Need a quick break from the endless scroll? Random Facts Mixtape Vol. 010 – 25 Facts To Kill Time delivers another mix of strange history, unusual science, forgotten inventions, bizarre wartime schemes, and surprising stories from around the world. From whaling orcas and sewer treasure hunters to itching-powder sabotage and a cat that helped wipe out an entire bird species, these facts are perfect for a few minutes of curiosity-fueled procrastination.
Managing Australia’s Kangaroo Numbers
1. Australia has more kangaroos than people, 50 million compared to 25 million, and Australians are encouraged to eat more kangaroo meat to help control the growing population. There is even ‘kangatarianism’ in Australia, a basically vegetarian diet that excludes all meat except kangaroo for environmental and ethical reasons.
2. The ‘Lazy Dog’ bomb, developed during World War II, was a 2-inch steel kinetic projectile dropped by the thousands from 3,000 feet. With no explosives, it could penetrate up to 9 inches of solid concrete.
3. During World War II, the UK’s Special Operations Executive created a potent itching powder intended to demoralize German soldiers. Some resistance laundresses applied it to Nazi uniforms and underwear. One intelligence report claimed at least one U-boat had to return to port because of the powder’s effects. Condoms coated with the powder were also distributed to German soldiers in Norway.
4. The Red Delicious apple was not always considered poor in flavor. The original 1880s variety was reportedly tasty, but over time it was bred more for color and appearance rather than for taste.
5. In 1800s London, sewer-hunters combed the city’s underground waste channels for coins, jewelry, and other valuables. Paradoxically, despite constant exposure to filth and disease, many were notably strong and long-lived, likely because years of microbial exposure hardened their immune systems.
6. A pod of orcas worked alongside early Australian whalers under an arrangement known as the “law of the tongue”. They would herd and locate prey in exchange for the tongues and lips of the captured whales. The partnership ended when one of the orcas was accidentally killed.
7. Tibbles, also known as the lighthouse keeper’s cat, was a domestic cat that played a major part in the extinction of the Stephens Island wren, a flightless bird species found only on Stephens Island in New Zealand. Brought to the island as a pet and without natural predators to limit its hunting, it quickly reduced the wren population. The small, flightless birds could not escape its hunting, and within a few years the species was driven to extinction. The story of Tibbles and the Stephens Island wren stands as a sobering reminder of the damage introduced species can do to native ecosystems.
8. In the 1960s Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and Robert Duvall were roommates in New York City while they were struggling actors.
9. At first glance this viewing platform, situated almost 11,000 feet above the Stubai Glacier near Tyrol, Austria, looks little more than a high diving platform. The only way to reach it is to take a cable car and then climb a long staircase to the top. On clear days, however, the trip is worth it for views that can extend as far as Venice, Italy.
10. The University of Paris existed for 820 years, from 1150 A.D. until 1970, when it was broken up after being identified as the primary source of student revolutionaries who nearly overthrew the French government in May 1968.
2006 Fraternity Ritual Generated Outrage
11. In 2006, members of the Sigma Chi chapter at the University of Nebraska took part in a ritual in which they burned a cross and wore Confederate uniforms.
12. The Bladerunner is a medical crime story with no ties to the film Blade Runner. That movie adapts “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” The title “Blade Runner” was chosen for its appeal and does not reflect the film’s subject.
13. Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, who betrayed Louis XIII and defeated the king’s forces at the Battle of La Marfée, accidentally shot himself while lifting his helmet visor with a pistol after the battle had ended.
14. Because Zod’s corpse was used to create Doomsday in Batman v Superman, Doomsday bears the same scar that Zod displayed in Man of Steel.
15. A Chinese farmer, Gao XianZhang, discovered a method to make pears grow as tiny baby Buddha figures by cultivating them inside plastic molds.
16. Nearly all instances of spontaneous human combustion occur in people who have limited mobility because of advanced age or obesity and who are in poor health. Victims are highly likely to have died while sleeping, or to have been unable to move after they caught fire.
17. In ancient Rome, women drank turpentine so their urine would smell sweet, resembling violets.
18. A 60-year-old British woman known only as KH cannot recognize voices, not even her own daughter’s. Unless she can see the speaker’s face, she has no idea who is talking. University research found she recognized only one voice, that of actor Sean Connery.
19. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans sit at different levels, with the Pacific’s waterline about 40 cm higher.
20. When Three Dog Night recorded Randy Newman’s ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’ and turned it into a No. 1 hit, Newman phoned the band’s lead singer, Cory Wells, and said, “I just want to thank you for putting my kids through college”.
Actor Required Lengthy Removal
21. While shooting Reservoir Dogs, Tim Roth lay in a pool of artificial blood until it dried, and crew members had to peel him from the floor, a process that took several minutes.
22. If hard-boiled eggs are cooked too long, a thin green layer of iron(II) sulfide forms on the yolk; this develops faster in older eggs because their whites are more alkaline.
23. Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, in which debris from a crashed car was thrown into the stands and killed 83 spectators, the deadliest accident in motorsport history, Switzerland banned almost all motor-racing; despite many attempts to lift the ban, it remains in effect.
24. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, said, “You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
25. Coca-Cola attempted to market “OK” soda so the company would have products using the two most familiar words in the world. While “OK” and “Coke” remained first and second, “OK” soda did not catch on and was discontinued soon after its launch.
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