Here are 25 kickass random facts. For part 832, click here
1-5 Kickass Random Fact
1. The crew of the sinking Daniel J. Morrell believed they were moments from being rescued, only to discover in horror that the lights were from the stern section of their own severed ship, still under power and barrelling towards them. – Source
2. In 2018, the 120-resident village of Acquetico in Italy installed speed cameras after being fed up with people speeding through it. In the next 2 weeks, it recorded 58,500 speeding infractions. – Source
3. In 2001, Mattel made a vibrating Harry Potter broomstick that led to many questionable Amazon user reviews. They discontinued the toy after adult stores in Times Square started selling them for twice their original retail price. – Source
4. The FAA predicted that if kids under 2 years old were required to have their own seats on planes, at least 60 kids would die in car accidents for every kid saved because families that couldn’t afford extra plane tickets would drive instead. – Source
5. Castrati were singers who were castrated before puberty to develop a unique voice for singing. They were primarily in church choirs and operas. Italian operas without one would be doomed to fail. The Pope tried to ban them in 1748 but failed as it would drastically reduce church attendance. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Fact
6. While writing the 1971 song “Ain’t No Sunshine”, Bill Withers had originally intended to write more lyrics instead of repeating the phrase “I know” 26 times but then followed the advice of the other musicians to leave it that way. Withers said: “When they said to leave it like that, I left it.” – Source
7. MSG isn’t bad for you and its bad reputation stemmed from what’s called the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. – Source
8. Graying is a sign of active hair growth. Gray hair is also both thicker and faster growing than pigmented hair. – Source
9. Just before Laika went into space, one of the scientists using her for testing brought her home to play with his children. Knowing that she would not survive her journey. – Source
10. Black Widow spiders are often hunted down and killed by their Brown Widow cousins when in the same territory. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Fact
11. Despite living under Jim Crow, Percy Julian was a doctor who pioneered the drug industry. After he developed the chemical synthesis of hormones like testosterone & progesterone, he became the first African American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. – Source
12. A liquor store in Oklahoma City installed a machine gun tower on the roof of the store after being bombed by the mafia multiple times. – Source
13. There is a type of octopus, an argonaut, where the male fills its sex organ with sperm, then rips it off and presents it to a female. – Source
14. The Kootenai Indian Tribe of Idaho and Montana harvests millions of dollars of sturgeon caviar a year, but put all the eggs back in the rivers. They are desperately trying to save the shrinking white sturgeon population which they believe are “sacred messengers.” – Source
15. Graduate student Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her supervisor, Antony Hewish, built a radio telescope to observe quasars in 1967. Their discovery won the 1974 Nobel Prize – for Hewish. 50 years later, Burnell was awarded $3 Million in the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. – Source
