1 Gravity Hinders Space Burping
Astronauts cannot burp in space because the absence of gravity prevents food and gases from separating in the stomach, unlike on Earth.
2. In 2017, 16-year-old Davis Allen Cripe from South Carolina tragically died after consuming a McDonald’s latte, a large Mountain Dew, and an energy drink within a two-hour period. This rapid intake of approximately 470mg of caffeine led to a caffeine-induced cardiac event, causing a probable arrhythmia. Despite having no known pre-existing heart conditions, the combination and speed of consumption proved fatal.
3. In 2010, authorities at a Bangkok airport caught a woman attempting to smuggle a drugged tiger cub in her suitcase. She had camouflaged it among plush tigers, but an X-ray scanner revealed a live animal with bones and organs.
4. In 2003, a leopard seal caused the first recorded human fatality when it killed biologist Kirsty Brown in Antarctica. While snorkeling for research, the seal drowned her by holding her underwater for about six minutes at depths reaching 230 feet (70 meters).
5. In 1995, doctors discovered a boy whose blood contained no trace of his father’s DNA due to partial human parthenogenesis. This rare condition occurred when the mother’s egg cell divided just before fertilization, resulting in genetically fatherless blood.
6 Woman Trapped in Elevator for Days
In 1988, 76-year-old Kively Papajohn from New York City was trapped in her apartment building’s elevator for six days. Living alone, she became stuck while returning from grocery shopping. With no other residents in the building, her absence went unnoticed until her niece eventually checked on her. During the ordeal, she rationed her groceries to survive. The elevator was so small she couldn’t lie down to sleep. Her experience set a world record for the longest time trapped in an elevator.
7. Tony Todd, who played the mortician in the Final Destination movies, knew he had only months to live due to cancer when he took on the role. The directors allowed him to improvise his final lines, where he said, “Life is precious, enjoy every single second, you never know when. Good luck.”
8. In the original ending of “Little Shop of Horrors,” alien plants devoured all human protagonists and rampaged through New York City, taking over the world. Test audiences disliked it so much that filmmakers reshot the entire ending.
9. Lobsters do not die of old age. They continue to grow and reproduce until something else kills them.
10. In 1990, 17-year-old Brian Jewell, a teenager working at a haunted hayride in Lakewood, New Jersey, felt awkward scaring people by jumping out of the woods. Instead, he replaced a skeleton hanging by a noose in a tree as part of the act. Tragically, when he struggled to remove the rope from his neck, onlookers thought it was part of the performance and watched him die. His feet were touching the ground, and the death was later ruled accidental.
11 Ian Fleming’s Jamaican Retreat
Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, served as the foreign manager for The Sunday Times newspaper. His contract included a clause allowing him to spend two months each year in Jamaica, a provision approved to accommodate his desire for a warmer climate during the winter months. It was during these breaks that he started devoting three hours daily to writing books.
12. Over 80% of the world’s population has never taken a flight (as of June 2025).
13. In 1761, Louis Joseph Xavier, a French prince, died from a fall-related injury at the age of nine. He claimed a playmate pushed him but refused to name the individual to avoid their punishment.
14. Bees can become intoxicated, and guard bees will notice it during their waggle dance. These guards may punish the drunk bees, even breaking their legs as a warning to others.
15. While filming “Fitzcarraldo (1982)” in the Amazon Rainforest, director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski feuded intensely. The Machiguenga tribe’s chief, whose members were extras in the movie, offered to kill Kinski, but Herzog declined, as he needed him to complete the film.
16 Good Conduct Medal Criteria
The Good Conduct Medal is a medal given to US military servicemen who have gone three years without any non-judicial punishment, disciplinary infractions, or court-martial offenses.
17. The world’s largest fast food chain is not McDonald’s but a Chinese ice cream and boba tea shop called Mixue, boasting more global locations than any other brand (as of June 2025).
18. In 2017, 21-year-old Australian tradesman Thomas Mason crashed his car after hitting a camel on a remote track in the Northern Territory, approximately 150 km from the nearest town. Stranded, he walked between 100 km and 120 km over more than two days, resorting to drinking urine for survival. He was eventually found by a search team near Yulara and was in remarkably good spirits despite the ordeal.
19. In 2005, 73-year-old Kenyan farmer Kamunyak Mwita was attacked by a leopard while tending his farm. Although he had a machete, he chose to drop it and reach into the leopard’s mouth, ultimately pulling out its tongue and killing it. Mwita sustained serious injuries but survived the encounter.
20. By 2012, Japan had created over 250 square kilometers (96 square miles) of new land by burning garbage and using the ash.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Titanic Survivors Expelled in 24 Hours
The United States expelled the six Chinese survivors of the Titanic disaster within 24 hours of their arrival due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was in force from 1882 to 1943.
22. Swimming pool filter-induced transrectal evisceration, where pool drains suck out intestines, is a real-life danger and predominantly affects children.
23. During the 1951 filming of “The African Queen” in Uganda, much of the cast and crew fell ill. While Katharine Hepburn filmed an organ scene, the crew discreetly kept a bucket nearby for her to vomit between takes.
24. Jack White of The White Stripes adopted his last name from his then-wife and bandmate, Meg White. Although they divorced in 2000, they continued touring together until 2011. Jack, who has remarried twice, still uses the “White” surname today.
25. St. Lawrence was roasted to death on a hot gridiron. In defiance he said, “Turn me over-I’m done on this side!” He is now the patron saint of comedians and cooks.
RE: Fact #41 (Putumayo Genocide by Rubber Company) – Wow, the history of rubber is really brutal. It’s not the only story like that, is it?
This has happened a few times, hasn’t it? Take the Belgian Congo, for example. Roger Casement, the British Consul there, was a big part of exposing the awful things happening in the Congo and Putumayo. He even got knighted for his Congo work! Ironically, the British hanged him in 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising.
Thousands, maybe more, just in the last hundred years. Millions are still enslaved worldwide, especially in mining, fishing, and farming. I read about supermarket shrimp peeled by slaves in Thailand. And I also remember seeing stuff about Taiwanese universities ripping off international students from Africa and South Asia with these “work-study” programs – crazy hours, low pay, and they kept most of it. It was awful, almost no education, and they were stuck in dorms with curfews. I can’t find those articles right now, but I remember seeing them.
RE: Fact #42 (Palahniuk’s “Lullaby” and Personal Grief) – I’m a huge Palahniuk fan, but that story about the kid and the pool drain? Seriously messed me up. Read it years ago and I still haven’t gotten over it.
Some of his writing really messed me up.
That Survivor scene with the lobster—still beating heart and all—totally messed me up. I can’t get over it.
Haven’t read that one, but it sounds totally like something Palaniuk would do. I heard him on a podcast talking about getting kicked out of a writers’ group for a story – a short story, mind you – about a guy and his deflating inflatable doll. This sounds pretty tame compared to that.
It’s free! “Guts” is in the “Haunted” collection, or you can just read how 67 people fainted listening to it.
He mentioned another book club, where someone described a sex act in a pretty disturbing way, likening it to killing a baby bird.
RE: Fact #35 (Supermarket Psychology Unveiled) – I was already planning to buy all that junk food.
I’m always one step ahead.
Just deli meat on my grocery list.
Saving money by skipping the veggies!
RE: Fact #30 (Borzoi Dogs’ Historical Exclusivity) – I’ve only ever seen one of those in real life, so that explains it.
They’re also really inbred and can drop dead unexpectedly from heart problems.
RE: Fact #24 (Jack White’s Last Name Origin) – Yeah, duh, it’s his stage name. Even Tina Turner, after all that, stuck with the name Ike gave her—it’s what everyone knew her by. She was so over the divorce, she told the judge Ike could have it all except that name. The judge was totally fine with it.
RE: Fact #3 (Bangkok Airport’s Tiger Cub Smuggling) – Sounds like a cartoon, right? Then you remember how awful it really is. Poor little thing, good thing they caught it in time.
RE: Fact #11 (Ian Fleming’s Jamaican Retreat) – He also dreamt up Operation Mincemeat during WWII—seriously clever stuff.
RE: Fact #13 (Tragic Fall of French Prince) – I gotta hand it to him; that takes real maturity for a kid to grasp. The punishment would’ve been way over the top and pointless, anyway. I’m sure the other guy felt awful and was super thankful.
Offing a French royal, even by mistake, meant you were toast. Public execution, body parts on display – the whole nine yards.
He really helped his buddy out there.
By the way, this was 18th-century Bourbon France.
He probably saw what happened to others before, so he figured out what would happen if he snitched.
Understanding others’ feelings.
I messed up a couple of times playing rough as a kid, and seriously hurt another kid. Nobody ever told on me.
RE: Fact #29 (“Fantasia” Evolved from Short Film) – Sorcerer Mickey’s a really iconic image, and his hat’s been a popular item at Disney parks for ages.
RE: Fact #49 (Fictional Pope Donus II’s Origins) – Big mistake, emphasizing someone who isn’t actually there. In the Catholic Church?
RE: Fact #14 (Drunken Bees Face Consequences) – It’s a bit of a stretch to think the bees actually *chose* to get drunk, and that fear of broken legs will stop them from doing it again.
RE: Fact #38 (Red Cross Symbol Legal Battle) – Blink 182 had to re-do the Enema of the State cover art because the nurse’s hat had a Red Cross on it.
RE: Fact #11 (Ian Fleming’s Jamaican Retreat) – How can I get my contract to cover two months in Jamaica?
RE: Fact #17 (Mixue Surpasses McDonald’s) – Mixue’s got 45,000 stores, and McDonald’s has 41,800. Globally, of course. I wonder how many of those are in their home countries versus other places.
There are 40,000 of them in China, haha!
There are more US subway restaurants than McDonald’s – 20,000 compared to 13,000.
That’s basically every stat about China.
Mostly Asia, with a few others sprinkled around.
Boba shops and ice cream parlors are usually pretty small, unlike a typical McDonald’s.
Yeah, they’re pretty small, like little kiosks. A few have a couple of seats, but nothing like a McDonald’s.
This is a pretty big deal. Starting up is probably cheaper than a McDonald’s. We might need to rethink how we classify these places, since they’re popping up everywhere.
RE: Fact #2 (Caffeine Overdose Tragedy in 2017) – Nah, that doesn’t sound like enough caffeine to kill anyone. Something else must’ve been up. A McDonald’s latte’s around 170mg, a Mountain Dew’s about 54mg, and a typical energy drink is about 200mg. So, about 430mg of caffeine in two hours isn’t a crazy amount for a regular person. Two Celsius cans would be 400mg, for comparison.
RE: Fact #7 (Tony Todd’s Improvised Farewell) – Tony Todd was a huge dude, and it wasn’t just his height. RIP
RE: Fact #18 (Australian Outback Survival Trek) – I remember reading that article the day it came out – weird, because I’d just watched 127 Hours the day before.
RE: Fact #36 (Largest Espionage Leak in US Navy) – After ditching high school, Walker and a buddy went on a little burglary spree. They snagged some tires, oil, cleaner, and a few bucks. They got away from the cops for a bit, but got caught a couple days later. They gave him a choice: jail or the army.
That whole idea sounds nuts to me. And giving a guy like *that* top-secret clearance? Even nuttier!
Walker started spying for the Soviets around late 1967. Broke and stressed, he just walked into the old Soviet embassy in D.C., sold some super secret stuff for a ton of cash, and set up a sweet weekly payment.
The person who gave him security clearance should’ve been jailed. Being forced into the military because of a criminal record is a huge warning sign – it means they’ll do anything bad for money.
While on the USS Andrew Jackson, a nuclear sub in Charleston, South Carolina, Walker opened a bar that went broke and put him in debt.
Another massive red flag. The security people totally dropped the ball. It’s insane.
RE: Fact #31 (Changing Marriage Trends Post-WWII) – Getting married, buying a house, and starting a family was way cheaper in your early twenties back then.
RE: Fact #43 (BBC Bans Bowie’s “Space Oddity”) – Even Chris Hadfield, that Canadian astronaut, sang it in space!
With a few lyric tweaks.
RE: Fact #32 (French Physicist’s Sark Invasion) – Just learned about the Isle of Sark!
RE: Fact #29 (“Fantasia” Evolved from Short Film) – A hand-drawn, no CGI sequel? I’d totally catch that in IMAX, pre-order tickets and all! But it probably won’t make a billion bucks, so we’ll likely get a CGI flick straight to Disney+…if we get anything at all.
Fantasia 2000 wasn’t the absolute worst.
Maybe they’ll nail it by 2060.
RE: Fact #50 (Lou Gehrig’s Late Independence) – I also love this about Gehrig: He bombed German class at Columbia, even though his parents were German immigrants and he was born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig! He didn’t even speak English until he was five.
RE: Fact #19 (Kenyan Farmer Defeats Leopard) – That reminded me of *Ghost and the Darkness*—that part where the tribesman says he called the lion with his bare hands.
RE: Fact #26 (Tom Cruise’s Watchmen Role Rejection) – They totally nailed the Rorschach test. He was so good, he practically stole the show.
RE: Fact #15 (Feud on Fitzcarraldo Set) – That’s a really cool boss.
Hold on a sec, guys, we’re still shooting.
Seeing Klaus Kinski in action? No wonder Werner lost it. The guy was totally nuts – angry, bitter, narcissistic, a screaming kid, the whole nine yards.
Herzog and Kinski met years before they ever teamed up. Working with Kinski was a total nightmare—impossible to describe how bad. Even so, Herzog used him in five of his movies! Kinski was a terrible person who did awful things to his daughter, starting when she was just five. I’m just sharing what I’ve learned.
This would make a killer reality TV show!
Who’s getting fired?
I’d totally pay to watch American middle managers fight to keep their jobs—or else they’re toast!
Herzog was the big cheese. It wasn’t so much a feud as the actor being a real pain, so the tribe offered to off him for the boss.
RE: Fact #6 (Woman Trapped in Elevator for Days) – It’s awesome to have family who care, right? We should all check in on older folks more often, even if we don’t know them—it’s the decent thing to do.
She was stuck in an elevator for a crazy long time—a world record, actually!
Hope that record stays unbroken.
I read about this guy in San Antonio. He noticed his elderly neighbor’s papers piling up and hadn’t seen him in days. Something felt fishy, so he called the cops to check on him. Turns out, the neighbor needed help.
The guy even got an award for it!
His name’s David Torres.
Reminds me of that guy Domino’s saved because he skipped his usual order.
I remember a similar thing delivering pizzas back in the early 2000s. This old guy ordered a small pepperoni, mushroom, and black olive — my usual, actually — every single day. Then he suddenly stopped for two days, so we called the fire department to check on him. Sad ending, though.
My old boss was stuck in an elevator for three whole days! He was the last one out on Friday, and nobody was back in the office until Monday. He avoids elevators now.
RE: Fact #1 (Gravity Hinders Space Burping) – Can they even toot? Big ol’ Dutch oven situation going on up there.
RE: Fact #18 (Australian Outback Survival Trek) – Yeah, walking 120km solo through the outback would totally cheer me up, too.
RE: Fact #1 (Gravity Hinders Space Burping) – I’m curious: is it just that they can’t burp, or do they have this constant urge to burp that only goes away when they land?
Is this the “cosmic horror” everyone’s talking about?
RE: Fact #45 (Low Ball Coins: Worn Yet Valuable) – So, here’s the deal: coins that have been faked to look old are different from ones that have actually aged naturally. Experts can spot the fakes pretty easily, and they’d be marked as “Damaged,” not just given a low grade. You only really get those super low grades if you can still see the date and mint mark. Usually, these low grades happen because someone’s been carrying the same coin around in their pocket for ages – a lucky charm, maybe. Except for situations where coins are used repeatedly without going into normal circulation, like in casinos. For instance, there are only two Three Cent Nickels known to be graded at the very lowest level, but there are five that are in pristine condition.
I figured “sandpaper time!” wasn’t going to go over so well.
RE: Fact #12 (Most Have Never Flown) – Wow, 20% have flown? That’s like, a billion and a half people, if you think about it.
With over four billion people living in cities worldwide, it’s easy to see why a huge chunk—probably around 38%—have flown. The rest are mostly people from rural areas. I’ve definitely met way more people who’ve flown than haven’t.
Most people I know earn above the average income. I actually don’t know anyone in the US who earns less than the global average. It’s really a global poverty issue, not just about city and country differences.
RE: Fact #24 (Jack White’s Last Name Origin) – It’s kinda funny how his Wikipedia page says he flipped tradition with Meg’s name, but I bet a big reason was he just loved the name Jack White. Jack White’s a rock star, John Gillis is a guy who reupholsters furniture in Detroit.
Jack White’s into alt-rock, while John Gillis plays in a ’70s cover band.
John Gillis reminds me of a former Deep Purple member.
That story about him hiding his old CDs in furniture he reupholstered was awesome! His band was called “The Upholsterers.” If you got furniture reupholstered in Detroit back in the late 90s, you should totally check your cushions – could be worth something!
Is this like, the white version of dropping mixtapes with your food delivery?
I think only a few of the 100 copies ever turned up.
John Gillis now goes by J. Gillis, and he’s totally back in rock star mode.
RE: Fact #12 (Most Have Never Flown) – It’s crazy to think that 20% of people worldwide have flown, when 65% live on $6.85 a day or less, and 10% don’t even have electricity.
After this weekend’s of flights, I bet 20% of them were first-timers.
Whew! Friday, I was leaving Detroit, just past the ID check at the airport. This guy starts rushing up, all apologetic, saying his flight was at 1:15 and could he cut in line? He was so stressed, everyone let him. Then it hit me – my flight was at 1:15, too! It was noon sharp. Later, after grabbing a bite, I saw him at the gate; he was waiting to board. He must have been there for at least 45 minutes, since the gate was right there by security. He was either super anxious or just not a frequent flyer. Poor fella.
RE: Fact #34 (Lisbon Ripper’s Reality Show Connection) – So, turns out the dad wasn’t the Lisbon Ripper after all. He’d confessed to a reporter with a hidden camera, which made him look super guilty at first. But his story didn’t add up, and his prints weren’t at the crime scene.
RE: Fact #18 (Australian Outback Survival Trek) – Camels in Australia? Never imagined them there.
That’s what I got from the article too, haha. Camels?! Seriously?!
Yeah, that’s where most wild camels hang out – leftovers from old explorations and stuff like building railroads and roads.
Kangaroos hopping out in front of your car is a real pain, too.
RE: Fact #8 (“Little Shop of Horrors” Original Ending) – My friends and I watched *Little Shop* together during lockdown, starting at the exact same time. It was all fine until Audrey’s funeral – then I heard everyone cracking up! Turns out they were watching the movie version and I’d somehow gotten the original ending. Before I figured it out, it looked like a bunch of weirdos finding the saddest bit hilarious!
Went to see Iron Man 3 with my buddies. One of them isn’t really into superhero flicks. Then, the big fight scene happened, Pepper Potts gets blown up, and everything goes quiet. My friend just lost it laughing, he thought it was so ridiculously over-the-top.
RE: Fact #41 (Putumayo Genocide by Rubber Company) – Lots of native South American genocides get overlooked. The Selknam genocide really gets to me – those European sheep and goat herders blamed the natives for natural deaths and used it as a reason to wipe them out. It’s chillingly like what happened in the US, and what’s happening to wolves now. What’s the deal with ranchers?
Making money is more important to me than your life.
RE: Fact #22 (Dangerous Pool Filter Hazard) – Seriously, it has a formal name? That happens a lot?
It used to happen, but not anymore because pools have multiple drains now. I learned this in a lifeguarding class ages ago. Apparently, there was a case of a kid getting stuck on a single, uncovered drain—the whole pump’s force was pulling them down! Now there are rules: pools need at least two drains (like one on the floor and one at the surface) and all floor drains have to have covers that can’t be completely sealed. I’m going by memory from a class I took, like, twenty-three years ago, so fact-check it if you want to be sure.
Wow, it’s been ages since that happened, thanks to those regulators!
The pool drain is a butt-cheek magnet.
RE: Fact #6 (Woman Trapped in Elevator for Days) – Kively’s nightmare started on December 28th, the first day shops reopened after Christmas. She was getting groceries, and the elevator got stuck between floors on her way back to her apartment. She yelled and banged, but nobody heard her. Her building was on a busy street, but she was the only one living there – all the other apartments were empty. The elevator was tiny, she couldn’t even lie down. She prayed all night and kept banging until morning. By day three, she was too weak to stand up after crouching down, and stayed that way for three more days. By day four, she wasn’t even hungry or thirsty, though she still ate a little. She barely remembers days five and six; she was basically in a daze. She’d told family she was in Paphos, so nobody checked on her. But when her niece called, she found out Kively never showed up. The niece called the fire department, and they busted down the door. Kively was woken by the noise and started yelling again.
I would have devoured everything I bought in the first two hours, seriously.
Totally! Me too, haha.
Landlords really need to be held to higher standards.
RE: Fact #37 (Yankees’ Unusual Family Trade) – Two families on my street, a navy base in Australia in the 70s, the wives and husbands swapped partners. The other spouses were cool with it – apparently there was a lot of that sort of thing going on back then. I was five, and I remember watching the families switch houses, kids and all, a whole conga line of them carrying stuff. No clue what the kids thought, but my mom said everyone was fine with it. It was totally normal, and they all still hung out together. The crazy seventies!
RE: Fact #47 (Richard Thompson’s Unpublished Song List) – The magazine wanted “millennium” to mean a really long time—like, songs everyone remembered from the British Invasion onward. But Thompson, being a bit mischievous, took them literally. He made a list that actually covered a thousand years of music! It included super old stuff, like ancient English songs and medieval tunes, along with newer hits. Playboy never printed it, but it came out later on a CD. The CD’s songs spanned from 1068 to 2001, from “Sumer Is Icumen In” all the way to Britney Spears’ “Oops!… I Did It Again”.
I always think that when people say “[whatever] of all time,” they usually only mean the last 50 years. “All time” is a *lot* longer than that!
That’s way more interesting than a random playlist.
Seriously, why wouldn’t you post this? No one went to 90s Playboy for serious music advice, right?
RE: Fact #4 (Leopard Seal Fatality in Antarctica) – As a scuba diver, something struck me: the insane pain of going down to 70 meters would be brutal. I’ve seen seasoned divers bail after just fifteen minutes because they couldn’t equalize, and we don’t even go past 30 meters. At 70 meters, her lungs would be tiny, and the pressure on everything – not just your sinuses – would be crushing. Even without the whole equalization thing, it’s definitely one of my top ten worst ways to go.
She went up and down on it a few times.
Right, and at that speed, the nitrogen in her blood, already a gas, wouldn’t have had time to become liquid again—no bends for her. Seriously, it’s way, way up there on the list of worst ways to go. I’d choose torture.
RE: Fact #44 (British Develop Silent WWII Pistol) – Some video games have the Welrod, like most of the Sniper Elite series where it’s become a bit of a joke weapon. It’s got such a short range, you might as well just punch the enemy.
Still, it’s a fun choice if you’re going for a stealthy approach.
Yeah, I think Medal of Honor did too.
Singapore Sling mission in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.
RE: Fact #23 (Filming Challenges on “The African Queen”) – Bogart only drank whiskey, and he stayed healthy.
So, quinine in tonic water seems to help keep malaria away. Bogie guzzled tons of gin and whiskey with tonic, probably why he stayed healthy.
Seriously, you can’t survive that long on so little water! At least tonic water will keep you going, haha.
He got pretty sick, enough to see a doctor, but not seriously sick, because Bogie never paid him back and just said he owed him a drink. My great-aunt loved telling that story about her husband—he treated a lot of people on set. He never did get that drink, but it always made for a good story—Bogart owed him one!
RE: Fact #14 (Drunken Bees Face Consequences) – So the blog says the guard bees will totally chomp off a drunk bee’s legs, basically killing it. Seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?
RE: Fact #33 (Gillian Anderson’s Iconic Role) – Pam couldn’t play Agent Scully without it turning into a porn parody, no way.
It’s an XXX file; it creates itself.
It was like a Mad TV skit.
I’m all ears.
RE: Fact #14 (Drunken Bees Face Consequences) – Bees? They’re like the bee-mafia, the more I find out about them.
Yeah, they kinda do. It’s not like the Queen bee is some all-powerful dictator; bees totally off her sometimes.
The queen’s basically a DJ and egg-laying machine. She’s queen because some old-timers picked her egg, and she made it through the tough stuff.
RE: Fact #11 (Ian Fleming’s Jamaican Retreat) – He lived in Jamaica at a place called Goldeneye. That was where they filmed the first Bond movie not based on a Fleming book. And get this—James Bond the character? Probably named after a book Fleming had there, “Birds of the West Indies,” written by a guy also named James Bond. Oh, and I forgot, he actually named the estate after a secret mission called Operation Goldeneye.
After retiring, Bond settled down in Jamaica in No Time to Die.
He really disliked that architect, Goldfinger – the guy built a hideous apartment building right by his place.
Fleming thought it was a boring name, which is kinda funny now.
RE: Fact #3 (Bangkok Airport’s Tiger Cub Smuggling) – A lot of criminals aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed.
RE: Fact #38 (Red Cross Symbol Legal Battle) – I bet it won’t be long before someone tries to sue over that Pause symbol.
RE: Fact #9 (Lobsters Defy Aging Process) – So, basically, their shells get them. They grow too fast, can’t shed their shells quick enough, and get squished.
It’s like those unlucky rams that sometimes get killed by their own horns; they curl inward as they grow, and end up poking a hole right through their skull.
RE: Fact #36 (Largest Espionage Leak in US Navy) – I heard he leaked stuff about US nuclear sub sounds, and other anti-sub warfare secrets. That’s basically why surface and underwater sonar folks are so cut off from each other now. These days, surface sonar people only learn about US submarines if they go into signals intelligence or get really high up in the IUSS program. It’s all to stop leaks, and because surface guys shouldn’t be tracking our own nukes.
RE: Fact #49 (Fictional Pope Donus II’s Origins) – The Catholic Church? It’s been around for over a thousand years—longer than any country! It’s seen empires come and go, so you can bet it’s got some seriously crazy stories, way wilder than anything you’d read in a book.
RE: Fact #15 (Feud on Fitzcarraldo Set) – I could be mistaken, but I think Herzog said something like, “No, *I’m* the one who’ll kill him.”
Edit: Wait, maybe I’m confusing it with that crazy Aguirre story. Kinski threatened to quit, which would’ve sunk the whole movie, and Herzog calmly told him he’d shoot him eight times, then himself with the ninth bullet.
RE: Fact #41 (Putumayo Genocide by Rubber Company) – Communism’s supposedly got a huge death toll, but nobody seems to track that for capitalism.
Maybe those radium girls should’ve looked for safer work, or even tried starting their own thing.
RE: Fact #50 (Lou Gehrig’s Late Independence) – If that data’s correct, Gehrig pulled in $25,000 a year between 25 and 30—that’s like $470,000 to $615,000 today.
That’s chump change compared to today’s MLB salaries, but still a boatload of cash.
He probably lived at home because he liked it or maybe his parents appreciated the extra help.
I’ve got a good job and a college degree, but I’m living at home – it’s my choice, not because I have to. I pay my own way, they don’t chip in. We have a great relationship though, and it works really well for us. Sometimes, that’s just how things are.
Inflation’s crazy, right? Seriously, check how much things cost over time – it’s wild. Making $100k in 2000? You’d need almost $200k now to keep up. That’s double in just 25 years!
RE: Fact #2 (Caffeine Overdose Tragedy in 2017) – He was healthy, but maybe his heart was a bit more prone to problems, and the caffeine might have triggered one. You see it happen – young athletes collapsing during games.
Schools really need those AEDs. This kid might’ve lived if someone had done CPR and used one right away.
It’s good to hear so many places have AEDs now. That wasn’t true back when I was in school, but that was ages ago!
Even without an AED, starting CPR ASAP is huge. It keeps blood flowing to the heart and brain, giving the AED or paramedics a better shot at saving them when they arrive.
My cousin’s super sensitive to caffeine – even a little bit makes them feel awful, like a racing heart. Multiple caffeinated drinks are completely out of the question! It’s a real bummer.
This usually only happens if there’s a heart problem running in the family or something. A coffee, soda, and energy drink aren’t usually a big deal.
Some people are more prone to heart flutters, but even then it’s rarely serious. Still, some people are just unlucky, even if they’re perfectly healthy.
Caffeine isn’t exactly harmless.
Wow, it takes a crazy amount of caffeine to actually kill someone. Like, a healthy person would have to drink tons of energy drinks to even get close to a dangerous level. It’s more like, one energy drink for every kilogram you weigh. A small woman would need to chug a ton of them in one day to get to a lethal dose. You’d have to be really reckless with pure caffeine powder to get yourself into that kind of trouble.
Been a teacher for ten years now, and every school’s had tons of AEDs hanging around, just like fire extinguishers. Seems like we’re always ready for something bad to happen.
RE: Fact #42 (Palahniuk’s “Lullaby” and Personal Grief) – This reminds me of a Palahniuk radio interview. One host mentioned a banned topics list. Palahniuk didn’t know about it, asked to see it, and went down the list on air, saying things like, “Yeah, my dad was murdered…yeah, the guy’s on death row…yeah, I’m gay, and yeah, I don’t like talking about it…”
That’s pretty neat that he went through the whole list—a really unusual radio interview! No dumb questions like “Where’d you get your ideas?”, “Why writing?”, “Know Brad Pitt?”, or “Is Edward Norton a diva?”. And now, he can always point to that KFUK interview if anyone asks the same old stuff again.
RE: Fact #25 (St. Lawrence’s Defiant Last Words) – Nope, he wasn’t. Probably didn’t get roasted at all.
The Wikipedia article even suggests it was probably a mistake in how they wrote down his death story, leading people to think he was roasted.
RE: Fact #44 (British Develop Silent WWII Pistol) – Another cool thing: the mag *is* the grip! Check out Forgotten Weapons’ video on it – it’s awesome.
RE: Fact #35 (Supermarket Psychology Unveiled) – Milk’s usually kept in the back, straight from the delivery truck to the fridge. They’ve got a giant walk-in cooler to keep everything cold. It’d be a pain to keep refilling a small cooler up front.
It could be either one.
My old boss at Jewel-Osco? First thing he told me was that milk and bread are way in the back – makes people walk past everything else.
RE: Fact #37 (Yankees’ Unusual Family Trade) – Even dogs? Like, that’s the weirdest bit?
RE: Fact #46 (Record Benadryl Overdose Tragedy) – That’s 300 regular 25 milligram pills.
That’s a lot
RE: Fact #5 (Rare Genetic Case Discovered in 1995) – So, short version: His body’s cells show his dad’s DNA, except for his blood cells.
Seriously, how’d they even pull that off? That’s awesome!
So, chimeras have two types of DNA, right? Like, one organ might have one DNA, and another a totally different one. I remember this crazy case – a woman got nailed for welfare fraud because her baby’s DNA didn’t match hers. It turned out her blood and ovaries had different DNA because she was a chimera. The baby’s DNA was from her ovaries, so it didn’t match her blood – it was like the kid was her sister’s, even though she was her own sister, biologically speaking.
So, I’m a chimera. The affected parts of my skin look different because of a random mutation when I was just forming. It means I have patches without hair, sweat glands, or color, and I’m missing some teeth and have weirdly shaped blood cells. The weird skin thing is neat ’cause it shows up as these Blaschko lines. Took doctors over two decades to figure it all out.
Seriously, the officials were so arrogant. She’d just had a baby, and they snatched it away! Didn’t anyone think, “Hey, maybe our methods aren’t perfect? Shouldn’t we check things out before we cause this kind of trauma?”
RE: Fact #30 (Borzoi Dogs’ Historical Exclusivity) – Don’t hurt Big Snoot!
RE: Fact #29 (“Fantasia” Evolved from Short Film) – I was totally hooked on that movie as a kid. I told my mom it felt like I was *in* the music. I really, really wanted to be a centaur.
RE: Fact #25 (St. Lawrence’s Defiant Last Words) – Totally roasted.
Nope, grilled.
RE: Fact #21 (Titanic Survivors Expelled in 24 Hours) – So, think about this: if you were shipwrecked today, the country you landed in wouldn’t just give you citizenship. They’d send you home. These Chinese survivors weren’t even trying to move to the US. While asylum might be an option now, most would probably just want to go back to their lives.
This story’s unusual because:
1) They were sent away super fast.
2) Back then, the US was the only country that *didn’t* automatically accept everyone—except, weirdly, they didn’t accept these Chinese people.
3) The news totally made up lies about them being stowaways.
Thanks
I don’t get why the US ignored those Titanic passenger visas. They were heading to New York, so those folks planned to stick around for a while, even if they weren’t moving there permanently. It’s terrible PR and a really weird call.
It’s like what FDR did, refusing that boat of Jewish refugees—sent them straight to their deaths.
They didn’t have visas, because the US wasn’t issuing them back in 1912. Their plan was to stop in New York, then catch a boat to the Caribbean without actually going into the country.
So, by 1912, the US had shut the door on anarchists, poor folks, people with disabilities, and those with contagious diseases. Plus, they had a quiet deal with Japan to keep Japanese immigrants out. But it’s important to remember that the Chinese were the only group ever officially banned by law.
We still have that, right? And people with contagious diseases, too.
RE: Fact #31 (Changing Marriage Trends Post-WWII) – I learned about this in my sociology class. That was the youngest people ever got married. Even back in the Middle Ages, people usually had to finish their apprenticeships or wait to inherit land before they could marry.
Wow, the whole class was on *that*? Pretty specific, but cool!
Nah, it was probably about social norms and how families fit into all that.
Marriage and Family class was awesome! We talked about different kinds of families, traditional ideas about families, gender roles, and the legal battles over interracial and gay marriage.
RE: Fact #27 (Understanding ‘Normalcy Bias’) – Back in college, I heard about this crazy experiment. They filled a room with smoke, and nobody said a thing because they were all too scared to be the one to speak up.
So now, if I see something weird, I always stop and ask everyone else if they think it’s weird too. It’s easy to get caught up in a room full of strangers and not want to stand out. Screw that. Be the one to say, “Hey, is anyone else seeing X? Is that normal?”
Most of the time, it’s nothing. But sometimes, you can prevent a real problem. Don’t be afraid to speak up if something seems off. If you see something, say something.
RE: Fact #27 (Understanding ‘Normalcy Bias’) – I’ve come to think that in a real emergency, you gotta be a bit of a jerk, at least by normal standards. Think about that cop on 9/11 in the Twin Towers – “Who the hell are you? Get out of here!” That saved someone’s life. Or that guy on a burning oil rig who ignored the rules and jumped – he lived. It’s tough to break away from what you’ve always been taught. Real life doesn’t have a dramatic soundtrack to tell you when you’re in trouble.
It’s like that water rescue training where a panicking person tries to pull you under. So you give ’em a little tap on the nose, then save them.
Back then, Red Cross taught a move where you’d grab the person’s head and hip, then flip them over to throw them off balance. Lifeguards loved practicing that on each other!
RE: Fact #33 (Gillian Anderson’s Iconic Role) – That show would’ve bombed fast.
RE: Fact #20 (Japan’s Garbage-to-Land Initiative) – Disney Tokyo? Believe it or not, they built that whole thing on top of a filled-in garbage dump.
RE: Fact #7 (Tony Todd’s Improvised Farewell) – His voice was gravelly, but in a totally awesome way.
RE: Fact #45 (Low Ball Coins: Worn Yet Valuable) – My dad kept a Kennedy half-dollar in his pocket for ages, and the faces are practically rubbed away.
RE: Fact #39 (Miracle Flights Exposed) – Some people can manage short walks but not long ones, like across a whole airport. My mom’s like that – she’s fine for a little bit, but longer distances really hurt her leg. So, last time we flew, she used a wheelchair to the gate, but she got off the plane herself just fine.
I’m getting my fourth spinal fusion – yay! Some days are great, others are pure misery.
Don’t assume anything about disabled people – we’re all different.
A few months ago, I parked in a disabled spot, showed my placard, and went shopping. When I came out, some woman told me I didn’t *look* disabled. I’ve heard that so many times, I just tell them, “Well, you don’t look like an idiot, but here we are.”
I wasn’t bummed about needing a cane, it actually cut down on a lot of crap. Except this one time, I was wearing a shirt that said “THE FUTURE IS ACCESSIBLE”, using my cane, and this lady at the mattress store totally blew me off. I was asking about mattresses because I’m in bed so much, and she wouldn’t listen! I finally had to say, “You know I’m disabled, right?” She grinned and said, “Oh, but you don’t *look* disabled!” Seriously, some able-bodied people… 🙄
My folks are the same. Disabilities aren’t always obvious, you know? I’m thinking about surgery, but my doc gave me ways to manage things for a bit, so I can put it off. The thing is, some days I can walk for ages, others I can barely stand. I look fine, so people sometimes get annoyed when I sit down, even if I’m really hurting.
People are so quick to judge others’ disabilities and injuries without knowing the facts.
RE: Fact #20 (Japan’s Garbage-to-Land Initiative) – I call that Ikebukuro incinerator the “Ikebukuro Femur Breaking Tower”—it’s huge, scary, and awesome!
RE: Fact #50 (Lou Gehrig’s Late Independence) – Crazy, huh? Lou Gehrig dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
RE: Fact #13 (Tragic Fall of French Prince) – Real gangsters don’t rat.
RE: Fact #28 (Simpsons Episode Pulled Post-Documentary) – I bet we’d lose a ton of episodes if they dropped every show with a cast member accused of being a creep.
I used to love watching old wrestling matches. You’d miss tons of them if you tried that now.
Man, it sucks that so many wrestlers from the 80s and 90s are gone.
RE: Fact #42 (Palahniuk’s “Lullaby” and Personal Grief) – That book was awesome.
RE: Fact #34 (Lisbon Ripper’s Reality Show Connection) – They didn’t pick his application for the show. But, I read on Wikipedia that one guy on that Secret Story season, Paulo, his secret was that he’d killed someone.
The secrets people share are wild: kidnapping and cult exploitation, weird crushes, seeing ghosts, and spouses hiding in the house.
Teresa Guilherme hosted Secret Story back then, by the way. I had to check.
RE: Fact #16 (Good Conduct Medal Criteria) – We nicknamed it the “got away with it” ribbon.
Six years and still nothing.
Then you got the New Jersey State Police.
Yeah, I got mine about three weeks late, but they did a group ceremony once a month. So I got my award after I got busted—it was pretty funny.
RE: Fact #8 (“Little Shop of Horrors” Original Ending) – So, that’s how the musical actually ends. I think the reason it works on stage but not in a movie is because plays and musicals have curtain calls – the ending isn’t totally final. Movies don’t have that same feeling of closure.
Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene are so darn likable as Seymour and Audrey, it’s hard to watch them kick the bucket. I love the stage show – its ending works better – but I really wanted them to live in the movie! A compromise would’ve been awesome: Seymour and Audrey escaping, but the plants still taking over. Picture this: them in their little house, watching the invasion on TV. That would’ve been perfect.
That’d be a great way to wrap things up.
RE: Fact #32 (French Physicist’s Sark Invasion) – Sark was Europe’s last feudal holdout, until they gave it up in 2006. Plus, the Nazis took over during World War II.
So, it was 2008, and it wasn’t really abandoned, more like the Barclay brothers, those billionaire twins, muscled their way in. They wanted control, and apparently used their ownership of nearby Brecqhou Island to do it. They’re not exactly popular on Sark.
Sark might be the only place people actually want to go back to feudalism.
RE: Fact #36 (Largest Espionage Leak in US Navy) – I was at the antisubmarine warfare training center when their trial happened. It turned out they were showing off the very tech I was learning to use. I kept up with the whole thing.
RE: Fact #44 (British Develop Silent WWII Pistol) – I heard about these on The Spy Who podcast – it’s awesome, by the way. Turns out it’s spelled Welrod, not “Wellroth” like I thought.
So, I just learned it’s actually spelled Welrod. They named it that because the SOE’s experimental station IX, based in a hotel called The Frythe in Welwyn, developed it. They also had a Welbike, Welgun, Welboat, Welman, Welfreighter – the whole shebang! I visited about 20 years ago; lots of big trees, Wellingtonias I think, which seemed fitting.
RE: Fact #10 (Tragic Hayride Incident) – Hey kids, a piece of advice: Don’t ever, ever put anything like a rope or string around your neck. Things might get tough, but at least you won’t accidentally hang yourself.
Growing up, I was always told to wear a tie. I should have trusted my gut.
That’s why cops wear clip-on ties.
Seriously, another tip: don’t leave self-tightening knots lying around. It’s better to use a knot that doesn’t tighten when you pull it. This isn’t a situation where you win points for using the right kind of knot for a noose.
This is weird, but for people into breath play, a big safety thing—if they ignore the “don’t do it” advice—is to avoid using a hangman’s noose. They’re a pain to untie because they’re designed to be super tight. Get that around someone’s neck, and it could take too long to get off before things get really bad.
Lots of folks don’t realize there are special ways to tie these knots so they look real but are actually safe.
People usually don’t think about safety, they just assume what they see is how it is. But tons of work goes into making things that *look* dangerous actually be super safe.
But like you said, if something seems risky, just do it another way. Safety’s the most important thing, looks come second.
RE: Fact #48 (Pre-WWII German Tourism Program) – That fact made it click – it’s “Kraft” paper, not “craft” paper!
RE: Fact #21 (Titanic Survivors Expelled in 24 Hours) – A Chinese movie about them came out a few years back.
Indiana Jones was on that ship, according to the books!
Indians Jones books? Seriously?!
RE: Fact #15 (Feud on Fitzcarraldo Set) – It’s hilarious, because from what I’ve seen, Herzog seems like the chillest dude ever.
Klaus Kinski was a total nutcase, and Herzog was super chill. Their friendship must have been wild.
Herzog’s cool, but a little nuts, right? I mean, the whole thing was his brainchild – dragging a 320-ton steamboat through the Amazon! No normal director would’ve done that. They’d have used a smaller, cheaper boat, and definitely not in the Peruvian jungle. These days, it’d be all CGI.
RE: Fact #13 (Tragic Fall of French Prince) – Imagine spending your whole life with that secret – you killed a French prince, and if anyone ever found out, you’d be swinging from a rope. Your brother must have been relieved the prince died without anyone ever suspecting them.
RE: Fact #42 (Palahniuk’s “Lullaby” and Personal Grief) – Wow, I had no idea Rusty didn’t have a dad growing up. That makes a lot of sense.
RE: Fact #7 (Tony Todd’s Improvised Farewell) – A Wonderful Quote