1Clement Vallandigham
In 1871, Clement Vallandigham, a lawyer and Ohio politician, defending a man accused of murder accidentally shot himself while demonstrating how the victim might have accidentally shot himself. His client was cleared.
2. A liver transplant only requires a small section from the donor, because it will regenerate to the full size of the recipient. Interestingly, a child can receive a transplant and the liver will grow normally as they mature.
3. In 2015, a woman named Roseanne Di Guilio who lived in a house that straddled the New York - Connecticut border lost half of her house because her mortgage provider did not pay the property taxes.
4. Modern capital letters are characterized by straight lines and supple curves to make them easier to carve into stone. Lowercase letters were only used for everyday writing and weren't originally used in conjunction with the uppercase.
5. "The Winchester – Shaun of the Dead" received 10,000 votes for a Lego project but Lego decided that "This is the first time we’ve felt that we should turn a LEGO CUUSOO idea down".
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6J. Paul Getty
American industrialist J. Paul Getty, with a net worth of $1.2 billion in the 50s, scolded his wife (Teddy Getty Gaston) for spending money freely on the treatment of their 6-year-old son (Timmy) after he went blind from a brain tumor. When his son died 6 years later, Getty didn't attend the funeral.
7. Freddie Mercury wrote the song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in just 10 minutes while lounging in a bath.
8. The Swedish propaganda/warship Vasa sank 100m into its maiden voyage and was recovered 333 years later. Today it is the oldest preserved ship and can be seen in a Stockholm museum.
9. Scottish-American actor John Barrowman, who is gay, auditioned to play Will on "Will & Grace" but was turned down for being "too straight". The role went instead to Eric McCormack, who actually is straight.
10. In 2011, a fossil of a new genus species of Dinosaur called the Nodosaur was found in Canada with its body mostly intact and its skin still on.
11Boiling river
There is a "boiling river" in Peru where over 6 km of the river can reach temperatures as high as 86°C/187°F. The river is considered extremely remarkable due to the nearest volcanic system being more than 700 km away.
12. In a 1988 episode of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" called "The Wall", the Chipmunks play a concert at the Berlin Wall and see it crumbling down, only to awaken from a dream and say, "It was just a dream, but it doesn't have to be." 11 months later, the Berlin Wall came down in real life.
13. Plans for the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II have been extensively prepared by most British government and media organizations since the 1960s. The codename is Operation London Bridge.
14. According to Plutarch (Greek philosopher), the traitor Bessus was executed by having two trees forcibly bent towards each other, tied him to both, and then the trees released, causing an agonizing death in which the ligaments, tendons, muscles, and organs would slowly come apart as the trees straightened.
15. In the 1950's, the Muslim Egyptians laughed at the idea of imposing the hijab on women.
16Kathleen Hanna
American singer Kathleen Hanna accidentally coined the term '"Smells like Teen Spirit". Teen Spirit is a deodorant for young girls, which she thought Kurt Cobain smelled like.
17. Matthew McConaughey's brother, Rooster McConaughey, named his son Miller Lyte and got free beer for a year.
18. Drivers in New York City spend an average of 107 hours per year searching for parking at a cost of $2,243/driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions.
19. Not receiving adequate human touch can have emotional and physical consequences. This is called "Skin Hunger".
20. During Argentina's dictatorship, opponents to the regime were drugged, flown out over the Atlantic, and pushed out of planes alive with weights attached to their feet so no bodies would be found as evidence.
21Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr was still Vice President of the United States when he shot Alexander Hamilton and continued to perform his duties despite being wanted for murder in New Jersey and New York.
22. A vigilante in Bristol, England has been sneaking out at night for 10 years to fix grammar and punctuation errors on signs such as “Herberts the Bakery,” using stickers and an 8 foot long tool he calls the “Apostrophizer.”
23. Ice-T has never drunk liquor or done any drugs because being an orphan he felt if he ever got addicted or got into trouble with drugs or alcohol he wouldn't have any family to help him.
24. In November 2016, India gave its citizens less than 4 hour's notice that their two largest bills (worth about $8 and $16) would no longer be legal tender. They were only allowed to exchange a max of ₹2000-4500 ($31-70) per person per day, and ATMs were still running out of cash up to 5 months later.
25. The "Mile Into The Wild" Walkway is an elevated walkway in The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado. The Sanctuary is a refuge for more than 450 Lions, Tigers, Bears, Wolves and other rescued carnivores. It's elevated because the animals do not consider sky as territory, allowing humans to observe them without causing a fight or flight response.
