1 Game of Thrones Stars Self-Submit for Emmys
HBO did not submit Alfie Allen (Theon), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) for Emmy consideration for their work in Game of Thrones’ final season. Consequently, they each paid the $225 entry fee to submit themselves, resulting in all three receiving acting nods.
2. When musician Prince died, he left behind a vault containing nearly 8,000 unreleased songs, but he had forgotten the combination. The massive vault, measuring 6.5 feet tall, several feet wide, and weighing 6,000 pounds, required a professional safecracker to open it.
3. In 1846, astronomers discovered Neptune not by accident but because they noticed Uranus wobbling off course. Mathematicians used Newton’s laws to predict the location of a hidden planet, and when they pointed a telescope there, Neptune appeared exactly as predicted.
4. While filming his scenes, Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the Star Wars prequels, would sometimes make lightsaber noises with his mouth. This prompted George Lucas to stop filming and tell him, “Hayden, that looks really great, but I can see your mouth moving. You don’t have to do that; we add the sound effects afterward.”
5. Emilia Clarke read the script revealing Daenerys Targaryen’s fate seven times, thinking, “What, what, what, WHAT?!” because it “came out of f***ing nowhere.” She was so shaken that she cried and took a five-hour walk that left blisters on her feet. Despite her initial shock, she eventually came to support Daenerys’ “Mad Queen” turn.
6 Man Discovers Kidnapping from Age-Progression Image
In 2010, a 35-year-old Philadelphia man named Steven Carter found an age-progression image of himself on a missing children’s site. Although he knew he was adopted, this discovery led him to find out that his mother had kidnapped him from his father when he was an infant 34 years earlier.
7. When cars were new, hitting a pedestrian was a serious matter called a “motor killing.” As incidents increased with more cars and crashes, car manufacturers hired public relations experts to invent the term “jaywalker” to shift the blame to pedestrians for getting hurt and dying.
8. In 2003, the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, organizers of Wimbledon, began paying $2 million annually for pandemic insurance, continuing for 17 years. In 2020, when Wimbledon was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club collected a $141 million payout.
9. Apple paid U2 $100 million for the exclusive right to give its 500 million iTunes customers U2’s album “Songs of Innocence” for free by installing it on their devices without user permission. A week after the release, Apple provided a method to remove it, as only 6.7% of the 500 million had listened to at least part of it.
10. In 1997, 24.6% of U.S. 12th graders smoked cigarettes daily. By 2023, that number had dramatically fallen to 0.7%.
11 GoDaddy’s Deceptive Bonus Email
In December 2020, GoDaddy deceived employees into believing they had earned a $650 bonus. Later, the company revealed this was a phishing test, requiring employees to undergo social engineering training. After facing media backlash, GoDaddy apologized but did not provide actual bonuses.
12. In 1983, an 18-year-old boy fell from Space Mountain and became paralyzed from the waist down. However, Disneyland was not found at fault. During the trial, the jury visited the park to experience Space Mountain, and multiple ride vehicles were brought to the courtroom to demonstrate their functionality.
13. In February 1936, Pope Pius XI received a message from Adolf Hitler, congratulating him on his coronation anniversary. Pius responded with a strong critique of Hitler’s regime. Despite Germany’s foreign secretary attempting to suppress the response, Pius insisted that Hitler receive the message.
14. The “Age of Piracy” lasted about 80 years, beginning in 1648 after the Treaty of Westphalia. This era declined between 1714 and 1723, following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, Nassau’s recapture, and the capture or death of every famous pirate.
15. Charles Darwin worked about four hours a day, dividing his time into two 90-minute morning sessions and one 60-minute session later. Before the latter, he took an hour-long nap and went on two walks. Under this schedule, he authored 19 books, including “The Descent of Man” and “On the Origin of Species.”
16 Hulk Hogan’s 400-Day Wrestling Claim
Hulk Hogan claimed in his autobiography that he wrestled 400 days in a year due to frequent trips between the USA and Japan.
17. Auschwitz operated a brothel, Block 24, where female prisoners were forced to have sex with selected male inmates as part of a reward system.
18. Buzz Aldrin was known among his fellow astronauts to be notoriously difficult to work with, to the extent that Neil Armstrong was offered the option to replace him for the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Armstrong considered it for a day before deciding to keep Aldrin on the mission.
19. Voice actor Casey Kasem, known for voicing Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo,” quit the Transformers cartoon project because it featured a fictional Saharan kingdom named “Carbombya.”
20. The US Air Force delayed awarding John Chapman the Medal of Honor partly because US Navy SEALs blocked it, fearing they would have to admit leaving a soldier behind. When the award became inevitable, the SEALs nominated the soldier who left Chapman for the same award for the same battle.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Anna Nicole Smith’s Legal Defeat
In 2014, Anna Nicole Smith’s estate lost its final attempt to claim $44 million from J. Howard Marshall’s estate. Smith had married the oil tycoon when he was 89, and she was 26. After Marshall’s death the following year, he left his $1.6 billion estate to his son, excluding Smith, despite her claims that he promised her $300 million.
22. In 2013, the first known Tinder match occurred in Antarctica. Two researchers, one at McMurdo Station and another camping in the Dry Valleys, both swiped right on each other. They were separated by about a 45-minute helicopter ride.
23. Portugal fought a 13-year colonial war to retain its African colonies long after other European nations had relinquished theirs. Eventually, the military, weary of the futile conflict, overthrew the dictatorship and established a democracy.
24. Disney once attempted to open a park designed to let guests “experience what it was like to be a slave.” Unsurprisingly, the project was a complete disaster.
25. In the late 1960s, stand-up comedian George Carlin earned approximately $250,000 annually. However, in 1970, he revamped his routines and appearance, growing his hair long, sporting a beard, and wearing earrings to appeal to a younger audience. Although his income initially declined by 90%, his career ultimately flourished.
RE: Fact #30 (Princess Diana’s Will Overlooked) – Her will’s people *could’ve* done what she wanted, but they didn’t, and the courts let them get away with it because of a missing detail. Let’s be real, other people’s greed is why the godchildren got screwed.
It was also because of the words they used. The court let the executors skip Diana’s letter because it didn’t use the right legal terms. They used words like “discretion” and “wishes,” so Diana’s family got to decide whether to follow her wishes or not. Still a pretty crappy thing to do!
Writing a will like that practically begs for trouble. Get it done now, while you’re still able, and make it crystal clear so there’s no room for arguments later.
If she said “discretion,” then using it is fine, right? What’s the big deal?
RE: Fact #40 (Carlo Acutis: Gamer Saint) – He’s not quite a saint yet, just beatified. They were going to make him a saint right after Easter, but then the Pope died, so it got pushed back.
Seriously, I’m at a ton of kid events lately—communions, confirmations—and the priests are *always* talking about this guy. It’s obvious they wanted a cool saint, so they picked a kid and made up some miracles. It’s like the Vatican ran out of ideas and needed a new character, but ended up with something super awkward.
Francis wanted to make him a saint before he kicked the bucket. The papal change means the mass is up in the air, but it’s still happening.
RE: Fact #7 (Origin of the Term Jaywalker) – It’s funny, this whole Jaywalking thing isn’t really known outside the US, and in a lot of places, crossing wherever you want isn’t even illegal.
Yeah, I figured. In Europe, you’re supposed to use crosswalks if there’s one close by, but it’s pretty vague what “close by” actually means. It’s not a big deal if you don’t, anyway.
RE: Fact #41 (Soul Asylum’s Video Finds 21 Missing) – Wow, that’s crazy. The UK part showed Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol, missing since 1991, found dead in 2007; Peter Tobin was nailed for it. The US part had Curtis Huntzinger, found dead in 2008, his killer Stephen Daniel Hash copped to manslaughter and got 11 years. Then there was Aundria Bowman, a teenager missing since 1989, her adoptive dad Dennis Bowman confessed to killing her and another woman, Kathleen Doyle, in 2020. The Australian version featured backpackers, lots of them turned out to be victims of Ivan Milat, busted in 1994.
The Runaway Train video wasn’t involved at all in getting Peter Tobin convicted for killing Vicky or Dinah.
RE: Fact #4 (Hayden Christensen’s Lightsaber Sound Effects) – This keeps happening, it seems. Liam and Ewon did it in TPM, and Laura Dern does it in TLJ too.
It’s awesome seeing those Star Wars kids all grown up and actually *in* Star Wars! They can barely keep from doing their own kid-version sound effects – it’s like the magic never fades, it just needs a chance to shine through.
That NASCAR guy, Ross Chastain, reminds me of those old NASCAR GameCube games. He and his brother used to hug the wall at full speed to win, right? Anyway, he was lagging, said screw it, tried the wall trick, and it totally worked! Goes to show, sometimes what wins in video games can actually win in real life.
Doctor Who’s been around so long, tons of the actors and writers were fans when they were kids.
Took me way too long to realize Ewon and Ewan were the same person! I was so confused 🤣
For the Matrix, Keanu Reeves did his own bullet and reload sounds in a rehearsal — pretty cool, huh?
RE: Fact #25 (George Carlin’s Career Transformation) – Back in 1969, $250,000 was like having $2.14 million today.
Early on, Carlin was pretty conventional—suits, short hair, the whole deal—compared to how he’d later become.
In the late sixties, he was making around $250,000 a year. Then, in 1970, he totally switched things up—long hair, beard, earrings, jeans and t-shirts. This cost him some TV gigs because, back then, comedians were expected to be all clean-cut. He got new managers to help him look more “with it” for a younger crowd. They booked him in smaller clubs, and even though his income dropped a ton (like 90%), it turned out to be a great move for his career in the long run.
RE: Fact #43 (Chocolate River’s Massive Expansion) – 1.25 million liters is about 330,000 gallons.
RE: Fact #21 (Anna Nicole Smith’s Legal Defeat) – Anna passed away in 2007, so her estate had to do the digging.
On top of everything else, her baby daughter—who was still under a year old when her mom passed—inherited everything. Sadly, her son had already died. It was just awful.
Whoa!
RE: Fact #28 (Pringles’ Legal Battle Over Chips) – It’s a lose-lose situation.
RE: Fact #47 (Women Dominate Car Purchases) – It makes sense, given how it works. Buying from a dealer is way more typical than buying off some random guy on Craigslist.
Dealerships sell used cars, too.
Even so, I can picture someone who’s not really into cars saying, “It’s brand new, so it shouldn’t have any hidden problems.” Basically, people who aren’t car experts probably go for what seems safest. I’d guess guys do the same thing. Although, women might worry more about safety and avoid certain buying methods because of that.
RE: Fact #23 (Portugal’s Long Colonial War) – I figured Salazar’s dictatorship was over, but it went on longer than I thought.
His last years are pretty funny, though. So, in August 1968, he had a massive stroke. He went into a coma in September. The president, thinking he was a goner, fired him and put Caetano in charge. But Salazar lived another two years! After waking up from a month-long coma and being surprisingly alert again, they didn’t even tell him he’d lost his job. They just let him pretend to be in charge until he died in July 1970.
His old doctor was a bit of a commie. When he died, they didn’t bother with much in the way of reviving him, and after a quick call to the big guys in the government, the Portuguese Communist Party underground heard about it pronto. The communists found out way before most of the government and his followers.
RE: Fact #40 (Carlo Acutis: Gamer Saint) – He used tech to spread his faith.
RE: Fact #8 (Wimbledon’s Pandemic Insurance Pays Off) – Turns out, insurance actually pays out sometimes.
It’s all about finding the right people and making sure they’re willing to pay.
Yep, lots of companies had different kinds of insurance for when things went wrong. But if your policy doesn’t specifically say it covers pandemics, you’re out of luck.
My grandpa faithfully paid insurance for almost 40 years for something they don’t even offer anymore! He’s in assisted living now – that’s over $11,000 a month! We finally got his insurance applied, and now he only pays $2,000 a month for full-time care. It’s basically covered until he passes. We tried to get it right away, but they said they stopped offering it 20 years ago. We totally get why.
My mom had awesome long-term care insurance—gold-plated, great daily allowance, no yearly cap, and just a tiny yearly price increase. Since she was in residential care, she didn’t even have to pay yearly. It lasted almost thirteen years! That’s why you can’t get policies like that anymore.
RE: Fact #38 (Bench Press World Records) – So, I watched a few docs on weightlifting, and wow, those shirts! Sometimes they’re even double layered. They’re so tight, they sometimes have to be cut off the lifter – no way to get them off otherwise. They’re like giant rubber bands, stretching as the weight goes down and then helping push it back up. I was blown away by how huge the difference is between equipped and unequipped lifting. I knew there were different categories, but I figured it’d be like 15-30%, not almost double!
RE: Fact #18 (Buzz Aldrin: A Difficult Astronaut) – Buzz really wanted to be the first guy on the moon—much more than Armstrong did. This caused some tension with NASA’s higher-ups. In the end, they decided Armstrong would go first because he was the mission commander and that’s how the lunar lander was set up.
Buzz is really lucky to be going on this mission; they almost swapped him out.
RE: Fact #29 (Beavers Foil Czech Dam Project) – 1.2 million for a dam? Wow, back home that wouldn’t even pay for the initial checks and site surveys.
I figured it was a dam with low water, and most of the money went to environmental studies. But if the environment gives the go-ahead, that should slash the costs.
RE: Fact #12 (Space Mountain Fall: No Liability) – I remember reading about this case back in law school. If I recall correctly, he was standing up in the ride, even though they told him not to.
Space Mountain’s really cramped; I bet you’d bonk your head on something in there.
I read online that there’s tons of room on Space Mountain, even for someone really tall, to have their arms out during the fast parts. But I still worry I’ll bonk my hands if I raise them!
I rode it with the lights on; plenty of room, but I’m keeping my hands down.
Yeah, typical teenage boy stuff – he really went out of his way to get himself hurt, bypassing a bunch of safety features to do it.
How’d he pull that off? Aren’t the safety measures usually really strict?
I grew up near Orlando, and back in the early 80s, Space Mountain’s safety was, uh, *interesting*. It just had this little optional belt you could clip onto the side. No automatic safety bar, nothing. I think some workers made sure people used it, but you could totally unbuckle it mid-ride if you wanted!
No matter how simple you make something, someone will always find a way to mess it up.
RE: Fact #35 (Americans Outwork the Japanese) – From what I’ve seen, Japanese folks put in crazy long hours, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually *doing* anything all that time. It’s a lot of showing up, busywork, and not much getting done. Looking busy is more important than actually producing results.
I was a Toyota engineer for a while. Seriously, this is true. The Japanese engineers? They were officially working 60+ hours a week, but half that time was spent eating, sleeping, smoking, or just chatting. They weren’t exactly busy bees, if you know what I mean.
I’ve worked in both places, and honestly, it’s a lot like the US. People goof off and take breaks—it’s pretty common.
That would totally bug me. Give me something to do if I have to be there.
RE: Fact #40 (Carlo Acutis: Gamer Saint) – So, can someone dumb this down for me? I’m totally lost, even after checking Wikipedia.
Is he, like, a big deal in the Catholic Church—a miracle worker if you go to his grave—who also happened to be a gamer?
RE: Fact #44 (Zlatan’s Painful Trophy Pursuit) – Wow, ACL tears really mess up your knee. I wouldn’t want to go through that, but good for him on reaching his goal! Hope he heals completely, though he might have done more damage than he realizes.
RE: Fact #35 (Americans Outwork the Japanese) – Officially, it might look one way, but tons of Japanese office workers put in way more hours than are recorded. They might clock out at 5, but stick around much longer – it’s just not official, so it doesn’t show up in the stats. That makes comparing things tricky.
Plus, that doesn’t even include the “voluntary” after-party drinks at people’s houses.
I’d rather die than have daily drinks with that awful boss.
We do that here, too.
RE: Fact #3 (Neptune’s Discovery Through Uranus Wobble) – After that win, they shifted their focus to Mercury, figuring a hypothetical planet, “Vulcan,” really close to the sun could explain Mercury’s weird orbit. That idea stuck around and people looked for it for ages, until Einstein’s relativity showed why Mercury’s orbit is so strange – no need for a new planet after all.
RE: Fact #20 (Medal of Honor Delayed for Chapman) – This video’s the first ever recording of a Medal of Honor action. It shows exactly why Chapman got the medal, and why the Navy and the whole US military tried to bury the whole thing. Basically, a bunch of screw-ups—a soldier falling out of a helicopter, a messed-up backup plan, bad intel, and poor communication—led to 19 US casualties.
So, Chapman’s Medal of Honor is awesome, but his wasn’t the first recorded heroic action. Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart’s bravery in Mogadishu in ’93 was caught on an early drone. There’s more drone footage from that battle, too.
That footage of Gordon and Shughart probably won’t ever be public; word is, it’s pretty rough to see.
Chapman’s was the first Medal of Honor given based only on video evidence – no one else saw what happened except on that video. Usually, you need several witnesses to back up a story like that.
The whole thing’s really about how hypocritical Slabinski and the Naval Special Warfare guys are being. It blew up, especially after they pushed Chapman’s Medal of Honor stuff to the side because some of the museum board are ex-SEALS. They’ve really tried to cover up what went down on that op. I don’t blame Slabinski; he had to get his team out to avoid getting wiped out – Chapman told him to. But minimizing Chapman’s bravery after he called in air support and covered their retreat? That’s messed up.
That whole thing was a massive screw-up.
Seals went from heroes to a big mess of secrets and scandals. Huge warning signs for the USA, but nobody important cared.
RE: Fact #4 (Hayden Christensen’s Lightsaber Sound Effects) – Ewan McGregor said on Graham Norton, or so I thought, that he and whoever else were doing it while filming the Mustafar fight in Revenge of the Sith. Turns out I goofed—he didn’t say it happened *during* that fight. But he did say it’s a hard habit to break because the sound is so cool and satisfying, you just can’t help yourself.
Every kid who loves Star Wars makes that lightsaber sound – it’s hard not to!
Star Wars sound effects are seriously iconic, especially the lightsabers—you can’t miss them.
RE: Fact #20 (Medal of Honor Delayed for Chapman) – Want to see how the “good guys” make themselves look better by changing history? Just check out US military medals. Take Hugh Thompson, for example. He got the Distinguished Flying Cross for stopping the My Lai Massacre in 1968, but tossed it because the official story was totally made up – they tried to make it sound like a real battle, not the slaughter of innocent people by US troops.
RE: Fact #1 (Game of Thrones Stars Self-Submit for Emmys) – It’s pretty rare for actors with small roles to even get nominated for Emmys, let alone be considered. But HBO submitted a bunch in 2019, and they all got nominated! Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, Gwendoline Christie, and Carice van Houten. Only Peter Dinklage actually won, though.
I checked, and only 4 out of 6 Game of Thrones nominees for Best Supporting Actress won nothing. Crazy!
Julia Garner took home the prize though, and she totally deserved it—she was amazing in Ozark.
It’s a shame Lena Headey didn’t win anything—she was a total dark horse for best actor, which is huge. But honestly, none of them deserved an award for season 8. They did their best with what they were given, but it was seriously limiting.
RE: Fact #44 (Zlatan’s Painful Trophy Pursuit) – It probably wasn’t great for his health.
Nah, not for most people, but Zlatan’s one of those guys who bends reality with sheer force of will. Just a little, but seriously, 8 goals at 40? That’s insane, especially if he’s healthy, and he did it all messed up.
Yeah, but I bet his leg muscles were super strong and made up for his wobbly bits.
That’s Zlatan! The guy was an absolute beast of an athlete.
RE: Fact #5 (Emilia Clarke’s Reaction to Daenerys’ Fate) – Saying Daenerys was always like that because of Qaarth, Astapor, or Viserys isn’t really fair. The books show her becoming brutal gradually, but seasons 5-7 didn’t get that across.
RE: Fact #17 (Auschwitz’s Disturbing Brothel System) – They were always cycling through women because they were constantly sick or worn out.
RE: Fact #31 (Disney’s Duck Becomes Mascot) – Disney sold a Cupid image to the Army’s 3rd Weather Squadron for a buck. The squadron still uses it on their patch. My squadron, the way cooler 18th, had urinal cakes with that goofy naked baby on them. We’d use them for special events, like when important people visited or during squadron competitions.
So you’re saying to stash the pee-pee mints once the VIPs leave? The 18th Weather Squadron uses the 3rd’s logo when they put away the half-used urinal cakes. Just grab those things yourselves.
RE: Fact #46 (Nzeli the Gorilla’s Family Choices) – I bet she’s moving between groups to help them share info on safe spots and good food sources. She’s probably a total lifesaver for them, like a traveling expert.
RE: Fact #13 (Pope Pius XI Criticizes Hitler) – Three years later, he kicked the bucket, and some pushover took over. Crazy, huh?
He stuck to his guns, right to the end. What a guy.
Unlike today’s popes, they’re pretty quiet about Russia’s huge war and all the death and destruction.
Old guys kicking the bucket isn’t uncommon. And with how much Europe gave in back then, that part’s pretty unsurprising too.
I don’t see any weird coincidences here. It’s just what you’d expect to happen.
He kicked the bucket in 1939 at 81, and it was pretty fishy.
Totally wrong. Pius XII did pretty well considering Hitler ran Europe and had the Vatican surrounded. The resistance went underground, but kept going.
RE: Fact #18 (Buzz Aldrin: A Difficult Astronaut) – Deke Slayton, the guy who picked the astronauts, offered Neil Armstrong Jim Lovell’s spot. Neil was the best, Lovell was number two. Slayton asked if Neil wanted Lovell instead of Aldrin, who was a bit of a handful.
Armstrong said no after thinking it over. He figured Lovell deserved his own shot at leading a mission, and that he could handle Aldrin, plus Aldrin was a whiz at orbital mechanics – he practically wrote the book on it! The guy was amazing; he’d done the only successful spacewalk in the whole Gemini program. Everyone else either failed or nearly killed themselves. One astronaut, Gene Cernan, lost ten pounds and was too weak to even lift a teacup afterwards!
Armstrong wanted Aldrin’s skills, even if Aldrin wasn’t the easiest to get along with.
Buzz just *knows* where he is in space, and the best way to move around. It’s like, built into him.
I dove with Buzz years ago – he’s an incredible diver. He’s so smooth underwater, he’d use half the air others used in a whole tank.
I wasn’t around for Apollo, but knowing Buzz, I totally believe it.
Some people are just naturally amazing athletes. LeBron James, for instance, makes way less lactic acid than most people, which helps him be so good. Michael Phelps is similar, though I’d have to check the specifics.
I wonder if Buzz has something special going on with his balance or body awareness. It’d probably help him understand physics better, too. Experiencing things yourself really makes a difference when you’re learning.
There are some seriously interesting people out there!
RE: Fact #50 (Walking Dead’s Alien Pitch Approval) – Zombies and aliens? That’s a killer combo
RE: Fact #33 (Navajo Code Talkers in WWII) – Turns out, it wasn’t only Navajo. There were also Comanche, Meskwaki, Chippewa, Oneida, Hopi, and Cherokee.
During the Korean War, the 24th Division’s top brass used Finnish as code, because they had some Finnish officers who’d served before.
Hey, there’s a cool movie about Cree Canadian code talkers called Bones of Crows!
RE: Fact #14 (Age of Piracy: A Brief Era) – The Wild West too didn’t last long! It’s nuts how much some short periods in history can change things!
RE: Fact #5 (Emilia Clarke’s Reaction to Daenerys’ Fate) – Still bummed about how the Long Night went down. Eight years of building up the White Walkers and the Night King, only to have it end like that. And don’t even get me started on those scenes where the main characters are totally surrounded, no way out, then bam, the camera cuts away and they’re magically surrounded somewhere else!
RE: Fact #43 (Chocolate River’s Massive Expansion) – Let’s be honest, Burton’s idea of a fish tank full of chocolate was a bit much.
It sounded like they were just experimenting to see what worked best. They started with 25 gallons—enough to test the look and feel on camera—then quickly upped the amount as they figured things out. The fact is also a little misleading; it wasn’t a gradual increase, it was a huge jump.
Is this a chocolate river for ants?
It needs to be way bigger — at least triple the size.
RE: Fact #31 (Disney’s Duck Becomes Mascot) – Donald Duck’s totally the perfect Oregon fan.
Wearing no pants and hard to follow when they speak?
RE: Fact #43 (Chocolate River’s Massive Expansion) – So, the old Willy Wonka movie was all about Charlie, but the new one’s more about Wonka himself.
The first movie got its name because a Quaker company sponsored it to push their Wonka bars.
RE: Fact #39 (Twins in Newborn TV Roles) – This article really freaked me out. Picking babies as young as two days old, especially twins because they’re often premature? It’s messed up. Both the producers and the parents are to blame – it’s totally exploitative. And the fact that the kids don’t get any of the money in the UK? Seriously? I don’t have kids, but I can’t imagine putting my baby to work just days after they’re born.
It took forever for the US to get the Coogan law, making sure child actors get paid something. Then YouTube showed up, and kids are being exploited again, with no guarantee of seeing a dime.
If you want a horrifying story, look up Myka Stauffer and the little boy she adopted from China. She made millions using his adoption and early childhood, and when he became too much trouble, she quietly gave him away without telling anyone.
I looked up Myka Stauffer’s story. It’s crazy – I don’t get why she adopted a special needs kid if she couldn’t handle it. What a mess.
Being a mom of three, I totally get it! I wondered the same thing – how do they get all those babies for TV? I read the source article, and it’s pretty eye-opening, even a little creepy. The worst part? In the UK, they can get a permit for a baby just hours old! Seriously, what parent would do that? And for nothing, like you said!
Hollywood’s full of people who’d exploit kids from day one, that much I know. A bunch of former child stars have talked about being used to prop up their families. Jeanette McCurdy even wrote a book about it, “I’m Glad My Mother is Dead”.
RE: Fact #23 (Portugal’s Long Colonial War) – It’s interesting that they held onto Goa until 1961—that’s more than 14 years after the British left India, and 7 years after the French did.
Portugal didn’t exactly give up Goa willingly. India’s army stepped in and took it after talks about a peaceful handover fell through.
That was the same year Portugal’s colonial war kicked off. So, it probably made India think a peaceful transfer wasn’t going to happen.
And Macau, until 1999.
For Macau, Portugal practically pleaded with China to take it back, but China wanted to wait until the Hong Kong situation was sorted out.
Portugal never actually conquered Macau; the Chinese Emperor gave it to them to boost trade. For ages before handing it back, Portugal wanted out because it was costing them a fortune. Only in the final years did it break even, thanks to gambling and tourism bringing in big bucks. They even built a new airport without needing any help from the Portuguese government.
The Portuguese finally left only after India’s army stepped in. Their government didn’t officially surrender, but the military saw it was a hopeless fight—45,000 versus 3,500—and gave up.
Salazar told the governor in Goa on December 14th to fight to the death, saying no surrender, only victory or death. He wanted them to hold out for eight days, hoping to get international help against India. But the governor ignored him, surrendered the next day, and saved lives.
A few countries, like the US, Brazil, and Pakistan, weren’t happy about India kicking out the colonial powers.
China, the USSR, and most African countries backed India. Even the UK helped by blocking Portugal from using its military stuff to send reinforcements—at least, that’s what Salazar complained about later.
Argentina figured their 1982 Falkland Islands invasion would be a quick win, like India’s Goa operation. But Thatcher had other plans.
RE: Fact #10 (Dramatic Drop in Teen Smoking Rates) – Any idea how many high school seniors used vapes or nicotine pouches last year?
Mixing vaping with nicotine pouches? We’re back to double-digit usage, it seems. Remember the Juul craze? Loads of kids were vaping then, almost as many as smoked back in the 80s and 90s.
So, in 2024, e-cigs were the top tobacco pick for US middle and high schoolers. That’s a total of 1.63 million kids—410,000 in middle school and 1.21 million in high school. The info comes from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.
Back in high school, it felt like a ton of us were vaping—maybe even half the school! Funny thing is, the bathrooms actually smelled pretty good.
RE: Fact #18 (Buzz Aldrin: A Difficult Astronaut) – Buzz was a pretty religious guy, and he really wanted to take communion stuff—a chalice, wine, and bread—to the moon. NASA didn’t show that part on TV.
They were heading off on what could be a suicide mission. Makes sense wanting to take stuff to the moon, though.
I think the reason they kept quiet was because NASA was battling this one woman, a real firecracker, who sued them over Apollo 8 reading from the Bible. Neil’s book mentions it. She was seriously something else, even beyond that lawsuit.
If I’m ever meeting God, I want to make a good impression.
Turns out, the Apollo 8 astronauts did a Christmas message, and NASA got hit with a lawsuit over it. Vintage Space has a cool short video explaining the whole thing.
RE: Fact #41 (Soul Asylum’s Video Finds 21 Missing) – Sadly, a lot of them had escaped abusive homes, so sending them back wasn’t a good idea.
“Many” seems like a stretch. The article only talked to five people, and none of them went back home because of the video. One even said her parents were great, and another was just really shy and didn’t want to go to school, so she lived in some dude’s truck.
RE: Fact #31 (Disney’s Duck Becomes Mascot) – Back in ’07, the Duck was furious the Cougar was ripping off his touchdown celebration, so he totally decked him on the sidelines. He got suspended and had to apologize on ABC a couple weeks later.
Worse yet, the duck totally t-bags him during the fight.
RE: Fact #25 (George Carlin’s Career Transformation) – He wasn’t a one-trick pony, though. He totally changed his act in the late 80s, dropping the mellow hippie vibe for a much faster, angrier style that stuck with him.
RE: Fact #29 (Beavers Foil Czech Dam Project) – Those beavers are on the take, getting bribes for government work.
RE: Fact #21 (Anna Nicole Smith’s Legal Defeat) – This case went to the Supreme Court, not once, but twice—over completely different things! Her lawyers almost broke the family, and all this mess happened after she was gone.
RE: Fact #12 (Space Mountain Fall: No Liability) – Disney’s really good at winning lawsuits from their parks, it’s amazing. They have this team that’s always documenting everything, so they’re super prepared if anyone sues. I read about a kid who drowned, and even though the family sued, Disney had this great defense. They had recordings from right after it happened where the mom was saying things like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I let him go! I should have been holding his hand!” That kind of statement makes it hard to convince a jury Disney was at fault.
RE: Fact #3 (Neptune’s Discovery Through Uranus Wobble) – Is it a common belief that people usually stumble upon it by accident? That’s new to me.
There was a debate about whether it was found by accident, since Galileo spotted it way back in 1612—long before mathematicians officially labeled it a planet. He thought it was just a star.
It’s how tons of things were found – people just looked around and went, “Whoa, what’s *that*?” Lots of things were discovered accidentally before anyone figured out the math. Similar math was used to predict where this thing is, like how Newton’s laws are used. Caltech scientists found proof of a real ninth planet using math and computers, but haven’t actually *seen* it yet.
RE: Fact #19 (Casey Kasem Leaves Transformers) – Casey Kasem, born Kemal Amin Kasem, was the son of Lebanese immigrants. Makes sense, right? Bet that felt personal.
He really cared about the Middle East and Americans from there, so this was a big deal for him.
RE: Fact #25 (George Carlin’s Career Transformation) – Early George was really wholesome, the kind of guy who’d fit right in on the Ed Sullivan Show—perfect for Midwest audiences. Nixon would’ve been a fan. I was blown away seeing that version; it was like a totally different person.
RE: Fact #48 (Colonel Parker’s Awkward Encounter) – Charlie Murphy would have totally decked that colonel.
That Chappelle Show skit would have been awesome.
RE: Fact #20 (Medal of Honor Delayed for Chapman) – The Medal of Honor museum’s board includes Slabinski and his wife. Slabinski gets his own exhibit, but Chapman only gets a small mention and a video clip. Seems like they don’t want to portray the SEALs negatively.
Don’t sweat it, the SEALs will tell their story in a book.
They wouldn’t all be able to start podcasts and coffee shops if they ever admitted they were wrong.
RE: Fact #13 (Pope Pius XI Criticizes Hitler) – The Pope’s 1938 speech to Belgian pilgrims was pretty powerful. He basically said that because Abraham is the patriarch in the Catholic faith, antisemitism is totally against Christian teachings. He made it clear that being a Christian and being antisemitic just don’t mix.
Mussolini’s first girlfriend was Jewish, and her autobiography helped make him famous—but he still wouldn’t defend her or her family from Hitler.
“Power to Italy,” he says—the guy who sent 40,000 Italian Jews to their deaths and threw hundreds of thousands of Italian soldiers to the wolves. They weren’t even allowed to join the German army properly; they got terrible equipment and impossible orders. What a total wimp!
Anyway, I just think Mussolini was a pathetic, awful person.
He got what he deserved.
Funny thing is, he totally hated Hitler when they first met—even tried to one-up him! But he changed his mind later, once Germany’s army was winning.
Even Hitler let the Jewish doctor who saved his mother live.
RE: Fact #3 (Neptune’s Discovery Through Uranus Wobble) – It’s so annoying when it goes all wobbly. I really need to see a doctor.
RE: Fact #50 (Walking Dead’s Alien Pitch Approval) – Yeah, I get it. Zombies are so played out. The Walking Dead worked because of the characters, not the zombies. Trying to sell another zombie story is tough – you’d have to say something like “It’ll be *amazing*, I promise!” So he probably needed a fancy idea to hook a publisher.
Wasn’t that zombie virus idea already pretty clever? Did it really need more?
That plot twist came later, so it wouldn’t exactly grab new readers. Still, it’s not a huge selling point on its own. 28 Days Later, out a year before, also used a virus in a unique way, and the Resident Evil games use a lab-made virus, so it wasn’t exactly a fresh idea for anyone zombie-ed out.
Back in 2003, zombies weren’t nearly as played out. 28 Days Later was already out in the UK the year before, but didn’t hit the US until ’03. Then came Shaun of the Dead and the Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004, Land of the Dead in 2005, and the Dead Rising game in 2006. Resident Evil was the main zombie movie before all that, starting in 2002.
RE: Fact #6 (Man Discovers Kidnapping from Age-Progression Image) – As a kid, I thought kidnapping was totally normal during divorces. My brothers and I got snatched by our mom and taken across the country – Dad found us after a couple of months. It happened to my cousins too, their dad took them for months. Even my best friend got taken by her mom; I don’t think she ever saw her dad again.
Christmas night, I was maybe five or six, and the cops scooped me up from my dad’s place. Ended up in the back of a police car ’til way past midnight because apparently keeping a kid past visitation time is kidnapping, especially across state lines – that’s a federal thing, they said. Fun times.
Man, I was like five or six, in first grade, when the gas got shut off because my stepdad didn’t pay the bill. Mom scrambled to pay it, they turned it back on after a couple of hours. Somehow my dad found out, and bam, emergency custody. Sheriff’s showed up, took us to my dad’s. Ninety days, no contact with Mom. New school, new town, whole new life. Then a lawyer got involved. My mom worked for the judge who signed the papers. The whole thing was a total crock, the judge even said so, but rules are rules, right? The system just cares about itself.
So, my buddy was telling me his whole family’s crazy story. He was born in the US because his parents were hunting for his half-brother who’d been taken to the States from Jamaica by his dad. The mom was searching everywhere for him, and eventually, they found him. They just sort of stayed in touch after that, happy ending, right?
I asked him, “Didn’t the dad go to jail?” He’s all, “For what?” “Kidnapping?” I said. He was like, “Nah, it wasn’t kidnapping, it was his own kid!” I had to explain that, even if it’s your kid, you can’t just sneak them out of the country without permission, especially if you don’t have full custody. He never even thought about it being wrong—it was totally normal to him! He even said the dad tricked his mom into letting him take the kid out of the country and then just never came back. Seriously, the lying didn’t bother him? All those years of searching?
RE: Fact #15 (Darwin’s Productive Work Schedule) – Most people probably only actually work a few hours each day.
And I bet those walks are kind of like work for him, he’s probably always thinking about stuff, even if he doesn’t realize it. So when he finally sits down to work, he already has a plan.
RE: Fact #14 (Age of Piracy: A Brief Era) – Guess what? Governments actually gave some pirates official permission to be pirates!
RE: Fact #49 (Ferrell-McKay Partnership Ends Overcast) – It would have been awesome if they’d swapped Reilly and Ferrell back and forth during filming! The audience would’ve gone crazy – those two are hilarious together.
RE: Fact #42 (Chinese Protest with Coin Bags) – Turns out, only one bank would take the cash, and even they didn’t have a machine to count it.
Nope! Lots of Chinese banks, especially back then, didn’t bother with coin counters for small change like 0.1 yuan—too much hassle for how seldom they got that many coins.
Coin counters are really unreliable. That’s why TD Bank got rid of theirs, and Coinstar has a bunch of warnings saying it’s not perfectly accurate.
Coinstar is kinda shady about how it counts your coins. So, what’s the deal? Are they just making stuff up?
RE: Fact #11 (GoDaddy’s Deceptive Bonus Email) – I’m having a hard time digging up more info on this. Every article just says the company emailed employees, then later claimed it was a phishing test. But seriously, was it a real company email address? Or did they use a fake one to make it look legit? Phishing tests are normal, but they gotta do them right.
RE: Fact #38 (Bench Press World Records) – So THAT’S why I couldn’t lift anything! My shirt was the problem.
RE: Fact #19 (Casey Kasem Leaves Transformers) – There’s a Roku channel showing old Transformers episodes, I saw one a few weeks back and was shocked by what that name Carbombya.
The 80s were crazy.
RE: Fact #7 (Origin of the Term Jaywalker) – Jay’s a word some folks use to put down people they see as naive or unsophisticated, especially if they’re from the country.
RE: Fact #28 (Pringles’ Legal Battle Over Chips) – Converse sneak in a felt layer in their soles to dodge shoe import taxes—clever move, calling them slippers instead!
Even Marvel pulled a fast one, arguing their X-Men figures aren’t dolls, they’re toys because they’re not human. Pretty insulting to the X-Men, but hey, saved them a bunch on taxes!
Tax law is a crazy maze of details, and everyone’s looking for ways to get around paying up.
That makes dolls sound way fancier than other toys. “It’s not just some toy, it’s a real DOLL!”
That’s why unopened dolls can go for a lot of money.
So, they’re not actually homo sapiens, making the statement accurate. They’re not saying they’re not people, just a different race.
I totally get why it seems offensive at first glance, though.
Mutants are basically a type of human, “homo superior” is just a shorter way of saying “superior humans”. They’re still homo sapiens—one little gene change doesn’t change that—and the comic’s all about their fight to be seen as human.
RE: Fact #7 (Origin of the Term Jaywalker) – Keep digging into how cars and the motor lobby totally reshaped the world. You’re living in a car-crazy place.
I live in a really walkable neighborhood in a city that’s super easy to get around on foot. I once threw a party for some first-time visitors from Europe, and they couldn’t believe how many cars there were and how hard it was to walk places.
RE: Fact #44 (Zlatan’s Painful Trophy Pursuit) – Zlatan didn’t tear his ACL; the ACL gave out on Zlatan.
RE: Fact #33 (Navajo Code Talkers in WWII) – The fact that Navajo was a largely undocumented language, with even non-Navajos speaking a really rough version, made it perfect. It wasn’t even close to related languages, so even if the Japanese intercepted messages, they were completely lost.
RE: Fact #26 (Sultan of Brunei’s Long Reign) – So, Brunei was under British protection for his first 17 years as sultan. And get this—he’s got the world’s biggest private car collection, over 7000 luxury rides! Apparently, the royal family keeps things stable by offering citizens a really generous welfare system—free or heavily subsidized housing, healthcare, and education. Brunei’s super high on that Human Development Index thing—second only to Singapore in Southeast Asia.
Makes sense you haven’t heard of them; they’re all living their best lives.
Brunei, unlike places like the UAE, is really stuck on oil. Ninety-five percent of what they export is oil, so when it runs out around 2050, their economy and people’s well-being are going to take a huge hit.
Seriously, didn’t his brother have, like, 300 luxury cars just rotting in a jungle warehouse?
His brother bought the whole thing. It’s not open to the public, but those who have seen it say there are tons of cars just sitting there, exposed to the weather, windows down, and falling apart. They could buy a new car every day, so why bother?
He actually bailed Bentley out once, buying a huge chunk of their stock.
Even better, he got them to build all sorts of crazy custom cars—they charged a fortune, of course. He was a huge part of their business for years.
RE: Fact #50 (Walking Dead’s Alien Pitch Approval) – So, did anyone ever figure out where that zombie virus came from? I haven’t read all the Walking Dead comics, but the ones I *did* read, nobody seemed to know.
Nope, not in the comics. The zombie stuff in the original isn’t that detailed; it’s mainly about people trying to survive in a really messed-up world.
Robert Kirkman never really cared for a zombie outbreak origin story. The CDC episode in the show sort of explains the mess, but not where it all started. Honestly, it’s not a bad approach.
RE: Fact #33 (Navajo Code Talkers in WWII) – The Choctaw helped the US Army in WWI by using their language as a code.
And Osage
RE: Fact #39 (Twins in Newborn TV Roles) – I used to watch Full House, and I was totally thrown by the “Mary Kate Ashley Olsen” credit thing. It finally clicked that they were twins taking turns, and later the credits just said “Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.” Maybe it was to clear things up, or maybe it was because the show was *so* them that they got to have separate names. I bet it was the second one.
Could be a union thing. Once they get speaking roles, the credit rules change.
Got it!
RE: Fact #9 (Apple’s Controversial U2 Album Release) – It’s funny, but if they’d just sent a notification giving away the album, tons more people would have listened. People feel good about free stuff and being part of the action.
Radiohead let people download In Rainbows a few years back – it was donation-based, pay-what-you-want. My dad even let me use his credit card to pay ten bucks for it; he said we should support the artists. I’ve always loved that album, and, hey, it’s amazing!
They probably could’ve just paid U2 the normal download fee. I bet it would’ve been way cheaper than $100 million.
Actually, that 100 million wasn’t for the album itself. They used it to get U2 involved in a separate marketing push.
Makes sense. They shelled out about three bucks per album for the small percentage (6.7%) who even listened to a bit of it. The big question is how many songs those people actually heard on average. If it was fewer than three, they definitely overpaid. Wasn’t it 99 cents a song, or something like that?
RE: Fact #36 (Kaczynski Brothers’ Divergent Paths) – David Kaczynski got a million bucks from the FBI for helping catch the Unabomber. It was a huge reward, one of the biggest ever for a case in the US, paid for by Congress. He said he’d give most of it to the bombing victims and their families to help them cope with the tragedy. He actually set up a fund and donated $630,000 to them.
I heard this podcast – can’t say which one – about a guy who figured out his brother was the Unabomber. It was a tough call telling his mom, but she was amazing; instead of freaking out, she hugged him and comforted him. Seriously, both of them are incredible people.
Cool dude, respect.
This guy lived in a really small place. He made pretty basic bongs.
My buddy knows David personally. Turning his brother in wasn’t easy, and it definitely wasn’t for the money. He really thought about everything his brother did and finally realized he was the “Unabomber.” It crushed him, but he’s the kind of guy who just couldn’t do anything else.
RE: Fact #2 (Prince’s Forgotten Vault Unlocked) – Even if he remembered the combination, it wouldn’t have helped much – he’s dead, after all.
Whoa, does that mean I’ll lose all my memories when I die?
Just the key info: phone numbers, codes, addresses—that sort of thing.
That’s why he couldn’t recall—he was a goner. They kept asking, but no dice.
They tried a Ouija board to get the combination from him, and all he said was “dunno lol”.
RE: Fact #46 (Nzeli the Gorilla’s Family Choices) – Male gorillas are awesome dads, and baby gorillas can totally grow up fine with just their dads after they’re weaned. But if Nzeli took her babies to a new group, they’d probably be rejected, or even worse. So, if she’s leaving, it’s best to leave the babies with their dad’s group.
Kids raised by their dads are 72 percent more likely to go to college, according to the stats.
That number changes a lot when you add gorillas, so don’t take it as completely accurate.
I heard none of her kids made it past high school reading and writing level. Shows how much family stability matters, huh?
Thanks for the helpful info.
RE: Fact #22 (First Tinder Match in Antarctica) – Were all those scientists suddenly ignoring each other?
I bet hardly anyone was using Tinder in Antarctica back then, especially since it was so new.
Twelve guys had been hanging out there for a year, and she was the first woman to join.
RE: Fact #4 (Hayden Christensen’s Lightsaber Sound Effects) – Swinging things around and making lightsaber noises? Been a thing since ’77.
My old wiffle bat from ’77? Totally.
RE: Fact #45 (American Samoa’s Unique Status) – It’s mainly to keep land in Samoan hands.
One big reason to hold off on statehood.
Puerto Rico should become the 51st state, pronto!
If they leave Samoa and want to be citizens of another country, do they lose their land rights?
RE: Fact #38 (Bench Press World Records) – A “#1 Dad” t-shirt can really boost a guy’s confidence, you know?
RE: Fact #49 (Ferrell-McKay Partnership Ends Overcast) – He didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so he quietly changed the role instead of telling him.
RE: Fact #22 (First Tinder Match in Antarctica) – Been to Antarctica? Dry Valleys is a perfect name for the place – you’ll see why if you ever spend much time there.
RE: Fact #37 (Heroic Rescue at Detroit Zoo) – So, chimps can’t swim – they really don’t like deep water. They’re just not built for it; all that muscle and not much fat makes it hard for them to float.
RE: Fact #41 (Soul Asylum’s Video Finds 21 Missing) – I knew a girl in that video—a friend of a friend. Turns out, the theory is she was a victim of a serial killer. Her name was Andrea Durham.
I teamed up with the brother of another person in the video.
That’s awful what happened to your friend.
RE: Fact #6 (Man Discovers Kidnapping from Age-Progression Image) – Charlotte Moriarty, Steven’s mom, had a habit of vanishing with him, according to Victoria Carter. His dad, Mark Barnes, would report her missing, and she’d usually pop back up after a couple of weeks. But one time, she just took off and never came back. Apparently, she was found in a strange house, someone called the cops, and they found her with the baby. The baby went into foster care, and she was sent to a mental health clinic. She claimed her name was Jane Amey and the baby’s name was Tenzin Amey – and even gave a slightly wrong birthdate. Steven was in foster care for three years while the police looked for his dad, but they had the wrong name, so they couldn’t find him. After three years, Steven was adopted. His mom’s never been seen again. His dad’s in California, and Steven’s talked to him and his half-sister, Jenny, plus two other half-sisters who live with his dad’s ex-wife.
Mom just wanted to keep the boy away from his dad. That’s heartbreaking.
My mom was pretty crazy, too. I only found out who my dad was two years ago – some DNA testing connected me to my cousins, and then I got in touch with my half-sister.
RE: Fact #21 (Anna Nicole Smith’s Legal Defeat) – Seriously, leaving your widow with nothing when you’re worth $1.6 billion? That’s a real low blow, regardless of the age gap.
Even a few million bucks, honestly. I’m a 99-year-old billionaire, so I know why Hot chick’s dating me. I might not give her everything if I have kids, but she’d still get at least 75 million—enough to be set for life.
He gave his ex a whopping $15 million—and maybe even more than that!—after demanding it back. In 2013, his sons each got $2 billion worth of stock. They’re loaded, the problem’s not running out of cash, or wanting more, it’s that they all declared bankruptcy to avoid taxes on their inheritance. They’re still ridiculously wealthy.
RE: Fact #37 (Heroic Rescue at Detroit Zoo) – It was the second time a chimp almost drowned, so I really hope they figured out something better than that moat.
RE: Fact #47 (Women Dominate Car Purchases) – Lots of husbands I’ve known drive older cars so their wives can get a new one every few years. It seems pretty common—my parents, my friends’ parents, even coworkers do it.
RE: Fact #27 (Titanic Families Charged for Bodies) – They sent the letter knowing they didn’t have the body. The news is fake.
That’s exactly what I was thinking! How on earth would they have gotten the bodies back then? We can’t even find MH370 with all our modern satellites, so finding and recovering bodies in 1912? No chance.