36 Tantalizing Random Facts That’ll Make Your Day Brighter – Part 242

In the 1700s, you could get admission to the London Zoo by bringing a dog or cat to feed to the lions.

27. Charles Darwin lost his faith in God after witnessing parasitic wasp larvae devour a caterpillar from the inside out.

28. The “Cinnamon Challenge” is dangerous. Cinnamon powder, when inhaled, can cause inflammation and permanent scarring in the lungs, leading to conditions like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis.

29. The Nazis focused on climbing the mountain Nanga Parbat first because they couldn’t access Everest and Kanchenjunga was too difficult. They never succeeded, but in 1953, after 31 already died on Nanga Parbat, Austrian Hermann Buhl finally climbed it partially solo, under the influence of coca and meth.

30. Pandora Radio didn't pay its employees for 2 years. The CEO claimed he "didn't know he was breaking the law."

In Switzerland, applications for citizenship are decided at the municipal level. Hence, if your neighbors find you annoying then they can vote to deny your citizenship.

32. A California dam collapse (St. Francis Dam) in 1928 is considered one of the worst engineering disasters in US history. Its chief engineer took sole responsibility, testifying, "If there was an error in human judgment, I was the human." Over 400 people were killed when the dam failed in the middle of the night.

33. The BBC created a Radio Soap Opera during World War 2 specifically for the American market. It was propaganda designed to get the USA to end its neutrality. One of the aims of the show was to appeal to those with a 'limited mentality'. It ended up being a popular radio show in the US.

34. A male elephant in India smashed through a wall in the house of Kipak and Lalita Mahato where their baby was. They saw the elephant start to move away; but when the baby kept crying, the elephant returned and used his trunk to gently remove pieces of brick and stone that had fallen on the baby.

35. After their victory at the Battle of Marathon, the Greeks carved a statue of Nemesis (the Goddess who punishes the arrogant) out of an enormous block of marble that the Persians had brought to the battle with the intention of carving a monument to their victory over the Greeks.

The Nigerian government has removed history from the secondary school curriculum as a result of the Nigerian civil war (the Biafran war) being too controversial, where the Nigerian government blockaded and starved 3 million people to death.