26Cassandra metaphor
The Cassandra metaphor occurs when valid warnings are dismissed. The Greek God Apollo gave Cassandra the gift of prophecy, but she refused his love so he placed a curse that nobody would believe her. She was left with the knowledge of future events she could not alter or convince others of.
27. Hunter S. Thompson killed himself while being on the phone with his wife. She mistook the cocking of the gun for the sound of his typewriter keys and hung up as he fired.
28. "Drooping ears" is a trait for domesticated animals that doesn't occur in the wild (except elephants). Almost all species gain a trait when domesticated. One experiment successfully domesticated foxes over 40 generations, and by then their ears were drooping.
29. Obsessive taking of selfies and posting them to social media has been found to be linked to common symptoms of mental disorders that include narcissism, low self-esteem, loneliness, self-centeredness, and attention-seeking behaviors.
30. A recent study out of the University of Kansas found that it takes about 50 hours of socializing to go from acquaintance to casual friend, an additional 40 hours to become a “real” friend, and a total of 200 hours to become a close friend.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Hiroshima
The Japanese command didn't realize Hiroshima had been totally destroyed until almost a whole day after it happened. Vague reports of some sort of large explosion had begun to filter in, but the Japanese high command knew that no large-scale air raid had taken place over the city.
32. A Ugandan man named Jordan Kinyera, saw his father lose their land in a legal fight at the age of 6. He spent 18 years in school and became a lawyer and won back the land 23 years later.
33. Michel Vaujour was a French convict who was jailed in 1986 for attempted murder and armed robbery. He forced his way onto the prison's roof one day by wielding nectarines that were painted to look like grenades and his wife picked him up in a helicopter and whisked him away.
34. In Finland, city planners are known to visit parks immediately after the first snowfall, when the existing walking paths are not visible. People naturally choose desire paths, clearly marked by their footprints, which can be then used to guide the routing of new purpose-built paved paths.
35. An art historian watching the movie Stuart Little in 2009 recognized a prop in the background as a lost painting (Sleeping Lady with Black Vase) by the Hungarian artist Róbert Berény. The film's set designer had found the work at a California antique store for $500. It eventually sold at an auction for €229,500.
