In 2013, a petition requesting the US government build a Death Star reached 25,000 signatures, which is the threshold requiring the government to make a response. Their response was comical but simply stated that “the Administration does not support blowing up planets.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.space.com/19246-death-star-white-house-petition-response.html
A newborn giant panda cub weighs 3-5 ounces and is roughly 1/900th the size of their mother or about the size of a stick of butter. They are born pink, hairless, and blind making them practically helpless. – WTF Fun Facts
Modern body armor was created by a pizza delivery guy and former marine named Richard Davis, who was wounded after a delivery turned into a shootout. He developed the bulletproof vest using Kevlar and demoed it for the police by shooting himself in the chest. – WTF Fun Facts
As part of plans for a 2005 Las Vegas residency, Michael Jackson’s team was designing a 50 ft. MJ robot that would roam the Nevada desert. It would be visible to tourists landing at Las Vegas’ airport and serve as a giant advertisement for Jackson’s show. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/1618999/exclusive-plans-for-michael-jackson-robot-in-las-vegas-revealed/
Star Trek‘s creator Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the Star Trek theme song, which were never used nor intended for use. As a co-writer this entitled him to 50% of the royalties, which cut composer Alexander Courage’s share in half. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/28895/star-trek-theme-song-has-lyrics
Cigarette filters were originally made of cork and known as “beauty tips”. The modern day filter pattern is meant to resemble the cork from the original filters. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/magazine/who-made-that-cigarette-filter.html
Eugene Schieffelin was an American amateur ornithologist who wanted to bring all of the birds in Shakespeare’s plays to North America. He released a total of 100 European starlings in 1890 and 1891, which have grown into a population of ~200 million. – WTF Fun Facts
The US Department of Agriculture estimated that more than 20 million “victory gardens” were planted during World War 2. The produce harvested in these gardens was estimated to be 9-10 million tons, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh produce. – WTF Fun Facts
Glenn K. Tripp, a D.B. Cooper copycat, hijacked Northwest Flight 608 in 1980. His drink was spiked with Valium by a flight attendant, and after a 10 hour standoff, he lowered his ransom to 3 cheeseburgers and a getaway car. He was captured and arrested on the way to his car. He tried to hijack the same flight while on probation three years later. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NWA305-DBCooper.htm