1 Britannic’s Tragic Lifeboat Incident
In 1916, when the Britannic-the sister ship of the Titanic-struck a German mine near the Greek island of Kea and began to sink, chaos ensued. In the confusion, two lifeboats launched without authorization were tragically drawn into the ship’s rotating propellers.
2. In 1995, actor Pedro Pascal’s parents returned to Chile after his father, Dr. José Balmaceda, faced accusations in California of stealing fertility patients’ eggs and embryos and implanting them in other women without their consent. While the clinic closed and lawsuits followed, Dr. Balmaceda was never criminally charged and continued practicing medicine in South America.
3. In Ohio, authorities require convicted drunk drivers to use “Party Plates,” special red-on-yellow license plates, in exchange for limited driving privileges, such as commuting to work.
4. In June 2016 in White Settlement, Texas, city councilor Elzie Clements led a 2-to-1 vote to evict Browser, the library cat, arguing that “City Hall and city businesses are no place for animals” (the motion stemmed partly from allergies and a council worker’s puppy policy complaint). Browser had been adopted as a librarian in October 2010 and outlived Clements-who died in 2022-while Browser was still reported to be alive and on duty as of 2023.
5. Of the four students who passed their final exams in the department Einstein was in, Einstein received the lowest mark and was the only one not offered an assistant teaching position at their alma mater. After graduation, he struggled for two years to find teaching work until a friend helped him secure a job as a patent clerk.
6 Haru Urara’s Unlikely Fame
At a horse race held in 2004 in southwestern Japan, over 13,000 fans placed bets totaling ¥121,751,200 on Haru Urara-nicknamed the “shining star of losers everywhere”-in a bid to back her first win. Her popularity stemmed from her legendary 105 race consecutive losing streak, and many bettors saw wagering on her as a symbolic gesture-using betting tickets as good luck charms or souvenirs rather than expecting a realistic chance to win. Haru Urara finished 10th out of 11, marking her 106th consecutive loss.
7. In June 2024, while teaching swimming lessons in a private pool on Long Island, New York, lifeguard Maureen Cronin submerged her head underwater with contact lenses in-an error that exposed her eye to the amoeba Acanthamoeba, which thrives in untreated water and contaminated pools. Despite hospitalization and a cornea transplant attempt later that year, her right eye was irreparably damaged by Acanthamoeba keratitis, leaving her blind in that eye and prompting her to now raise awareness about the infection risks of wearing contacts in water.
8. The 23-year reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius is considered the most peaceful in Roman Empire history. There is no record of him leading any military action, and he likely never saw or commanded a Roman army or came within 500 miles of a legion during his reign.
9. The U.S. Air Force’s 100th Bomber Group was so unruly that during a 1943 training flight from Kearney Field in Nebraska to Hamilton Field in California, three B-17s landed in Las Vegas, and one pilot flew his B-17 to Tennessee to visit his wife. Their commander was subsequently fired.
10. In Europe, it is considered a ‘tropical night’ when the nighttime temperature does not fall below 20°C.
11 Prisoners’ Testicles Irradiated for Study
Between 1963 and 1973, leading U.S. endocrinologist Dr. Carl Heller, funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, conducted highly secret radiation experiments on 67 prisoners in Oregon and 60 in Washington to determine the doses required to induce sterility. He offered participants $5 per month and $100 upon completing a vasectomy to prevent potential “radiation induced mutants” from entering the population. Although the study aimed to understand reproductive risks relevant to astronauts and nuclear workers, the experiments remained classified at the time, yielded little follow up data on outcomes or harmful effects, and prisoners were not tracked after release.
12. During World War I, on November 11, 1918, the final shot from the U.S. Navy’s 14 inch/50 caliber railway gun was fired near the Allied lines on the Western Front in France, timed at 10:57:30?a.m. so that the shells would strike just before the 11?a.m. Armistice took effect. Operated as part of a mobile naval railway battery to target key German railway junctions far behind enemy lines, the firing had no specific tactical target at that exact moment-it was primarily a symbolic salvo to mark the end of hostilities.
13. Masanobu Tsuji, an Imperial Japanese WWII Army officer, earned the nickname “God of Strategy” for planning numerous campaigns. Despite being a known cannibal, he evaded war crime trials, briefly became a politician, collaborated with the CIA, and mysteriously disappeared in Laos in 1961.
14. During WWII, Japan developed crewed suicide torpedoes called Kaiten. Pilots steered these modified torpedoes into enemy ships, knowing there was no escape.
15. In 1945, authorities found a deaf Black teenager who was later nicknamed John Doe No. 24 wandering the streets of Jacksonville, Illinois. Unable to identify him, they placed him in various mental institutions until his death in 1993.
16 Prisoners Escape Using Master Key
In 1995, convicted murderers Daniel Luther Heiss and Shane Baker escaped from Berrimah Prison in Darwin, Australia, after Heiss noticed that the prisoners’ handbook cover featured a perfect image of the master key, and Baker-who had jewelry making tools in his cell-crafted a working copy. They slipped out by unlocking Heiss’s cell, freeing Baker, and scaling three razor wire fences. Baker was recaptured within a few days, but Heiss remained on the run for 12 days before being caught.
17. Employees working in U.S. movie theaters are exempt from federal overtime pay laws. The ‘Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938’ includes a clause that exempts employees “employed by an establishment which is a motion picture theater,” a rule that is still in place today.
18. Sir David Attenborough has more letters in his titles than in his name. His full title includes OM GSMG CH CVO CBE FRS FSA FRSA FZS FRSGS FRSB.
19. The father of 1950s American actress Jayne Mansfield died of a heart attack while she was in the car with him when she was just three years old. Tragically, her daughter Mariska Hargitay was also three when she survived the car crash that killed Mansfield.
20. After hearing her employer and lover claim that a woman couldn’t write an erotic novel, French writer Anne Desclos penned Story of O, a 1954 book exploring sadomasochistic submission and desire. The novel became a massive success but also provoked obscenity charges from the French government due to its explicit themes.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Sacred Deer of Nara, Japan
In Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, deer are considered sacred in Shintoism as messengers of the gods. For centuries, they have remained tame because humans do not hunt them. Visitors often buy “deer cookies” to feed these gentle creatures.
22. Contrary to myth, frogs will attempt to escape a slowly boiling pot. This popular misconception stems from 19th-century experiments in which researchers removed the frogs’ brains before boiling them.
23. Standing under a tree during a storm is the second leading cause of lightning strike fatalities.
24. By embracing a low-cost production model and accepting less money upfront, executive producers Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day received a “sizable ownership stake” in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” By 2011, after just seven seasons, their stake was already worth nearly $60 million.
25. Manhattan’s population density is now 40% lower than in 1910, when it peaked at 2.2 million. Today, the population is approximately 1.6 million.
RE: Fact #47 (Accidental Creation of Salton Sea) – That place got really well-known when Val Kilmer started doing meth there.
I had no idea that was even a movie, but that’s pretty much what that place has become, sadly. It used to be a resort town, but now it’s like a ghost town with a few meth trailers after everyone bailed.
RE: Fact #20 (Anne Desclos’ Erotic Novel Success) – The novel’s called The Story of O and it’s… you guessed it, enough to get charged with obscenity back in the day in France.
So, my dad had this book, right? I swiped it when I was a teen, but then gave it back ’cause it turned out to be way more intense than I thought.
RE: Fact #38 (Beatrice Muller’s Ocean Life) – So, get this, I actually bumped into another older lady who was living on a Princess cruise ship. She mentioned it was actually a better deal for her than assisted living in the long run, especially since she didn’t have family poking around and didn’t require any medical help. She had a tiny inside room and just a few things with her, and mostly just chilled on the ship when they were docked at different places.
Yeah, once you hit a certain age, cruises can be a really great deal, provided you’re cool with the chance of getting norovirus.
Sounds like a solid plan, getting meals, medical care, and help with cleaning all sorted. It’s definitely a much better option than assisted living or a nursing home.
You’re on the ship, and a good number of people know you, so they’ll keep an eye out. If you stick to a routine, the cruise director will likely send someone to check in on you. They hire really nice folks for those roles, and most of them genuinely enjoy what they do.
RE: Fact #21 (Sacred Deer of Nara, Japan) – Those deer can get pretty feisty, and you’ll see signs warning about their bites and general attitude. They tend to stick to specific areas in the park, so you won’t run into them constantly. If you just play it cool and act like you don’t have any food, they’ll usually leave you alone. Just show them you’ve got nothing by holding your hands out, and they’ll typically wander off. They seem to really like hanging out near the cookie carts and will sometimes try to swipe snacks from them.
Those deer trying to swipe cookies from the carts? That’s cracking me up! I’m totally adding that to my Japan trip plans now. Cheers, friend!
RE: Fact #48 (UK’s Pre-1872 Public Voting Records) – Back in the 1830s, folks called “The Chartists” were pushing for some pretty wild stuff. They wanted secret ballots, elections every year, electoral districts that matched population size, not land, any man, not just the wealthy, could be an MP, MPs should get paid so they’d actually focus on politics instead of just rushing through votes before heading back to the farm, and, get this, all men should be allowed to vote, not just the rich ones.
It was all considered so out-there back then that the Chartists actually got shot for it.
RE: Fact #38 (Beatrice Muller’s Ocean Life) – So, I bumped into this lady on this super fancy, like a 6-star, kind of exclusive cruise. This woman was literally sailing like 25 to 30 weeks a year! Her other place to stay was this high-end hotel, the Fairmont, in San Francisco. She even had her own “handlers” on the ship. It was this crew who’d greet her, escort her to and from meals, and basically make sure she was all set for whatever was happening, like a show or the casino. She always snagged a spot at the captain’s table and sometimes even invited other people to join her. She pretty much never got off the ship because, honestly, she’d seen it all a million times over. You could totally tell she was from serious old money.
Six stars? From how many? Do they just tack on more stars whenever some new boats show up?
RE: Fact #35 (Gander: Canine War Hero) – So, the actual award was the “Dickin Medal.”
His name is actually on a war memorial in Ottawa, right alongside the names of those brave guys and gals who didn’t make it back.
Pretty wild how I found this out! I was checking out some YouTube channel that covers, like, the most legendary deaths ever, and his story came up. Naturally, I had to dig deeper!
RE: Fact #42 (Hoover’s 1992 Flight Fiasco) – So, I snagged my girlfriend a Hoover for a hundred bucks for Christmas, and guess what? It totally worked out.
We ended up waiting forever on the phone for tickets or a call back, but it was totally worth it because we went to New York for this super cold December trip.
It was absolutely amazing.
We also had a night at the Tunnel – turns out we knew this producer dude, and David Morales was spinning tunes. He even watched our coats while we checked out the place.
Got tons of other cool memories from that city too.
Flew back home on Christmas Eve, and the British Airways crew basically just left the booze cart open for anyone who wanted a drink.
That was pretty wild month.
RE: Fact #36 (GPS Satellites’ Silent Broadcast) – Here’s the thing that’s super neat: those GPS satellites have atomic clocks that are spot-on, sending out their ID and the time. Your GPS gadget figures out how far it is from a few of these satellites, and bam – it knows exactly where you are on the planet.
So, because time’s ticking at a different speed for you depending on where you are on Earth and how gravity’s treating you, we’ve gotta use Einstein’s general and special relativity formulas to adjust for how time slows down.
Basically, the atomic clocks on the satellites are set to tick just a bit slower than the ones on Earth, taking into account how fast they’re moving. This stops all the clocks, including the ones back on Earth, from getting out of sync over time.
RE: Fact #32 (Buffett’s Billion-Dollar Triumph) – So, turns out Berkshire Hathaway hasn’t actually beaten the S&P 500 over the last two decades when you factor in reinvested dividends.
While Berkshire’s stock itself went up 604% and the S&P 500 gained 383% in the last 20 years, if you toss in those reinvested dividends, the S&P 500 actually jumped 616% – slightly edging out Berkshire Hathaway.
And then there’s the whole diversification thing to think about:
A big sticking point is how much Berkshire Hathaway is loaded up on Apple stock, making up a whopping 43.5% of their whole investment pie. For a ballpark, Apple only makes up around 6.6% of the S&P 500 index. So, if Apple starts to stumble and can’t wow the market in the coming years, it could really tank Berkshire Hathaway way more than the S&P 500. EDIT: As of March 2025, BH’s portfolio is 25.76% in AAPL.
Just a quick heads-up on the wording: Berkshire doesn’t actually own 25.76% of Apple. The $59,525,999,450 worth of Apple shares they have is 25.76% of Berkshire’s *entire* investment portfolio. They own a little over 2% of Apple’s total market cap.
RE: Fact #16 (Prisoners Escape Using Master Key) – So, are we going with this script or what?
Honestly, a movie about Eamon de Valera breaking out of prison sounds way cooler.
So, this guy Eamon de Valera, a big deal in Irish independence and even President of the provisional Irish Parliament, got locked up in England with other republican leaders. He was helping out in the prison chapel and managed to get a wax mold of the chaplain’s master key.
Now, a wax key isn’t exactly useful on its own, and they didn’t have anything to make a proper copy. So, de Valera sent a Christmas card to a friend. It had this super casual cartoon of him trying to open his cell with a giant key that, surprise, surprise, was the right size.
The key got made on the outside, but then they had to sneak it back into the prison. Get this: someone sent them a cake from the outside with the key baked right inside! They got the key, but it didn’t work. They actually got a few cakes with keys that didn’t work before someone finally sent them a blank key and a file inside a cake. With those, they could make their own key and boom, escape!
After that, de Valera went on to help Ireland get its independence. He also led a group that lost a civil war, but then he got back into politics, became the Prime Minister of the Irish Free State, brought in a new constitution, became the first Taoiseach, and later the third President of Ireland.
They were going overboard. Just give the guy the key blank and bake him a “happy first day of prison” cake.
And then he sent his sympathies to Nazi Germany when Hitler kicked the bucket.
There’s no way anyone would buy that, right? No one’s going to fall for a prison being that clueless, printing a copy of the master key right on a booklet everyone gets when they first arrive.
Could be funny, which makes the whole disbelief thing go away. Plus, it’d be totally 90s nostalgic. I can totally picture it working out.
RE: Fact #5 (Einstein’s Early Career Struggles) – Einstein actually did his most significant work while he was a patent clerk. Curious about how much patent clerks get paid?
RE: Fact #43 (Controversial 2010 FIFA World Cup Ball) – And then there’s Diego Forlan, who actually had the smarts to call up Adidas and ask them to send him the ball ahead of time so he could get used to it in the months leading up to the World Cup.
Turns out, he scored more goals than anyone else in the whole tournament with that ball.
Just to give you an idea, Messi and Ronaldo together only scored one goal between them during that World Cup, and those guys are considered the best ever to play the game.
Forlan, on the other hand, bagged 5.
Thomas Müller nailed it with 5 goals and 3 assists, making him the top scorer in the whole tournament. Total world-class player.
Man, that 2010 Germany team was amazing, right? Still, Spain was just unstoppable back then.
RE: Fact #6 (Haru Urara’s Unlikely Fame) – Such a shining star for all us losers. And then they don’t even lose, they end up second to last.
Couldn’t even manage to fail right…
Hey, so, it’s basically a total fail, like 8999 level bad.
RE: Fact #8 (Emperor Antoninus Pius’s Peaceful Reign) – As far as I remember, he also didn’t bother putting up any monuments, public baths, or theaters with his name on them. The only spots you’ll consistently see his name are on the mile markers along Roman roads, ’cause infrastructure was one of the few things he actually liked spending money on.
He totally built the Antonine Wall across Southern Scotland. Kinda wild how big it is, even though it was mostly wood.
Seriously, if my wood stretched all the way across southern Scotland, I’d totally want to show it off, modesty be darned.
RE: Fact #49 (Bagasse Powers Sugar Mills) – So, when they crush sugarcane stalks between those big wheels to get the sugar out – a super old but still common way to do it – they end up with a ton of bagasse, which is basically leftover waste. The real issue is the sugar that’s left behind in the stalks. In warm places, these piles of bagasse attract all sorts of critters like bugs, rats, and snakes, and they can also spread diseases.
Not too long ago, some Canadian development folks came up with this neat, simple machine. It slices the stalks open and scoops out pretty much all the remaining sugar. This makes the bagasse sterile, so you can safely burn it for power or chop it up to make building materials for houses.
Down in Brazil, they’ll juice sugarcane right on the street for ya, squeezing it between two rollers. It’s definitely something you gotta get used to, like, super sweet.
RE: Fact #18 (David Attenborough’s Impressive Titles) – That guy’s a legend. It’ll be a real shame for the UK when he’s gone.
RE: Fact #25 (Manhattan Population Decline) – Back in early 20th century New York, those tenement buildings were seriously packed! Like, huge families crammed into one room. Even though the buildings themselves were smaller back then, they somehow held way more people than they do now. The city’s not as crowded these days, and honestly, everyone’s living a lot better because of it.
RE: Fact #37 (Pardo’s Heroic Aerial Push) – So, if you push something hard enough, even a brick can take flight. The F-4 Phantom is a pretty good example of that.
The Saab 29, nicknamed “The Barrel,” is yet another example.
RE: Fact #11 (Prisoners’ Testicles Irradiated for Study) – I another experiment, kids at some places were given radioactive oatmeal, and get this, they didn’t even agree to it, and MIT and Quaker Oats were apparently in on it.
RE: Fact #30 (Gut’s Independent Nervous System) – So yeah, that’s the whole enteric nervous system thing – they even call it the “second brain.” It totally developed to take care of digestion all by itself. I mean, if our main brain had to keep tabs on every single gut reaction, it would be a total mess and super slow. What’s pretty mind-blowing is that like 90% of the communication between your gut and brain actually goes *from* the gut *to* the brain, not the other way around. No shocker then that our mood, how healthy we are, and even the choices we make can get a nudge from what’s happening in our stomach and intestines. Makes that “trust your gut” saying sound way more legit, huh?
“I should probably get to digesting stuff”
Try to digest your food before hitting the hay, kids, or you’ll end up super gassy.
It’s wilder than that. Some folks have guts that don’t work quite right and get all riled up. It can make them feel sick, ache, struggle to go, or have the opposite problem. Sometimes one thing is worse, but often it’s a mix-and-match situation. And get this, you can actually treat it with the standard meds they use for mental health stuff.
Think of it like giving your cat mood boosters, but the cat’s hanging out inside your belly. That’s pretty much the reality for tons of people dealing with irritable bowel syndrome.
My stomach’s a mess, honestly, and it’s kinda wild I’m still so sane. Guess my brain just rolled with it.
RE: Fact #36 (GPS Satellites’ Silent Broadcast) – Picture this: tons of satellites pinging the locations of billions of devices all at once. And yeah, your own device is doing a lot of that figuring out where things are.
RE: Fact #12 (US Navy’s Final WWI Salvo) – Why would you fire them at all?
During WWI, military leaders weren’t exactly known for being super careful with lives.
So, to get to the bottom of “why” it all kept going, back then nobody really knew this ceasefire would actually be the end of the whole thing. Even though the armistice kicked off on November 11, 1918, the actual peace treaty wasn’t signed until June 28, 1919 – a good six months after.
In those months between the armistice starting and the treaty being signed, there was a serious worry that the talks might fail and the war would just drag on. Some folks even thought that was probably going to happen. That’s precisely why the fighting didn’t stop right away – some of the bigwigs figured it would all fall apart in a week or two and they’d be back at war. So, they figured it was smarter to stay in the best possible spot, both for making deals and in case they had to start fighting again.
RE: Fact #7 (Amoeba Causes Lifeguard Blindness) – As an eye doctor, this is seriously my worst nightmare. Putting contact lenses in with water can totally lead to this. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the results are brutal.
So my dad somehow got something in his eye, and get this, he doesn’t even wear contacts or go near any water like tubs, pools, lakes, rivers, oceans, you name it.
He probably picked it up from the shower, is my best guess.
Hold up, wearing contacts in a hot tub? Seriously, you’re not even gonna duck your head under the water or anything?
Yeah, people do that. And I bet messing with your eyes with wet hands is probably risky too.
Ever wondered if this whole amoeba thing applies to daily disposables too? I mean, I figured the issue with the non-dailies is that the amoeba hangs out in the lens case and the solution doesn’t get rid of it, right?
RE: Fact #46 (Pakistani Family’s Unique Birthdays) – So, the husband, wife, and all seven of their kids were all born on the same day. And get this, they got married on that same day without even realizing it was each other’s birthday. And it wasn’t like they planned for any of the kids to share a birthday, it just happened? Wild! Seems like someone else pointed out how wild it was and convinced them to tell Guinness.
So, I’ve seen families over in Pakistan, right? They’ll have their babies at home or in these little hospitals. Then, later on, they’ll round up all the kids and go get their births registered all at once. They just pick a birthday for them, even if the kids were born in different years. Basically, the date on the birth certificate is often just whatever day the family gets around to registering them, with different birth years. Sometimes they just go with January 1st or August 1st because it’s easier or helps with stuff like getting into school. So, picture this: a family with five kids, or grandparents with a bunch of grandkids all hanging out, might go in one day to get passports or something, and BAM! All the kids suddenly have birthdays on that same day.
It also happens that whole families move to the US, and they end up making up new birthdays because their old papers got lost. And get this, a lot of times they’ll actually add years to their age so they can start getting retirement money sooner.
RE: Fact #27 (Ralph Lazo’s Remarkable WW2 Story) – Lazo told the LA Times, “Internment was immoral. It was wrong, and I couldn’t stand for it. These folks hadn’t done anything I hadn’t done, except for going to Japanese language school.”
Lazo went to school in the camp and also helped entertain kids whose parents had been forcibly moved to Manzanar, all these kids were orphans.
He sounds like a truly incredible and inspiring person.
And it wasn’t just when he was younger, either:
Lazo dedicated his career to teaching, including at LA Valley College, where he mentored students with disabilities and urged Latinos to go to college and make sure to vote.
RE: Fact #30 (Gut’s Independent Nervous System) – That’s like, only 0.1% of the brain’s neurons, if you’re curious.
RE: Fact #37 (Pardo’s Heroic Aerial Push) – Didn’t something like that go down in Korea? I’m trying to remember if John Glenn was involved.
Yeah, Robbie Risner shoved his wingman in an F-86. On the way back, Risner’s wingman, 1st Lt. Joseph Logan, got hit by anti-aircraft fire over Antung, right in his fuel tanks. Trying to help Logan get to Kimpo, Risner went for this crazy idea: have Logan turn off his engine and then Risner would stick the nose of his own jet into Logan’s tailpipe to push him. It was a totally new thing nobody had ever tried. The plan was to push Logan’s jet all the way to Cho Do, an island off the North Korean coast where the Air Force had a helicopter rescue team. But, fuel and hydraulic fluid started gushing from Logan’s damaged Sabre all over Risner’s windshield, blinding him, and the rough air kept yanking the two planes apart. Risner managed to reconnect and steer the dead plane out over the ocean, but the fluids were getting so bad they were about to choke out his own engine. Close to Cho Do, Logan bailed out, yelling to Risner, “I’ll see you at the base tonight.” Even though Logan landed near the shore and was a good swimmer, he got tangled in his parachute straps and drowned. Risner turned off his own engine to save fuel, but eventually his engine died anyway, and he had to glide it in for a landing at Kimpo.
RE: Fact #37 (Pardo’s Heroic Aerial Push) – So, Pardo and Aman both finished their time in the Air Force, retiring as lieutenant colonels. Later on, Pardo found out Aman was dealing with Lou Gehrig’s disease and had lost his voice and the ability to move. Pardo then set up the Earl Aman Foundation, which managed to collect enough funds to get Aman a voice synthesizer, a motorized wheelchair, and a computer. After that, the foundation and the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association teamed up to raise money for a van, which Aman used to get around until he passed away.
That whole flying move was even featured in an episode of JAG called “True Callings.” The show’s credits actually gave Pardo a shout-out for being so brave and clever.
Earl Aman passed away on October 15, 1998.
Bob Pardo died on December 5, 2023.
What a legend.
RE: Fact #22 (Frogs Escape Boiling Water) – Ha. Look how clueless frogs are. Those little guys won’t even bounce out of a boiling pot.
Sir, what happened to its brain?
I took it out, obviously. I was just trying to show how dim frogs are.
Right. That totally tracks. Hey, on a different topic, did you take your meds today, sir?
RE: Fact #33 (Dorothy Molter’s Remote Retreat) – Back when I was a Boy Scout, we took a canoe trip to the Minnesota boundary waters. We checked out that spot, and I can still picture the root beer. We even left a paddle we all signed there.
RE: Fact #44 (Pope Julius II Leads Siege) – How wild would it be if your boss, who also happens to be the Pope, stepped in and took over your gig ’cause you’re screwing it up? That’s epic.
RE: Fact #25 (Manhattan Population Decline) – And that’s not even counting all the horses that were hanging around back in 1910.
Seriously, there was poop all over the place. And it’s not just from the horses! We’re pretty lucky we’ve got indoor plumbing, honestly.
Phew, can you picture summer, especially with this crazy heat we’re stuck in right now?
That smell must’ve been wild.
RE: Fact #39 (Alaska’s Unexpected Acquisition) – So, Russia basically knew they were toast and couldn’t hold onto the place, right? The big deal is, they figured they’d lose it anyway, so might as well grab some cash and stick it to the Brits.
Something similar went down with that little island, Helgoland, near Germany. It was a super popular spot for smugglers back when Napoleon was around, but the English figured out it’d be an easy pickings if the Germans ever decided to make a move. So, they sold it off to stay one step ahead of what was bound to happen.
Wasn’t it Zanzibar they swapped it for?
So, how do I go about playing civilization?
Things get dicey real quick when Gandhi goes nuclear on you.
RE: Fact #4 (Librarian Cat Outlasts Councilor) – Library cats are apparently awesome luck! There was this other cat, Dewey Readmore Books, in Spencer, Iowa, who hung out at the library for 19 years and even got a book written about him.
Actually…there’s TWO books on Dewey Readmore Books
RE: Fact #9 (Disciplinary Issues in 100th Bomber Group) – My great-uncle was a radio guy on a B-24, and he mentioned that during their training flights, the pilot would sometimes have “engine trouble” and land at an airport close to his wife. The rest of the crew didn’t care, they’d just hit up the local bar for a beer.
Then, a few hours later, the “engine trouble” would magically clear up and they’d head back to base.
Later in the war, after my great-uncle switched crews, he found out that the pilot and a few other guys from that same bomber went on a mission over New Guinea and never made it back.
My dad’s got a pretty wild story from back in the day, too. In the 2000s, he was a flight surgeon, which was basically a sweet gig where he got free flights to cool places on military planes. This was all so he could keep up with flying rules while Uncle Sam paid for his med school.
One time he was in Italy, and thanks to some messed-up assumptions and language mix-ups, he ended up crashing a super top-secret NATO briefing that he totally shouldn’t have been at.
Not exactly earth-shattering, but I guess stuff like that still goes down these days. 🙂
EDIT: He also has some funny tales from when he was an Air Force Captain doing his medical internship at a Navy hospital, way back before Canada got its act together and unified all the military branches. Back then, when things were arranged by phone or email, they’d hear “Captain Dad” and assume he was Navy, so he ended up getting tons of freebies, fancy rides, and stayed in swanky hotels.
I heard a similar story from someone who was an Army Captain stationed on a Navy base. He needed to get some dental work done while he was there, and the dental office had the whole place spotless and super organized because they were expecting a full Captain. Naturally, he walks in wearing his two captain’s bars on his jacket, and everyone was like, “….Ohhhh”
It’s wild to think about how young these guys were as I get older. I recall reading one account where a guy, after foolishly signing up to be a gunner in a bomber squadron, learned to just keep to himself and not get too close to people, because so many of his buddies just never made it back.
One of my dad’s old bosses was a bombardier on B24s. He was actually on the bombing raid over Potosi. Apparently, he had a panic attack on the flight home and then, after the war, he never set foot on a plane again.
My flight instructor was a WWII bomber pilot, and honestly, he was the most chill dude I’ve ever met. During one of my epic screwups in the air, he just casually glanced over and said, “You know, I got shot down twice during the war, and I gotta be real, you scare me more.” We both had a good laugh about it, naturally. Years down the line, I read up on how many bombers never made it back, and it really made me think about everything he must have gone through.
RE: Fact #32 (Buffett’s Billion-Dollar Triumph) – Lots of folks get wrong what Warren Buffett actually does.
He’s not just picking stocks hoping they’ll skyrocket or plummet, buying cheap and selling fast. Honestly, Buffett himself admits that’s not the best game plan. You can’t consistently guess the market’s moves without a little insider intel.
Think of him more as a business overhaul guy. He prefers to buy a big chunk of a company and then fix up how it’s run.
Take Geico, for instance. Back in ’76, the company was a mess. Their stock tanked from $42 to $5 a share, and the insurance industry had to step in to rescue them. A bunch of their competitors, like 45 of them, took over a lot of policies they couldn’t handle themselves.
Berkshire Hathaway swooped in and grabbed a third of Geico’s voting shares. And Buffett backed his guy for CEO, John J. Byrne. Byrne then totally revamped the company, making Buffett a huge profit.
Buffett isn’t playing the day-to-day market game. Instead, he found a company in a jam, fixed its management, and brought it back to life.
In the 1980 shareholder letter, Buffett laid out why he invested in Geico. He believed the company’s core was solid, with a good business plan, but bad management had landed it in trouble. Buffett famously described the issue as a “localized excisable cancer” – cut out the bad parts, and the rest was good to go.
Totally get where you’re coming from, but there’s a bit more to it. Buffett’s knack is for spotting businesses in a rough spot and figuring out what’s causing the trouble, then injecting cash to sort it out.
I was at a place that had been saddled with a heap of debt by a private equity outfit that bought it from the first owners. It was a solid company, but that debt made it impossible to keep up with smart investments. So, Berkshire Hathaway swooped in, cleared the debt, and helped the business get back on its feet.
Sometimes it’s about the debt, sometimes it’s about the people in charge. But for us, none of the top bosses bailed after the buyout.
Private equity really needs to answer for a bunch of the mess going on in this country.
That Geico example is like, 50 years old and not really relevant anymore. Even if Berkshire does still fix up struggling companies, it’s probably only a really small part of what they own.
These days, Berkshire is all about snagging super well-run companies using the money they make from insurance.
RE: Fact #9 (Disciplinary Issues in 100th Bomber Group) – So, my great uncle was training to fly a B17, right? He and his crew decided to have a blast partying in NYC before heading out. Well, the MPs nabbed them, he got busted down a rank, and wound up as a tailgunner. Then, he got shot down over Italy. Talk about a bad call.
His son, though, totally missed the memo or got it all twisted. To dodge getting sent to Vietnam, his big idea was to just keep racking up training. He was in special forces and trained to fly helicopters. Then, he and his buddies pulled the same stunt – a joy ride and party in Dallas for the night. MPs caught them right after they landed. They didn’t court-martial him, but they did tell him he was grounded for good and shipped him off to Vietnam.
RE: Fact #21 (Sacred Deer of Nara, Japan) – So I gave my kids some cookies to give to the deer over there. The deer, seeing my kids weren’t exactly the toughest or biggest, totally mobbed them. My kids basically freaked out and handed over the cookies super fast.
Then this cool older Japanese guy came over and showed them the right way to do it. Like, making the deer bow three times. It was seriously awesome.
I’m pretty familiar with goats, honestly. They all act pretty much the same. It was kinda hilarious watching those Japanese tourists totally lose it and bolt when they got mobbed.
I swear they were acting like my cat with treats, just way more intense. One got a little too pushy, and without thinking, I told it “No” in that serious voice I use with my cat, and it actually worked! The deer just froze.
That’s great! Yeah, deer can be a real pain.
Every scammer spots a mark pretty easily, and it’s not just people who do that.
RE: Fact #4 (Librarian Cat Outlasts Councilor) – So, Mayor Ron White said that whole thing about getting rid of Browser? Apparently, it’s all because some city hall employee wasn’t allowed to bring their puppy to work.
Wasn’t he booked for being sloshed in public? His kid, Tater Tot, who goes by Poot, isn’t much better either.
Honestly, he was trying to get wasted at a bar, but they booted him out into the general public!
RE: Fact #27 (Ralph Lazo’s Remarkable WW2 Story) – Crazy, but this Ralph Lazo guy was the only white dude who wasn’t married to a Japanese person that decided to bunk up in the Japanese-American internment camps back in WWII. After that, he actually dipped out to join the US Army and fight against the Japanese military in the Philippines, even snagging a Bronze Star Medal.
Turns out, he was Mexican-American and went into the Manzanar camp when he was just 17 to stand with his Japanese-American buddies.
The wiki says Irish, Mexican, and American.
Still, he’s a pretty cool guy.
RE: Fact #29 (Remarkable BAC Survival in 1995) – So, I was dealing with alcoholism for ages, and if I remember right, the last time I ended up in the ER, my blood alcohol level was a crazy .42. They straight-up told me I was flirting with death.
I’m at .37. Can’t recall the ER visit or the four days after in detox. Been sober for over two years now.
RE: Fact #39 (Alaska’s Unexpected Acquisition) – Think about how different things would be if Russia still had Alaska, right there on North America. If a war kicked off, they wouldn’t even need to do a naval invasion, and it would have totally shaken up history.
RE: Fact #45 (Dental Requirement for CCC) – Back in the day, to sign up for the army during the Civil War, you needed to have two teeth that were pretty much right across from each other. This was so you could bite open those shot pouches for the muzzleloading shotguns.
Rifle, not shotgun.
Having a few missing fingers wasn’t ideal, but you absolutely had to have a thumb and your right index finger.
Old Pinky totally kicked the bucket from leprosy ages ago. Ringy got screwed in the divorce! But I’m all set to take down those traitors if you need me to, Colonel!
RE: Fact #46 (Pakistani Family’s Unique Birthdays) – They must be saving a bundle on party expenses.
From the looks on their faces in that pic, I doubt they’re celebrating anything.
RE: Fact #15 (John Doe No. 24’s Silent Journey) – So, in that book, ‘God Knows His Name,’ there are some cool hints about his younger days. He’d act out stories about popping open beer kegs, riding shotgun in a semi and honking the horn, and visiting the zoo to pretend he was different animals and clowns he wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Maybe he had some learning challenges, but his IQ wasn’t as low as people guessed, and he actually picked up a fair bit of sign language throughout his life.
My hunch is his family ditched him in Jacksonville one day – they probably weren’t from around there, or someone might have spotted him.
Even though 1945 was ages ago, seriously, drop me anywhere but Jax. Living here and getting around? It’s a total dump.
Seriously, the sheer number of dance crews, legit DJ talent, and folks chucking Molotov cocktails while yelling Bortles is just out of control. And while we could point fingers at whatever they taught them at Lynyrd Skynyrd High, that’s only going to get us so far, right?
Pretty neat how he could mime all that, right? Makes you wonder if he just wasn’t all that keen on heading back to his old life.
So, the book’s saying that the folks at these places he was at were trying to get him to explain what went down, but they just couldn’t get what he was saying. Turns out, his word-hoard was pretty much just what they’d drilled into him, and maybe the whole idea was just too much to grasp. They apparently taught him simple words for stuff and actions, like “flower,” “wash,” and “food.”
RE: Fact #49 (Bagasse Powers Sugar Mills) – So I was checking out this documentary about a sugar cane place, and they totally used the stalks too. They weren’t making power with them or anything, but they’d burn them under the big pots to boil down the juice for sugar.
When I was a kid, there was this huge Tropicana orange juice place in Apopka, Florida, and they actually burned the orange peels to power their pasteurization. For about half the town, it smelled like someone was baking this massive orange cake. It was such a great smell.
RE: Fact #10 (European Tropical Night Definition) – Who’d go for tropical nights when you can have ecuatorian nights?
So, my mom and grandma are kind of like you. Back when I was five and feeling really ill, all shaky and stuff, they bundled me up real warm, just how they’d want to be treated, I guess. I actually passed out and had a seizure from the heat, ended up in the hospital for days. I’m not sure if it all started then, but now I’m super sensitive to heat. I had to ditch France for Iceland just to feel okay, you know? I really can’t handle jobs where I feel sick half the year from the temperature.
RE: Fact #29 (Remarkable BAC Survival in 1995) – So the first time I hit up detox, I actually got tanked beforehand.
My blood alcohol was a .29, and I was already starting to feel the withdrawal kicking in. It really got me thinking about what my usual blood alcohol level was. I bet I was just walking around with a .3 to .4 every single day, just to feel normal.
Alcohol tolerance is insane, seriously. I was going through a half-gallon of whiskey daily, minimum. Some days, I’d finish off two. I wasn’t even messy or passing out, I was just… functioning like that.
RE: Fact #34 (Male Fashion’s Great Renunciation) – This claim goes way back to the 1930s, and it doesn’t even touch on why we see the same kinds of patterns in societies outside of Europe. So, I’d be a bit skeptical about it.
Think of it like this: with industrialization, America’s culture started spreading everywhere, and instead of getting custom-made clothes, everything became mass-produced.
The US wasn’t really making much fabric, just the cotton. That’s pretty much French imperialism at play.
RE: Fact #29 (Remarkable BAC Survival in 1995) – So, the absolute highest blood alcohol level someone’s ever survived isn’t super clear-cut.
Guinness World Records mentions a Polish guy in 2013 who lived through a BAC of 1.374%, but honestly, there are at least two other legit stories of people surviving even higher levels:
Back in 1995, another Polish guy crashed his car and tested at a whopping 1.48% BAC, confirmed by five separate tests. Sadly, he didn’t make it a few days later because of the crash injuries.
Then, in 1984, a 30-year-old guy pulled through a 1.5% BAC thanks to some serious medical attention.
Here’s another one worth mentioning:
In 1982, a 24-year-old woman ended up in the UCLA ER with a BAC of 1.33%. What’s wild is that, unlike the others, she was actually awake and knew where she was and who she was.
This next story is interesting, but it’s not quite as solid:
In 2010, a guy in South Africa supposedly had a BAC of 1.6% when he got pulled over. Get this, the van he was driving also had 15 stolen sheep, 5 boys, and a woman inside.
In the US, drinks with more than 0.5% alcohol are only for people 21 and up, and a few places like Colorado cap grocery store beer at 1.5% alcohol. So, you could actually get a little tipsy drinking that guy’s blood if you downed it fast. His blood was basically like weak beer. I remember hearing a detective talk about how when they’re dealing with a drunk person who’s been shot or stabbed, you can actually smell the alcohol in their blood if it’s still fresh.
It’s wild that half the folks holding those highest BAC world records were behind the wheel. Seriously though, don’t drink and drive, people.
So, they caught a light van with what they reckon was 15 stolen sheep, 5 boys, and a woman inside? And the sheep and kids got nabbed too?
Yeah, it was super irresponsible of them to let that guy drive when he was like that.
RE: Fact #19 (Tragic Coincidence in Mansfield Family) – So, Mariska and her brothers made it out okay in the back, but Jayne, who was driving, and the two dogs up front, sadly didn’t survive. They all passed from severe head injuries after crashing into the back of a semi trailer. Now, all those big trailer trucks across the US have to have this thing called a “Mansfield bar” on them.
RE: Fact #31 (Pausanias’ Dramatic Downfall) – This sad story got made into a Thomas the Tank Engine episode.
So, basically, they pulled a Poe on a train ’cause it was being stubborn about leaving a tunnel. And get this, Ringo Starr totally backs this whole crazy thing.
RE: Fact #18 (David Attenborough’s Impressive Titles) – OM: This award’s for folks who’ve done amazing things for arts, learning, books, and science – totally applies to Attenborough.
GSMG: Attenborough got this for his work in other countries or dealing with international stuff.
CH: You get this if you’ve made a big impact in arts, science, medicine, or government for a long time. They only let 65 people in at once.
CVO: This is for people who’ve served the British monarch really well, which Attenborough has, especially with his conservation efforts.
CBE: This is the third out of five levels of the Order of the British Empire, recognizing contributions to arts, science, charity, and public service. On top of these, the broadcaster’s also gotten a bunch of thank-you notes for helping out different groups.
FRS: Attenborough earned this from the Royal Society after they reviewed his scientific work and saw how excellent he is.
FSA: He’s part of a charity that helps people understand human history better.
FRSA: This is for people who are making a difference, helping “people, places, and the planet to flourish.”
FLS: He’s a member of the oldest biological society still around.
FZS: This is a charity focused on bringing back wildlife by protecting important species, fixing up ecosystems, and helping people and animals coexist.
FRSGS: Attenborough has an honorary title from this group that’s all about geography and understanding how people, places, and the planet connect.
FRSB: He also holds an honorary fellowship from this society for his outstanding service and influence in biology and life sciences.
Recently, Attenborough made headlines when he honored Queen Elizabeth II by planting a tree for The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
RE: Fact #13 (Masanobu Tsuji: Vanished War Strategist) – So, about that whole cannibalism thing with Tsuji – back in mid-1944, they shipped him off to Burma. The Japanese forces had already taken a hit at Imphal, and Tsuji ended up with the 33rd Army, which was up against the Chinese in northeastern Burma. He was a pretty driven and sharp planner, though people thought he was a real hotshot. There’s this story where he supposedly calmed down his troops during a tough spot by casually taking a bath right out in the open under enemy fire. Anyway, while he was in Burma, he got into cannibalism. He apparently ate the raw liver of some British or American airman he’d captured. His justification? He said, “The more we eat, the more we’ll be filled with a fighting spirit against the enemy.”
RE: Fact #16 (Prisoners Escape Using Master Key) – The key in the prisoners’ info book was the master key to the whole prison. Man, I really hope whoever messed that up got canned.
“So, what should we stick in the booklet, boss?”
“Good question, what’ve we got? Bars on windows? Cigarettes, a lighter, a pen… Here, take this key, just trace it, call it ‘key to rehabilitation’, it’s super popular right now.”
Seriously, I can’t picture anyone thinking “What should go on this cover… the master key, of course!” or even “I bet that key photo isn’t just some random stock pic, but the actual master key.”
Back in the day, before we could just grab stock photos, they likely just made a copy of the real key.
Could’ve just used a boat key or even a broom closet key, but nope, they went with the master key.
RE: Fact #50 (First Spoken Words in Film) – There’s this other bit later on where Jolson’s playing the piano for his mom, and his rabbi dad walks in. He yells “STOP!” and bam, the movie goes back to being a normal silent film. Pretty mind-bending for 1927, right?
The sound quality is really great, especially since they went from not talking at all to talking nonstop so fast.
So, the tech for the sound wasn’t exactly cutting-edge. Instead of the audio being part of the movie, they sent it out with a record you had to play at the same time as the film. And I’m pretty sure they must’ve digitally cleaned up the sound for that bit, ’cause 90-year-old records aren’t exactly known for sounding great.
RE: Fact #3 (Ohio’s DUI Party Plates) – They’ve got some for folks with meth charges, too. Those ones are white and have “Indiana” printed up top.
The student driver signs are blue and white.
RE: Fact #30 (Gut’s Independent Nervous System) – My private parts pretty much take over sometimes.
So that’s the third brain. Too bad you can’t run brain 1 and 3 together.
RE: Fact #13 (Masanobu Tsuji: Vanished War Strategist) – He was working with the CIA and then poof, gone in Laos back in 1961. Sounds like a Scooby Doo plot, right?
RE: Fact #2 (Pedro Pascal’s Family Scandal) – Fertility doctors can be pretty odd sometimes, can’t they?
Funeral directors too
I’ve heard that before, but honestly, as someone who sings at funerals sometimes, every mortician and funeral home worker I’ve encountered has been incredibly down-to-earth and just really normal people. I’ve met tons of them. I think folks just say morticians are weird because when people are grieving, they’re the ones acting a little out of the ordinary for a bit.
Yeah, but morticians are usually a good kind of weird, while fertility doctors lean more towards the not-so-great kind.
Makes you wonder if the job attracts people who like to play god.
RE: Fact #15 (John Doe No. 24’s Silent Journey) – Man, I actually knew this guy. Back when I was nineteen, I was working at the Smiley Living Center, where he lived. When I first started there, I heard all these stories about his past, like how he’d sometimes write out the name “Lewis.” This was way back in ’91, so just a few years before he passed away.
By then, he was completely blind, but he got around the place really well. He knew when it was mealtime and everything. Sometimes he’d just sit in a chair and tell stories – not with words, but with sounds, grunts, and wild arm movements. He’d find us to ask for stuff using his own kind of sign language, and we usually figured out what he needed. He also had this little pouch of money stashed in his clothes and would sometimes try to pay us for helping him out. He loved a good handshake. He’d even ask, in his own way, if he could meet someone new by feeling their head and face.
I never knew all the stuff that’s in this article. His life was always a bit of a puzzle. I’m just happy that we at his home could give him a safe spot to spend his last few years.
He wasn’t just telling stories, he was putting on a whole performance – singing, stomping his feet, the works. They even got him a harmonica for Christmas one year, and he was absolutely thrilled with it. John Boyd, you’re not forgotten. I remember you.
That’s super sweet! Thanks for letting us know.
RE: Fact #24 (Sunny in Philadelphia Success) – They totally played it smart, going for creative control instead of just the cash. They’re writing, acting, and, big time, producing their own show. Their podcast gets pretty interesting when they chat about the gear they’re using, how they’re using it, who their director of photography is, and basically their whole crew. It’s the same playbook Conan used. You find those super talented, passionate people who love what you’re creating and you keep them around. Megan Ganz is definitely one of the top producers and writers out there.
RE: Fact #10 (European Tropical Night Definition) – So, like, you try opening the windows at night to cool the place down, but it just doesn’t do the trick, right? Yeah, we totally don’t have AC much of the time.
Our houses are all made of brick and concrete, so they pretty much turn into ovens.
Being from Singapore, I wasn’t shocked that the hotels I crashed at didn’t have AC. But get this, a bunch of them didn’t even have a fan! Crazy, right?
RE: Fact #38 (Beatrice Muller’s Ocean Life) – Folks reckon it’s cheaper than assisted living or a care home, and maybe that’s true, but it’s missing all the care and assistance. That’s the big thing nobody thinks about – these are just lively retirees who could totally hang out in any other retirement community.
It really grinds my gears that all their electricity and utilities are powered by burning the cheapest oil for everything. They could be living on land with clean energy instead.
Even more affordable for retirees, really, because the planet and our grandkids end up footing that bill. Honestly, I think there’s a ton of support offered – everything from cleaning and food is taken care of, all the entertainment is planned and provided, and social stuff is all set up. Plus, they’ve got special arrangements for specific needs that are pretty much on par with a care facility. The only things missing are things like detailed personal care, like sponge baths, and advanced medical treatments, though basic medical help is available on board. And let’s be real, cruise lines aren’t exactly focused on retirees or making them the reason they exist. They’re going to burn that dirty oil anyway for other travelers, and it’s probably less extra cost for the ship’s energy than what a retiree would use for their home and car.
My partner and I are hoping to do exactly that when we retire, if we can swing the finances, and that’s the main reason I’m saying this.
RE: Fact #40 (Sweden’s Town Relocation Feat) – Seriously, I’m so happy they kept them instead of just tearing it all down for some ugly, cookie-cutter buildings.
Compared to some other places, it’s a huge difference. Take Mecca, for instance. They’ve recently torn down about 95% of their old buildings to put up modern hotels, apartments, parking, and other stuff for the pilgrims. Crazy thing is, a lot of those old buildings were over a thousand years old, and some were even linked to the very beginnings of Islam.
RE: Fact #16 (Prisoners Escape Using Master Key) – “Heiss was in a cell where he could reach his arm out the window and get to the lock,” the prison officer explained. “was in a cell where he couldn’t reach the lock.
“He’d hand the key to Heiss and Heiss would stick it in the lock, then give it back, saying, ‘I reckon it needs a bit trimmed off here or there’.”
Baker eventually made a key that fit the lock. Heiss let himself out of his cell and then opened Baker’s cell. They escaped the place by climbing over three fences with razor wire.
Baker got nabbed a few days later, but Heiss was on the loose for 12 days.
You should probably have a plan for after you get out, not just for the escape itself.
RE: Fact #26 (Saudi Dynasty’s Unification Battle) – So, the Hashemites got Iraq and Jordan because they helped the British out against the Ottomans in WWI, and it also helped the British keep their stuff secure in the region down the road. Plus, I’m pretty sure British officers were running Jordan’s army all the way up until the 70s.
So, if they were fighting over Saudi Arabia, how did they just pack up and move to Jordan to rule the place? Were they all the same folks before that, and how’d Iraq end up a democracy instead of staying a kingdom?
So, Jordan was basically made from the part of Palestine that was around back then.
RE: Fact #10 (European Tropical Night Definition) – Yeah, down here in Australia, 20-degree nights are rough because the house is all toasty from baking all day and there’s just no relief. It’s not that 20 degrees itself is super hot, but it’s more that your place has been dealing with 35+ heat all day that makes it unbearable.
RE: Fact #23 (Trees and Lightning Danger) – Crazy how the top reason people get hurt is just standing out in the open.
Golfers and athletes are often the ones who get hit. A lot of them don’t know that lightning can zap you even when the storm is miles away. They see it off in the distance and think, “Just one more hole,” or “Let’s finish this inning.” Then, BAM! Tampa and the west Florida coast are seriously some of the most dangerous spots in the northern hemisphere.
So, there’s this hunter, Remi Warren. When he was about ten, he and his dad were out and saw lightning way off in the distance. They just watched it. Next thing he knew, he woke up on the ground, and his dad was there too. His dad was okay but couldn’t move for a bit because of the strike. He spent a few minutes just staring at Remi, thinking his son might be dead, but he couldn’t even move. Remi ended up getting some facial paralysis from it, but he got over it eventually. I heard him share that story on a podcast a while back, and it totally pops into my head every time I see lightning. It’s no joke.
RE: Fact #33 (Dorothy Molter’s Remote Retreat) – Seriously, how lonely can you get when you’ve got the same number of people stopping by every single day as twenty visitors?
She probably only gets like 10 a month in the winter, if that. Getting to her place must be a nightmare with all the snow and ice, and it’s pretty much winter for seven months straight up there.
RE: Fact #40 (Sweden’s Town Relocation Feat) – Over in Germany, we’re just bulldozing old churches and historic farms for coal.
RE: Fact #28 (Long-Lasting British Rationing) – My Gran would always tell me about how she’d put my dad and aunt right in front and center when they were shopping, hoping to get a little extra sympathy.
Dad mentioned that when we were a bit older, he’d always check out the pre-war vending machines, hoping to find a forgotten chocolate bar.
My mother-in-law, born in ’44, recalls when milk wasn’t rationed anymore, and how tough it was for her family to do without it.
My mom was born back in the late 40s and only vaguely recalls the end of food rationing when she was little. I’ve always thought about what it must have been like for kids reading Enid Blyton’s books from that era, since they’re packed with food, cake, and sweets. It must have felt like a fantasy world for them.
Back when I was a kid, in the early sixties, my grandma would still ship off care packages to her sisters over in England.
Grandma sending care packages? I’d totally be down for that. 🤫
RE: Fact #12 (US Navy’s Final WWI Salvo) – Imagine going boom 2 seconds before the truce kicks in
So, I’m actually jamming to this World War I podcast right now, the one that’s all about the Western Front. Turns out, a bunch of that shooting was basically for nothing ’cause the soldiers knew the armistice was on the horizon and didn’t feel like lugging all those shells around, lol. Just being lazy, you know?
But also, even with the armistice, if war kicked off again, the Allies wanted to make sure the Germans were basically pushed back as much as made sense. So there was a bit of a strategy thing going on too.
By the way, since I’m digging these hosts – they’re these two British WWI history buffs who sound like they’re in their twenties – the podcast is called Not So Quiet On The Western Front! They have some other stuff in the title, but seriously, they’ve got like 80 episodes, it’s epic. And it’s not boring at all; it’s perfect for when you’re driving, packed with tons of neat little stories and things. Totally recommend it, like a 9 out of 10.
Yeah, we think of the Armistice as the thing that ended the war, but that’s just ’cause we know it did.
For the guys fighting, it was just a pause in the shooting and the beginning of talks. Even though both sides pretty much knew where they stood with each other, there was nothing stopping them from starting up the fighting again if the negotiations went south.
And yeah, it’s a common thing for soldiers to fire off all their ammo so they don’t have to lug it back. Ammo’s heavy stuff. It’s also super common for carrier planes to unload all their missiles and bombs because it’s a hassle to land on a carrier with extra weight.
Man, my hometown church survived like, a 30-year war and a 100-year war, plus World War I. But then after World War II, the French popped up and bombed it just three weeks before things finally wrapped up.
You were on the offensive for most of the war, so it’s totally understandable you’d stop once your own place started getting trashed.
RE: Fact #28 (Long-Lasting British Rationing) – Just so you know, food rationing wrapped up in ’54. Coal rationing hung around the longest, finally ending in ’58.
Yeah, that’s a good point, but 1954 was still just awful.
We totally blew all our money winning that war, even though we knew it would tank the empire and we could have called it quits with Germany whenever we wanted.
You can’t say Britain ever backs down, that’s for sure.
So, I caught wind somewhere that the whole rationing thing kids went through back then might be why British musicians like Bowie and the Beatles looked so skinny in the 60s, especially when you compared them to the Americans.
So, was the British economy in such bad shape that it took ages to get production back up? Or were tons of Britain’s stuff being sent to feed Germans, Poles, Italians, and the like?
I’ve been looking into how things were rebuilt right after WWII in the Axis countries. It seems like the general idea is that the Allies pretty much rescued Germany, and Japan in particular, from widespread starvation because those countries’ farming output was basically non-existent.
The British economy took way longer to bounce back from all that. We didn’t even get rid of our World War Two debt until 2006. My folks used to tell me about playing around ruined houses when they were little in the 60s.
Basically, the entire economy had to be rebuilt from scratch, and there was no financial cushion to help out.
RE: Fact #36 (GPS Satellites’ Silent Broadcast) – There’s even more to this!
First off, it’s not triangulation, it’s trilateration. Triangulation uses trigonometry and angles, but we’re just measuring the distance from the satellites, not the angles.
Second, the signal they send out is called Ephemeris, and it basically just has two things: the time and the satellite’s position in space at that moment. This signal travels at the speed of light, which is c. Since it’s coming from about 20,000 miles away, we’re talking about precision down to millionths of a second to make it useful.
Third, the satellites are zooming through space way faster than we are and are much further out of Earth’s gravity. You know how in those space movies, time moves differently for people in space? That’s happening with the satellites too. Simply sending the time wouldn’t be accurate enough for navigation, so they tweak the clock by giving it a higher voltage than usual atomic quartz clocks.
And then, how do the satellites know where they are? Ground stations track them, but using Earth as a reference wouldn’t help much for figuring out where you are on Earth. Instead, from Earth, we’re tracking quasars, which are the oldest stars in the universe, billions of light-years away. We measure the satellites’ locations relative to these quasars.
This gives us an uncorrected HDOP of about 10 meters. Then, we can add differential corrections to get that down to less than a meter.
Modern ships doing precision work use dynamic positioning systems that have several high-accuracy GPS units running at the same time, cross-checking each other multiple times a second. Their accuracy is calculated to be around 10cm.
In short, GPS uses satellites moving four times faster than a bullet, sending signals at the speed of light. The measurements rely on a clock that’s been adjusted because Einstein was right about time. They’re tracking their positions against stars from the beginning of the universe, and can instantly tell you where you are in the world using a device on your wrist.
RE: Fact #47 (Accidental Creation of Salton Sea) – And get this, it’s supposed to be a future lithium mine now.
Yeah, so this totally out-of-the-way spot with all the poor folks and people living off the grid, plus a bunch of old ruins, actually turned out to have lithium deposits worth more than 500 billion. I’m super curious to see how this whole thing plays out.
Basically, a mining company will probably buy up a bunch of land in a big area to build their mine. They’ll offer folks a ton of cash for their property and the rights to the minerals. Then, they’ll turn it all into a mess of dirt piles, ponds for chemical runoff, and leftover sludge. Anyone who doesn’t get a buyout will either have to live right next to an active lithium mine or move somewhere else. Talk about going from bad to worse.
Totally agree, it’s a godforsaken place. We even drove over from San Diego just to see those gulls that show up, and man, it was depressing. Honestly, it felt like something out of a Mad Max flick.
RE: Fact #24 (Sunny in Philadelphia Success) – I totally saw those ads for season 1 and thought it looked pretty rough. The commercials made it seem like it was just some cheesy office comedy about young people.
But then I caught the episode with the underage drinking when it first came out and I was hooked.
It totally seemed like just silly comedy, like The Office, and I never bothered to check it out. Then I caught a podcast where they’d bring it up now and then, and I finally figured, ah, what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. And it’s fantastic. Honestly, I think they totally messed up the marketing when it first came out.
When that episode came out, I was the same age as those kids.
Dude, seriously? I didn’t need that reminder at all.
RE: Fact #26 (Saudi Dynasty’s Unification Battle) – Just a heads-up, the House of Hejaz used to run Mecca and Medina, plus the key spots in Arabia along the Red Sea for ages. They were way more laid-back and leaned towards the West. The British ditching the Arabian Hashemites after World War I is basically why we ended up with the much more hardcore House of Saud and their Salafist/Wahabbist brand of Islam.
RE: Fact #11 (Prisoners’ Testicles Irradiated for Study) – Oh man, you forgot the best bit:
Dr. Joseph Hamilton, who worked with Heller on the experiments, mentioned they had a bit of a “Buchenwald touch” to them.
What does it mean?
So, Buchenwald was one of those awful Nazi camps, right? They actually did some pretty messed-up experiments on the prisoners there.
It felt a bit like those Nazi doctors doing their experiments.
RE: Fact #48 (UK’s Pre-1872 Public Voting Records) – So, public voting looks pretty wild these days, but back then, the whole point was to stop people from cheating the system. Since every vote was out in the open and hooked up to a specific person, you couldn’t just whip up fake votes or mess with how someone voted.
Lots of folks don’t believe they’re nuts, and I’ve had to tell a bunch of people on here why it’s risky for even your own vote to be traceable.
RE: Fact #26 (Saudi Dynasty’s Unification Battle) – So, the Hashemites, they had a bit of a go ruling Syria back in 1920, and then they were in charge of Iraq for, like, more than thirty years.
They’ve only come through once out of three times.
RE: Fact #1 (Britannic’s Tragic Lifeboat Incident) – So, the Olympic, which the Britannic and Titanic were named after, was the only one that actually retired. All of them ran into trouble at sea, and the Olympic had two accidents! Violet Jessop was working on all three ships when their accidents happened.
And the Olympic is the only civilian boat ever to purposely wreck an enemy sub. The captain back then was actually a navy guy who totally knew how quick and sturdy his ship was, and how tough it was built to be right up front.
If he ran the Titanic, he’d have gone straight for the iceberg.
I’d probably quit traveling after the second one, I think.
Two other folks who made it off the Titanic were also on the Britannic when *it* went down. Their names were Arthur John Priest and Archie Jewell. Turns out, both of them had been on the SS Donegal when a German U-boat took it out, which happened to be pretty much five months after the Britannic sank. Priest actually lived through the Donegal sinking too, but Jewell didn’t.
RE: Fact #31 (Pausanias’ Dramatic Downfall) – Ouch, that’s rough.
It’s crazy how often this happened back in ancient Greece and Rome. Like, Themistocles, who was pretty much Athens’ Pausanias, the guy who masterminded their big win against Persia at the Battle of Salamis, ended up getting exiled and had to run off to Persia himself, totally disgraced.
And pretty much every Roman hero before Caesar? They all got kicked out of the city in shame because the senate was scared of how successful, popular, and ambitious they were.
Most Roman heroes before Caesar got the boot from the city because the senate was worried about them being too successful, popular, or ambitious.
Not really. They might have been overlooked for top jobs, but they weren’t exactly kicked out. Marius was consul seven times. Scipio Africanus was definitely pushed out, and Pompey was always a headache, but way fewer than all the heroes got treated like that.
So, Pausanias, chased by the ephors, ended up hunkering down in the temple of Athena “of the Brazen House.” His mom, Theano, then showed up and put a brick by the door, basically saying, “You’re no son of mine if you’re not fit to be a Spartan.” The other Spartans followed suit, bricked up the entrance, and starved Pausanias to death. After his body was given to his family, the gods made it clear through the Oracle of Delphi that they weren’t happy about breaking the sanctity of the temple for refugees. The oracle said Athena wanted her supplicant back. Since they couldn’t do that, the Spartans ended up setting up two bronze statues of Pausanias at Athena’s temple.
Man, it’s like the Spartans were just a bunch of morons. 🙃
RE: Fact #20 (Anne Desclos’ Erotic Novel Success) – First big no-no: “Likes the Marquis de Sade.”
Second big no-no: “Women can’t write erotic novels.”
Red flag three: you’re dating someone younger.
Red flag four: the younger person is 23 years younger.
Red flag five: Russians try to blackmail the French over cheating.
Red flag six: They totally bomb at it.
Just typical French things, really.
RE: Fact #17 (Movie Theater Overtime Pay Exemption) – So, even though the law doesn’t make movie theater employees get overtime, do they actually get it?
Back when I was at Regal a few years ago, we actually got paid extra for working holidays.
Basically, a ton of state laws make them do it, so they just go along with it to keep people from getting mad.
At AMC, they’d start paying overtime after 45 hours. I’m not sure if that’s still the case since I quit back in 2015. I was a manager and projectionist there for a decade.
I mean, maybe it’d be a good move for the overall job market, but honestly, seeing how most companies try to get out of paying overtime by using salary exemptions, I’m not too sure movie theaters actually do pay it when they don’t have to.
RE: Fact #14 (WWII’s Suicidal Torpedo Pilots) – Back in WW2, the Axis powers were pretty big on giving amphetamines to their troops, especially the ones who looked like they hadn’t slept in days. It basically got these guys so wired they were doing wild stuff, almost like those kamikaze pilots.
RE: Fact #9 (Disciplinary Issues in 100th Bomber Group) – So, bomber crews had a pretty rough deal, like a 1 in 4 chance of getting shot down or hurt on any given mission. Back then, they had to fly a bunch of missions – starting at 25, then bumped up to 30, and eventually 35 – before they could head home. Makes sense why they weren’t too worried about getting in trouble, right?
So, later on, when they cranked up the number of missions needed, I reckon it was cuz Germany was out of planes and bombing stuff was way easier than at the start of the whole deal.
Totally. It’s like, as the missions got “easier,” the rules got way harder. I was super close with a couple of B17 pilots who recently passed – learned a ton from them.
RE: Fact #35 (Gander: Canine War Hero) – Picture the enemy’s face when they saw a dog sprinting at them with a grenade in its mouth.
The Soviets went through something similar. Back when the war first kicked off, they actually trained dogs to charge at German tanks with landmines strapped to their backs. The issue was, when it came time for the actual fighting, the dogs didn’t go for the Germans. Instead, they bolted back towards the Soviet tanks they’d been trained with, and well, you can guess how that turned out.
From what I’ve seen, the USSR seemed to cook up more half-baked ideas that totally blew up in their face than actual successes.
RE: Fact #33 (Dorothy Molter’s Remote Retreat) – Molter once said something like, “If I was the loneliest woman in America, after all those writers and TV folks showed up, I definitely wouldn’t have been anymore.”
Seriously, can you picture rolling into some remote spot and then a whole crew just shows up outta nowhere, all wanting your homemade root beer?
Wish I’d made grape soda.
RE: Fact #12 (US Navy’s Final WWI Salvo) – It’s always a bummer when someone kicks the bucket right as a conflict wraps up. But man, I’d be fuming if I got taken out by a shell that went off just as the peace treaty was about to be signed.
RE: Fact #36 (GPS Satellites’ Silent Broadcast) – Doesn’t this seem pretty clear? Otherwise, they’d have to be talking to tons of devices at once. It’s just like radio or satellite TV.
It feels like we’re back to the days of magic, you know? Everything’s just so commonplace now, it’s not even mind-blowing anymore. Like, sure, my microwave cooks my food, my phone knows exactly where I am on the planet, and I can play music through my car’s speakers wirelessly just by tapping a button.
Nobody really stops to think about the actual mechanics behind it all. I get how satellite TV works, and honestly, even those old bunny ears made sense. But I use GPS all day for work, and I’ve never once stopped to wonder how it actually pulls that off.
RE: Fact #5 (Einstein’s Early Career Struggles) – So, in Einstein’s class, there were five students total. Four of them passed the final exams, and Einstein actually had the lowest score out of that bunch. Because of that, he was the only one who didn’t get offered a gig as an assistant teacher at ETH Zurich. The fifth student, and the only woman in the group, was his girlfriend, Mileva Maric, and she didn’t pass.
When it was test time, the shy Einstein often relied on the super-organized notes from his buddy Marcel Grossman, who ended up getting the second-highest score. After they graduated, when Einstein was having a tough time finding work, Grossman, with his dad’s help, pulled some strings and got him a job as a clerk at the Swiss patent office in Bern back in 1902. Grossman went on to become a famous mathematician. Einstein even turned to Grossman again later when he was working on the tricky math for one of his major papers. Gasser mentioned that Grossman helped Einstein out with some math stuff for the General Theory of Relativity.
Grossman passed away pretty young, in 1936, after a long and difficult illness, probably multiple sclerosis. Gasser described it as “a kind of sad story.” He also added that Einstein stayed in touch with some of his friends and former classmates right up until the end, showing he was a really loyal friend.
RE: Fact #41 (Oregon Engineer Wins Traffic Case) – The article doesn’t spill the beans, but I’m figuring the ticket that kicked this whole thing off for him was for his wife running a red light, probably when she went through an intersection on a yellow.
So, she goes through the intersection when the light is still yellow, but the traffic cam software mistakenly flags her for running a red because it’s using old timing data instead of checking the light color at the moment she entered the intersection.
Basically, if she went in on yellow and then got held up past the time the red light camera allows, her car would get dinged automatically, even though she didn’t actually blast through a red.
This is just my shot in the dark based on what I gathered from the article. I’m totally open to being set straight if anyone knows the real scoop on his wife’s situation.
So, it was for running a red light. I’m from Portland and I remember this. Plus, I used to be a cop there.
Just a heads-up, what counts as “running a red” can be different depending on where you are.
In Oregon, it actually includes not stopping for a yellow light if you could have safely done so. The law for that is ORS 811.260. I haven’t looked into why it’s written that way, but I’m guessing that’s why it falls under the bigger category of “Failure To Obey A Traffic Control Device.”
Speaking of messed-up government stuff, Beaverton used to make people pay up more to get their red light tickets thrown out, even when the photos clearly showed the registered owner wasn’t the one driving.
That totally goes against the law for red light camera tickets, which says the city *has* to cancel the ticket if you fill out a form saying you weren’t driving. It’s also pretty unconstitutional.
It took someone with a ticket hiring a lawyer, who basically told Beaverton to knock it off, and a judge to finally make them stop this shady nonsense. Actually, the judge had to tell them twice because those clowns kept doing it even after he called them out.
Governments definitely have their share of jerks who abuse their power just to feel important.
In California, I’m pretty sure it’s cool to go through a yellow light if you can make it across without getting stuck in the middle.
There are two things that really grind my gears: professional licensing boards – they’re all about controlling who gets in and stopping any real competition.
And then you have city governments seeing law enforcement as just a way to make money.
RE: Fact #14 (WWII’s Suicidal Torpedo Pilots) – So, the Japanese Navy wasn’t just rocking subs; they were also using fast boats, plus those famous Kamikaze planes. They really ramped up using these kinds of attacks during Iwo Jima and Okinawa, which totally pushed the US leaders to be all for using an atomic bomb instead of trying to invade Japan itself.
RE: Fact #23 (Trees and Lightning Danger) – This is exactly why we need Saturday morning cartoons! Turns out, I picked up some pretty unexpected life lessons from GI Joe.
Seriously! If the actual programming wasn’t teaching you stuff, those commercials definitely stepped in to help.
Even though those cartoons were mostly about selling action figures, they ended up being pretty useful.
RE: Fact #34 (Male Fashion’s Great Renunciation) – I’m over all this “renouncing” stuff and I’m about to start looking totally fabulous.
Honestly, I’m so over seeing guys on red carpets in the same old, boring suits or tuxes with zero personality. I really wish male fashion would get a little more vibrant and a lot more imaginative.
Whoa, that sounds like it costs a pretty penny. Being a regular person, I’ll probably just stick with my comfy sweats and a plain t-shirt on the weekends, and then khakis and a dress shirt during the week. Maybe I’ll break out some chinos if I’m feeling a little spruced up.
Pretty much just rocking my Dave & Buster’s tees. Seriously, it’s the best spot for a steak when you’re hanging out at an arcade.
RE: Fact #42 (Hoover’s 1992 Flight Fiasco) – It happened over in the UK. A couple of top execs actually got the boot for it. After that, promo firms started offering special insurance and got way more careful with their figures.
seriously, who wants to give away $600 of someone else’s product for every $100 we sell? that’s some complicated math right there.
Companies sometimes shell out more to snag a new customer than their products are worth, especially if they figure the long-term payoff is bigger than the upfront expense. It’s just that in this particular situation, they weren’t making over $600 in profit from each new person they brought in.
So, in the UK, people casually call vacuum cleaners “Hoover’s” for a specific reason.
RE: Fact #1 (Britannic’s Tragic Lifeboat Incident) – Seriously, it’s a stark reminder that panic and not having a plan during emergencies can be as dangerous as the actual event.
You can always make a bad situation even worse, no matter what.
Totally. There’s a solid reason we have emergency procedures, right? “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”
That goofy alien flick dropping such a surprisingly deep movie quote super early on is wild.
RE: Fact #14 (WWII’s Suicidal Torpedo Pilots) – So, I was checking out what these guys wrote in their diaries and letters to their families, and man, they were seriously bummed about being put on those suicide torpedoes and even kamikaze planes.
Yep, not every kamikaze pilot was a volunteer, a bunch of them actually did it ’cause they felt they had to or were made to.
A bunch of them were totally into it, actually, ready to “die for the Emperor” because they were so young and easily swayed. They’d just finished school, had been soaked in State propaganda their whole lives, and then the military rolls in saying the Empire actually needed them.
Loads of folks, you could say “volunteers” if you wanted, were checking out those diaries and letters.
Flying a regular plane against a carrier fleet isn’t really any less nuts than a kamikaze mission, is it?
RE: Fact #29 (Remarkable BAC Survival in 1995) – So, the dude who almost took me out in a crash was super messed up – like, BAC way over the limit and enough coke in him to knock out a horse. The medical examiner even put it down as a contributing factor to his death, right after the decapitation, because, well, he was going to die anyway.
Wow, you straight-up decapitated the guy for bumping into you? That’s hardcore! 🙌
RE: Fact #2 (Pedro Pascal’s Family Scandal) – Pedro and Woody Harrelson should team up for a buddy cop flick called Bad Dads, kinda as a nod to their past.
Seriously, we’ve got Mila Kunis’s *Bad Moms*, right? So, a *Bad Dads* movie starring Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson, and Liam Neeson sounds like it would be hilarious.
The Culkins might be the bad guys. Thora Birch could be calling the shots.
Terrible Dads in Baghdad.
RE: Fact #21 (Sacred Deer of Nara, Japan) – Now they’re pretty much hunting humans for crackers. They’ll get pretty in-your-face chasing you, bowing over and over.
So, my wife and I got a little nudge from a deer while we were hanging out there. She grabbed some crackers and one of them gave her a quick nip.
These deer are pretty smart, you know? They’ll totally check out your pockets, bags, whatever.
One deer even leaned its head against me, kinda like a dog or cat would. It was actually a pretty cool feeling. I wanted to reach out and pet it, but there were signs saying not to. Didn’t stop some other folks from doing it, though.