Recently, a British Airways Boeing 747 set a new sub-sonic record for a flight between New York’s JFK and London’s Heathrow airports. The jumbo jet maxed out at 825 mph while riding a 200 mph jet stream tailwind to arrive in 4 hours and 56 minutes. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/storm-ciara-flight-record-new-york-london-time-atlantic-winds-british-airways-a9325396.html
During the US prohibition era, moonshiners would wear cow shoes. The fancy footwear left hoofprints instead of footprints, helping distillers and smugglers evade police. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/cow-shoes-prohibition-1924/
The price of a college textbook increased 90% from 1998 to 2016, while recreational book prices fell by more than 35% over the same time period. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-the-astronomical-rise-in-college-textbook-prices-vs-consumer-prices-and-recreational-books/
On the Queen of England’s birthday in 2015, she was given a gift of £5,000 worth of stud sperm by horse breeder Christina Patino. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/queen-elizabeths-91st-birthday-2017-the-weirdest-gifts-her-majesty-has-ever-received_uk_58f9d670e4b00fa7de131965?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMsMKqa7WZh2e1b4AvCjvBnlo8F8SXTxHOXbAZUQa-_0614wgdq5kmE5z_C3kI4ABDDRsfduqi_luDaTXslk4-k-I07Z2h1i4lP24Vl0LGNyVkqhMeWJlV7qTNSPvGlp_B1Y8Y3cChiW-j3AiE1nomHeyADhfld92f_pLXtuWqpV
Two actors have died while playing Judas in live Biblical plays by accidentally hanging themselves for real during the death scene. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/24/world/americas/brazil-actor-hanging/index.html
In 1959, police were called to a segregated library in S. Carolina when 9yr-old Ronald McNair refused to leave. He later got a PhD in Physics from MIT and died in 1986 aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The library that refused to lend him books is now named after him. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McNair
The US’s Center for Disease Control has a Center For Preparedness and Response which includes specific guidance for zombie preparedness. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/zombie/index.htm
In 1821, an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings invented the dry cleaning process and was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. He used the proceeds from his invention to buy his wife and children out of slavery. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Jennings
On March 14, 1942, Anne Miller, diagnosed with blood poisoning, was given a tablespoon of penicillin, one half of the entire stockpile of the antibiotic in the whole United States. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://time.com/4250235/penicillin-1942-history/