Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 817, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. James Blunt gave Weird Al Yankovic permission to parody his single “You’re Beautiful.” But after Yankovic recorded “You’re Pitiful,” Blunt’s record label refused to let it be commercially released. Yankovic didn’t include it on his album. Instead, he released it as a free digital download. – Source
2. Tracy Chapman sued Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement. According to the complaint, Chapman repeatedly refused to give Minaj permission to sample one of her songs, but Minaj did it anyway. Minaj settled and agreed to pay Chapman $450K. – Source
3. Jethro Tull’s album Thick as a Brick was created as satire, a jab at the 10+ minute songs from prog rock bands at the time. It’s now considered one of the best prog-rock albums of all time. – Source
4. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drained Niagra Falls in 1969. It ended up attracting more visitors than any other feat attempted at the falls. The engineers wanted to find a way to remove the unseemly boulders that had piled up at its base since 1931, cutting the height of the falls in half. – Source
5. The phrase “pulling out all the stops” is derived from pipe organs, which have many levers called ‘stops’ which allow the organist to control the volume and timbre of different pipes. Pulling out all the stops would result in the loudest, most comprehensive sound. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Fact
6. The world’s longest constitution was the Constitution of Alabama from 1901-2022. At 388,882 words, it was 51 times longer than the U.S. Constitution and 12 times longer than the average U.S. state constitution. – Source
7. Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland, the actress who played Dorothy in the 1939 MGM film, “Wizard of Oz,” was once married to Jack Haley, Jr., son of Jack Haley, the actor who played the Tin Man in the same film. He was Minnelli’s 2nd husband. – Source
8. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the face of the US $100 bill, was the first person to write about tofu in English. – Source
9. Actor Tony Danza (peak fame in the 80s) was briefly a professional boxer. He went 9-3 with 7 KOs (5 in the 1st round). – Source
10. Gordon Ramsay’s tongue is insured for $10 million. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Fact
11. Ahimsa silk (or peace silk) uses nonviolent methods to breed and harvest silk worms where the pupa is allowed to hatch and the leftover cocoon is used. – Source
12. In October 1809, Friedrich Staps attempted to assassinate Napoleon but was captured. Napoleon himself interrogated the would be an assassin. On the possibility of being pardoned Staps said, ‘I would notwithstanding seize the first opportunity of taking your life.’ and he was executed on the 17th. – Source
13. Chinese Food was introduced into America during the California Gold Rush, starting in 1848. As 30,000 immigrants had arrived from the Canton region of China, the restaurants gave the predominantly male population a connection to home and provided gathering places for the Chinese community. – Source
14. The Honeydew was introduced to China by American Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who donated melon seeds to the locals while visiting in the 1940s. As a result of Wallace’s introduction of the crop, in China, the melon is sometimes called “the Wallace”. – Source
15. In Medieval times, the sun-dials used as clocks in Northern Hemisphere were used to trace clockwise. Early timepieces were made to mimic this motion. This, however, became such a norm that we started describing rotational motion in 2D as “clock” wise and counter”clock” wise. – Source
