20 Fascinating Facts You Probably Didn't Know
1.
Fats Waller was kidnapped to be the surprise guest at Al Capone's birthday party at gunpoint. He left 3 days later intoxicated with thousands of dollars in tips.
2.
The Guinness World Records stopped recording heaviest pets to discourage deliberate overfeeding.
3.
"UVB-76" is a mysterious Russian radio signal (on 4625 kHz). For almost 40 years a repeating buzzing sound has been broadcasted, though every very few years it stops, and a Russian voice reads numbers and Russian names. In 2013, for the first time, UVB-76 issued an order: "Command 135 initiated"
4.
A cat named Artful Dodger, regularly catches the bus by himself in his hometown of Bridport, UK. He waits at the station for the bus to arrive, and travels the 10 mile round trip to neighbouring Charmouth so often, that the drivers bring in tins of cat food and know what stop to let him off at.
5.
In 1946, a man claiming to be a detective gave a pedestrian a camera and asked her to take a picture of a suspect. The "detective" turned out to be a gangster, the "suspect" turned out to be his ex-wife, and the "camera" turned out to be a concealed shotgun firing via the shutter button.
6.
Sweden has instituted a country-wide program where citizens can enroll to receive a text when there is a heart attack victim nearby, allowing them to reach them faster than an ambulance and provide CPR. In 40% of the cases, SMS Life Savers arrived before ambulances and started providing CPR.
7.
The people who work at the South Pole research station are left isolated for 8 months. An annual tradition for the personnel is to watch the 3 "The Thing" films after the last plane has left for the winter.
8.
Poison dart frogs raised in captivity are completely nontoxic. It's because they eat non-toxic insects, which renders their venom harmless.
9.
Chopping wood increases testosterone production by 46.8 percent, approximately 17 percent higher than competitive sports.
10.
The Gates Foundation spends more on global health each year than the World Health Organization of the United Nations.
11.
The most successful pirate in history was a Cantonese woman named Ching Shih, having commanded 40,000-80,000 pirates, and faced off undefeated against many Imperial fleets (including British, Portuguese, and Qing navies).
12.
In the ‘50s, Christopher Lee was engaged to Henriette von Rosen, daughter of Count Fritz von Rosen. The Count refused to allow his daughter to marry him unless Lee got the blessing of the King of Sweden. Lee received it.
13.
Les Paul's right elbow was shattered in a car accident. Doctors were unable to repair it so he had them fuse his arm bones at a 90 degree angle so he could continue to play guitar.
16.
US President James Buchanan never married. As a result his niece served as First Lady during his presidency.
17.
2013 a Chinese father hired gamers to 'kill' his son ingame repeatedly to stop his addiction to gaming.
18.
While in the military, Mr. T was ordered to cut down trees as a punishment by a sergeant. He cut down 70 trees in 3 1/2 hours before a shocked major superseded the sergeant and ordered him to stop.
20.
There is a Japanese inn that opened in 718, that has been managed by 46 generations of the Houshi family. The inn has been operating for 1,300 years.
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