1 iPad Invented Before iPhone
Although Apple released the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, the tablet was actually in development first. Steve Jobs revealed that Apple engineers originally created touchscreen prototypes for a tablet, but the technology was adapted into the iPhone after proving more commercially viable. The success of the iPhone then paved the way for the iPad’s launch three years later.
2. In March 2017, Akbar Salubiro, a farmer from Sulawesi, Indonesia, went missing after harvesting palm oil. Later, villagers discovered a swollen reticulated python near his home, leading to the confirmation that the snake had consumed him completely. This case became the first fully documented and confirmed instance of a human being killed and eaten by a python.
3. Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet agronomist, rejected the principles of genetics and Darwinian natural selection, promoting his own flawed theories known as Lysenkoism. He insisted that plants of the same species did not compete, forcing Soviet farmers to plant seeds densely together. His methods devastated crop yields and contributed to widespread famines in the Soviet Union and later in Maoist China.
4. When Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace premiered in May 1999, millions of fans skipped work to attend screenings. Employment consultants estimated that 2.2 million full-time U.S. employees missed work on opening day. The nationwide absenteeism caused an estimated $293 million loss in productivity.
5. In 1897, Indiana physician Edward J. Goodwin claimed to have discovered a mathematical proof for squaring the circle. He persuaded a state legislator to introduce a bill declaring the value of ? to be 3.2, with the idea that Indiana schools could use the proof for free while other states would pay a fee. Although the bill passed the Indiana House, the Senate ultimately rejected it after a professor pointed out its absurdity.
6 607 Marathons in 607 Days
Spanish runner Ricardo Abad Martínez holds the world record for most consecutive marathons, completing 607 marathons in 607 days between October 2010 and February 2012. He balanced this grueling feat while continuing his full-time factory job, working eight-hour shifts daily.
7. Future Office co-stars John Krasinski and B.J. Novak attended the same high school in Newton, Massachusetts. As seniors, Krasinski performed in a satirical play written by Novak.
8. Studies indicate that large-strength athletes-such as football linemen, rugby forwards, and heavyweight lifters-experience sleep apnea at rates two to three times higher than the general population. The condition stems from excess soft tissue and body mass that restricts airflow during sleep. Left untreated, it can contribute to fatigue, cardiovascular problems, and reduced athletic performance.
9. The five Sullivan brothers from Iowa enlisted in the U.S. Navy together after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Despite Navy policies discouraging family members from serving together, they requested to serve on the same ship, the USS Juneau. Tragically, all five died when the ship was sunk in the Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942.
10. Norway consumes more pizza per capita than any other country in the world, with each person eating about 11 pounds annually. Frozen and takeaway pizzas are especially popular, making them a staple of Norwegian diets. This surprising statistic surpasses even Italy and the United States, countries traditionally associated with pizza culture.
11 McCarthy Footage Fooled Film Audiences
When Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) was screened for test audiences, many complained that the actor portraying Senator Joseph McCarthy was too exaggerated. However, the film didn’t use an actor at all. It incorporated authentic archival footage of McCarthy himself during the 1950s.
12. In the 1980s, doughnut shops across Southern California began packaging pastries in pink-colored boxes instead of the traditional white ones. The switch happened because Westco, a restaurant supply company, had a large surplus of pink-dyed cardboard stock. It was taking up warehouse space, so it became cheaper than plain white boxes. Over time, the pink box became a cultural icon of Southern California’s donut scene.
13. Cryptophasia is a rare phenomenon in which twins develop a private language that only they can understand. This language often emerges during early childhood as the siblings communicate with each other while learning speech. Researchers believe it occurs in about 50% of identical twin pairs, though most cryptophasic languages fade as the twins grow older.
14. Ainhum is a rare medical condition in which the little toe begins to constrict spontaneously at the base, eventually leading to auto-amputation. The cause remains unknown, though the condition has been documented primarily in people living in tropical regions, especially West Africa and South America. Over time, the tightening groove deepens until the toe falls off, typically within five years of onset.
15. A contronym is a word that contains two opposite meanings depending on context. For example, “cleave” can mean “to split apart” or “to cling tightly,” while “bolt” can mean “to fasten securely” or “to run away suddenly.” English has dozens of contronyms, and their usage often relies heavily on surrounding context to clarify the intended meaning.
16 Millions Grind Teeth While Sleeping
Up to 31% of children and between 10% and 15% of adults grind or clench their teeth at night, a condition known as sleep bruxism. It is strongly linked to stress, anxiety, depression, and physical symptoms like morning headaches, jaw soreness, and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. Night guards do not stop the grinding itself; instead, they serve to protect teeth from the long-term damage it causes.
17. Studies show that autistic individuals live an average of 16-17 years less than the general population. Leading risks include epilepsy, heart disease, suicide, and accidental deaths such as drowning, with medical neglect and inadequate pain management adding further complications, especially for non-speaking individuals. Historically, people with autism were also at risk of infanticide.
18. Leonidas of Rhodes, an ancient Greek runner, dominated the Olympics of the 2nd century BCE by winning 12 individual titles across four consecutive Games. He competed in three footraces-the stadion, the diaulos, and the hoplitodromos-at each Olympiad between 164 and 152 BCE. His record for the most individual Olympic victories stood unmatched for more than 2,100 years until Michael Phelps surpassed it in 2016.
19. In August 2000, a stowaway survived a harrowing flight inside the wheel well of an Air France jet traveling from Tahiti to Los Angeles. At 38,000 feet, he endured subzero temperatures and severely reduced oxygen levels, with his body temperature dropping to a near-fatal 79°F (26°C). His extraordinary motive was to eventually reach France to “shake hands” with his idol, soccer legend Zinedine Zidane.
20. In the 1930s, Brazil destroyed massive amounts of coffee, an estimated three times the annual global consumption, to stabilize prices after the Great Depression. Officials feared that selling it cheaply on the world market would crash prices even further. By burning the surplus, Brazil successfully pushed coffee prices back up, making it one of the largest deliberate supply destructions in economic history.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Teen Dies Playing Collision Sport
In 2025, a teenager in New Zealand died while playing Run It Straight, a dangerous collision sport. The game involves a ball carrier and a tackler sprinting head-on into each other without protective gear, generating impacts more than five times stronger than a rugby tackle. Branded as “the world’s fiercest new collision sport,” it drew criticism after the fatality highlighted its extreme risks.
22. In 1992, Vasili Mitrokhin, the KGB’s chief archivist, defected to the West carrying 25,000 pages of handwritten notes. His records detailed five decades of Soviet intelligence operations around the globe, exposing espionage tactics, assassinations, and influence campaigns. The trove, known as the Mitrokhin Archive, became one of the most important intelligence leaks of the 20th century.
23. Electronic Arts (EA Games) owns more than 30 patents for accessibility technology in video games. In 2021, the company pledged not to enforce these patents, making them freely available to other developers. The initiative aims to ensure features such as adaptive controllers, customizable visuals, and sound cues remain widely accessible to players with disabilities.
24. In December 1960, weeks after his election, President-elect John F. Kennedy narrowly avoided an assassination attempt. Richard Paul Pavlick, a retired postal worker angered by Kennedy’s Catholic faith, planned to drive a car filled with explosives into his vehicle. Pavlick backed down at the last moment because Kennedy was with his wife, Jackie, and their children, and he would rather not harm them.
25. The Roman poet Catullus wrote Carmen 16 in the 1st century BCE, a poem so obscene that it shocked readers for nearly two millennia. Its opening line, “P?d?c?b? ego v?s et irrum?b?” (“I will sodomize you and face-fuck you”), directly attacked two critics of his earlier work. Because of its graphic language, full English translations were censored or avoided entirely until the 20th century, almost 2,000 years after its creation.
RE: Fact #34 (Portugal Produces Most of World’s Cork) – Here’s something interesting: Even though it’s called Cork, the city doesn’t export any cork in the world. What it *does* do is churn out tons of medicines and vaccines. It’s pretty wild to think that almost everyone in Europe, and a lot of people elsewhere, have something made in Cork inside them.
RE: Fact #35 (Unsolved Crimes of Mr. Cruel) – Investigators think Mr Cruel filmed or photographed his assaults. They believe he’d still have the recordings and images if he’s alive, and would continue to collect and maybe trade ch*ld pornography. They also suspect he still gets pornography online and might talk to kids on chat lines. Mr Cruel was very careful in planning his crimes. For instance, in one instance, he kidnapped a girl and promised to let her go in exactly fifty hours, which he did. He bathed his victims carefully, and one described it as “like a mother washing a baby.” In two instances, he took a second set of clothes from the girls’ houses to dress them before releasing them. The way he committed the crimes was identical in all three attacks, and the victims’ accounts confirmed to the police that it was the same perpetrator.
Two of Mr Cruel’s victims were able to give the police details about the house where they were held. Both were tied to a bed with leashes. These same two victims told detectives they heard planes landing, which made police think the house was near one of the flight paths for Melbourne Airport.
RE: Fact #37 (Nematodes Outnumber All Animals) – I always picture Doug Bags when I see or hear Nematode.
RE: Fact #21 (Teen Dies Playing Collision Sport) – So, in this game, the person with the ball has to charge straight at the defender in a small area, like 20 by 4 meters. They can’t dodge or anything, they just have to go for it. The whole point is to be the one who “dominates” the collision, and three judges decide who wins.
This game has gotten really popular, especially with teens trying it out at home, and sadly, it’s had some really bad outcomes. One 19-year-old, Ryan Satterthwaite, passed away after a challenge went horribly wrong at a friend’s birthday party. His uncle mentioned that the game is all about hurting your opponent and running them over, leading with your shoulder or head, and he thinks it’s a really dumb idea, even with medical staff present.
It’s a bit like American football and rugby but with different rules to try and keep players safe. People have been posting videos of it on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and there are even organized events with cash prizes. Some of these events have had really big payouts, like NZ$200,000 for the finals.
There’s a statement from a RUNIT Championship League spokesperson saying they don’t want people copying the sport unless it’s under “strict conditions.” Even before Ryan’s death, there were concerns. At one event, two guys were knocked out cold, and one had a seizure. And someone from the Run It safety team mentioned that about 20% of players get concussions, and at a recent event, two concussions happened because players were hitting head-first, which isn’t allowed.
I’m not really sure what the point of the ball is. It sounds like it’s just about judging a collision. What’s the ball supposed to do?
Yeah, other answers totally make sense, but I also think it’s worth noting that if you’re holding something big, your arms aren’t totally free to push or grab someone. It’s more like you’re just plowing forward.
I guess the idea is to make it seem like a sport. Otherwise, it’s just like Red Rover with one person, plus the risk of brain damage.
RE: Fact #6 (607 Marathons in 607 Days) – Wow, Ricardo sounds like a machine! Running marathons back-to-back is super impressive, especially with his factory job where his shifts change every week – morning, evening, and night. He’d run in the afternoon when he worked mornings or nights, and in the morning when he worked evenings. That’s wild, he even managed to run two marathons in under 12 hours sometimes because of that schedule!
How did he have time to travel and run marathons in other cities while working 8-hour shifts? He ran in places like Lisbon, Mallorca, and Las Palmas, according to Wikipedia.
So, I’m thinking his “streak” probably wasn’t about running actual marathons with other people each time. My guess is he was covering marathon distances daily, but spread out across different parts of Spain.
It seems like he was doing this to collect donations for charities, which is why he was documenting each run. Since he’s pretty experienced, I’d figure this took about 2.5 to 3 hours of his time each day.
Actually, after someone mentioned his best marathon time is around 2 hours and 40 minutes, it’s probably more like 3-4 hours a day.
RE: Fact #38 (Oster Conspiracy to Stop Hitler) – So, France didn’t actually make Czechoslovakia give in. Both France and the Soviet Union were ready to send troops to help out Czechoslovakia.
The thing is, Great Britain and Poland weren’t on board with that. This meant Soviet troops couldn’t march through Poland or Romania. So, it would have been just France and Czechoslovakia fighting on their own, and the French government, which was pretty divided at the time, couldn’t risk that. It’s more accurate to say Great Britain and Poland pushed Czechoslovakia to surrender. France wanted to help but realized they couldn’t do it solo. They’re definitely less to blame than other countries that just didn’t want to get involved for whatever reasons.
Looking back, France and Czechoslovakia could have totally taken on Nazi Germany in 1938 and won, but at the time, they had no idea how weak Germany actually was, or that there was even a plot within the German Army.
They did what seemed best with the info they had back then, especially since there was a serious chance of a civil war brewing in France at the same time.
RE: Fact #20 (Brazil Burned Coffee to Raise Prices) – This was a pretty big deal in Brazilian history. For the 40 years before this, the country’s politics were pretty much run by rich coffee growers who controlled this “coffee and milk republic.” People tried to rebel against them plenty of times, but the coffee market was just too powerful. Then, this depression hit, and coffee prices never really bounced back. That basically paved the way for a revolution/coup a year later, which kicked off Brazil’s first real period of industrial growth.
That’s really interesting. I was just thinking how awful it was to destroy the supply. Seems like the coffee barons got what was coming to them.
RE: Fact #27 (Mongol Empire Ruled Quarter of World) – It really depends on what you mean by “it.” At first, the land was divided up among different sons, each ruling their own area but still recognizing a main leader. However, they had a lot of freedom. One of these areas, ruled by Chagatai, ended up being called Moghulistan and was around until the 1700s.
RE: Fact #18 (Leonidas’ Olympic Record Lasted Millennia) – It seems a bit off to compare them when the modern Olympics have tons of similar events that are pretty much the same thing.
Mijaín López’s accomplishment of winning 5 gold medals in the same event across 5 consecutive Olympics is way more impressive, in my opinion.
Swimming events are super specialized. The difference between a 100 fly and a 200 fly, for instance, is about a minute of intense effort, and that minute relies on a totally different energy system. Even though it’s the same stroke, truly excelling at world-class level means dedicating yourself to maxing out that specific energy system.
For example, I trained for the 200 fly and 400 free, which use similar energy systems and muscles. But I was terrible at sprint events like the 100 fly. To get good at that, I would have had to train specifically for it, which would mean I wouldn’t be training for middle distance events, and I might even gain muscle that would slow me down.
Back in 2001, when I was 15 and training like crazy for middle distance and was actually the best in Zealand, this American kid named Michael Phelps, who was the same age, broke the world record in the 200 fly. It was mind-blowing, and then he just kept dominating and branching out into other strokes.
It’s tough to compare with other sports, but even in swimming, seeing someone dominate so broadly like that is rare because, believe me, it’s incredibly hard. I trained my butt off and didn’t even make it to the Olympics!
I think the most impressive thing was Zatopek winning gold in the 5k, 10k, and Marathon all at the same Olympics. He’d never even run a marathon before that, and he set an Olympic record in each of those races!
RE: Fact #42 (Mufflers and Silencers Same Invention) – One of them is a legal requirement, and the other is against the law unless you get permission from the government.
You know, I don’t think they should be allowed. They’re fantastic for hunting because they don’t spook the game, and they also protect your hearing. At the very least, you should be able to try them out with an ID and bring them back, similar to how it works in a few other countries for that exact reason.
Totally depends on the country! In some places, you can just grab them at the store.
RE: Fact #36 (Architect Proposed Resurrecting Washington) – Yeah, it wouldn’t actually work, but imagine how wild things would be if it did!
RE: Fact #1 (iPad Invented Before iPhone) – Back in the early ’90s when I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard had this device that reminded me of an iPad. I totally thought something like that would never be real in my lifetime.
Back in the early ’90s, there was a sci-fi detective show set in the 2010s. It was a pretty forgettable show, honestly. But the thing that really stood out was that everyone had these devices like smartphones and could video call each other, even showing people talking on the device’s screen. They weren’t called smartphones and maybe weren’t super advanced, but it was a huge, accurate prediction of future technology.
RE: Fact #40 (Swiss Cheese Holes Restored by Powder) – Yeah, it’s kind of like how drinks get fizzy. If the glass is dirty, it’ll be way fizzier when you pour into it, even if you can’t actually see the dirt. A super clean glass will hardly have any bubbles clinging to it and won’t spill over. The bubbles form around imperfections in both situations.
RE: Fact #45 (Spencer Clark Put Himself on Currency) – This whole situation reads like an episode of “It’s Always Sunny”! So, Congress wanted a note to honor William Clark, you know, from the Lewis and Clark thing. But the paper that supposedly went to the Treasury just said “Clark” – no mention of William. Spencer M. Clark, who was apparently aware of what Congress really wanted, apparently used this loophole to get his own face on the bill. Congress was not happy about this, especially since Clark was already pretty unpopular due to a bunch of scandals. Apparently, a couple of years before, someone in the House of Representatives looked into his department because of claims that the Treasury was basically a party house.
RE: Fact #36 (Architect Proposed Resurrecting Washington) – Seriously, being a doctor back in the day must have been wild. Without anyone watching, you could suggest crazy stuff like that, and families would have to be like, ‘Sorry, we don’t want to do that,’ instead of telling you to get lost. And then you’d go through your supply of medicinal cocaine, which you kept to use as anesthetic on a 7-year-old for a leg amputation, but really you just wanted to see if their heart would explode before they bled out or went into shock.
Then you’d die a millionaire after ‘treating’ wealthy patients with mercury and arsenic for syphilis or whatever. A hundred years later, a medical school names an exam hall after you. And when they’re building the foundation, they find all the skeletons of your patients who didn’t make it because you injected them with animal blood to cure ‘melancholy’ or something, and they still build the place anyway.
RE: Fact #41 (Coin Shaving Once Punishable by Death) – Yeah, that’s why they started adding those little ridges to coin edges – so you could tell if someone had shaved them down.
For the real degenerate stuff, people would sweat coins. They’d either put them in a leather bag and jingle them around so tiny bits of metal would fall out, or they’d dip them in nitric acid to dissolve some of the metal so they could get it out later.
Those ridges, called milling, first showed up in England in the 1660s, all thanks to Sir Isaac Newton – yup, *that* Sir Isaac Newton. He was in charge of the mint in England, first as warden and then as master.
Yeah, it’s awesome that it was only meant to be a symbolic role for Newton, but he totally went all in with it, like a Peterbilt truck.
That’s a really cool piece of information.
RE: Fact #47 (London Markets Closing After Centuries) – The land they’re on is just worth a fortune.
Can’t wait to own a tiny 650 sq ft condo with a cheap IKEA kitchen where this ancient landmark used to stand! So fancy!
So they were heading to Dagenham… I gotta admit, £800 million for a new combined market for meat, fish, and veggies sounds pretty steep. I wonder how much of that was just for the actual construction versus paying over the odds for consultants. It kinda reminds me of that Boris Bridge project that racked up about £53 million in fees before they even broke ground. Smells like a kickback scheme to me.
It’s always about “money for the boys.”
RE: Fact #34 (Portugal Produces Most of World’s Cork) – It’s pretty wild that Portugal produces over half of the world’s cork! I’ve been reading up on it, and cork harvesting is surprisingly sustainable. They just take off the bark every nine years, and the tree keeps growing, sometimes for over 200 years. Plus, it’s way better for the environment than plastic or other materials. Those cork forests also help combat climate change and provide homes for wildlife. So next time you open a bottle of wine, there’s a good chance it’s because of a Portuguese oak tree.
That 9-year thing is pretty neat! So, here’s the deal with it.
When they “shave” the cork off a tree, they mark it with the last digit of the previous year. Then, they can’t touch that tree again until that digit comes up on the year again.
For example, if it’s 2014 and they mark it with a 3, they can’t touch it again until 2023. That means the tree sits untouched through 2015, 2016, all the way to 2022.
Then, in 2023, they shave it again and mark it with a 2. The next time they can harvest it will be in 2032.
They can only do this with about 10% of the trees. So, when you’re looking at a bunch of cork trees in a specific area, you’ll notice a mix of all ten digits marked on them.
I wish I could show you a picture! If you look up “cork trees Alentejo,” you’ll see the numbers, and now you know the reason why.
I’m pretty sure you can harvest cork before and after the marked year. They just adjust for the layer thickness to get what’s needed for bottle stoppers. If you don’t harvest enough, you can’t make them consistently, and if you harvest too much, you’re wasting cork.
RE: Fact #7 (Krasinski and Novak’s High School) – Seth Rogen, his writing partner Evan Goldberg, and Nathan Fielder all went to the same high school and were in the same comedy club together. There’s a pic of them from back then! Conan O’Brien was roommates with Jeff Garlin and Greg Daniels before they got famous. Conan’s also been best friends with Lisa Kudrow since they took an improv class together in the mid-80s, also way before fame.
RE: Fact #38 (Oster Conspiracy to Stop Hitler) – A bunch of important people were involved in this conspiracy, like Wilhelm Canaris, who was in charge of military intelligence, and Franz Halder, the Chief of Army General Staff. Walther von Brauchitsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and Hjalmar Schacht, who ran the Reichsbank, were also part of it. Plus, commanders from various military units, districts, and police departments were in on it. Even people in lower-level roles like secretaries, advisors, staff officers, and diplomats joined in too. Interestingly, some of these folks later tried to assassinate Hitler in the July 20 plot, which almost worked.
Admiral Canaris, who led German Military Intelligence from 1935 until he was arrested after the failed July 20, 1944 coup attempt, essentially acted as a double agent throughout the war. He did things like giving detonators to Army members who opposed Hitler for assassination attempts, convincing Franco to stay out of the war when Hitler sent him to persuade the Spanish leader to join, providing fake identity papers to 500 Dutch Jews, associating with British agents, and passing military secrets to the US through his Polish mistress. It’s wild how the Nazis were terrifyingly good at finding and getting rid of dissidents but were so hilariously bad at noticing some of these people.
Canaris was a pretty interesting guy, totally worth learning more about. He joined the navy thinking his family was connected to that Greek admiral and statesman, also named Kanaris. When he was a midshipman, he got the top award from Venezuela’s President when his ship made a stop there during Atlantic voyages. Later, as a naval intelligence officer in WW1, his ship was part of the Battle of the Falkland Islands and was the only one from the German East Asian Fleet that wasn’t wiped out there. After his ship went down near Chile, he got away, managed to make it back to Germany using the name Reed Rosas.
I guess it’s tough to catch someone as a double agent when they’re in a high-up position. The main US double agent in the USSR was a GRU general, and the only reason the Soviets found out was because there was a mole in the FBI.
In a really strict hierarchy, it’s no shocker that nobody would go after their boss unless they had undeniable proof. It’s tough to nail them when they’ve got the skills and power to cover their own tracks.
RE: Fact #3 (Lysenko’s Pseudoscience Caused Famines) – Even though Lysenko promoted unscientific ideas, he also used the government to shut down anyone who disagreed with him.
Back in the 1930s and ’40s, the V.I. Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences was where Lysenko’s followers and geneticists debated. In August 1948, after a week-long meeting run by Lysenko and okayed by Stalin, the Academy declared that Lysenkoism would be the only accepted theory taught from then on. Soviet scientists had to reject any research that went against Lysenko’s ideas.
Some geneticists who wouldn’t back down were executed or sent to prison camps. A famous critic, the Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, was arrested in 1940 and died in jail in 1943.
Before the 1930s, the Soviet Union had a top-notch genetics community. It’s said that Lysenko completely destroyed it, setting Russian biology and agronomy back by 50 years. Eventually, Lysenko’s work was found to be fake, but by then he had ruined many lives and damaged the reputation of Russian biology.
This is a cool side story: after the Soviet Union fell, Russia was trying to figure out if some remains belonged to the Romanovs. They had to get outside help for the research because of this sh*t situation.
His ideas lined up with Soviet ways of thinking, so naturally he got the full backing of the government.
RE: Fact #6 (607 Marathons in 607 Days) – Do you think he wears nipple guards? Or are his nips just totally smoothed and polished at this point?
Why use nipple guards when you could just cut holes in your top? It wouldn’t chafe and it’d be a classy way to add a little something extra.
RE: Fact #39 (Andrew Jackson’s 100 Recorded Quarrels) – I can’t help but laugh that there’s a whole Wikipedia page just for “violent incidents involving Andrew Jackson.”
I really like the “other quarrels, evidently non-violent” tab the most.
RE: Fact #5 (Indiana Pi Bill Fiasco) – It didn’t pass because a mathematician happened to be nearby and managed to convince the Senate to vote against it, even though everyone in the House was totally on board.
This story just keeps getting worse.
It wasn’t just Prof. Waldo’s efforts that were noteworthy. Papers like the Chicago Tribune, some from back East, and even a German-language newspaper made fun of it all. Some senators even noticed what was going on.
RE: Fact #19 (Stowaway Survives Freezing Jet Flight) – That’s a really interesting piece of info! I’ve also heard the saying “you’re not dead until you’re warm and dead” when talking about people who’ve fallen into icy water.
There’s another cool story about a deep sea diver who got detached from his air hose. He passed out and was underwater for about 10 to 15 minutes without any oxygen, but amazingly, he didn’t suffer any brain damage when they pulled him out.
So, there was this incident in Europe where a driver crashed their car, ended up eating snow, and pretty much just slept for a couple of months until they were found.
RE: Fact #6 (607 Marathons in 607 Days) – After Rob Young, I’m pretty wary of ultra records, especially ones where it’s pretty much impossible for anyone else to verify the runner’s progress.
RE: Fact #28 (Brain’s Default Mode Network Explained) – Yeah, if you have ADHD, it’s super interesting to read about the Default Mode Network and the Task Positive Network, and how you can learn to manage them.
RE: Fact #27 (Mongol Empire Ruled Quarter of World) – Yeah, when you say 150 years, that really sounds like a super long time. It’s at least five generations, you know?
RE: Fact #25 (Catullus Wrote Obscene Ancient Poem) – What’s funny is that it’s not even what you’d think of as an “erotic” poem. In it, Catullus is going off on other dudes who say his poetry makes him weak. So it’s basically the ancient Roman version of an early-2000s Eminem diss track.
This reminds me of the first “yo mama” joke, which apparently came from Shakespeare. He wrote something like “You have undone thy mother” and then “I have done thy mother” in Titus Andronicus.
Titus Andronicus was wild! It totally blew my mind to realize people today are just like they were back in Chaucer’s time, and in ancient Rome and Greece too. We really haven’t changed a bit.
Yeah, that ‘ur mom’ joke is way beyond just an ‘ur mom’ joke, even though it totally is one.
RE: Fact #11 (McCarthy Footage Fooled Film Audiences) – Imagine being so over-the-top that 50 years from now, folks think you were actually bad at acting.
RE: Fact #10 (Norway Leads World in Pizza) – Norway’s a pretty cool country! They have some interesting food habits. They tend to eat pretty soon after work or school so they can have time for other stuff in the afternoon. This means they don’t have much time to actually cook. So, they end up having snacks before bed.
It looks like this:
Breakfast: bread
First break: bread
Lunch: bread
Second break: bread
Dinner: bread with topping or fish pudding
Late snack: bread
can’t believe you forgot taco fridays
I was in Norway back in 2016 and spotted a sign at a Mexican place, maybe in Bergen. It said something like “Mexican food so authentic Donald Trump would build a wall around it.” Honestly, I was taken aback that they were joking about US politics, and in English too! Then I felt pretty smug, thinking there’s no way their Mexican food could actually be authentic.
RE: Fact #1 (iPad Invented Before iPhone) – Yeah, Steve Jobs saw the prototype and was like, “This sh*t could be a phone.”
RE: Fact #42 (Mufflers and Silencers Same Invention) – So, they basically do the same thing, right? Like, redirecting gas to slow it down and spread out the force over a bigger area to make things quieter?
And for some reason, I have this hunch someone’s been binge-watching Forgotten Weapons lately.
I saw a short video on youtube about this exact thing just a couple of days ago.
RE: Fact #45 (Spencer Clark Put Himself on Currency) – Haha, I’m pretty sure he did that on purpose.
RE: Fact #20 (Brazil Burned Coffee to Raise Prices) – It’s honestly the saddest, most bitter thing that the roots of trees and vines have to be destroyed to keep prices up. Think about it: carloads of oranges are just dumped on the ground. People would come from miles away to grab the fruit, but that couldn’t happen. How could they possibly buy oranges for twenty cents a dozen if folks could just drive out and pick them for free? And then, they douse the oranges with kerosene, and it makes them so mad, so angry at this “crime,” and at the people who want the fruit. A million people are hungry, needing that fruit, and they spray kerosene all over these golden mountains of oranges. The whole country ends up smelling like rot. They burn coffee for fuel on ships, burn corn for warmth because it makes a hot fire. They dump potatoes in rivers and put guards along the banks so hungry people can’t fish them out. They slaughter pigs and bury them, letting the rot drip into the ground.
This is a crime that’s beyond just calling it out.
This is a sorrow that no amount of crying can truly express.
This is a failure that makes all our success seem meaningless.
You have fertile land, perfectly lined trees, strong trunks, and ripe fruit. And kids are dying of pellagra, dying because you can’t make a profit off an orange. Doctors have to write death certificates – “died of malnutrition” – because the food has to rot, has to be forced to rot. People come with nets to try and fish potatoes out of the river, but the guards stop them. They show up in cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is already sprayed on. They just stand there, watching potatoes float by, listening to pigs scream as they’re killed in a ditch and covered with lime, watching mountains of oranges turn into a putrid mess. You see the failure in their eyes, and in the eyes of the hungry, you see a growing anger. Inside the people, the grapes of wrath are filling up and getting heavy, getting ready for the harvest.
RE: Fact #9 (Five Sullivan Brothers Lost Together) – I thought this led to a rule about serving together?
And a ship was named after them
So, the US Navy used to have a rule about keeping siblings apart, but they didn’t really stick to it back then. When the Sullivan brothers signed up, they actually made it a condition that they could all serve together, and that was okayed.
I can totally see any branch just deciding to ignore that rule when they had five fit guys wanting to join up during WWII.
My dad was the youngest of three brothers who served in the military, in different branches. I was told that’s why he didn’t see combat – he was busy fixing planes and other damaged equipment. Apparently, there was a rule against sending all sons into combat after the incident the original poster mentioned. My uncles did see combat, and one of them earned two Purple Hearts.
I think during WW2, the army tried something where they grouped soldiers from the same towns together. The idea was that they’d know each other and be more motivated and work better as a team. But they stopped it because it was devastating for those towns if their whole unit got wiped out. Imagine a whole community of grieving families and no young men left for the local women to marry, unless they moved away.
RE: Fact #37 (Nematodes Outnumber All Animals) – Seriously? Like 57 billion nematodes for each person alive? That’s wild.
RE: Fact #31 (Black Agnes Defends Dunbar Castle) – People online often get it wrong, saying Agnes would have gotten the Earldom of Moray if her brother died without kids. But nope, back in 1346, when her brother died in battle with no heir, the Earldom went back to the crown. What Agnes and her sister Isobel did inherit, though, was all his money and land. Seems like they got it all after he passed. And get this, the family did get the Earldom back later, when it was given to Isobel’s son John in 1372.
RE: Fact #10 (Norway Leads World in Pizza) – So, I’ve heard that Pizza Grandiosa is basically the national dish. It’s a frozen pizza so tough, you could probably use it as a frisbee. And yeah, I’m Norwegian, so that’s my take.
When they first put it out, the main goal was to strip out as much flavor as possible so most people would be okay with it. Honestly, most folks just use it as a starting point and load it up with whatever they’ve got lying around in the fridge anyway.
RE: Fact #4 (Phantom Menace Fans Skip Work) – They did have work, but it was finished the next day. I really dislike these kinds of estimates. It’s not like they had endless products to create or orders to pack. You can’t really guess a per-hour cost when the job is small and still gets completed.
RE: Fact #11 (McCarthy Footage Fooled Film Audiences) – In the movie Spotlight, there’s a scene where a journalist looking into the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal finds out the church has a “safe house” for abusive priests just a block away from his own home. It’s a really impactful part of the movie, making the whole situation feel even more personal for the investigation team.
This is based on something that actually happened, but they made one change. They didn’t name the priest living in that house because, by coincidence, he was the same priest, John Geoghan, whose case originally sparked the journalists’ investigation. They altered that detail for the film because they figured the real-life coincidence would seem too hard to believe.
Mel Gibson actually toned down one of Desmond Doss’ feats for Hacksaw Ridge, because he thought audiences wouldn’t buy it. It’s pretty wild that he worried about believability, especially since he directed movies like The Patriot and Braveheart.
RE: Fact #14 (Rare Disease Removes Little Toe) – Yeah, another great example of nature’s supposed perfect design. I’ll add this right next to impacted wisdom teeth and appendicitis.
Maybe, just maybe, the real favorite thing in creation is flesh-eating bacteria, and everything alive is just the Lord cooking up fancy meals for them. Kind of like how some people make elaborate food towers for their Komodo dragons’ birthdays.
All our little problems from walking upright and not having hair don’t seem like a big deal if we’re just going to be food for these “flesh cooties” anyway, right?
RE: Fact #15 (Contronyms Hold Opposite Meanings) – Is there a word for two opposite words that mean the same thing? Like when someone says “I’m down for that” or “I’m up for that,” they both mean they’re willing.
Flammable means the same as inflammable?
This is a fun one, but it comes from misunderstanding how the “in-” prefix is sometimes used.
“Insoluble” uses “in-” to mean “not” (like in “un-” or “im-“), which is pretty common.
“Indebted” uses a less common “in-” that means “made to be.”
“Inflammable” uses that second meaning of “in-.”
It’s like enantiosemy, or when words mean opposite things. I think that happens a lot with contronyms, where a word can have two opposite meanings. For example, “supervise” and “overlook” can both be synonyms and antonyms, but that’s because “overlook” is a contronym.
RE: Fact #13 (Twins Invent Private Language) – My twins had their own special language when they were little. We tried to understand it, and we figured out that “amoomah” meant “come here right now.” We still use that word even though they’re teens now and don’t talk like that anymore.
My sisters would call each other “iim” even when they were teenagers. It was pretty interesting.
RE: Fact #33 (Beatles Produced 213 Songs in Eight Years) – They split up before anyone hit 30.
RE: Fact #43 (Haiku Used to Fight Spam) – Yeah, I bet it just became way too expensive to go after everyone in court.
Yeah, suing everyone seems pretty expensive, which is kinda funny ’cause Habeas figured suing people would actually make it tough for big spam companies to keep going.
Yeah, the internet really changed things up, and a lot of folks didn’t see how big of a deal it would be.
The article doesn’t really spell it out. I’m just guessing here, but maybe this setup makes it simpler to pursue legal action. A lot of spam isn’t really fraud, it’s more like breaking a Terms of Service. But if the spammers use copyrighted material without permission, there’s a clearer legal path to take. My guess, as an amateur legal enthusiast, is that using a third party could also help show the extent of the damages.
RE: Fact #49 (Gallagher Brothers’ Watermelon Lawsuit) – So, Leo was pretty chill about it. Ron asked if he could do Leo’s routine, and Leo said sure, as long as Ron made it obvious it wasn’t him. But Ron totally ignored that, and a bunch of people bought tickets to his show without realizing it was basically a tribute. Leo ended up having to sue Ron to keep his brand protected.
Ron wasn’t allowed to play the same places Leo did, but he did it anyway.
RE: Fact #21 (Teen Dies Playing Collision Sport) – Seriously, why would anyone do that?
It sounds like they’re just about to get to that new game where you basically run face-first into a wall.
Money, extreme sports, and not much thinking involved.
Calling this an extreme sport is pretty insulting to people who actually do extreme sports. This is just fu*king dumb.
RE: Fact #43 (Haiku Used to Fight Spam) – I don’t get it. So, email software is embedding copyrighted haikus in outgoing messages without the sender knowing, and then the sender could get sued? How would that even hold up in court? Or, if spammers were already using it to get around filters, why would they be considered dumb?
Why would a court agree with that? It sounds like people are supposed to get permission to use the copyrighted Haiku in emails, but they have to promise not to use the email for spam. Sending spam would be breaking that promise and could get them sued. Why would anyone think that’s a smart idea? Probably just arrogance.
RE: Fact #12 (Pink Donut Boxes of California) – So, those pink donut boxes began appearing on movie and TV sets as props because so much media is made in Southern California. That’s how the pink donut boxes ended up spreading all over the country.
RE: Fact #33 (Beatles Produced 213 Songs in Eight Years) – They also stopped touring and performing live back in 1966.
I wish they’d toured with Billy Preston. That rooftop jam was amazing! They actually talk about it in the Get Back documentary. Paul’s mentioned he wants to play venues and theaters.
RE: Fact #20 (Brazil Burned Coffee to Raise Prices) – Looks like Starbucks took some ideas from here.
RE: Fact #26 (Banks Use Exploding Dye Packs) – Yeah, it really depends on what the bank’s rules are. I used to be a teller, and we didn’t use dye packs. The risk of a thief shooting someone over a dye pack was just too high. They’d get the money and get away, and the bank would just claim the insurance.
Some banks tell their employees to just hand over dye packs with the cash, while others let the teller decide. I’ve even heard of banks giving rewards for getting robbed but managing to slip a dye pack into the stolen money.
The last bank I worked at used bait money.
Yeah, I’m guessing those are ones that haven’t been officially announced yet, right?
I’m into that last idea you mentioned! Like, sometimes people come in here and do crazy stuff, like pull guns and try to rob us. We’ve even got an office bet going – whoever gets the most dye packs thrown during the next robbery wins!
RE: Fact #39 (Andrew Jackson’s 100 Recorded Quarrels) – So, Andrew Jackson was nicknamed ‘Old Hickory’ ’cause he’d whack people with a hickory cane. And the reason he did that? Well, he was a fu*king lunatic.
He even used his cane to fight off the guy who tried to assassinate him, right there on the steps of the U.S. Capitol back in 1835. That was actually the first time anyone ever tried to murder a U.S. President. It got so intense that several congressmen had to grab him and pull him off his attacker before he beat him to death.
RE: Fact #39 (Andrew Jackson’s 100 Recorded Quarrels) – His wife was accused of bigamy, which he apparently took really to heart. On top of that, he was responsible for the Trail of Tears and really expanded the power of the president beyond what was normal back then. He wasn’t exactly someone who looked to make allies.
So, I’m not a fan of Jackson or most of what he does. But I totally get why he’d be super mad about being targeted by the first major political smear campaign in the US, especially since it probably led to his wife’s death. That’s probably the most reasonable thing about him.
RE: Fact #12 (Pink Donut Boxes of California) – Seriously though, when did all the donut shops decide to use the exact same dough, chocolate, and recipe? They all taste identical! It’s wild, I swear these “different” donut places are more consistent with each other than In-N-Out is.
RE: Fact #44 (Chris Cornell Composed Song Driving) – It’s really sad to think about how many amazing vocalists from that time are no longer with us. Cornell, Staley, Cobain, and so many other non-grunge singers from the early 90s are gone too.
RE: Fact #22 (Mitrokhin Archive Exposes KGB Secrets) – People are worried about being invaded, but enemies can actually mess us up from within.
Honestly, I don’t think people should be worried about a land invasion of the US. No country in the world has the ability to pull that off.
RE: Fact #8 (Athletes Face High Sleep Apnea) – My snoring got way worse after I started lifting and gained some weight, though it wasn’t quite apnea level. Sleeping propped up helped a lot, but it was a pretty big change. I bet it would have been even worse if I’d gotten even bigger.
RE: Fact #24 (JFK Survived Pre-Inaugural Bomb Plot) – Pretty ethical for someone who kills people for a living.
RE: Fact #3 (Lysenko’s Pseudoscience Caused Famines) – Even though I’m not a scientist, I don’t think big statements like that belong in science.
This article has some really wild stuff in it, especially about his “theory.” He was saying you could change spring wheat into fall wheat just by planting it in the fall. And when people mentioned they have different chromosome counts, he just said that would change too.
He also called the whole idea of genes a “bourgeois invention” and claimed random mutations weren’t a thing.
His theory was basically written into Soviet law, and scientists who disagreed ended up being executed or sent to Gulags. So many people died that it seriously set back Soviet agriculture and genetics for decades.
Even after his theories caused repeated famines, he convinced China to adopt Lysenkoism in 1958, which sadly played a part in the worst famine ever recorded.
This idea of a “bourgeois invention” was something a lot of staunch scientists used to say back then, especially when backing a certain government. They believed real scientific breakthroughs could only happen with the government’s backing. This basically meant shutting down any ideas that didn’t fit the prevailing ideology. We saw this happen with Nazism and in Communist China. Naturally, as one of those hardline scientists, you’d first have to figure out how the ideology saw the science you were working on. It was a tough balancing act because science relies on observation, while ideology focuses on outcomes.
RE: Fact #47 (London Markets Closing After Centuries) – You can’t really compare those two places. Billingsgate market moved out of Billingsgate back in the 1980s. The spot they’re shutting down has only been there for about 40 years, so it’s not a massive deal.
Smithfield, though, that’s a whole different story. It’s been around for centuries and is a huge part of that area in the City.
So, at the entrance to Smithfield, there’s a big sign that mentions they’ve only been at their current spot since 1852.
That’s only 173 years, no worries!
RE: Fact #40 (Swiss Cheese Holes Restored by Powder) – Here’s another cool cheese fact for you: we might not be able to enjoy brie cheese for much longer due to a fungus.
RE: Fact #1 (iPad Invented Before iPhone) – So, it started out as a prototype for a touchscreen computer running a tweaked OS X. It was pretty cool, but not super practical at first. Then, they thought, “Hey, let’s shrink this down into a phone to really make it sell!” That took some time, though. Once the iPhone was a hit, the iPad started looking way more appealing to a lot of folks. Even then, people were pretty divided on it initially.
It’s worth remembering that Apple actually had a handheld touchscreen computer out way before the iPhone and iPad, and that thing totally flopped. So, they were being pretty careful when they decided to try again.
Yeah, touchscreens were around for a while before the iPhone! I had a few in the early 2000s too. Most of them needed a stylus to tap those tiny texts on the screen. I remember having a Treo and an Audiovox SMT-5600, among others.
Honestly, though, I think Apple’s big innovation was the App Store.
RE: Fact #18 (Leonidas’ Olympic Record Lasted Millennia) – Yeah, totally off-topic, but I think the Olympics should bring back the hoplitodromos race.
RE: Fact #2 (Farmer Swallowed Whole by Python) – It’s wild that there have been so many documented cases of people being eaten by pythons there, like that woman Wa Tiba in 2018, then Jahrah in 2022, Farida in 2024, and Siriati later that same year. And now La Noti in 2025. I guess fu*k going to Sulawesi.
That wouldn’t happen to the people of Samoa. Their size is their protection.
I’ve totally been there, it’s a great spot! Just a heads-up, maybe don’t go exploring in the jungle solo. 😉
RE: Fact #42 (Mufflers and Silencers Same Invention) – Hiram Maxim Jr. was the son of Hiram Maxim Sr., who invented the Maxim machine gun. He was also the nephew of Hudson Maxim, who invented smokeless gunpowder.
That family really seems to have a knack for recoil and suppression.
If you had to fu*k some sh*t, you went to one of those Hiram Maxim boys, and they’d get you sorted out real fast.
Also the founder of the ARRL, which is still the national ham radio association for the US.
RE: Fact #4 (Phantom Menace Fans Skip Work) – It’s kind of messed up to talk about people taking a day off to see a movie as just “$ productivity loss.”
RE: Fact #13 (Twins Invent Private Language) – Yeah, my twin boys went through something similar. They were in speech therapy for a bit because they figured, why bother learning English when they already knew how to get what they wanted? Their therapists mentioned it’s pretty common, and apparently, it’s even trickier to get twin brothers to change their ways.
RE: Fact #16 (Millions Grind Teeth While Sleeping) – How can I become one of the 85% that don’t do that?
Hey, so I’m a massage therapist, and before you go for injections, you might want to try some manual releases. They’re pretty simple and can be super effective.
Here’s how: put your thumbs in the grooves just below your earlobes and to the side of your jawbone. While opening your mouth, push down gently and slide your thumbs about an inch. Once your jaw is fully open, make little circular motions. Keep doing this until the pain eases up.
There are a lot of tight neck muscles that attach right there, and getting them to relax can really help with TMJ problems, even teeth grinding.
Getting Botox in my jaw muscles really helped me out a lot.
RE: Fact #2 (Farmer Swallowed Whole by Python) – So this wasn’t documented anywhere until 2018, but it’s happened five times since then?
The pythons didn’t know it was possible until they saw videos of Bob doing it. Then it totally blew up in the python community.
Hey everyone! It’s Crazy Stevie here, and today I’m going to try the ‘Eat a whole human’ challenge.
RE: Fact #8 (Athletes Face High Sleep Apnea) – Big neck and big sleep apnea. Also, big stats in the Airborne community. I have sleep apnea, and my doctor ordered a sleep study just because of my neck size. It’s not enormous, but I’m not exactly small either.
RE: Fact #30 (Bone Wars Fueled Dinosaur Discoveries) – This is all talked about in Bill Bryson’s awesome book, “A Short History of Nearly Everything.” I totally recommend it to anyone!
RE: Fact #46 (Flies Addicted to Nicotine Smoke) – My friend’s two dachshunds totally freaked out when he quit smoking. They ended up hanging out with his roommate, who still smokes.
That’s really sad to hear. Poor things. He must have smoked a ton around them for them to get that bad.
I bet he just smoked a regular amount. It’s just that what’s considered “regular” for nicotine is actually a shocking amount, like “how are you even alive?!”
RE: Fact #22 (Mitrokhin Archive Exposes KGB Secrets) – Makes you think about how much of this is still going on.
Yeah, the KGB and outfits like them were involved in a lot of shady stuff back then. Like in my country, the ŠTB did similar things. When the communist regime fell apart, the last thing those fu*kers did was pack up several trucks with secret documents – info on operations, lists of informants, and dirt they’d dug up on people. Then, they drove it all out to a field near the city and burned it all in huge bonfires that could be seen from miles away. Everything was gone before anyone could even realize what was happening.
I’ve visited the KGB museum in Vilnius and spent a few years in Russia and Belarus. It seems like they’re still up to some shady stuff. I’m not saying the CIA doesn’t do bad things too, though.
That’s a lot. Aleksandr Dugin put out a book back in ’97 that basically laid out a plan for Russia to take over the world. It’s apparently used as a textbook for their military and politicians. Looking at it feels like a checklist for most of the messed-up stuff that’s happened in Western politics over the last 15 years. Britain leaving the EU is one example, and the part about America is really something. The plan says Russia should use its intelligence agencies in the US and Canada to stir up trouble and separatism against “neoliberal globalist Western hegemony.” It even suggests things like provoking “Afro-American racists” to react strongly against the current messed-up political situation in the US and Canada. The plan also talks about bringing “geopolitical disorder” to American internal affairs by encouraging all sorts of separatism and conflicts based on ethnicity, social groups, and race. It would actively back any dissident groups, including extremist, racist, and sectarian ones, to mess with US internal politics. The book also suggests supporting isolationist ideas within American politics.
Just a heads-up, that guy’s daughter was killed in an assassination. There’s some uncertainty about whether she was the intended target or if it was actually her dad they were after.
RE: Fact #21 (Teen Dies Playing Collision Sport) – This is the second-silliest “sport” I’ve heard about, right after Power Slap.
This is actually worse.
They’ve taken a common phrase rugby coaches use, “run straight,” and totally twisted its meaning. In rugby, when we say “run straight,” it means to carry the ball into the opposition so we can keep possession and play again. It’s the opposite of running sideways, which takes you away from your teammates and makes you easier to tackle hard and lose the ball.
Basically, they’ve taken a term from a team sport and turned it into a silly one-on-one situation.
RE: Fact #12 (Pink Donut Boxes of California) – It’s great when something becomes “iconic” for a simple, everyday reason, like just being cheaper because there was a surplus.
RE: Fact #46 (Flies Addicted to Nicotine Smoke) – Fu*k yeah they do…flies totally know how to party.
RE: Fact #35 (Unsolved Crimes of Mr. Cruel) – So, I remember going to a Chinese place years back. The owner was this really fun lady, super welcoming. She got a kick out of teaching us kids how to say the menu items when we ordered. It was a total shock later to find out she was Karmein Chan’s mom. What a terrible story.
Just wanted to float a theory I heard, and please tell me if it sounds like I’m being an jerk about it, and I’ll happily delete it. But, there’s a thought out there that maybe whoever did it wasn’t actually Mr. Cruel. The idea is that maybe it was someone trying to frame him, especially since this person apparently killed her instead of, you know, returning her like the other two cases.
Karmein’s mom mentioned she would’ve put up a strong fight and made a scene. Mr. Cruel told another kid to hush up, saying he cared more about his own freedom than her life. It’s pretty understandable why he’d kill her if he felt the risk was too great. Plus, the rest of the evidence and his usual way of doing things fit with him.
I think it’s more likely that his face was seen by accident.
RE: Fact #17 (Autistic Lifespan Shortened by Risks) – It’s really tough when your kid has a hard time telling if they’re too hot or too cold. My autistic teenager has a bit of trouble with those senses, and while he’s gotten way better at remembering and following the rules now that he’s older, it was pretty scary when he was younger.
Back when he was in preschool and kindergarten, I had to constantly tell the teachers, “No, he genuinely doesn’t know if he’s cold, and he won’t say anything even if he’s getting frostbite because he just won’t notice.” He actually got heatstroke a few times during recess before they finally started believing me.
It makes you realize how easily something serious could have happened at school if I hadn’t been so insistent about his care or if I hadn’t had access to information like “he literally cannot tell when he’s hot.” It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like 100 years ago, where he might have just been labeled a “weird kid” who was picky about food and obsessed with trains, with no doctors or therapists to help teach him how to check his own temperature. That’s not something I ever had to learn myself – I *know* when I’m hot. I had to figure out a totally new way of thinking and come up with practical, easy ways for him to check on himself, take care of himself, and speak up for himself when adults wouldn’t listen.
RE: Fact #11 (McCarthy Footage Fooled Film Audiences) – That whole thing with the details in The Dropout miniseries on Hulu totally happened to me too. Remember that scene where the Theranos lawyer just casually said something to a reporter that accidentally let slip their blood testing machines didn’t work? It felt way too convenient and made-up to be real, but then I watched a documentary about Theranos and found out that exact scene was recreated word-for-word from what actually went down.
RE: Fact #7 (Krasinski and Novak’s High School) – Did Novak help John get that role as Jim instead of some other big names because of something that happened before?
RE: Fact #28 (Brain’s Default Mode Network Explained) – This might be why so many people don’t really know themselves. Our tech-heavy culture keeps our senses busy all the time, so our minds don’t get a chance to just drift.
RE: Fact #38 (Oster Conspiracy to Stop Hitler) – I was really surprised to find out how much Czechoslovakia could have done to stop the war before it even started. The Czechs were heavily armed and had strong defenses, and if the allies had joined in, Germany wouldn’t have stood a chance. Instead, the Germans got those weapons, more soldiers, and an extra year to get ready to invade Poland.
Czech tanks were used too. Basically, Czech industry powered a lot of what Germany did after that.
Czechoslovakia was a big deal in making small firearms, and they also had a pretty decent car-making industry.
RE: Fact #33 (Beatles Produced 213 Songs in Eight Years) – Honestly, it blows my mind most about the Beatles, way more than any other trivia, is that they managed to do all their incredible music and change popular music forever in just eight years. It’s truly unbelievable.
This is pretty incredible. Tupac Shakur passed away at 25 and had 11 studio albums, an estimated 400 songs, and still managed to act in several Hollywood movies. It’s hard to believe he ever slept!
Seven of those albums actually came out after he passed away. And a lot of them were just demos that they beefed up with a ton of guest rappers to make them longer.
It’s pretty amazing how they didn’t just churn out a bunch of similar albums. They went from being a pop group to totally reshaping modern music. The way their sound changed over their albums is just wild. They explored hard rock, folk, psychedelia, and even some really out-there experimental tracks like “Revolution Number 9,” plus they laid the groundwork for the whole “concept album” idea.
Music today just wouldn’t be the same without those four guys. Their development and impact are seriously huge.
So, John Fogarty was talking about how his band fell apart. Apparently, they watched a documentary about how *Abbey Road* was made, and after that, the other guys in his band suddenly insisted they all needed to write an equal number of songs for every album. Up to that point, John had written all the big hits. The others were like, “The Beatles all write songs!” and John’s response was pretty much, “Yeah, but… we’re… not… The… Beatles.”
I think their biggest impact on music was how they creatively used multi-track recording. They weren’t the first or even the absolute best at it, but since they were The Beatles, everyone wanted to copy them. This was especially true back then when producers were having a hard time keeping up with the new tech, and a lot of studios couldn’t even afford to get the equipment.
Ultimately, I think they were just perfectionists who got tired of each other, rather than being solely driven by their interest in new technology. But it really did force a huge shift in the music industry.
They actually worked eight days a week.
RE: Fact #30 (Bone Wars Fueled Dinosaur Discoveries) – Seriously, the damage done to paleontology might be permanent. It’s such a bummer to think about how many unique discoveries were probably ruined because someone was being selfish.
Yeah, that’s why most paleontologists back then and now really didn’t agree with what they did. They’re remembered for being super egoistical and unprofessional during their digs. By the time they passed away, they were basically outcasts, had pretty much no money, and their reputations were permanently damaged by their bad decisions and attitudes while digging.
RE: Fact #28 (Brain’s Default Mode Network Explained) – My teachers in primary school probably thought I was just zoning out, but really, I was building up who I am.
RE: Fact #49 (Gallagher Brothers’ Watermelon Lawsuit) – What’s with brothers named Gallagher in show biz always hating each other?
That’s what got me curious.
If we got a nickel every time this happened, we’d have two nickels. That’s not a lot, but it’s definitely weird that it happened twice.
RE: Fact #24 (JFK Survived Pre-Inaugural Bomb Plot) – Good to know there’s a line that person won’t cross.
He seemed ready to harm Kennedy’s Protestant bodyguards, and that’s that.
RE: Fact #26 (Banks Use Exploding Dye Packs) – This fact is a good test of common sense. People with common sense know that bank robbers and bystanders aren’t usually burned to death by dye packs, and they can probably figure out that 400°F is a quick, small explosion.
Big numbers can sound a little intimidating, huh? I actually put my hand in a 400-degree oven once, and it just melted off.
So, when someone robs a bank, they don’t just burst into flames on the front steps as a sacrifice to the billionaires?
RE: Fact #29 (Progress and Poverty Shaped Economics) – So, I was reading on Wikipedia, and it mentioned how George noticed that when technology and society improve, land becomes more valuable. This means landlords can charge more rent to people who need to use the land. Basically, the better public services get, the higher rent goes. When people who buy land just to speculate drive up prices faster than businesses can make enough money to pay for it, it leaves less for workers’ wages. Eventually, this can cause businesses on the edge to fail, and that can snowball into a big economic downturn with lots of people out of work and losing their homes. This feels pretty relevant right now.
As far as I recall, Piketty touched on something similar in “Capital in the 21st Century.”
Basically, when the return on investment is higher than the economic growth rate, it causes a problem. This happens because the wealthiest people have the means to invest, while those who are less well-off don’t.
Funny how Piketty’s observation that capital income is taking over from labor income is pretty much all because of land prices. That’s exactly what Henry George would have seen coming.
RE: Fact #4 (Phantom Menace Fans Skip Work) – Yeah, that’s a bit high. I actually skipped work to see it, but honestly, I wasn’t getting much done that day anyway.