Facts of the Day – December 31, 2014

Facts of the Day – American flags made in China are banned in the U.S. Military.

Facts of the Day – Margaret Anne Cargill was a philanthropist born into one of the wealthiest families in the world. She gave away more than $200M during her life, always anonymously, and provided that after her death all her wealth go to charity. In 2011 her assets were liquidated, resulting in a $6B donation.

Facts of the Day – There is an American military cemetery Margraten, Netherlands. On Memorial Day each year every last grave is “adopted” by a Dutch family that lays flowers over the site.

Facts of the Day – In 2004 and 2007, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey found that Comcast had the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service.

Facts of the Day – Seth Rogen, now a success, confronted the guy who cancelled Freaks and Geeks and demanded an explanation.

Facts of the Day – Netflix employees get unlimited vacation days.

Facts of the Day – backwards-facing airplane seats are 10 times safer, but passengers do not want them

Facts of the Day – a pilot on Southwest flight 1248 quoted the movie “Airplane!” saying, “I picked a bad day to stop sniffin’ glue.” The plane then overran the runway, into a busy intersection, killing a 6 year old boy on the ground.

Facts of the Day – that Wikipedia is “close to the level of accuracy in Encyclopedia Britannica”, with a similar rate of “serious errors”

Facts of the Day – that there is a dwarf planet in our solar system that is 8 billion miles away and takes 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun.

Facts of the Day – Tommy Chong turned a Vancouver strip club into Canada’s first, and only, topless improvisational comedy club.

Facts of the Day – a study conducted by a linguist and a sound engineer concluded the perfect male voice would be a combination of Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons

Facts of the Day – Trevor Moore of The Whitest Kids U’ Know became the world’s youngest published cartoonist at the age of 12 with his book “Scraps”

Facts of the Day – there is an American cemetary hidden in northern France that contains the “dishonored dead;” dozens of US service members executed for war crimes committed during WWII

Facts of the Day – that whiskey has a number of health benefits including heart health, preventing blood clots, and slowing dementia, among other things!

Facts of the Day – that in response to being booed by Brooklyn Dodger fans during a ballgame, future manager extraordinaire Casey Stengel came to the plate with a sparrow tucked beneath his cap. Turning to the crowd he tipped his cap and out flew the sparrow, effectively giving the crowd “the bird”.

Facts of the Day – that JK Rowling told Warner Bros. that Harry Potter had to be filmed in Britain with an all-british cast

Facts of the Day – the guitar “crunch” before the chorus in Radiohead’s “Creep” was from guitarist Jonny Greenwood intentionally trying to sabotage the song.

Facts of the Day – that the flu kills an average of 26,000 people in the United States each year.

Facts of the Day – of the Caterpillar Club, which is exclusive to those who have been forced to bail from an aircraft and survived thanks to a parachute.

Facts of the Day – that Doug’s neighbors on the 90’s cartoon Doug were named Mr. and Mrs. Dink because “DINK” means Double Income No Kids.

Facts of the Day – that when South Korea representatives open the door at the DMZ meeting room for the North, they hold hands to prevent being pulled across the border.

Facts of the Day – that Imgur serves more images in 10 minutes than there are in the entire Library of Congress.

Facts of the Day – Bobby Farrell, male singer of 70’s disco group “Boney M”, known for their hit single “Rasputin”, died while on tour on the anniversary of the death of Rasputin, in the same city where Rasputin died, St.Petersburg.

Facts of the Day – There is a cafe that serves over 100 kinds of cereal in the UK called a Cereal Killer Cafe

Facts of the Day – that the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write “The Shining” plays the Kubrick film on continuous loop on channel 42 for all guests.

Facts of the Day – in 1995 martial artist Yuki Nakai lost an eye thanks to an illegal move by his opponent. Half blinded he went on to win the match.

Facts of the Day – of “Montreal’s Night of Terror”, a sort of real-life Purge with bank robberies and looting, as the Montreal police went on a 16 hour strike.

Facts of the Day – that during the filming of I, Robot, Will Smith could bench 385 pounds.

Facts of the Day – Nearly one out of every three American adults are on file in the FBI’s master criminal database

Facts of the Day – that the largest earthquake to ever be recorded hit Chile in 1960, measuring M9.5. The earthquake lasted for 10 minutes with tsunamis of 8 & 10m. The fault rupture was 800km long, 1/50 of the circumference of the earth.