became the most valuable company in the world for one day despite being on the brink of bankruptcy. – Source

13. When France increased the price of cigarettes by 66% over an eight-year period, the smoking rate among French executives and professionals declined. However, the smoking rate among manual laborers remained about the same and among the unemployed, it increased. – Source

14. Danny Devito asks for a trampoline in his dressing room and uses it as part of his warm-up routine. – Source

15. Tolkien’s dislike of Snow White led him to prohibit the Disney studio from ever producing his works. – Source