Welcome to Random Ass Facts!
I was wandering through a consignment shop in Palm Beach last month, looking for vintage treasures, when my search was sidetracked by a corner full of books. One dollar for paperbacks and three dollars for hard backs. How could I resist?
Browsing the titles and authors, I found a thick, colorful book by Isaac Asimov that I hadn’t known existed. This isn’t a surprise. He wrote or edited over 500 books after all! Talk about an overachiever.
I tucked it under my arm and looked around at the clothes and shoes half heartedly. I had already found my treasure.
I’ve been struggling with good old fashioned writer’s block and the book gave me an idea. The second I picked it up, I knew my son would find it as interesting as I did. It also turns out his birthday is exactly one month away. So, why not pull together some of the most interesting facts and update them from 1979?
Imagine my surprise when looking for a perfect url and the first one I searched was available. Yes, www.randomassfacts.com had not been taken. CRAZY! If you read it a little differently, it’s Rando Mass Facts, but let's not digress.
I’m scheduling these posts to start on May 25th, Philip’s birthday. If you want to follow along, hit subscribe and you’ll be on the list.
There are 3,000 facts in the book, so this daily posting may continue for nearly 10 years. Who knows? Also, there are so many amazing and crazy facts, I’m sure I’ll have to add some of my own.
By the way, did you know that humans have an average of 70,000 thoughts per day? I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
Happy Birthday Philip! Enjoy the first edition of the book from 1979 that I found for you. Here is our first fact and a little update on it 46 years later.
From the first chapter About kings, we find ourselves in Japan…
“Uninterrupted since the sixth century, the Japanese throne has been occupied by a member of the same family. The present emperor, Hirohito, is the 124th in succession.”
Update 2025:
Naruhito is the current emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, on 1 May 2019. He is the only remaining monarch and head of state in the world who holds the title of Emperor.
I’ll be the first to admit that I knew nothing about Japanese emperors, including that he is the only emperor left on Earth. And wow! Naruhito is 126th in succession, all from the same family. Those are some serious genes.
Enjoy your day knowing one more random ass fact!