1WiFi kiosks
NYC’s first public WiFi kiosks had to shut off browser access because so many people were using them to watch porn.
2. Alheira de Mirandela is a kosher bread sausage which was invented in Portugal to help hide Jews from the Spanish Inquisition. Jews had fled to Portugal from Spain and pretended to be Catholic. Catholic homes hung preserved meat sausages from the rafters, and Jews were conspicuous for their missing sausages.
3. Buzz Aldrin is the oldest person to ever reach the South Pole, visiting it in November 2016 at the age of 86.
4. The Titanic was hauling over 3000 mail sacks during its maiden voyage. When it began to flood, the five postal clerks on board tried to save as much mail as they could by hauling the sacks on deck. All five of the postal clerks died in the sinking.
5. The United Nations officially use British English instead of American English.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Daughter from California syndrome
The "Daughter from California" syndrome is a situation in which a long-lost distant relative arrives at the hospital at which a dying elderly relative is being treated, and insists on aggressive measures to prolong the patient's life, or otherwise challenges the care the patient is being given.
7. Dogs can lose sleep due to negative emotional responses or stimuli. Researchers found that dogs are less likely to toss and turn or sleep restlessly if they receive positive feedback before bedtime.
8. The use of vinegar in sushi rice helps limit the growth of salmonella and listeria in raw fish by lowering the fish's pH value, making bacteria unable to survive. Fresh wasabi also has bactericidal effects.
9. Murder rates in Miami, Florida were so high during the 1970s and 1980s that the Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office had to rent a refrigerated trailer from Burger King to handle the overflow of corpses.
10. During the Berlin air-lift, one USAF pilot named Gail Halvorsen secretly air-dropped candy to the kids below, rocking his plane so they'd know it was him flying overhead. They called him "Uncle Wiggly Wings."
11Surya Siddhanta
An Indian book named Surya Siddhanta, which was written in 4th century C.E. perfectly describes the Earth’s diameter as 8000 miles (it is 7928 miles by current standards) and the spherical shape of the earth. The book also provided an accurate distance between Moon and Earth, much before Galileo.
12. King Henry VIII loved adding guns to other weapons. His bodyguards carried shields with pistols built into them, and Henry himself had a walking stick that doubled as both a spiked mace and a three-barreled pistol.
13. The myth of the changeling - of faeries replacing a stolen human child with their own - could have been born as an explanation of autistic children. Many traits associated with faeries, such as obsessive counting, are also known in the autism spectrum.
14. Beer mugs are not called "steins" in Germany. "Stein" is the German word for "stone." The English word "stein" probably comes from the German word "Steinzeug" which means "stoneware"—the type of pottery that cheap beer mugs are often made of.
15. In 1941, a Great Dane named Juliana saved her master's home from burning down during the Blitz by urinating on a German incendiary bomb which had fallen through the roof. For this, she was awarded the Blue Cross, similar to the Dickin Medal.
16Ashley Revell
In 2004, a man named Ashley Revell sold all his possessions and put his entire net worth of $135,300 on red at the Plaza Hotel in Vegas. The ball landed on Red 7 and he walked out with $270,600.
17. George Orwell had trouble getting Animal Farm book published due to Soviet-British relations during World War 2. Once, a publisher agreed to release the novella but later reneged after warning from an officer at the British Ministry of Information. The officer was soon discovered to be a Soviet spy.
18. Dove chocolate and Dove soap are owned by different companies. Because they are separated as different classes of goods/services, there is no trademark infringement.
19. Despite 12 indictments and several convictions of high-level officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, all perpetrators were either pardoned or had sentences overturned resulting in no prison time. The only person to go to jail was a minister who stole a street sign in protest.
20. An old sailing superstition was that women on board ships were considered bad luck. However, if the women were naked, then they had the effect of “calming the seas” and was considered good luck.
21Prince William
Prince William breaks royal protocol by flying with his children on the same plane. As direct heirs to the throne, his children should fly on a separate plane in case it crashes.
22. The revolving restaurant on top of the Seattle space needle weighs 125 tons. A 1.5 hp motor is enough to revolve it because the restaurant is perfectly balanced.
23. Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome only 10 years ago.
24. A newer study in 2017 discovered that the cost of raising a child to the age of 17 in the US averages $233,610 with rural children costing $193,020 and children in Urban North East costing $264,090. The same study also showed that each additional child is cheaper due to bulk buying and hand me downs.
25. In 2014, a dead body in Virginia was so obese that it’s fat set a crematorium on fire.
