Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 610, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. The Great Gatsby was a commercial failure. The book failed to sell more than 20,000 copies upon release and F. Scott Fitzgerald never earned more than $2,000 from the book. By the time Fitzgerald died in 1940, the book had fallen into obscurity. – Source
2. The lack of an Oxford comma in the wording of a state law laying out what activities qualify a worker for overtime pay, more than 120 drivers for the Oakhurst Dairy became eligible for a multi-million settlement for unpaid overtime. – Source
3. Jim Henson originally wanted the Muppets to be for adults and didn’t see his characters as a vehicle for children’s education and family entertainment. Indeed, he first envisioned something closer to South Park rather than Sesame Street and in the 1950s they did dark comedy in commercials. – Source
4. In a village in India, an Indian robin had made a nest and laid her eggs on the village’s switchboard. The village decided to go without street lights for over a month for the safety of the bird and to allow her eggs to hatch. After 45 days, the bird and its hatchlings safely flew away. – Source
5. For centuries the city of Troy was considered a myth until it was re-discovered in 1871 in present-day Turkey. The area had been excavated before but the ruins of Troy were beneath newer excavations and had gone untouched for millennia even though the site had people living on top of it. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. In 2015, a German student used his countries FOIA to request the answers to an upcoming final exam. – Source
7. In 1996, the Argentine branch of Coca-Cola announced they would give away free tickets to a Ramones concert in exchange for ten bottle caps. Massively underestimating the band’s appeal in Argentina, Coca-Cola didn’t have enough tickets available, resulting in riots and looting. – Source
8. In order to get improvements in their job security amidst the emergence of a rival bus line, bus drivers in Okayama, Japan decided to go on strike in a unique way in 2018. While on strike, they supported the community by continuing to drive their routes, but simply not charging customers. – Source
9. Tom Hanks gets his brother to do Toy Story voiceover work when he’s busy with other projects. – Source
10. Country singer Loretta Lynn had more songs banned from radio than every other male country artist combined in the 20th century. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. Tom Nook from Animal Crossing is not a raccoon in the original Japanese translation, but a tanuki (hence his name.) The animal is portrayed as a mischievous trickster in Japanese folklore. – Source
12. During the Vietnam war, many American soldiers stationed in Japan went AWOL and fled to Sweden. Swedish PM Palme was vehemently against the war and promised that he would grant asylum to deserters. – Source
13. George A. Romero wrote a whole screenplay for a Resident Evil movie after watching a playthrough of the first game, but Capcom rejected it. – Source
14. In 400s BCE, Athens would herd citizens into a town hall assembly with red-stained ropes to get them to participate in the local Democracy. There was a fine if they got any red die on their clothes. – Source
15. The Pan-American Coffee Bureau coined the phrase ‘coffee break’ in 1952, and ran a $2 million advertising campaign with the message that a ‘coffee break’ would give workers ‘a needed moment of relaxation along with a caffeine jolt’. – Source
