26George Carlin
On July 21, 1972, George Carlin was arrested and charged with violating obscenity laws after performing his famous “Seven Dirty Words” routine at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. He would go on to be arrested a total of seven times for reciting that same routine.
27. Before the 12th Amendment, the Vice President was the Presidential candidate who won the second most votes, instead of a running mate.
28. In 2007, Warren Buffett bet a hedge-fund manager that the S&P 500 would beat a portfolio of hedge funds. After 10 years, the S&P had returned 85% and the hedge funds just 22%.
29. Brian Jacques, the author of the Redwall Series, was originally a milkman that volunteered to read to blind students along his route. Dissatisfied with the selection of children’s books available, he decided to write his own and became a best-selling author.
30. About 3 days before D-Day, a 21-year-old Irish woman named Maureen Flavin took her hourly barometer reading and sent it to Dublin. She had no idea that this single data point would be sent directly to Eisenhower and averted disaster by delaying D-Day due to an incoming storm.
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31Nicholas Alkemade
In 1944, a 21-year-old tail gunner named Nicholas Alkemade of Lancaster Bomber jumped from his aircraft after being shot down over Germany. He fell 18,000 feet without a parachute and survived with a sprained leg as his only injury.
32. Two-thirds of Argentina’s population is of Italian heritage. They fled there for economic opportunities and to escape devastating wars. It is the only other country besides Italy with an Italian heritage majority population.
33. Ancient Romans had a type of warranty on purchased slaves, i.e., if a slave committed suicide within 6 months after purchase, then the owner had the right to claim a full refund from the previous owner.
34. Antoine Walker had earned $108 million throughout his NBA career and filed for bankruptcy in 2010, just two years after his retirement.
35. Author Lee Child was inspired to name his character Jack Reacher after a shopping trip. An old lady asked for his help in reaching for a can of pears. Child’s wife, when seeing this, commented that if his writing career didn’t work out, he could ‘always get a job as a reacher.’
