26Presidential Pardons
US Supreme Court has concluded that US citizens have the right to refuse Presidential Pardons. George Wilson fought a presidential pardon and won a hanging. He was convicted of robbing the US Mail in Pennsylvania and sentenced to death.
27. WWII Submarine Captain John Philip Cromwell stoically went down with his stricken sub Sculpin rather than allow himself to be captured by the Japanese. Cpt. Cromwell had knowledge of top-secret highly sensitive Allied war plans that the enemy may have extracted from him through drugs or torture.
28. Conservationists created a match.com profile for the world’s loneliest frog named Romeo, in order to raise funds for expeditions to find more of his species. Their work paid off, and Romeo and Juliet are together at last.
29. A camel named Douglas was killed by a Union sharpshooter at the Siege of Vicksburg. A team of six Confederate snipers was assembled and tasked with avenging his death.
30. Sisamnes was a corrupt judge in the Persian Empire. In 525 B.C., after accepting a bribe, the king had him arrested and skinned alive. His skin was then used to cover the seat from which judgments were made. His own son ‘Otanes’ then replaced him as a judge.
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31Dogs
Dogs are prosocial, meaning that they volunteer to help or share with others, even when there might not directly be any benefit to themselves.
32. Norbert Pearlroth was the silent partner of Ripley's Believe It or Not. He was the sole researcher, answering 3000 letters a week, examining 7000 books a year, spending 10 hours a day, six days a week at the New York Library, and fluent in 14 languages. He produced 24 items a week for 52 years.
33. A helicopter pilot flew to 40,820 feet, setting a world record for the highest altitude reached by helicopter. However, when he started to descend, the engine failed, but he safely landed the helicopter with absolutely no power, a world record for the highest unpowered descent by a helicopter.
34. The $2 bill makes up 1% of currency circulation. Its scarcity in daily use has confused some merchants who believe the bill to be fake. A 13-year-old girl in Texas was detained by Police when she tried to pay for her school lunch with a $2 bill because the school’s counterfeit pen wouldn’t work on it.
35. In 1969, Rolling Stones hired Hell's Angels to provide security for their gig at the Altamont Free Concert for a fee of $500 worth of beer. A man by the name of Meredith Hunter Jr. drew a revolver at the stage and was stabbed and kicked to death by the Hell’s Angels.
