1Alaskan Island Invasion Blunder
During World War II, the US and Canada invaded a Japanese-held Alaskan island with more than 35,000 men. After suffering more than 300 casualties and nearly sinking the destroyer USS Abner Read due to traps, mines, and friendly fire, they discovered that there were no Japanese on the island.
2. The Mexican Mafia, offended by certain scenes in the 1992 film American Me, murdered multiple consultants. Actor Danny Trejo asserted that the Mexican Mafia killed up to 10 people.
3. Korean serial killer Kim Sun-ja laced her friend's tea with cyanide, causing her to vomit. She then encouraged her friend to drink more of the beverage, claiming it would make her feel better. However, her friend became suspicious and refused, making her the only known survivor among the six victims Kim poisoned between 1986 and 1988.
4. Most of the stories about the Dvorak keyboard being superior to the standard QWERTY layout come from a Navy study conducted by August Dvorak, who owned the patent on the Dvorak keyboard.
5. Lionel Messi's hometown of Rosario, Argentina, forbids parents from naming their children "Messi."
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Gilligan's Island Coast Guard Letters
In the early 1960s, the US Coast Guard received letters from the public demanding to know why the castaways on the TV show Gilligan's Island had not yet been rescued.
7. Fifth-century Chinese Xiongnu emperor Helian Bobo set extreme standards for his workers. Helian Bobo would kill the armorer if an arrow could penetrate the armor, and execute the arrowmaker if it couldn't. Similarly, when constructing a fortress, a wallmaker would face execution if they could drive a wedge an inch into the wall.
8. On US waterways in the 1800s, thousands of "low head dams," also known as "killer dams" or "drowning machines," were constructed. They are nearly invisible from upstream, have claimed hundreds of lives, often serve no modern purpose, and yet remain largely unregulated.
9. Louis XIV housed an elephant at Versailles, a gift from Portugal's king in 1668. The Ménagerie, the palace's zoo, housed the animal and fed it 80 pounds of bread, 12 pints of wine, and two buckets of soup daily. Between 1483 and 1862, it was the only African elephant documented in Europe.
10. In 2023, a patient in Denver legally sought euthanasia. Upon being provided with a deadly concoction in liquid form to be consumed, the patient's 37-year-old friend took a sip when his friend complained that it was bitter, nearly resulting in his own death as well.
11Global Screen Time Statistics
Globally, people average 6 hours and 58 minutes of screen time per day.
12. During the casting process for Armageddon (1998), Michael Bay was initially unimpressed with Ben Affleck's screen test, labeling him "a geek." Jerry Bruckheimer persuaded Bay that Affleck had the potential to be a star but demanded that he lose weight, tan, and have his teeth capped before filming.
13. Takabuti's mummy, a young ancient Egyptian woman, shows evidence of dying from an axe blow to her back. Researchers hypothesized that Takabuti had been running for some time before her death, based on a study of the proteins in her leg muscles.
14. Until 1973, it was legal in Texas for a husband to kill someone caught having sex with his wife, "provided that the killing takes place before the parties to the act have separated."
15. Paramount Studio set three conditions for the casting of Marlon Brando in The Godfather: he would have to take a fee below what he usually received, agree to accept financial responsibility for any production delays his behavior caused, and submit to a screen test.
16Chuck Wepner's Rocky Inspiration
'Rocky' (1976) was inspired by the true story of Chuck Wepner, a local boxer from New Jersey who was set up for a dream fight with Muhammad Ali. Chuck Wepner resigned from his job to dedicate himself to full-time training, and despite all the odds, he managed to endure 15 rounds with the champion. Stallone was in the audience.
17. Upon warning of a likely missile launch against the USA, the Pentagon and Strategic Command war rooms have one minute to brief the president, who then has roughly only six minutes to decide whether and how to respond.
18. Lay's introduced fat-free "WOW" chips in 1998, which contained a fat substitute called "Olestra." They were incredibly popular, and they recorded $400 million in sales in their first year. The following year, sales dropped in half as Olestra caused side effects like abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and "anal leakage."
19. Vincent van Gogh was so in love with his widowed cousin that he held his hand in the flame of a lamp in front of his uncle, saying, "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame."
20. Lady Gaga made history in 2019 as the first woman to win an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe in a single year for her performance in A Star is Born.
21Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell's Nobel Snub
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an astrophysicist who discovered pulsars in 1972, had her boss not only take credit for the discovery but also win a Nobel Prize for it.
22. James Cameron offered Matt Damon 10% of the box office earnings from "Avatar," which would have earned the actor over $250 million.
23. In 1964, 17-year-old Randy Gardner set the world record for sleep deprivation by staying awake for 11 days and 25 minutes, providing valuable insights into the effects of extreme sleep loss on the human mind and body.
24. A Queen's Guard horse named Obelisk used to lure pigeons by dropping oats from his mouth. When they approached, he would stomp them to death. They eventually took him for additional "psychological training."
25. There was a famous Japanese game show in which diehard baseball fan contestants were locked individually in small rooms for an entire baseball season: if their favorite team won each night, they got dinner for the evening; if their team lost, the lights would be turned out until the next win.
