Refresh for new random facts
1. To celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary in 1860, tobacco company Lorillard put random $100 bills in packages of its Century brand of tobacco.
2. Thomas Jefferson invented the first hideaway bed ever patented in the United States.
3. A Singer sewing machine was the first consumer product purchased on an installment plan. In 1856, Margaret Hellmuth of New York paid $50 down, with the remaining $100 paid in six monthly installments.
4. William Randolph Hearst's father struck it rich mining silver and gold in Nevada in 1859 and had the largest private mining firm in the U.S. The HBO show Deadwood was based on one of his mines.
5. Schoolboy Antonio Gentile of Suffolk, Virginia, received $5 for his winning drawing in a Planters Peanut 1916 contest. Mr. Peanut was born.
6. The first vending machines were installed on New York City elevated subway platforms in 1888 and dispensed Tutti-Fruiti gum.
7. Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller would be worth upwards of $300 Billion in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation.
8. The last mass marketed 12 cylinder car produced in the United States was the 1948 Lincoln Continental.
9. In 1987, American Airlines decided to omit one olive from each salad course in the first class. As a result, they saved $40,000.
10. Dr. Lieven P. Van Neste owns more than 200,000 domain names.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
