Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 826, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. The deepest scuba dive of all time was 1,090 feet, set by Ahmed Gabr in 2014. It took him nearly a decade to properly prepare for the dive. While the descent took only 15 minutes, the ascent back to the surface took over 13 hours. – Source
2. The consensus is that octopuses are most likely sentient. – Source
3. Kobe Bryant is mostly responsible for the fall of high-top basketball sneakers. Raised in Italy, Kobe noticed that soccer players play in a fairly similar way to basketball players. Kobe told Nike point-blank, ‘I want the lowest, lightest-weight basketball shoe ever’. – Source
4. Unlike most animals, African wild dogs follow an age-based food sharing system where pups are given immediate access to kills, making older dogs wait before they can eat. – Source
5. Bob Norris, the first Marlboro Man, was discovered after being seen in a photo with John Wayne. While Norris was the Marlboro Man for 12 years, he never smoked. He also told his kids not to smoke. After they asked why he was doing cigarette ads, he quit his job as the Marlboro Man the next day. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Fact
6. The famous dish: tikka masala – is British, not Indian, and it was invented in the ’70s, not some cultural cuisine that’s been around for ages. – Source
7. The invention of bicycles was fundamental to the early women’s liberation movement. Bicycles promised freedom to women long accustomed to relying on men for transportation. It was also the main reason corsets and long skirts fell out of fashion in the early 20th century. – Source
8. The Last Emperor of China was, after being deposed, forced to work as a street sweeper in Beijing. On his first day, he got lost and asked for help by telling strangers “I’m Puyi, the last Emperor of the Qing dynasty. I’m staying with relatives and can’t find my way home”. – Source
9. Scam baiters managed to trick Nigerian scammers into traveling 1400 miles and left them stranded in Darfur in a warzone. – Source
10. The soldier credited with killing John Wilkes Booth was a religious fanatic who cut his own balls off with a pair of scissors after being propositioned by a prostitute. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Fact
11. During World War II, the Danish resistance movement smuggled the Jews out of Denmark before the Nazis could send them to the concentration camps, in part by going through telephone books and warning everyone with Jewish-sounding names to go into hiding. – Source
12. Chicory has been a historic substitute for coffee. Frederick the Great banned coffee in Prussia which led to the mass production of chicory by 1795 and the chicory drinks were common in Napoleonic France. Chicory drinks also became popular in Confederate states because of the Union blockade. – Source
13. As revenge for Oscar Wilde being in a relationship with his son, The Marquess Of Queensbury planned to present Wilde with a bouquet of rotten vegetables at the opening night of The Importance Of Being Earnest, Wilde’s hit play. But Wilde was tipped off and stopped Queensbury from getting inside. – Source
14. Madame Tussaud’s skill at making wax replicas of people is what saved her from the French Revolution’s Guillotine. – Source
15. Prior to the arrival of the Mayflower, a thriving Patuxet village existed on the Massachusetts coast. An endemic wiped out 90 percent of the population, and the pilgrims converted the abandoned settlement into Plymouth Colony. – Source
