Fun Facts That Are

Steve Jobs' biological father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, managed a popular Mediterranean restaurant in Sacramento. Jobs ate there multiple times. They had no idea they were father and son. Jandali later said: "I used to tell him 'come back and see me sometime and the meal's on me.' He was a great tipper."

Sylvester Stallone was so broke he sold his bull mastiff Butkus outside a liquor store for $40. After selling the Rocky script, he went back to buy the dog. The new owner refused. Stallone kept raising the offer until the man finally agreed — for $15,000. Butkus went on to appear in Rocky.

In November 2017, the Tsukuba Express line in Japan issued a formal public apology after a train departed Minami-Nagareyama station 20 seconds ahead of schedule. Not 20 minutes. Twenty seconds. The statement read: "We sincerely apologize for the great inconvenience." Not a single passenger had complained.

In 2005, graffiti artist David Choe was hired by Sean Parker to paint murals inside Facebook's first office in Palo Alto. He was offered $60,000 in cash. He took stock options instead. When Facebook went public in 2012, his shares were worth approximately $200 million.

In 2012, archaeologists dug up a parking lot in Leicester, England, and found the skeleton of King Richard III — lost for 527 years. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the last English king to die in combat. His body was buried in a hasty, unmarked grave at Greyfriars friary. When the friary was demolished in 1538, the grave vanished. Centuries later, the site became a city council car park. An amateur historian named Philippa Langley convinced the University of Leicester to dig it up on a hunch. They found him in the first trench, six hours into a two-week excavation. DNA testing confirmed the identity with 99.999% accuracy. The skeleton showed 11 battle wounds — nine to the skull. The parking space above his grave was marked with the letter “R.”

Argentine farmer Pedro Martin Ureta spent over 20 years planting thousands of cypress and eucalyptus trees across his Pampas farmland in the shape of a guitar — a tribute to his wife Graciela, who dreamed of seeing one from the air before she passed in 1977. The guitar spans roughly one kilometer and is visible on Google Earth. Ureta, who is afraid of flying, has never seen his finished creation from above.

In 2014, Morgan Freeman converted his 124-acre Mississippi ranch into a bee sanctuary. He imported 26 hives from Arkansas, planted acres of clover and lavender, and became a beekeeper himself — all to fight Colony Collapse Disorder. He never wears a protective suit. The bees have never stung him.

Australian Today show host Karl Stefanovic wore the exact same blue suit on air every single day for a year. Not a single viewer, colleague, or critic said a word. Meanwhile, his female co-host Lisa Wilkinson was criticized for her outfits daily. When he finally revealed the experiment, Stefanovic said: "I'm judged on my interviews. Women are judged on what they're wearing."

Old Billy was a barge horse in 18th-century England who hauled canal boats for a living. He was born in 1760 and died in 1822 — at 62 years old. The average horse lives 25 to 30. His taxidermied head is still on display at the Manchester Museum.

Al Pacino didn't sign his own checks. His accountant did. By his 70s, his $50 million fortune was gone. He was unknowingly paying for 16 cars, 23 cellphones, and a $400,000-per-year landscaper at a house he never lived in. The accountant got seven and a half years in prison. Pacino had to take roles in movies he openly disliked — including Jack and Jill — just to pay the bills.

In 1996, Richard Branson's Virgin Cola took out full-page newspaper ads warning customers about a new "blue-detecting" technology — their cans would turn bright blue when the drink expired. The public safety message? "Do not buy any blue cans." Pepsi had just launched its bold new blue can design the same week. It was a masterclass in corporate trolling disguised as consumer protection.

In 1999, David Phillips spotted a Healthy Choice promotion: 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes. During the bonus window, that doubled. He found pudding cups at 25 cents each, bought 12,150 of them for $3,140, and donated them all to the Salvation Army — earning an $815 tax deduction. Total haul: 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles and lifetime Gold status. His story inspired the Adam Sandler film Punch-Drunk Love.