Here is 25 Kickass Random Facts List #88.
1-5 Kickass Random Facts
1. When Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s home was raided, the military released the dangerous hippos of his personal zoo, not knowing what to do with them. They now thrive in the Colombian rivers. This makes Colombia have the largest wild hippo population outside of Africa. – Source
2. In 2001, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the right of Alice Randall to publish a parody of ‘Gone with the Wind’ called ‘The Wind Done Gone’, which told the same story from the point of view of Scarlett O’Hara’s slaves, who were glad to be rid of her. – Source
3. That the term “devil’s advocate” was originally the church official appointed to argue against a candidate for sainthood. – Source
4. Luxembourg’s gold medal at the 1952 Olympics was so unexpected that the organizers had neglected to give the band a score for their national anthem. The musicians “hurriedly improvised a tune which bore little resemblance to the Luxembourg anthem.” – Source
5. A 2005 study taught capuchin monkeys the value of money using small silver coins. During one experiment, a monkey was observed trading a coin for sex. The monkey who received the coin promptly traded it for a grape. – Source
6-10 Kickass Random Facts
6. Hans Zimmer, the composer/producer for over 150 movies, including The Lion King, Gladiator, all Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Pearl Harbor, Rush, Inception, the Dark Knight, etc.; had only briefly formal music education (piano lessons as a child). – Source
7. Gray whales mate in threes; the non-dominant male just acts as a brace to hold the female in place so that she doesn’t float away. – Source
8. The Nazis forced approximately 90 gypsy inmates to drink nothing but seawater just to see what would happen. The resulting dehydration was so severe that inmates licked newly mopped floors just to get a single drop of fresh water. – Source
9. During the German Invasion of Poland, 720 Poles defended their position against over 40,000 attacking Germans, stopping their advance for three days. – Source
10. The reason today’s artificial banana flavoring for candy tastes so differently than an actual banana is because it is based on the Gros Michel Banana, which was nearly wiped out in the 1950’s due to a fungus. The bananas we eat today are from the Cavendish family. – Source
11-15 Kickass Random Facts
11. An elephant’s ability to smell water is so refined that they can sometimes detect water sources from as much as 12 miles away. – Source
12. During the Cold War, Chairman Mao held meetings in his swimming pool to embarrass Nikita Khrushchev, who had to wear a floatie as he couldn’t swim. Khrushchev felt insulted and the incident furthered the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and China. – Source
13. ‘Meconium’, the first bowel movement of an infant, can be tested to determine if the mother smoke, drank or engaged in drug use during pregnancy. Meconium testing can be used in the USA to determine the eligibility of the parents to keep their newborn child. – Source
14. When Roman Emperor Nero’s wife died, he found a boy looking like her, castrated him and had him appear in public as his wife. – Source
15. Sugar used to be sold in loaves, and you’d cut it with something called “sugar nips.” – Source
16-20 Kickass Random Facts
16. Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s full (self-bestowed) title was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.” – Source
17. The Scottish town of Dull has formed a “trinity of tedium” with the towns of Boring (USA) and Bland (Australia). – Source
18. Byron White was a former star football player who became a Supreme Court Justice. He ruled in the case of Runyon v. McCrary in which a black student was rejected by a private school. That student, Michael McCrary would later become a NFL Linebacker and won the Byron White NFL Award in 2000. – Source
19. Potatoes absorb Wi-Fi signals the same way people do, and are used to test/improve internet signals on airplanes. – Source
20. The song “It’s A Wonderful Life” was classified as Communist Propaganda by the FBI because it “deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.” – Source
21-25 Kickass Random Facts
21. Komodo dragons can reproduce completely asexually through a process called parthenogenesis. Furthermore, offspring reproduced by this process can only be male. This means that a single female dragon can create an entirely new colony without a mate. – Source
22. David Sarnoff, founder of Radio Corporation of America, fought so hard to prevent FM Radio from succeeding that the inventor of FM Radio, Edwin Howard Armstrong committed suicide because of emotional and financial distress brought on by RCA lawsuits. – Source
23. Arthur Shawcross, a man who raped and killed 2 children, was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was paroled early because it was concluded that he was “no longer dangerous.” Eleven months after being released he started killing again, murdering 12 women before being captured. – Source
24. The three-letter designator for Sioux City’s airport in Iowa was SUX. When the airport petitioned to the FAA for a different code, one of the alternatives offered was GAY. – Source
25. “Witzelsucht” is a set of rare neurological symptoms characterized by a tendency to make puns, or tell inappropriate jokes or pointless stories in socially inappropriate situations. – Source
It’s Colombia, not Columbia.
It’s Nikita, not Nikola.