Some facts are useful, some are strange, and some are so oddly specific that your brain decides to keep them forever. This mixtape pulls together history, science, pop culture, crime, philosophy, and human behavior into one fast-moving collection of details that are perfect for satisfying that urge to learn something unexpected.
Five Kyoto Temples With Ceilings
1. In Kyoto, Japan, five temples have ceilings stained with blood; those ceilings were made from the floorboards of a castle where warriors committed suicide after a lengthy holdout against an army, and the bloody outlines and footprints remain visible today.
2. After being discharged from the hospital at his psychiatrist’s recommendation, Mathew Charles Lamb, a Canadian spree killer found not guilty by reason of insanity, joined the Rhodesian Army and later died in combat.
3. Residents of Swiss apartment buildings can obtain stickers to place on their mailboxes that indicate which household items they are willing to lend to neighbors.
4. Four months after winning a Breaking Bad contest to meet the cast, Florida man Ryan Lee Carroll was charged with running a drug distribution operation when authorities discovered $1 million worth of synthetic marijuana in his possession; a souvenir hazmat suit signed by the Breaking Bad cast was also seized.
5. A symphony orchestra cannot make a profit from ticket sales alone, even if every performance sold out, primarily because productions require 40 to 100 fully salaried musicians who typically perform the same piece only two or three times, so most orchestras depend heavily on donors to be profitable.
6. The widely played Candy Crush employs addictive mechanisms comparable to those in some recreational drugs and in gambling.
7. Solipsism is a psychological condition where a person believes that reality does not exist independently of their mind. The syndrome is marked by feelings of loneliness, detachment, and indifference toward the outside world.
8. Annie Taylor was the first person to survive a descent over Niagara Falls. She traveled in a custom barrel filled with a mattress. She tested the barrel by sending a cat over the falls, which survived, and two days later she made the trip on her 63rd birthday.
9. Nigeria has a space program and has successfully launched several satellites into orbit.
10. Occasionally in Hollywood two films with the same or very similar plots are produced or released at the same time by different studios, a phenomenon known as twin films. Examples include Finding Nemo and Shark Tale; Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down; Churchill and Darkest Hour; and The Prestige and The Illusionist.
1998 Earnings Rate Per Hour
11. In 1998, Bill Gates earned $1 million per hour, which is almost $300 per second.
12. A Scottish botanist broke China’s tea monopoly in the 1840s by posing as a Chinese noble “from beyond the Great Wall.” Using this disguise, he gained access to tea plantations and learned the secrets of tea production.
13. When Frank Zappa hosted SNL in 1978, most of the cast disliked him because of his anti-drug stance. During the live show he frequently mugged for the camera and drew attention to himself by pointing out he was reading from cue cards.
14. Jeremy Renner grew frustrated that his role in The Avengers felt like “Loki’s Minion,” so he sometimes faked Hawkeye’s death in certain takes, hoping the character would be killed off.
15. A chemical called ‘Ethyl Formate’ is responsible for the flavor of raspberries. It has been detected in dust clouds in space.
16. Gene Roddenberry never assigned Captain Kirk a place of birth more specific than the state of Iowa. In 1985, while choosing a theme for its annual festival, the community of Riverside voted to proclaim itself the future birthplace of the Starfleet officer, and Roddenberry gave his blessing.
17. Although the Minions speak a fictional language called “Minionese,” the filmmakers still re-dub their dialogue for different international releases. The goal is not to make the speech fully understandable but to retain the rhythm, sound, and comic delivery recognizable to each audience.
18. On May 2, 1957, an assassin approached gangster Frank Costello and shot at his head after shouting “This is for you, Frank!”. Rather than killing him, the bullet traveled across Costello’s scalp from one ear to the other without causing fatal harm. The assailant’s warning saved his life.
19. In Roman society, a “parasite” (parasitus) was a socially accepted role in which a person could live off others’ hospitality in return for flattery, simple services, and a willingness to endure humiliation.
20. Anatoly Dyatlov, the deputy chief engineer of the Chernobyl Power Plant, was responsible for the 1986 nuclear disaster. Prior to that event, he had been involved in another nuclear accident while installing reactors in submarines and suffered mild radiation sickness.
John Wayne Portrayed Genghis Khan
21. John Wayne once portrayed Genghis Khan in a film, and he did not alter his voice in any way.
22. While walking together in Manhattan, Cher and Meryl Streep once came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked. They ran toward the assailant shouting and were able to force the attacker away from her.
23. In 2018 a woman accidentally paid a Swiss cafe $7,709 for coffee after entering her PIN as the payment amount. When she called to try to recover the funds, no one answered because the cafe had filed for bankruptcy.
24. During the height of the Vietnam War, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali refused to serve in the U.S. armed forces, saying he would not go to war. Officials stripped him of his world title, revoked his passport, and he faced a possible five-year prison sentence. Explaining his position, Ali said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong. They never called me n****r.”
25. In 1656, City of London troops were ordered to patrol the streets and seize any Christmas food being prepared. They believed Christmas was a pointless observance that undermined Christian values.
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