26 EVE Online’s $300K Battle
The Battle of B-R5RB, one of the largest player-versus-player battles in gaming history, took place in EVE Online. The in-game losses amounted to an estimated real-world value of $300,000 to $330,000.
27. In 1914, student William Bowlus and several upperclassmen entered a freshman’s room to haze the occupants at St. John’s College in Maryland. However, one of the five freshmen inside shot Bowlus in the abdomen, killing him. When questioned, the group refused to identify who had fired the shot, and a grand jury declined to indict anyone.
28. Even after losing muscle mass, extra nuclei from past training remain, making it easier to rebuild muscle in humans.
29. In the late 1990s, the F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime department store chain shifted its focus to its high-performing specialty shoe division. By 2001, it had officially changed its name to Foot Locker.
30. Benjamin Franklin never patented any of his inventions, believing that “as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
31 Sharks Are Older Than Polaris
Sharks, whose oldest known fossils date back approximately 450 million years, are much older than Polaris. The youngest, largest, and brightest star in the Polaris system is only 70 million years old.
32. Domino’s Pizza once had a mascot called The Noid. In 1989, a man named Kenneth Noid, believing the character was designed to mock him, took two Domino’s employees hostage. The employees managed to escape while he ate pizza. Later diagnosed with schizophrenia, Noid was acquitted due to insanity.
33. In the Pirahã language, speakers must use a suffix that indicates the source of their information-such as hearsay, circumstantial evidence, or personal observation. They cannot be ambiguous about the evidentiality of their utterances.
34. Humans do not have specific receptors for detecting “wetness.” Instead, the brain relies on contextual cues, such as temperature and pressure, to recognize the presence of liquid.
35. YInMn Blue, an exceptionally vibrant and highly reflective blue pigment, was accidentally discovered in an Oregon State University lab. It is notable for its near-perfect hue and its unusually high near-infrared reflectance.
36 North Korean Brides in South Korea
Many women who flee North Korea turn to matchmaking agencies that introduce them to South Korean men. These men typically pay around $2,500 for several blind dates over the course of a year.
37. Breaking Bad was originally set in Riverside, California, but production moved to New Mexico due to financial incentives. To maintain continuity, Vince Gilligan decided to set the story in New Mexico as well to prevent the Sandia Mountains from appearing in unintended eastward shots.
38. During the Habsburg monarchy, belief in vampires was so widespread that Empress Maria Theresa sent her personal physician, Gerard van Swieten, to investigate. After concluding that vampires did not exist, she officially outlawed all forms of “anti-vampire” corpse desecration.
39. Ancient Pompeii’s brothels had customer reviews carved into the walls. These comprised compliments for exceptional service, grievances regarding painful body parts, and even straightforward “I was here” messages.
40. In 2012, while cleaning out his late great-aunt’s home, a Virginia man named Michael Rorrer discovered his late great-uncle’s collection of 345 well-preserved comic books in a closet. The collection included Detective Comics No. 27 (Batman’s first appearance), Action Comics No. 1 (Superman’s first appearance), and Batman No. 1. In total, the comics sold for $3.5 million.
41 Giancarlo Esposito’s Darkest Moment
Before Breaking Bad, actor Giancarlo Esposito faced bankruptcy after his divorce and even considered arranging his murder to provide insurance money for his children. However, a realization about missing their lives stopped him. He persevered and later found success as Gus Fring.
42. Simón Bolívar, born into Venezuela’s wealthy elite, voluntarily gave up his fortune and freed his slaves to lead independence wars against colonial powers. Today, he remains an enduring icon, revered by leftist militias across South America.
43. In 1894, Hart Massey left Massey Hall to the people of Toronto, requesting that ticket prices remain affordable for the poor. Ideally, once all expenses were paid, he wanted tickets for an entire season of lectures to sell for just $1.
44. During the Battle of Agincourt, the French army suffered devastating losses, including three dukes, nine counts, one viscount, an archbishop, their constable, an admiral, the Master of Crossbowmen, the Master of the Royal Household, and approximately 3,000 knights and squires.
45. French cyclist Jean Robic used an unconventional trick in the Tour de France by having an assistant hand him a lead- or mercury-filled water bottle during downhill sections to gain extra weight. This tactic earned him the nickname “The Heavy Metal Descender.”
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett Tribute
Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was a tribute to Syd Barrett, who left the band in 1968 due to severe mental health decline and drug use. Although the band felt guilty about removing him, they worried about his worsening condition and inability to integrate within the group.
47. In 2024, a construction company in Hawaii mistakenly built an entire family home on the wrong lot after miscounting the number of telephone poles on the land. Shockingly, they sold the home without the landowner’s knowledge.
48. Matthew Beard, known as Stymie from The Little Rascals (Our Gang), had 13 siblings. Because his paycheck helped support the family, his parents let him rename one of his younger brothers. Later, they allowed him to name each of his siblings as they were born.
49. In 2023, elderly Americans lost over $3 billion to scams.
50. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy and marched to Rome, where his army decisively defeated the Papal forces. When 80-year-old Pope Pius VI refused to grant him authority, Napoleon had him arrested. The pope remained a prisoner until his death 18 months later.
RE: Fact #41 (Giancarlo Esposito’s Darkest Moment) – I recall his interview about playing Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian. He loved teasing his daughter by pretending to “squeeze” Grogu – classic dad joke!
RE: Fact #35 (Accidental Discovery of YInMn Blue) – I’m an artist, and I got my hands on some amazing blue pigment. Seriously, it’s a gorgeous blue! My daughter’s a biology student at Oregon State, so that helped me get some. It’s non-toxic and just beautiful.
Blue is a tricky color because it can fade. The amazing blue you see in Renaissance paintings came from lapis lazuli (also called ultramarine), a semi-precious stone from Afghanistan. It’s the same blue in King Tut’s mask.
Lapis was super expensive, more valuable than gold, but it didn’t fade like other blues. Most art-store blues today are synthetic and not great for the planet.
YIN-Mn blue is awesome.
RE: Fact #13 (Roman Graffiti: Bad Reviews) – “Beware of Ea-Nasir’s copper; it’s not what he claims.”
RE: Fact #35 (Accidental Discovery of YInMn Blue) – This color is super hard to find. Some company bought up all the rights to use it—they’re making roof sealant or something with it, I heard. You can get tiny tubes from Gamblin, but they’re ridiculously expensive! All I want is enough to paint a wall or car—it’s such a cool color and has great cooling properties—but it’s almost impossible to get enough.
RE: Fact #9 (DNA Test Solves Infanticide) – Sixty-one-year-old Nancy Gerwatowski admitted it was her baby, and now she could spend life in prison. Little Baby Garnet suffocated, and a maintenance guy found her in a campground toilet in Michigan back in June 1997. The town really took her in—they called her Baby Garnet—and chipped in to bury her in a white casket with a headstone, not far from where they found her.
RE: Fact #10 (Titanic Monument in D.C.) – It used to be right in the middle of the city. But after a while, people forgot about the disaster, so they moved it to a quieter spot by the Potomac. Some folks even made a little memorial there for the victims of that American Airlines flight that crashed into the helicopter—it’s close to where it happened.
It’s a bit of a trek, but it’s gorgeous. I saw fresh flowers there a couple weeks back. I wondered who’s still mourning the Titanic after all this time, but the helicopter crash explanation makes more sense.
RE: Fact #21 (Armstrong’s Missing “A”) – That’s way clearer than repeating yourself.
RE: Fact #16 (Saudi Arabia’s First Movie) – Imagine paying for tickets to this huge historical event, only to have your eyes assaulted by terrible visuals.
RE: Fact #49 (Elderly Americans Lost $3 Billion) – It’s usually pretty easy to spot a scam, but older folks can get tricked because they aren’t as used to things like online banking. Once scammers get better with AI and hacking, though, it’ll be much tougher to tell. And seriously, why does my bank send emails with links?! That’s a huge red flag for a legit bank.
RE: Fact #48 (Child Actor Named His Siblings) – Getting renamed by your more successful brother just because he’s successful? That’s a real bummer.
RE: Fact #42 (Simón Bolívar Freed His Slaves) – Bolivia’s actually named after him.
RE: Fact #9 (DNA Test Solves Infanticide) – Do the police ever look at AncestryDNA databases?
RE: Fact #47 (Hawaiian Home Built on Wrong Lot) – Growing up, the guy building our neighborhood messed up on one of the last houses. He put the foundation too close to the neighbor’s property because he thought the fence was the property line, but it wasn’t – it was set back a bunch. Nobody noticed until the house was almost done, then everything stopped for months while lawyers fought about it. Finally, he knocked it down and built a new one farther away.
Seems like the first thing to do would be a survey.
RE: Fact #1 (Porky Pig’s Original Voice) – That executive was probably like – Hey Mel, the last guy had a serious disability that was a real headache. We liked the effect it gave his character, but dealing with him was tough, and we don’t want to pay him. So, could you check out a few short videos and just copy his performance? We let him go today.
RE: Fact #13 (Roman Graffiti: Bad Reviews) – One star — everything’s in Egyptian, and nobody’s got any decent garum.
RE: Fact #18 (Lise Meitner’s Nobel Snub) – Even that didn’t fix things for her. The Nobel Committee gave Hahn the 1944 Chemistry prize for discovering how to split heavy atoms, but it’s weird because Hahn didn’t even use the word “fission” in his first paper—Meitner came up with that word later in a letter.
RE: Fact #21 (Armstrong’s Missing “A”) – I bumped into Buzz Aldrin once, and he seemed a bit full of himself. He was like, “Hi, I’m Buzz Aldrin, second guy on the Moon—after Neil, of course.”
That’s a killer line! I mostly know Buzz Aldrin from those awesome street fight videos I’ve seen on facebook.
RE: Fact #43 (Massey Hall’s Affordable Tickets) – The Masseys really gave a lot back to Ontario over the years. Many of them, like Hart, seemed to genuinely believe in helping others. Back in my hometown, Newcastle, Ontario – where they started their business way back in the 1800s – they kept giving even after moving to Toronto. They paid for a community hall in the 1920s, did a ton for the town’s United Church (even building a hall that’s still used!), and supported lots of other projects that helped build the town.
RE: Fact #31 (Sharks Are Older Than Polaris) – Sharks have been around longer than trees.
Not as old as the hills
RE: Fact #22 (Mom Ends Hostage Crisis) – Wow, imagine ending up in jail for *that* – nobody saw it coming!
RE: Fact #17 (Titanic Split: Disbelieved for Decades) – Man, I’d hate to survive the Titanic only to have some clueless people who weren’t even there tell me what happened.
RE: Fact #1 (Porky Pig’s Original Voice) – So, you’re replacing me? I get it, my stutter doesn’t work for the character. But wait, the new guy’s *going* to stutter on purpose? 🤨
RE: Fact #25 (War News Arrives a Decade Late) – American Johnny Lambert was the first guy to settle there permanently, showing up in 1810. He even declared himself king, saying he owned the place because he was the first one there. Sadly, he drowned two years later.
RE: Fact #27 (Deadly Hazing at St. John’s) – My school was brutal; they shaved the heads of first-years, piled on the rules, and since you could spot a newbie a mile away, that whole year was a nightmare. One year, they nearly drowned a freshman—the pool got filled in, and nobody even got in trouble.
RE: Fact #30 (Ben Franklin’s Free Inventions) – Honestly, if you’re already loaded, idea theft’s less of a worry.
RE: Fact #7 (AOL’s Hidden Billing Trick) – That’s why you snagged that promo CD-ROM with tons of free stuff on it.
Yeah, and then you were stuck waiting for a fresh batch of internet because you’d used it all up.
My local Blockbuster was giving them away!
RE: Fact #36 (North Korean Brides in South Korea) – Charging me that much for a few dates? I’d tell you where to go.
You haven’t seen anything yet.
RE: Fact #29 (Woolworth’s Transition to Foot Locker) – Hey, where I live, we still have a Woolworths! It’s the last one left in the whole US, I think. It’s closed for a remodel right now, but it should be back open around August, I think.
RE: Fact #19 (Twins Ordered to Pay Support) – So, a judge in Goiás decided both guys’ names should be on the baby’s birth certificate. The twins—let’s call them Fernando and Fabrício—kept their real names secret for legal reasons. The judge basically said one of them was being a real jerk, trying to dodge responsibility for the baby. He called it unacceptable. Apparently, these guys used their identical looks to pull off some serious dating shenanigans and then used that same resemblance to avoid being caught.
RE: Fact #40 (Hidden Comics Worth $3.5 Million) – His great uncle, when he was a kid, bought this amazing comic book collection. Some of the highlights and how much they sold for:
* Detective Comics #27: $523,000
* Action Comics #1: $299,000
* Batman #1: $275,000
* Captain America #2: $114,000
This Virginia kid had a real talent for picking winners! Out of the 345 comics he bought, 44 were among the top 100 in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide’s list of Golden Age comics. They were all super well-kept. A comic book expert, J.C. Vaughn, said the whole collection is mind-blowing! Most Golden Age comics—from the late 30s to the 50s—are gone because of the war, wear and tear, or moms throwing them away. For example, only about 100 copies of Action Comics #1 are left!
Rorrer, from California, got half the collection from his great uncle and his mom gave the other half to his brother. Rorrer didn’t know how valuable they were until he talked to a coworker, who wondered if he had Action Comics #1. He checked, and there it was! That’s when he really started looking into how much the collection was worth.
RE: Fact #30 (Ben Franklin’s Free Inventions) – Reminds me of how the seatbelt patent was free. Imagine if it was invented recently – you’d be paying a setup fee, plus a subscription based on how many seatbelts you needed!