1 Extra Fries for Value Effect
‘Five Guys’, an American fast food chain, purposefully places extra fries at the bottom of the bag to give customers the impression of a fantastic deal, but the total price already includes this. Founder Jerry Murrell believes it’s better for customers to feel their serving was too large.
2. The Bannister Effect refers to the phenomenon where, after someone breaks a previously unachievable barrier, a mental shift enables many others to surpass it as well. This term honors Roger Bannister, the first man to break the 4-minute mile.
3. In the movie Scream (1996), the credits include a line stating, “No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa city school district governing board.” Santa Rosa had revoked filming permissions last minute, costing the production $350,000.
4. In 2019, a teenager in Bristol, United Kingdom, who lived on a diet of French fries, Pringles, white bread, and occasional ham or sausage developed severe vitamin deficiencies, malnutrition damage, and blind spots in his central vision. Doctors said his sight loss was permanent.
5. In the early days of cryonics, people preserved bodies in hopes of future technology being able to revive them; however, nearly all of these early cryogenically preserved bodies were eventually thawed and disposed of after the facilities managing them went out of business.
6 Bassist’s Clever Placebo Switch
Legendary session bassist Leland Sklar installed a non-functional switch on his bass, calling it the “producer switch.” Whenever a producer requested a different sound, he would flip the switch (making sure the producer could see) and continue playing as usual. He claims this placebo has saved him a lot of grief.
7. Top Gear achieved global popularity largely due to early episodes being shared illegally on the FinalGear forum when it was only available in the UK. When the forum’s founder passed away, Jeremy Clarkson acknowledged his impact on the show’s success in a tweet.
8. You can replenish holy water with regular water. As long as the added amount does not exceed 50%, the entire container remains holy.
9. The loudest recorded shout belongs to Annalisa Flanagan, a primary school teacher who yelled, “Quiet!” during a 1994 record attempt. It reached 121.7 decibels, and her record has held unbroken since then (as of 2024).
10. An employee exit strategy known as the “boredom room” involves reassigning workers to another department and assigning them meaningless tasks until they become disheartened and resign. This practice is common in countries with strong labor laws, such as France and Japan.
11 Church Sanctuary Knocker Protection
In medieval England, fugitives could claim sanctuary and gain immunity from arrest simply by touching the knocker on a church’s outer door.
12. In 1946, a U.S. inmate named Willie Francis survived an electric chair execution attempt. His lawyers argued that, although he wasn’t dead, he had technically been “executed,” and it would be cruel to subject him to a second attempt. The Supreme Court rejected his case, leading to his execution once more in 1947.
13. During World War II, U.S. comedian Redd Foxx avoided the draft by eating half a bar of soap before his physical, a trick that induced heart palpitations.
14. Jimmy Carter promised to release all government UFO information if elected president. However, once in office, he chose not to, citing “national security concerns.”
15. Sylvester Graham, the original clean-eating guru and vegetarian advocate famous for the Graham cracker, shunned alcohol, lust, meat, and even white bread. Ironically, he died at age 57 from complications following an opium enema.
16 Negative Buoyancy in Freediving
At depths of about 50 feet (15 meters), humans reach negative buoyancy, causing them to sink instead of float. Freedivers use this effect to “freefall,” allowing gravity to pull them deeper without additional effort.
17. Allowing your dog to sniff during walks gives them a mental workout, helping them relax and absorb information about their surroundings.
18. Hara hachi bun me is a Japanese practice of eating only until 80% full. Evidence suggests that following this approach can lead to a lower body mass index and increased longevity; in fact, the world’s oldest man adhered to this diet.
19. During the rescue of Maersk Alabama and Captain Phillips from Somali pirates, the $30,000 in cash rescuers had obtained from the ship went missing. While two Navy SEAL Team Six members were investigated, they were never charged, and the money was never recovered.
20. The British Museum keeps 99% of its collection in storage, not on display.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Michael Bay’s Phone Booth Pitch
Initially, people considered Michael Bay to direct Phone Booth (2002), but they dismissed him after he asked, “OK, how do we get this thing out of the damn telephone booth?”
22. In 16th-century England, a type of criminal known as a “baretop trickster” used an unusual tactic. These women would flash their breasts to lure men into a house, where their accomplices would then rob the unsuspecting visitors.
23. Nikola Tesla originally expected to live to 150 years. However, after he gave up alcohol due to prohibition, he revised this estimate to 135 years. He regularly exposed himself to high voltages, believing it would aid in his longevity.
24. The British Empire was the largest in human history, spanning about six times the size of the Roman Empire and covering nearly a quarter of the world.
25. In 1976, 3 men in California kidnapped a bus full of schoolchildren with the goal of ransoming them back for 5 million dollars. They tried to place the ransom call, but the line was busy, so they ended up falling asleep. When they woke up, the children had escaped and reached safety.
RE: Fact #49 (Blind Teen Plays Quarterback) – That story about the brave kid was really cool, but it’s also a reminder that the news doesn’t always get everything right. The kid hasn’t played quarterback since that year, he’s a senior now on the Enoch High team, but he’s not listed on the roster and the only thing he’s got on his record is one tackle.
RE: Fact #9 (Loudest Shout Record Stands) – Corey Taylor, the guy from Slipknot, was on the show and even he was blown away.
RE: Fact #33 (Nazi Infant Care Controversy) – Nazism was to destroy ,as far could be, all previous history in a way they could become ‘the master human race’, having removed, altered all sensible recollection of what had been before.
RE: Fact #22 (Baretop Tricksters’ Robbery Tactic) – That blurry image totally tricked me into going to that website with no pictures.
RE: Fact #5 (Early Cryonics’ Financial Downfall) – It’s actually ‘preserved’, not ‘cryogenically’ frozen.
RE: Fact #6 (Bassist’s Clever Placebo Switch) – Em 2010 eu tocava numa banda de jazz e o pianinho ficaram chato, ficava querendo que eu mudasse o som do baixo toda hora. Eu mexia nos pedais e voltava com a mesma regulagem de antes pois eu já tinha tudo mapeado e ele achava que eu tinha mudado o som do baixo.
Translation – In 2010 I was playing in a jazz band and the piano was annoying, he kept asking me to change the bass sound all the time. I would touch the pedals and go back to the same settings as before because I had already mapped everything and he thought I had changed the bass sound.