Some facts are so oddly specific that they become impossible to forget, and even harder not to share. Random Facts Mixtape Vol. 013 – 25 Facts To Annoy Friends is packed with the kind of trivia that will suddenly appear in conversation whether people asked for it or not. From singing gorillas and moon-bound ashes to IKEA’s naming system and the real inspiration behind the Tower of Babel, these facts are perfect for anyone who enjoys collecting unusual bits of knowledge.
Aunt Bessie’s Production Figures
1. Aunt Bessie’s factory in Hull produces 900 million Yorkshire puddings every year. In the run-up to Christmas alone, 110 million Yorkshire puddings are produced. The Yorkshire pudding once used to be served as a first course with thick gravy to dull the appetite with the low-cost ingredients so that the diners would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course.
2.Conspiracy Theory Rock is a prohibited sketch from Saturday Night Live. It appeared as part of a March 1998 “TV Funhouse” segment. It has been omitted from all later broadcasts of the Saturday Night Live episode in which it first aired because it “wasn’t funny”.
3. In 1981, inspectors found horse meat mislabeled as beef at a plant that supplied hamburger and taco meat to Jack in the Box. The meat had come from Australia, and during on-site checks they discovered additional shipments bound for the United States that contained kangaroo meat.
4. In 2000, “Take Me To The River” was featured in the popular animatronic singing toy “Big Mouth Billy Bass”. Teenie Hodges said he made more money in royalties from that version than from any earlier versions.
5. Carrie Fisher’s ashes are enclosed within a giant novelty Prozac pill.
6. Legend says Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, bathed in donkey milk to keep her skin youthful and beautiful, and that as many as 700 donkeys were required to provide the milk for her daily bath.
7. Gorillas sing cheerful songs as they eat; they do not repeat the same song each time and they sing more loudly when eating a preferred food.
8. A painting that fills most of the U.S. Capitol dome depicts George Washington becoming a god. Titled “The Apotheosis of Washington,” it serves as a metaphor for how people viewed the first president. He is shown surrounded by figures and symbols from Greek and Roman mythology, and the classical style, popular then and now, offers a glimpse of how Romans honored their emperors.
9. The flag the Apollo 11 astronauts planted on the Moon was purchased at Sears for $5.50.
10. The biblical Tower of Babel was likely inspired by a real structure, the Etemenanki, located in what is now Iraq. At about 300 feet tall it was enormous for ancient times and was built by King Nebuchadnezzar II.
Actress Roles With Birthday Breakups
11. Anne Dudek portrayed a character on the TV show Friends who was dumped on her birthday, and later portrayed a character on How I Met Your Mother who was dumped on her birthday twice.
12. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad had dyslexia and therefore used Swedish word names for products instead of numerical codes; this made the items easier for him to remember and became a defining feature of the company.
13. Dr. Claire Rind wanted to create a collision-avoidance system for cars, so she had locusts watch Star Wars while she monitored the responses of their visual systems; a robot programmed with the collected data avoided collisions 91% of the time.
14. The average German consumes 114 chocolate bars per year, while the average American consumes 51.
15. While filming ‘The Dukes of Hazzard,’ a camera truck flipped during rehearsal of a chase scene, killing one person and injuring eight others.
16. Ethiopia was the sole African nation that was never colonized.
17. Geologist Eugene Shoemaker wanted to go to the moon in the mid-1900s. He failed the medical exam to go, but he helped train astronauts on Apollo 11, 12, and 13. After he died in a car crash, his ashes were taken to the moon, where they remain today.
18. Dutch settlers most likely named Coney Island in New York City after the large number of rabbits they found along the island’s coastline, with “coneys” being an archaic English word for rabbits.
19. Joseph D. Pistone, also known as “Donnie Brasco,” was an FBI agent who worked undercover infiltrating a mob family for six years and reached the point of being about to be made, meaning to become a fully initiated member, but he was pulled out when his superiors decided the operation had become too dangerous.
20. The Library of Congress selected Shrek for preservation in the National Film Registry because it is considered culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Johnson’s 1928 Teaching Interlude
21. In 1928 Lyndon B. Johnson interrupted his education to teach Mexican-American children and used his own pay to buy them volleyball and softball bats.
22. Starting in 1932 the Oslo Breakfast was provided to Norwegian schoolchildren; a typical version included an orange, milk, whole-wheat bread, a rye biscuit, cheese, a carrot, and a spoonful of cod-liver oil. It was reported to have increased the average height of 14-year-olds by four inches.
23. Members of Mother Teresa’s order would covertly baptize dying patients who followed other religions. Patients were asked if they wanted a “ticket to heaven.” While pretending to cool the patient’s forehead, words were quietly spoken and the ritual was performed.
24. Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” was the first rap song to win an Oscar for Best Original Song, but he did not watch the awards because he did not think he had a chance to win. Instead he fell asleep watching cartoons with his daughter.
25. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is built on 14 islands, and its city center is “virtually situated on the water”.
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