Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 805, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. The game Oregon Trail was developed by 3 college students trying to teach history creatively. The first version was coded in just 10 days in 1971 and played by middle schoolers for 5 days. The code was given to an educational nonprofit in 1974, and the creators never profited from the game. – Source
2. Saudi Arabia accidentally printed thousands of textbooks containing this image of Yoda sitting next to King Faisal while he signed the 1945 UN charter. – Source
3. In 1998, part of the hull of the Titanic was recovered and is displayed in a casino. Visitors are given a ‘boarding pass’ with the name of a passenger and find out the fate of their passenger at the end of the exhibition. – Source
4. Ken Fritz, an audiophile spent close to 30 years developing in his home what he and others consider the world’s greatest stereo sound system and the listening room that boasts 35,000 watts, nine-foot-tall speakers, and a 1,500-pound turntable. – Source
5. In 1988, with the 1,390th pick, the Dodger’s drafted Mike Piazza because the manager of the team owed a favor to Piazza’s father. Piazza ended up playing in the league for 16 years and is regarded as one of the best offensive catchers in baseball history. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Fact
6. The Carolina Parakeet was once native to the US and went extinct in the 1910s. It lived as far north as New York and Wisconsin and as far west as Colorado. – Source
7. The first known résumé was written by Leonardo da Vinci when applying to be a military engineer for the Duke of Milan. It’s mainly just a list of his designs for siege weapons (including trebuchets). He briefly mentions his art: “In painting, I can do everything possible.” He got the job. – Source
8. Gilles Garnier was a french recluse living in a forest in France. Due to his lifestyle, he had trouble finding food so he began hunting children and eating them raw, like an animal. People initially thought the attacks were done by a werewolf, so he was convicted of lycanthropy and witchcraft. – Source
9. In the Vietnam war the US conducted a psychological warfare operation that used loudspeakers to play eerie sounds and altered voices to represent the spirits of dead N. Vietnamese soldiers so as to undermine their morale. Operation Wandering Soul. – Source
10. Cheryl Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek TNG) was the Director of Choreography on The Labyrinth (1986). She goes by Cheryl McFadden when doing choreography, and Gates McFadden when it’s an acting role. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. Terry Crews said the reason Fox didn’t promote idiocracy was because Mike Judge had companies pay for product placement and then he made them look bad (Starbucks gave out hand-jobs). The film tanked in limited release but made over 20 times its gross domestic box office revenue in DVD rentals. – Source
12. Although the RAM 2500 truck was the leading vehicle for DUI in 2020, it did not even make the top 10 in 2021. – Source
13. NBA Player Lou Williams was almost carjacked in 2011 until the thief recognized him and stopped because he was a Lou Williams fan. Lou Williams took him to McDonald’s as thanks.
14. A woman flying from Manchester to Florida had a heart attack during the flight and when the stewardess asked for help 15 cardiologists came to save her. They were flying to a cardiology conference. – Source
15. The USA was supposed to adopt the metric system but the ship carrying the standardized meter and kilogram was hijacked by pirates in 1793 and the measurements never made it to the States. – Source