26 Henry Budd No Moustache Will
In 1862, a man in London named Henry Budd left his entire estate to his two sons, stipulating that neither of them should ever grow a moustache.
27. When the Abbey National Building Society moved into 219-229 Baker Street, London, they hired a full-time secretary to respond to mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes at the fictional 221b Baker Street.
28. Sean Connery declined an offer of up to 15% of the worldwide box office receipts for “The Lord of the Rings” to play Gandalf, saying he didn’t understand the script. He could have earned $400 million.
29. When the FBI gunned down American gangster John Dillinger in Chicago, pedestrians used their handkerchiefs to collect his blood as souvenirs.
30. You cannot contract HIV from a mosquito or any other insect. Mosquitoes do not inject the blood from their previous meal when they bite, and HIV is destroyed in their stomachs.
31 Dutch Visa Film With Nudity
Applicants for a Dutch resident visa must watch a 108-minute film featuring nudity and same-sex couples kissing to ensure they are comfortable with such content.
32. When the human body lacks adequate nutrition, testosterone levels drop while estrogen levels remain constant, leading to a hormonal imbalance that can cause “man boobs.”
33. A law in New Zealand allows each high school to possess 1 pound of uranium and 1 pound of thorium for nuclear experiments. However, a nuclear explosion would result in a $1,000,000 fine.
34. Two teenagers founded UPS with just one bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend.
35. In 1969, Random House Publishing released an edition of “Alice in Wonderland” illustrated by the renowned surrealist painter Salvador Dali.
36 Emperor Nero Traps Audience Singing
When Emperor Nero began losing his sanity, he staged lengthy singing performances from which audiences could not leave. Women gave birth, and men faked deaths to escape.
37. Pandas were once carnivorous, but they inexplicably lost their appetite for meat during their evolutionary process.
38. The novel “Gadsby,” containing approximately 50,000 words, remarkably never uses the letter “E.”
39. As early as 1928, Russia developed analog water computers for complex computations, which remained in use until the 1980s.
40. The two “M’s” in M&Ms stand for Forrest E. Mars Sr., son of Mars, Inc. founder Frank C. Mars, and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey’s Chocolate president William F. R. Murrie.
41 Greedo Speaks Quechua In Star Wars
Greedo’s lines in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope are not unintelligible nonsense; he actually speaks Quechua, a language with almost 9 million native speakers.
42. A real John Rambo served in Vietnam, and his name appears on the Vietnam Memorial. He also won a Silver Star.
43. Captain James Cook, the first European explorer to discover Hawaii, was mistaken by natives as Lono, their sex god. He embraced this role during his stay.
44. Vaginal secretions contain squalene, a component that’s also found in shark livers. This chemical is used in cosmetics for its excellent moisturizing properties without greasiness.
45. In late 2007, authorities shut down a street in Central London due to a suspected chemical weapons attack. It turned out to be a Thai restaurant cooking hot sauce.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Walter Rothschild Zebra Carriage Ride
Lord Walter Rothschild, a wealthy 19th century British banker and zoologist, who regularly drove around in a carriage driven by six zebras to demonstrate that zebras could be tamed.
47. Freddie Mercury ceased performing a skit at Queen concerts where he appeared on Darth Vader’s shoulders after George Lucas threatened legal action.
48. McDonald’s offers “McSpaghetti” in the Philippines.
49. Depression can cause individuals to dream 3-4 times more than normal.
50. In 1995, a Quebec referendum on independence from Canada saw a 94% turnout, with 50.58% voting to remain and 49.42% voting for independence.
RE: Fact #15 (Jim Abbott No-Hitter Pitch) – Wow, makes me feel ancient! I thought it just happened few years ago.
RE: Fact #19 (Robert Lane Names Sons Winner Loser) – The winner thought they’d win, but the loser actually earned it.
RE: Fact #8 (Mercedes-Benz W125 Autobahn Record) – In metric is used km/h – k from kilo, Greek for 1 thousand and m for meter, the base unit. “/” Is the division symbol and h stands for hour. Therefore kilometers per hour. Kph means absolutely nothing.
RE: Fact #41 (Greedo Speaks Quechua In Star Wars) – So, you know Bocce? Actually, I need a droid that speaks the language of moisture vaporators.
RE: Fact #3 (McDonald’s Protests McJob Definition) – Can I use “mcjob” in Scrabble?
RE: Fact #22 (Dental Drills 800K RPM Speed) – They clearly run on compressed air, right?
RE: Fact #5 (Frank Hynes Hides In Couch) – Maybe I should check the attic…
RE: Fact #44 (Squalene In Sharks And Humans) – That headline’s way over the top! Squalene’s in tons of living things because it helps make cholesterol. So yeah, it’s in shark oil and other bodily fluids, but it’s also all over your body—liver, skin, eyes, blood, the works—and most other creatures too. I think even some bacteria use something different, but I could be wrong on that!
RE: Fact #12 (Adolf Hitler Spared In WWI) – The lesson here is to eliminate everyone you encounter.
Pros have standards.
RE: Fact #29 (John Dillinger Blood Taken By Fans) – My grandpa was there, saw the whole thing, and it made him late getting home. His parents didn’t believe him until they saw it in the papers the next morning. That’s my story.
RE: Fact #25 (Igor Panarin Map Predicts US Collapse) – During the Cold War, Soviets often imagined the US splitting into warring states – a kind of fantasy of seeing their biggest enemy fall apart, especially since that’s what happened to them.
That map’s not all that special. It reminds me of how America’s divided in *Ghost in the Shell*. Basically, each piece goes to whoever’s closest, even if it’s dumb. Texas and the central North American Republic would probably conquer Mexico and Canada, not the other way around. China and California agreeing on anything is nuts, and New England joining the EU makes sense in theory, but ignores the fact that they’re not actually in Europe, so most EU rules don’t apply; maybe they’d use the Euro. Even if they *were* separate countries, they’d probably still work together more than with other countries.
What’s really interesting about Igor Panarin is that he thought a US breakup would be *bad* for Russia. They’d lose a major trading partner, and the fall of American power would mess up global politics big time.
Those maps are awesome! I don’t know how accurate they are, but they’re all interesting.
RE: Fact #32 (Starvation Causes Male Hormonal Imbalance) – I got caught comparing my nipples to some pictures of puffy nipples online.
Dang it, Bobby!
Hey son, what’s going on with you?
RE: Fact #35 (Salvador Dali Illustrates Alice Wonderland) – There’s a great illustrated version, too, done by Ralph Steadman, the guy who also illustrated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
RE: Fact #38 (Gadsby Novel Without Letter E) – I love his creativity, but his writing is a little clunky. It just didn’t quite work.
RE: Fact #19 (Robert Lane Names Sons Winner Loser) – That dad’s a real jerk.
RE: Fact #33 (New Zealand School Nuclear Law) – It’s clearly stated on a government site: schools can have a pound of uranium, but there’s a million-dollar fine for setting off a nuke.
RE: Fact #1 (Daisy BB Guns Origin Story) – Free BB gun with a windmill? That’s a strange combo.
RE: Fact #2 (Will Ferrell Bank Teller Loss) – No matter how awesome or brilliant you are, you’ll totally screw up at some job, somewhere.
I’ve applied for a few jobs, and I really hope it’s not all of them.
RE: Fact #14 (Jack And Meg White Marriage) – I must have been living under a rock when the White Stripes were big.
RE: Fact #10 (Google Doodle Burning Man 1998) – Wow, seeing coworkers naked and dancing around a fire? That’s one way to bond!
Next board meeting… “Hey, don’t disagree with me, I’ve seen your embarrassing artwork!”
RE: Fact #21 (Portuguese Man o’ War Facts) – They’re more like four different organisms working together than just four animals. Their whole purpose is to mess with you.
RE: Fact #43 (James Cook Mistaken For Lono) – I was almost angry, but that Cracked piece *does* call Lono a “sex god,” so fair enough. Besides, you’re rocking that forbidden doughnut—I get it.
For anyone curious, Hawaiian gods were way more than just Lono. Basically, think of him as Hawaii’s Zeus—he was in charge of lots of stuff, sex and fertility being a couple. You could just as easily say “Lono, god of rain”.
Cook also showed up during the makahiki festival for Lono, which made things even more confusing. His ship’s rigging even looked like Lono’s traditional symbols.
Things went south when he came back outside the festival.
RE: Fact #28 (Sean Connery Rejected Gandalf Role) – Peter Jackson had a huge fight over his share of the profits. Fifteen actors also sued because they didn’t get their cut of merchandise sales, and even the Tolkien estate had to sue for their share. No way Sean Connery got 15% without a fight after the films were made; Hollywood accounting is a total scam. They basically sold contracts to themselves in secret bidding, like New Line saying, “Who wants to bid?” and then a company subsidiary jumping in with, “Me! Me!”
Selling to yourself at a lower price is a trick to cheat people out of their share of the profits. Companies pull this all the time—like hiring contractors from their own companies for a thousand times the normal price. Most movies don’t just break even; they lose tons of money. That lets them completely cut everyone else out.
RE: Fact #3 (McDonald’s Protests McJob Definition) – McDonald’s is pretty much the only big company left that promotes from within. Every exec started flipping burgers or taking orders.
Your attitude makes the job. If you’re always complaining, it’ll be awful. Smile, and get to work!
Their top employees go to Hamburger University. My cousin’s niece just went, and she learned a ton about restaurant management and other business things.
RE: Fact #36 (Emperor Nero Traps Audience Singing) – He’d also dress as a woman and get it on stage at the stadium. Nero was a strange dude.
RE: Fact #6 (Dead Squid Impregnation Incident) – Animals basically just want to make sure their kids survive. It’s all about passing on their genes. That’s what life’s really about.
RE: Fact #50 (Quebec 1995 Secession Vote Result) – Growing up in Montreal, this has always been a big deal. Most people don’t get that Quebec independence isn’t about more power for the people—it’s about giving more power to the provincial government, which is a really bad idea.
RE: Fact #31 (Dutch Visa Film With Nudity) – Sorry to say this, but the movie’s point is to teach people about Dutch facts, not to show anyone upsetting stuff like nudity and gay scenes. There’s a clean version without those parts, according to an article I read.
Is there a version that just focuses on the gay stuff and shows nudity?
RE: Fact #2 (Will Ferrell Bank Teller Loss) – Will Ferrell worked at Wells Fargo? I’m really glad he ditched that job and became a movie star—his films are hilarious!
RE: Fact #32 (Starvation Causes Male Hormonal Imbalance) – I figured man boobs were just extra fat and not enough exercise.
RE: Fact #4 (Jackie DiNorscio Defends Himself Trial) – That’s not entirely right. The accused in that trial messed with the jury—they paid a juror $175,000 to vote not guilty. The trial ended after 21 months with all 20 defendants acquitted, but in 1993, two of them admitted to bribing the jury. This confession was part of a plea deal that included a bunch of other serious charges. One prosecutor said he’d only lost three cases in 31 years, and that he always expects to win. But in this case, they admitted to bribing someone on the jury; the evidence showed they’d paid a juror $175,000 to make sure there was no guilty verdict.
RE: Fact #4 (Jackie DiNorscio Defends Himself Trial) – Or maybe the jury was just too scared to say anything different. A charming bad guy is way creepier than a total jerk.
RE: Fact #44 (Squalene In Sharks And Humans) – Wow, that explains why my tongue feels so clean afterward! My p*nis feels great too, thanks to my gf!
RE: Fact #50 (Quebec 1995 Secession Vote Result) – Man, I totally remember that night. I was glued to the TV, watching the results tick up every minute.
RE: Fact #11 (White House Glass Vibrator Trick) – If you’re ever in DC, you should totally check out the spy museum. The fake spy mission is a blast, and the stuff they show you about old-school spying is wild. When you get to the main part, make sure you create a backstory for yourself—they quiz you on it at the end. I totally blew that part and was super confused during the exit quiz. It’s basically like making up a believable story for why you’re visiting a country and remembering the details. My group was mostly people in their 20s and 30s who were really into it, but there was this one kid who kept loudly pointing out how fake everything was. Dude, I was just trying to live out my James Bond fantasy!
RE: Fact #16 (Airplane! Remake Of Zero Hour) – It’s like a funny take on those old disaster movies, “Airport” and “The High and the Mighty.” Think “Scary Movie” but with planes crashing instead of scary stuff. It’s a parody of those popular airline disaster flicks from back then.
RE: Fact #18 (Victor Valley Prison Reform Success) – That’s pretty convincing evidence, so I’m buying it.
RE: Fact #27 (Sherlock Holmes Letters At Bank) – Hey [so-and-so],
Thanks for your email!
Sherlock Holmes is just a made-up guy.
Cheers,
Abbey National
Building Society
RE: Fact #6 (Dead Squid Impregnation Incident) – Calamari is seriously delicious. Who eats it barely cooked with all the guts still inside?!
Koreans and Japanese.
You’re right about that.
RE: Fact #25 (Igor Panarin Map Predicts US Collapse) – Wait, he thought South Carolina would side with New England instead of the Southern states like Texas, Georgia, and Alabama? He clearly didn’t get US regional politics.
And South Carolina wasn’t the only state he got wrong on factrepublic, but it was the most glaring mistake.
RE: Fact #14 (Jack And Meg White Marriage) – Detroit music has a huge secret everyone knows about—these two artists are always talked about together by local DJs. I wonder if it’s as famous elsewhere.
RE: Fact #20 (NHL Goalie Fan Rule Explained) – The best goalie story ever? The 1942 Maple Leafs were down 0-3 in the Finals. Back then, teams didn’t bring extra goalies on the road – the other team was supposed to lend you theirs if yours got hurt. So when Toronto’s goalie, Turk Broda, got injured, their coach, Hap Day, asked Detroit to help out. Detroit said no, so Day put on the pads himself! Toronto won that game 4-3 and then swept the rest to win the Stanley Cup.
Why would the goalie want to play well for the other team?
Back in the old days of hockey, players were more honest.
RE: Fact #16 (Airplane! Remake Of Zero Hour) – It’s a parody, not a remake.
RE: Fact #30 (HIV Not Spread By Mosquitoes) – Mosquitoes can carry malaria, dengue fever, and other nasty diseases.
RE: Fact #22 (Dental Drills 800K RPM Speed) – Is that why they give me the creeps?
RE: Fact #32 (Starvation Causes Male Hormonal Imbalance) – It was Robert Paulson.
RE: Fact #5 (Frank Hynes Hides In Couch) – He wasn’t on the couch; he was on the floor underneath it.
RE: Fact #49 (Depression Linked To Excess Dreaming) – Wow, that makes sense! I’d sometimes crash for 14 hours because my dreams were way more exciting than real life.
Did you even read the article?
Back in the 70s, psychologists noticed that depressed people tend to have more dreams than usual. Seriously, clinically depressed folks might dream three or four times as much. And the dreams themselves? Way more intense emotions, negative stuff, nightmares – just generally unpleasant.
It’s even worse because these awful dreams often go hand-in-hand with insomnia and less deep sleep – you know, the kind that makes you feel good and rested. Instead of waking up refreshed, depressed dreamers feel like they’ve been through the wringer all night and have to do it all over again when they’re awake.
Sleeping when you’re depressed is awful. It’s not like it’s great dreams making you dream more; it’s terrible dreams leaving you feeling exhausted. It’s that awful feeling of dreading sleep because your mind’s going to mess with you. And then you wake up feeling even WORSE because of the dreams.
RE: Fact #18 (Victor Valley Prison Reform Success) – I’m guessing the low rate of people going back to prison is more about the kinds of prisoners they took in, not the vegan food. They only accepted prisoners with pretty clean records: low scores (1-27 points), short sentences (30 days to 18 months), no violent crimes, no outstanding warrants, no life sentences in the past 20 years, no big drug deals, no arson, no sexual offenses in prison, no recent time in solitary, no serious disciplinary actions, no gang ties, no big name criminals, no major health problems, and no forced escapes. So, you really need to compare their numbers to similar prisoners, not everyone in prison.
Seriously? This was buried way down here?!
RE: Fact #18 (Victor Valley Prison Reform Success) – Focus on fixing things, not jail time.
Most people just want these folks off the streets and don’t care what happens to them afterward, as long as it doesn’t cost them anything.
Yeah, it’s cheaper to keep fewer people locked up than to spend more on a bigger prison population.
We did a ton of stuff at that max-security prison I worked at—vegan food, religious services, job training, the works. And guess what? Recidivism is still crazy high. Inmates even had jobs that paid better than mine! The only thing that actually makes a difference is the inmates themselves, really. There were so many programs, I couldn’t even list them all; it was a massive list.
So I saw this thing, “What’s the secret? Vegan diet.” And I was like, “Seriously? This is total BS.”
“All those killers would be sweet if they just ate more tofu and beans!?”
Get outta here.
RE: Fact #37 (Pandas Evolved From Meat Eaters) – Meat sources move faster than bamboo; so bamboo’s now for dinner.
It’s probably easier for them to hunt than to spend all that energy gathering bamboo. Pandas are so inefficient.
RE: Fact #6 (Dead Squid Impregnation Incident) – If it’s dead, it can’t “try” anything
What’s dead may never die.
RE: Fact #8 (Mercedes-Benz W125 Autobahn Record) – It’s unlikely to be topped anytime soon – you’d need a street-legal car, and even more importantly, street-legal tires.
RE: Fact #25 (Igor Panarin Map Predicts US Collapse) – That map’s a bit of a mess. For starters, some of those new countries are way bigger than the ones they’re supposed to be ruling. Like, the central one has more than twice Canada’s population! And Texas? Almost as many people as Mexico, and way richer.
Secondly, any split would probably happen along cultural and geographical lines. The Northeast would likely go down to Virginia. The Midwest might join them, or maybe go it alone. The South and Texas would probably be separate. The West Coast would either be one big California Republic, or split into a Pacific Northwest and a California Republic. And Utah would probably go solo.
RE: Fact #13 (Subway Footlong Length Controversy) – It’s supposed to be a foot long, but honestly, as an ex-Subway manager, it doesn’t really matter if it is or not, as long as it’s close. Here’s why:
First, it’s the same amount of bread every time, even if the length varies. We start with frozen dough sticks, all the same weight. They get thawed, stretched to fit the pans, baked. Stretching them is tricky; the dough pulls back, so it’s not always exactly a foot. But even if it’s a bit short, it’s just taller—still the same amount of bread.
Second, the amount of toppings depends on the sandwich size, not the bread’s exact length. So, even if your “footlong” is a little short, you get the same amount of stuff.
I shouldn’t be surprised to see people measuring fast-food sandwiches with a ruler, but honestly, it’s pretty silly. Next thing you know, they’ll be weighing Quarter Pounders or measuring how “fun” candy bars are.
I go to Subway pretty often, so why can’t they ever get the lettuce right? It’s always either too little, too much, or just plain wrong.
This should be higher up; it’s totally right. Even with an 11.5″ bread roll, you get the same amount of everything – bread, meat, and veggies.
Less bun, same burger—good eHarmony profile material, right?
Seriously, you gotta beg for enough hot peppers to make it even remotely spicy. And it’s worse if you’re white—they assume you can’t handle the heat.