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Random facts

And speaking of the post office... When Ben Franklin developed what became the US Post Office as we know it today, he was able to deliver mail from one city to another faster than the modern Post Office is capable of doing in the 21st century.
 
This was mainly due to him also being the owner of several newspapers at the same time, and wanted to be able to deliver them faster and to more people, thus earning more money for himself. Back then, the concept of "conflict of interest" really didn't exist in any form.
 
TV Fact: At the end of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse", after his dad (played by Ben Vereen), gives a flimsy excuse to get out of spending time with him and leave his life once again, the angry rant Wil gives about not needing him anymore was completely ad-libbed. It also so moved James Avery (Uncle Phil), that he immediately hugged Wil, which wasn't in the script either.
 
Movie fact: The reason George Lucas included the scene of having Han Solo frozen in carbonite was because Harrison Ford told Lucas he was seriously considering not returning for any more Star Wars movies, which forced Lucas to hedge his bets and add the scene at the last minute. The scene ended up being one of the most memorable in the Star Wars franchise, and produced one of the most quoted romantic exchanges in recent cinema history. Incidentally, Harrison Ford ad-libbed his response because he couldn't remember his line.
 
Random fact: In Beatrice, Nebraska on March 1st, 1950, the West Side Baptist Church exploded due to a gas leak. Miraculously, there were absolutely no injuries resulting from the blast, despite the fact the church had been completely obliterated, down to its foundation, since by a stroke of pure luck, every single member of the choir, who would have been in the church when it exploded, was late to the scheduled practice that evening.
 
Mythological fact: Lei Gong, the Chinese god of Thunder and Lightning (counterpart to Raijin in Japanese mythology), was the inspiration for the fury of Lightning in "Big Trouble In Little China", whose look inspired Raiden in the Mortal Kombat series. Lei Gong worship was comparitively rare, but those that did, prayed to him to take revenge on those who wronged his worshippers, using a combination of a hammer, steel bird talons, or a chisel. He also rides a chariot pulled by a young coolie named A Xiang. He was known to wear a giant straw hat, loin cloth, and not much else. He received these gifts in a peculiarly Biblical way, in that one day, he was wandering in a garden, and chanced upon a peach tree. He took one of the peaches, and upon taking a bite, he received his godly powers and tools.
 
 He was also known for being very prudish, and would refuse to enter a house that contains any kind of pornography, and when people are in the midst of intercourse.
 
Most planets cause some sort of radio interference with the sun. Saturn sounds like it could make the soundtrack for a horror film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MvrduueveI
 
History fact: In ancient Egypt, deliberately killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.
 
One in every seven Leopards is born black and is called a Jaguar or Panther depending on which country it is from.
 
Speaking of animals...
 
A fly that has been rendered unconscious by drowning can be revived by sprinkling table salt on it. The salt acts to draw the water out of the tubes flies use to breathe, thus unblocking them. For obvious reasons, it won't work on a fly that's already dead. It's rendered unconscious by the act of these tubes being blocked as a defense mechanism, and is more akin to a coma/hibernation, since it drastically reduces the fly's oxygen consumption as the tubes dry out.
 
Archaeological fact: The Tyrannosaurus Rex's time on Earth was closer to that of human beings than that of the Stegosaurus.
 
Game fact: When the Ouija Board was first released in 1967 by Parker Brothers, for several months, it out-sold it's traditional best-seller... Monopoly.

Anthropological fact: The Kikuyu tribe in Central Kenya consider the number 10 to be extremely bad luck, so much so, they refuse to say it when counting aloud, skipping it altogether. They also refuse to count people, since they consider doing so to be an omen of death.
 
Gaming fact: Even though its monthly subscription numbers have dropped nearly in half since its peak, World of Warcraft still grosses over $100,000,000 a month for Blizzard Entertainment in monthly subscriptions alone.
 
And by average human, does that take into account Americans?
 
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