Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 633, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. Alexander c*mming was an inventor and the first person to patent a flush toilet in 1775. c*mming included an s-trap in the design to prevent sewer gasses from entering the building through the toilet. Modern toilets still incorporate this design. – Source
2. Naked Mole Rats speak in dialects unique to their colonies and will kill intruders with the wrong dialect. – Source
3. In 1933, in a publicity stunt for a Mae West movie named “It ain’t no Sin”, a Hollywood Press Agent bought 50 parrots and had taught them to squawk “It ain’t no sin!” Then the movie changed titles and the parrots were subsequently released in South America, still repeating “it ain’t no sin”. – Source
4. Cheating on exams or any other assignment at the University of Virginia is punished by expulsion. There is no lesser punishment. – Source
5. In 1919, the U.S. Army organized a convoy of 81 vehicles from Washington, DC to San Francisco, CA. The trip took 56 travel days, broke 9 vehicles, had 21 casualties, and convinced observer Dwight Eisenhower to champion the Interstate Highway System, which he signed into law 37 years later. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. To prevent Civil Wars the Ottomans had all heirs to the throne imprisoned in a palace called the “the cage”. Due to their isolation, most heirs were unprepared for life and had mental illnesses. Mehmet VI (the last sultan) spent the first 56 years of his life in isolation. – Source
7. Until 1956 after the end of British rule, Egypt hadn’t been both fully independent and ruled by native Egyptians for 2500 years. – Source
8. The City of Omaha Nebraska is heavily contaminated by lead, due to a factory that spewed contaminated lead into the air. The EPA found more than 40,000 contaminated sites across the city, and children have elevated blood levels of lead. – Source
9. Before the British left New York City after the Revolution, they nailed the Union Jack to a greased flagpole as a final act of defiance. One American managed to scale the pole with nails and cleats and replace the flag with the Stars and Stripes. Reenacting the feat became a holiday celebration. – Source
10. During the Gulf War, the U.S. dropped a 6,800 kg BLU-82 bomb to conduct psychological warfare against Iraqi troops. A British SAS unit that witnessed the explosion assumed the U.S. had used a nuclear weapon and radioed back to their headquarters, “Sir, the blokes have just nuked Kuwait!”. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. The Most Unwanted Song, a musical piece that was created using a survey to identify what people hated most in music. The final result included out-of-tune accordions and bagpipes, a rapping cowboy opera singer, and a children’s choir that urged listeners to shop at Walmart. – Source
12. In June 2020, a team of researchers in Japan used a drone that shot pollen-dusted soap bubbles to pollinate a pear orchard; 95% of the flowers bore fruit, which was the same success rate as hand-pollinating. – Source
13. In 2001, a scientist successfully trained pigeons to distinguish between paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Marc Chagall – including paintings the pigeons had never seen before. – Source
14. Guatemala had a 36+ year-long civil war during which the government committed mass genocide against the Maya. The military chief became the first person to be convicted of ordering forced disappearances and the president the first former head of state to be tried for genocide by his own country. – Source
15. Due to an increase in Internet addiction in South Korea, the government passed a law in 2011 called the Cinderella or Shutdown law. This policy bans children under the age of 16 from playing online games between 12 am to 6 am. – Source
