Random Facts #17 - chimpanzee that made around 100 million dollars

 

William Hung, made famous for his appearance on American Idol singing “She Bangs“, is a 73rd generation descendant of Confucius.

From 1937 to 1953, NBC’s Today Show had a chimpanzee co-host named J. Fred Muggs. It is estimated he brought in the network around $100 million.

Because snow is composed of ice, it can be classified as a mineral. Water, however, does not fall under the same classification, and is not a mineral.

Of the 9,000 Blockbuster stores that existed in the early 1990s, at least 10 Blockbusters are open across the U.S. Seven of those are in Alaska.

There is a geocache on the International Space Station placed in 2008. It has since been visited four times by other astronauts.

The Vatican had music which was forbidden to be copied and was only played twice per year. It was secret for almost 150 years until a 14-year-old Mozart heard it and transcribed it from memory.

Canada eats more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world.

Octopuses only touch in situations of mating or aggression. Female octopuses sometimes do both, strangling and eating the male after mating.

Scotland wanted to replicate the Parthenon bigger and cheaper in 1826. It was never completed and is now nicknamed “Scotland’s Disgrace”.

A French general gave John Quincy Adams a pet alligator. Adams kept it in one of the White House bathtubs and enjoyed showing it off.

In 1866, The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million by writing a check.

In the Philippines, you can buy spaghetti at McDonald’s, where they also sell a “McDo” piece of chicken.

Though most think it’s Italian, pepperoni is an American invention. The first use of the word dates back to 1919.

The pumpkin is a member of the cucurbit family, which are gourds, such as cucumbers and squashes.

Any prime number higher than three, when squared and subtracted by one, will always turn out to be a multiple of 24.

When dogs are first born, they are completely blind & cannot hear anything. The first sense which they develop is the sense of touch.

Margherita Pizza uses tomato, mozzarella, and basil toppings to represent the Italian national flag. It was originally to honor the Queen of Italy in 1890.

Sudan has more pyramids than any country with 255. They outnumber Egyptian pyramids by twice the amount.

The money for the Statue of Liberty came from fundraising from auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches in Europe and the U.S. The Statue cost the French about $250,000, which today would be over $5.5 million dollars.

Not all hamsters are small. Although some hamsters are as small as 2-4 inches, the largest ones are approximately 13 inches long.