26Ben & Jerry’s
The founders of Ben & Jerry’s learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course offered by Penn State because one of them couldn’t get into medical school and the other couldn’t sell enough pottery to make a living.
27. Annie Kopchovsky was the first woman to cycle around the world and only learned how to ride a bike two days prior to setting off. She ended up accomplishing the trip in 15 months and won $10,000 for the feat.
28. The non-profit Nurse-Family Partnership, which arranges for registered nurses to make regular home visits to first-time low-income or vulnerable mothers, reduced the number of babies or toddlers hospitalized for accidents by more than half and increased babies' IQ by 5 to 7 points.
29. Ruth Coker Burks cared for hundreds of people dying of AIDS, abandoned by their families because of their "sin."
30. Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska was instrumental in the release of the Pentagon Papers, using his seat on an obscure committee to force the Papers into Congressional record.
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31Stalin
Stalin hired people to edit photographs throughout his reign. People who became his enemy were removed from every photograph pictured with him. Sometimes, Stalin would even insert himself in photos at key moments in history or had technicians make him look taller in them.
32. The Beatles would never have been seen on American TV but for the JFK assassination. CBS executives decided that America needed something light-hearted on the news to take the nation’s mind off the painful assassination and showed a brief clip. Ed Sullivan was unexpectedly watching.
33. Ice cream, macaroni and cheese, French fries, and champagne were all popularized in or introduced to America by President Thomas Jefferson.
34. People who look young for their age have a higher life expectancy than those who don't.
35. The chocolate midge is no bigger than the size of a pinhead. It is the only creature that can pollinate cacao trees, and therefore the production of chocolate is threatened by the collapse of the insect ecosystem.
