1 The Hermit of Jersey’s Reef
In 1961, Alphonse Le Gastelois of Jersey in the British Isles was wrongly accused of child assault and became the target of community outrage. Fearing violence, he fled to the remote reef of Les Écréhous, where he lived in isolation for 14 years. The true predator, Edward Paisnel, later known as the “Beast of Jersey,” was finally arrested in 1971 after terrorizing the island for over a decade.
2. After Elvis Presley’s death in 1977, his cousin quietly accepted $18,000 from the National Enquirer to take a secret photograph of the singer’s body in its open casket. The tabloid splashed the image across its cover, and the issue sold a record 6.7 million copies. The controversial scoop remains the magazine’s all-time best-seller.
3. In 2019, a 19-year-old man in Montbéliard, France, tricked a self-serve checkout by weighing and scanning a PlayStation 4 as a piece of fruit. The console, worth €340, rang up as only €9, and he later resold it for €100. Emboldened, he tried the stunt again the next day, was caught, and received a four-month prison sentence.
4. While filming The Terminator in 1984, the crew used a prototype laser sight that required 10,000 volts just to activate. To make it work on screen, technicians hid a bulky battery inside Arnold Schwarzenegger’s jacket. Wires ran up his sleeve to power the device, creating the iconic glowing weapon effect without digital tricks.
5. In 1781, the crew of the British slave ship Zong deliberately threw 142 enslaved Africans overboard, claiming there was not enough drinking water to keep them alive. The ship’s owners later sought compensation from insurers, treating the people as lost cargo. A lengthy court battle followed, with the claim first denied, then granted, appealed, and ultimately rejected.
6 Old Colonizers Leading New Enemies
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48, both India and Pakistan relied heavily on British officers to command their newly independent armies. Many of these men had served side by side under the British Raj and even knew each other personally.
7. In Edo-era Japan, the oiran courtesans were far more than sex workers; they were highly trained in poetry, music, and the tea ceremony. Their elaborate hairstyles and richly decorated kimonos defined the height of fashion, inspiring women across the country to copy their look. As cultural elites, they held influence not just in pleasure houses but in shaping Japan’s style and taste.
8. In Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), Dick Van Dyke played Bert the chimney sweep with what became one of cinema’s most infamous accents. Van Dyke later admitted his Cockney was “the most atrocious” ever attempted, though at the time he never realized it. None of the cast or crew corrected him, and the botched accent went on to become part of the film’s legacy.
9. In the early 1990s, Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan faced a bizarre lawsuit from an obsessive fan who claimed her hit song Possession was based on his letters. The case was complicated by his admission that he was a stalker and his real motive was to see her in court. Before the trial began, he died in an apparent suicide, and the case was dismissed.
10. While playing James Bond in the 1990s, Pierce Brosnan’s contract included a peculiar restriction: he couldn’t wear a tuxedo in any other film. The rule was meant to protect the 007 image and keep the iconic look exclusive to the franchise. As a result, in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), he attends a formal ball with his shirt unbuttoned and bow tie untied to avoid the Bond silhouette.
11 Cartoon Ads Spark Boston Panic
In January 2007, Boston police mistook LED light boards of Aqua Teen Hunger Force characters for explosive devices. The guerrilla ads, placed under bridges and on buildings to promote the show, triggered a massive bomb-squad response. The scare cost the city an estimated $2 million and led to public backlash against both the marketers and Cartoon Network.
12. Between 1945 and 1955, researchers in Lund, Sweden, ran the Vipeholm experiments on patients with intellectual disabilities. Funded by both dentists and the sugar industry, subjects were fed large amounts of sweets, especially sticky toffee, to study how sugar caused tooth decay. The study conclusively linked sugar to cavities, but today they are condemned as grossly unethical human experimentation.
13. English band Depeche Mode’s future frontman, Dave Gahan, was only six months old when his Malaysian father, Len, walked out on the family in England. Nine years later, Len reappeared and visited the Gahan household regularly for about a year, raising hopes of reconciliation. Then, without warning, he vanished again, this time permanently, leaving young Dave to grow up without him.
14. During the Battle of Tulagi on the Solomon Islands in August 1942, PFC Edward H. Ahrens of the U.S. Marines singlehandedly faced a group of Japanese soldiers in close combat. The next morning, they found him mortally wounded, surrounded by 13 dead enemies, and credited him with at least three confirmed kills. Before dying, he told his commander, “The bastards tried to come over me last night; I guess they didn’t know I was a Marine.”
15. Around 100 CE, a Roman cavalry officer named Masculus wrote a letter from Vindolanda Fort in northern Britain to his commander, Flavius Cerialis. Alongside asking for the next day’s orders for his men, he slipped in a polite request for more beer, since the garrison had already finished their supply. The tablet survived nearly 1,920 years, giving a rare glimpse into the daily life and thirst of Rome’s frontier troops.
16 Cancer Charity’s Carcinogenic Perfume
In 2011, breast cancer nonprofit Susan G. Komen for the Cure launched a fundraising perfume called Promise Me. Investigators soon found that it contained chemicals linked to cancer, including coumarin and toluene. Although the formula was later altered, the foundation chose not to pull existing bottles from store shelves.
17. In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces forced Allied prisoners at Singapore’s Selarang Barracks to sign pledges promising not to escape. Most Australian POWs complied-but instead of using their real names, they signed “Ned Kelly,” after the country’s infamous 19th-century outlaw. Japanese administrators, unfamiliar with English names, failed to notice the ruse, turning the coerced document into a silent act of defiance.
18. When Ulysses S. Grant married Julia Dent in 1848, two of his groomsmen were fellow West Point graduates James Longstreet and Cadmus Wilcox. Seventeen years later, the three men met again, but on opposite sides of the American Civil War. At Appomattox in 1865, Generals Longstreet and Wilcox surrendered to their former friend, now General Grant, marking the war’s end.
19. Decades after Ronald Reagan left office, twelve federal judges he appointed in the 1980s are still serving on the U.S. bench (as of September 2025).
20. For drivers under 5’4″, experts recommend using pedal extenders to maintain a safe distance from the steering wheel. Without them, shorter drivers often sit too close to reach the pedals, increasing the risk of injury from an airbag deploying.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 FBI’s Unsolved Toy Box Clues
In 2011, the FBI’s Albuquerque field office released hundreds of photos of items seized from the home of David Parker Ray, the notorious “Toy Box Killer.” Investigators hoped the public could link the objects-jewelry, clothing, and personal effects-to missing persons. More than a decade later, not a single item has been conclusively identified as belonging to another victim.
22. Flo Hyman, a towering 6’5″ volleyball star, led the U.S. women’s team to a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics. Known for her athletic grace and power, she became a symbol of women’s sports excellence. In 1986, at just 31, she collapsed during a match in Japan and died. She was later found to have had undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that weakens the heart and connective tissues.
23. In 1980, doctors told Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito that amputating his infected leg could save his life. Tito reportedly declared he would rather take his own life than lose the limb and initially refused the procedure. His eventual death soon after created a power vacuum that weakened the state and helped set the stage for Yugoslavia’s breakup in the decades that followed.
24. When Oppenheimer premiered in 70mm IMAX in 2023, projectionists used decades-old PalmOS software to run the system. The original IMAX hardware relied on the outdated operating system, so technicians used a PalmOS emulator on a Windows 10 tablet to control the massive film reels.
25. Fibers spun from dog hair, known as chiengora, can be up to 80% warmer than sheep’s wool. Historically used for weaving and knitting, the material is soft and insulating but lacks elasticity, making it harder to work with. Despite its rarity today, some artisans still produce chiengora garments for their exceptional warmth.
RE: Fact #37 (A Mass Suicide for Justice) – It’s way better to stick around and fu*k things up than to ‘make a statement’ by offing yourself.
The Nepali government was probably like “thank god lol”
It’s kind of like people who self-immolate – nobody really remembers them a week later, and things just keep going as they were.
In 1969, two students self-immolated and they’re still widely remembered today. They even have a national holiday, memorial plaques, and streets named after them all over the country.
RE: Fact #46 (The Factory Roots of Open Offices) – So, I’m seeing… fu*k YOU, FREDERICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s likely dead by now, so there’s probably a grave that could use some… fertilizing.
RE: Fact #44 (A $304 Ale Sells for $500,000) – So, the seller messed up twice. First, they misspelled the brewery’s name as “Allsop’s” instead of the right “Allsopp’s.” And second, they didn’t set a reserve price on something that was worth $500,000.
Honestly, I would’ve just skipped sending the item altogether.
If something’s worth that much, they’d totally get sued. There’s way too much money involved.
Or using a real estate agent like Sotheby’s or Heritage so the listing could be properly promoted and reach the right people.
RE: Fact #15 (A Roman Soldier Wants Beer) – Hey Cerialis, greetings! My lord, please let us know what you’d like us to do tomorrow. Should we all come back with the standard, or just half of us? My fellow soldiers are out of beer, so please order some to be sent.
This is a bit strange to me. Romans weren’t really into kings, and Cerialis wasn’t a king. He was actually a legate, consul, and then governor of Britain.
That said, the translation is mostly right. Looking at Tablet 628:
Masclus sends greetings to his patron Cerialis. I ask, my lord, if you want us to do something tomorrow? Tell us if we should all return with the standard, or if it’s better to return in turns.
…
I wish you well. Please be kind to me. Farewell. The soldiers won’t have beer, which I’m asking you to send.
Flavio Cerialis, Prefect, to Masclus.
The notes also kind of back me up on this:
“regi suo”: The word “rex” (king) isn’t used for Cerialis or anyone else in these tablets. While the Batavians were sometimes led by nobles from a royal line according to Tacitus, it’s more likely here that “rex” just means ‘patron’, which is a common usage.
So, even though “regi” literally translates to “king,” it’s probably better understood as “patron” in this context.
They had a whole chat about how to sneak in that they ran out of beer
Yeah, keeping things short, sweet, and to the point is always good for requests like that.
RE: Fact #25 (Dog Wool That Outwarms Sheep) – I keep trying to tell people why I need their puppies! I figured I’d need about 100 or 101 to get enough hair for a coat. I bet a Dalmatian hair coat would look so cool and be super warm! They just keep acting mean to me and calling me a psycho!
Jasper and Horace, bring me those puppies.
You could totally get a job grooming dogs. They’ll even pay you to handle their shedding.
I heard that makes pretty bad coats. You gotta skin ’em for it to actually do anything.
A tuxedo made of greyhound fur would be awesome.
RE: Fact #3 (PS4 Scanned as Fruit) – So the guy scanned the PS4 at self-checkout like it was fruit? And it cost 9€? Wild.
Watermelon could definitely get up to 9 euros per piece. What they probably meant, though, is that if you picked out any fruit and it weighed as much as a PS4, it would cost around 9 euros.
RE: Fact #16 (Cancer Charity’s Carcinogenic Perfume) – This organization’s only job is to raise awareness about breast cancer, period. They don’t put any effort or money into finding a cure.
RE: Fact #40 (Why Shoe Sizes Use Barleycorns) – Seriously, can we just use millimeters?
So, over in Continental Europe, they use this thing called the “Paris point” instead of barleycorns. It’s kinda silly too. It’s not 1/3 of an inch, but rather 2/3 of a centimeter. This is basically just a metric way of saying it’s like 1/4 of a French inch.
Anything to avoid the metric system.
RE: Fact #22 (Olympic Star Felled by Rare Disorder) – I know firsthand that Marfan Syndrome is really tough. I had both my heart valves replaced when I was 26, and then had a dissection with a graft and stints at 33. The heart issues are the worst part, but there are other unpleasant symptoms too.
So glad you’re still around! I had a classmate who passed away as a teen, and a family friend who died in his thirties. Both of them were honestly some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
My experience hasn’t been too rough. There are a bunch of different symptoms out there, and they can all be pretty mild or pretty severe. My family’s all been on the milder side of things.
RE: Fact #33 (Antarctica’s Frozen Firefighters) – I’m guessing they’re mostly focused on stopping fires since losing your shelter in Antarctica would be a death sentence. At least, that’s the case once the fire dies down.
Yeah, it’s super windy too.
Honestly, it’s really dry, like a desert.
RE: Fact #24 (Oppenheimer Projected by PalmOS) – Hey, so this was for the Quick Turn Reel Unit, which was the last film reel tech IMAX put out. Other reel units used to pull film from the outside and wind it onto a center core, meaning you had to rewind it to watch it again. But the QTRU pulled from and put film back into the center of the platter. It had this optical sensor in the middle that sent info to a Palm Pilot to keep the speed right. I used to be an IMAX projectionist back in college.
RE: Fact #46 (The Factory Roots of Open Offices) – They had this idea to arrange our little cubicles in a semicircle around the boss, who would be in a cubicle with a window on a raised platform, looking down at us. They ended up ditching the plan ’cause it was a pretty dumb idea, but they actually drew it up and were showing it around. It was kinda funny to think about.
RE: Fact #15 (A Roman Soldier Wants Beer) – Yeah, I get what you mean. Back then, beer was more like a meal than a drink. They weren’t just chugging cold ones.
Yeah, you’re right, it was a better source for both calories and water.
Ugh, this old story again. They drank beer because flavored water tastes good, not because it’s safer or for the calories.
RE: Fact #13 (Dave Gahan’s Twice-Abandoned Childhood) – Yeah, I went through something similar. My dad actually left when I was just two. The next time I saw him was when my sister and I visited our grandparents. My grandma pointed to some guy and asked if I knew who he was. I had no clue!
My dad showed up for the first time when I was nine, but only because my stepfather wanted to adopt me and give me his last name, and my real dad couldn’t deal with that.
RE: Fact #13 (Dave Gahan’s Twice-Abandoned Childhood) – Just learned Dave Gahan is half-Asian.
RE: Fact #16 (Cancer Charity’s Carcinogenic Perfume) – Komen for the Cure is one of the worst charities out there. Pretty much all the money goes to admin costs and salaries, not to research or helping people who are affected.
So, I know Komen for the Cure gets a really bad rap, and honestly, they’re pretty terrible. But I’m not huge on ranking charities just by how much money goes straight to the cause versus what they spend on running things. It’s kind of like saying paying teachers a lot means they’re greedy, but paying them very little means they just love their jobs.
For a charity to actually work well, you need skilled, capable people in charge. And those kinds of people usually cost a good bit because they have other options that pay them more. If a charity wants to put as much money as possible into its actual mission, they might hire folks who aren’t as great at the job or as qualified, just to save cash. Relying on unpaid student volunteers might be cheap, but they’ll get way less done over a longer period compared to a team of well-paid, experienced professionals.
But then again, if those high-paid folks are doing a really good job, the money they bring in should increase, which would then lower the percentage spent on admin.
Based on their latest 990 filing, it looks like they put about $17 million towards research out of their total $111 million in expenses.
That makes sense considering 2020. So, how is their budget actually spent? Back in fiscal year 2020, 51% of the money went to things like education, advocacy, patient support, and national campaigns. Then, 36% was used for fundraising and administrative costs. That left only 13% for direct research, screening, and treatment programs.
RE: Fact #48 (The Bailout That Made a Profit) – Kids were actually getting bullied at school when it came out their parents worked for AIG. People were furious about what was going on, both because of the situation itself and because they didn’t know how to sort it out.
The government actually pleaded with Bob Benmosche to come out of his quiet retirement because he was the one who knew how to prevent the world’s largest insurance company from going under. He battled with Congress Oversight throughout his entire time at AIG until he managed to turn things around, and he was a major reason for the $15.3 billion profit mentioned in the title.
And then he passed away from lung cancer two years later, after pretty much saving the US economy by himself. He’s definitely one of the overlooked heroes of the last two decades.
RE: Fact #7 (Japan’s Courtesans Set the Trends) – When you’re in charge, even your dates are sophisticated.
RE: Fact #1 (The Hermit of Jersey’s Reef) – If I’m remembering right, people even went as far as to burn the poor guy’s house down.
RE: Fact #8 (Dick Van Dyke’s Cockney Disaster) – This might explain why he didn’t try any accent at all in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a couple years back.
RE: Fact #3 (PS4 Scanned as Fruit) – Back in high school, I knew this dude who grabbed an aquarium, filled it with other random things, and then just paid for the aquarium itself.
Did the store think that was a bit strange?
Nah. He told security that it was empty and they were just a bunch of guppies.
RE: Fact #41 (The Cursed Filming of Dr. Moreau) – Stanley said he’d met a friend who practiced witchcraft before they met up, and that this friend told him to use occult tricks so Brando would let Stanley call the shots.
It’s a pretty wild list of crazy stuff that went wrong:
* Marlon Brando’s daughter died by suicide, which held things up.
* A crew member was bitten by a poisonous spider, and her skin started melting.
* Another crew member got radiation poisoning back in London, and “his bones disintegrated.”
* Director Stanley’s mom’s house was struck by lightning three times!
* Val Kilmer started acting like a complete jerk to everyone.
* A massive storm wiped out the set.
* Rob Morrow freaked out, had a breakdown, and quit.
* Stanley himself was taken off the project, ignored the studio, and vanished into the wild.
And then there’s this:
* Bruce Willis was hired but decided not to do it because of his divorce.
* It turns out Kilmer was upset on set because he was also going through a divorce.
* Brando had a hard time memorizing his lines.
* The film itself got bad reviews and didn’t do well at the box office.
If I had a penny for every time a storm wrecked a set for a Marlon Brando movie, I’d have two pennies. That’s not a lot, but it’s wild that it happened twice. Maybe he was cursed.
Wow, so that fired director apparently snuck back onto the set in disguise as an extra after a week in the wilderness just to give directions secretly. That movie shoot sounds like it was totally nuts.
And Marlon Brando, true to form, wanted his lines on cue cards. He also apparently requested that Nelson de la Rosa, who is much shorter, deliver most of Brando’s lines during their scenes together. Brando though it was actually a good move as he felt de la Rosa deserved a chance to act but hadn’t gotten one because of his dwarfism.
It sounds like every story about Marlon Brando is pretty much “He was a huge jerk, but a consistent one.” Like, he famously turned down his Oscar to highlight Hollywood’s huge discrimination problem with Native Americans, but at the same time, he was like, “fu*k you, I’m not learning a single line.”
RE: Fact #11 (Cartoon Ads Spark Boston Panic) – Yeah, remember that big Mooninite Scare back in 2007? Feels like ages ago, huh?
Seeing this unfold live was seriously wild.
I remember reading all about it on LiveJournal.
Yeah, it’s wild. Apparently, Cartoon Network even told the Boston PD it was them, and the police didn’t believe them at all. Like, “We totally did it.” “Nah, you didn’t.”
RE: Fact #1 (The Hermit of Jersey’s Reef) – This is genuinely terrifying stuff, the story sounds like something out of a horror movie because it’s so dark and twisted. Definitely not for the easily scared!
Some houses in Jersey still have iron bars on the bedroom windows because of this awful guy.
I learned about the Beast of Jersey a while ago, and some of it came from friends who live on the island. I remember hearing about how he’d cut the phone lines and electricity to houses, trapping people before attacking them – that really gives me the creeps. And the mask he wore during his attacks is also pretty chilling.
I checked out the wiki and honestly, it’s the most harmless serial rapist wiki I’ve ever come across.
RE: Fact #19 (Reagan’s Judges Still on Bench) – We really need term limits for federal judges and justices.
RE: Fact #28 (The Cruel Murder of Gemma Hayter) – This person was murdered by five others who had befriended her. They had apparently asked her to hold illegal drugs and steal things for them. Things escalated when she made a joke about one of them being underage at a pub. This led to the group being banned from local pubs and they got angry. The next day, they attacked her, forcing her to drink urine, breaking her nose against a radiator, and locking her in a toilet. Then, they took her to a railway embankment, put a bin liner on her head, stamped on her, and stabbed her. They tried to set her clothes on fire before her body was found. The main attackers were sentenced to life, with minimum tariffs of 20, 21, and 18 years. The other two got manslaughter convictions and were sentenced to 15 and 13 years.
RE: Fact #8 (Dick Van Dyke’s Cockney Disaster) – I think Dick Van Dyke totally deserves an honorary knighthood from King Charles. His accent has been hilarious for Brits for years, and the way he makes fun of his own accent really resonates with everyone here. He should be celebrated like a national treasure.
RE: Fact #20 (Short Drivers Face Airbag Danger) – So I know what to get my wife for our anniversary this year. Fingers crossed she likes it more than those diet books from last year or the vacuum cleaner the year before!
RE: Fact #25 (Dog Wool That Outwarms Sheep) – Yeah but it’s itchy as fu*k. You can get hair splinters from the fur, especially if it’s cut.
This stuff is made from the softest undercoat that doesn’t splinter. They don’t actually cut it; they blow out their undercoat twice a year, and it just comes off naturally. Washing and spinning arctic undercoat is a ton of work, though, so it ends up being really expensive.
RE: Fact #26 (Greek Fire’s Secret Lost Forever) – Yeah, we’re pretty sure it was some kind of oil or mix of oils. Pliny the Elder actually wrote about flammable pitch being used in wars way back, and that was long before Greek fire showed up. So, it wasn’t like nobody knew about that stuff back then.
A lot of things are misunderstood about this, and sadly, it’s because of how we’re told about it. The substance gets sensationalized, and we only get surface-level info.
Incendiary compounds were around way before the Middle Ages and the Byzantine golden age. “Naphta,” “tar,” and “pitch” are common terms used in old texts for all sorts of incendiary stuff.
At some point in the Middle Ages, “Greek fire” became a common name for incendiary weapons, so you’ll see mentions of “X used Greek fire against Y” even when they weren’t Byzantine. Grenades filled with gunpowder or incendiary compounds in central and western Europe were commonly called “Greek fire” all the way up to the 16th century.
The Byzantines used several different incendiary compounds. We have descriptions of one that floats on water, one that can’t be put out even when dipped in water for a bit, one that catches fire when it touches air, one that needs to be lit separately, one that’s thick and sticky, and one that’s thin and fluid. That’s at least two different compounds.
It’s possible the one that floated on water was just crude petroleum or gasoline, or maybe wood shavings were mixed with another compound to make it float.
While its recipes are unknown today, and the Byzantines famously wanted to keep it a secret, we don’t know if they actually succeeded. Constantine Porphyrogenitus even made a law about keeping the recipe secret, but we don’t know if all emperors agreed, or if spies stole it, or if chemists figured it out. It might not have been solely a Greek weapon after a certain point. The Byzantines themselves said their eastern enemies used “liquid fire” against them too.
It’s highly likely it was just previously used incendiary mixtures with added saltpeter as an oxidizer. The “secret” might have just been a secret ingredient, though this is just a guess, and we really don’t know. Anna Komnene mentions resin from trees being mixed with other ingredients, but her accounts are questionable on many topics, and she probably just wrote what she thought was true rather than what she actually knew.
Its use was rare, and even though it was effective (otherwise it wouldn’t have been used for so long), it wasn’t the super-weapon it’s sometimes made out to be today. Most accounts describe it as a fearsome or exotic weapon, but there are few stories of battles won because of it, and even fewer where it was the sole reason for victory.
By the 14th century, all of Europe and the Middle East were using incendiary compounds, including ones that couldn’t be extinguished, as projectiles for war engines and arrowheads. Around the same time, black powder was starting to be used in warfare, and by the year 1400, nobody cared about the Byzantine secret recipe anymore. Even if the secret was ever revealed, it was lost due to disinterest because similar compound recipes were popping up everywhere.
We don’t know the secret, but we also don’t know if it was still a secret, or how, when, or why it was lost.
What’s really interesting is how much better this version performed, making them able to easily win a good number of battles. Some might say modern missiles aren’t that impressive since we had them back in WW2, but this one clearly made a difference.
RE: Fact #29 (The Genain Quadruplets’ Shared Madness) – Iris and Hester both had FGM done when they were kids, supposedly to stop them from masturbating. It’s awful.
Lots of kids who start having sex at a really young age might be doing it because they’ve been through sexual abuse.
It’s totally normal and expected for young kids, even toddlers, to explore their bodies. If something feels good, they’ll do it, especially since they haven’t been taught any differently yet.
The key is teaching them it’s something to do in private. We aren’t born knowing what’s appropriate when. It’s really important not to shame them or tell them it’s bad, but just that it’s private.
My mom messed up a lot as a parent, and we’re no longer close because of it. But I will give her credit where it’s due. When I was a toddler and started exploring, I remember being told it was private. The story is that she said something like, “You can’t do that here, there are other people in the living room. Remember that’s private, right?” I got up, took the blanket I was using, and went to my room to be “in private,” haha. Even when I realized I was bisexual as a teen, my mom never made me feel shame about my sexuality. That’s how you handle those awkward situations.
It doesn’t mention their age, but kids exploring themselves like that is usually just normal self-discovery. It’s even been seen in fetuses and toddlers.
RE: Fact #38 (The 2017 Bubonic Plague Outbreak) – I recall seeing a documentary about that infamous prison in Madagascar. One of the doctors on it mentioned that the rats and the prison’s overall conditions could lead to an outbreak of the Black Plague that might spread to the general public. I’m curious if that’s how it all started.
Man, the prison conditions are still rough nowadays. A cell built for six people can end up cramming in like thirty people.
Man, I’m really wondering what they can even do. Madagascar is super food insecure, really poor, and easily hit by droughts. Plus, most of the money is in the untaxed shadow economy, and they’re the main vanilla producer worldwide, but artificial flavorings have taken over a lot. They probably have like a hundred things to sort out before they should even consider making prisons bigger or better.
RE: Fact #28 (The Cruel Murder of Gemma Hayter) – I’m not a fan of the term ‘mate crime’ either. It sounds way too lighthearted, and it really downplays how terrible these kinds of attacks actually are.
RE: Fact #34 (The Fish That Causes Orange Oil) – So, I had this wild experience after my dad bought this fish instead of swordfish one Saturday. It was *so* good, I ate a ton of it! Then, on Sunday, when I got back to college, things got… interesting. I got to my dorm and had to go to the bathroom, but it wasn’t just a normal poop. I ended up violently shooting orange oil into the toilet! It was seriously a lot of orange sh*t, and the smell was absolutely foul, like really rancid fish. It even floated and stained the bowl after I flushed. I was sharing a dorm with three other girls, and I was freaking out, thinking, “Fu*k, I’m going to die from this nasty orange sh*t!” I ended up calling my mom in tears, yelling, “I’m shitting orange oil!” She just calmly replied, “Oh yeah, Escolar can do that. It’ll pass in a few days.” As a dance major, I actually had to pad my underwear to catch the oil as it dripped out. Those few days were awful. When I saw my dad next, I really let him have it about the fish.
A few months later, my dad made fish again. It looked white, like the swordfish we usually had, so I hesitated before eating. “Dad, is this swordfish?” I asked. He said, “Nope, Escolar was on sale again.” I screamed, “DAD NO!” He just said I was the only one who had a reaction, and he and my mom were totally fine. I was like, “DAAAD!!”
Apparently, the escolar fish has wax esters that can cause this thing called keriorrhea, or gempylotoxism. It can give you stomach cramps and really rapid, loose bowel movements within a day or so of eating it. It’s also known as steatorrhea.
For some reason, they keep offering major deals on those “poop fish.”
I had a similar experience after eating a large portion of it at a great Italian place. I had no idea it would have that effect. It makes me wonder, “why would a good restaurant serve something that they know will cause so much stomach pain?” I was really worried I was going to die until I finally figured out why.
RE: Fact #5 (The Zong Massacre Insurance Trial) – Lupe Fiasco actually made a whole concept album about this, telling the story from the slaves’ point of view.
RE: Fact #6 (Old Colonizers Leading New Enemies) – This reminds me, the recent conflict between Thailand and Cambodia was the first between two countries that both had a king since the war mentioned earlier. Back then, George VI was the king of both nations.
RE: Fact #27 (Catfish: The Meat-Regulated Fish) – Just wanted to mention, I had some incredible Southern fried catfish a couple of months back. It was seriously delicious, but since I’m in Asia, there’s absolutely no way I can find any here.
You should grab some Swai. It’s pretty much the same as US catfish, just a bit firmer. Get some Andy’s Red from Amazon, dredge the fish in it, and then fry it up in peanut oil.
RE: Fact #23 (Tito’s Leg Refusal Ends a Nation) – He was 87 and was going to pass away soon anyway, so his leg didn’t have anything to do with it.
RE: Fact #43 (Metallica’s Rejected Toilet Album) – I still have my t-shirt with that picture on it.
My friend wears his for special occasions, kind of like a fancy metal suit.
RE: Fact #48 (The Bailout That Made a Profit) – This is what happens when smart people who know what they’re doing make decisions.
RE: Fact #24 (Oppenheimer Projected by PalmOS) – In the IT world, we call this “Tech debt.”
My company has this weird idea that “tech debt” just means any software that costs them money. So, to “fix” it, they end up making their own way worse versions and force us to use those instead. It’s so annoying!
In the world of IT, temporary fixes tend to stick around for a really long time.
Yeah, that’s totally what I’d expect from a company that believes comfy movie seats are just a trend.
IMAX in Sydney is just awful, it makes me want to cry. It’s honestly shocking how badly run that brand is.
RE: Fact #12 (Sweden’s Unethical Candy Trials) – So, these experiments kicked off in 1945, basically as government-approved vitamin tests. But get this, in 1947, they secretly swapped out the vitamins for sugar. From ’47 to ’49, a bunch of patients were basically guinea pigs in a huge experiment to cause tooth decay.
When it all started in ’45, the participants were put on a diet low in starch and with half the usual sugar intake for Sweden, plus vitamin and fluoride tablets. After two years, they switched things up for the next two years, giving them tons of sweets. They even split the patients into groups that ate:
* Sugary, sticky bread.
* Drinks with about 1.5 cups of sugar added to each meal.
* Chocolate, caramel, and toffees – 8 or 24 pieces between meals, specially made to cling to teeth.
This sugar testing went on until 1949. Then, they changed the trials again to test a more “normal” diet that was heavy on carbs. By that point, about 50 of the 660 participants had their teeth totally ruined. Most of the intellectually disabled patients who were considered “highly functioning” got their teeth fixed. The others? Their teeth were just pulled because they couldn’t handle dental treatment. Even with all that, the researchers apparently thought the experiment was a scientific win.
Man, that’s rough. It’s like that old saying, “regulations are written in blood.” The same applies to IRBs in medical research – they’re a thing because not all doctors, dentists, and researchers have great ethics.
Yeah, not all doctors, dentists, or researchers are always ethical. I’ve been in healthcare for a long time, and wow, it’s been quite an experience. Good luck to everyone!
RE: Fact #21 (FBI’s Unsolved Toy Box Clues) – Wow, I’m no stylist, but that looks like way more than 40 people’s worth of stuff. You can tell from the earrings, jewelry, and the mismatched pieces. Wow.
He didn’t actually kill all the people he targeted. A lot of them, he just drugged and let go once he was finished with them.
RE: Fact #21 (FBI’s Unsolved Toy Box Clues) – Even if you’re not a super sleuth, just checking in helps out. You might suddenly see something from your area that you recognize, and you could end up making a real difference.
RE: Fact #35 (The Tiny Truth About Velociraptors) – So, the Utahraptor was actually found *before* that movie came out. That means the size they showed in the film was pretty accurate, even if they got the name wrong.
I still think “Velociraptor” is a way cooler name, and “Utahraptor” just doesn’t sound as good.
Honestly, the whole Jurassic Park thing was always a bit twisted when it came to the science. For starters, they didn’t have feathers.
RE: Fact #7 (Japan’s Courtesans Set the Trends) – So, like, a courtesan? That’s pretty much what a courtesan is, lol. Pretty much any sex worker who was with rich guys back then was also a pro at poetry, music, dancing, and whatever else was seen as a “feminine” art.
What makes the history of courtesans so cool is that it wasn’t always just about sex. They really stood out in any society because they could – and were often celebrated for – defying what femininity meant at the time. I really think calling them just high-end prostitutes is a disservice. They were almost always such fascinating figures because they were allowed to break the expected rules for women.
Yeah, I literally just said it’s not *only* about sex. That’s the whole point of why these women are called courtesans and not prostitutes, you know?
You’re just describing what a courtesan is again. The “not just about sex” part is already part of the definition, but sex is too.
Yeah, that’s pretty much the definition of a courtesan. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it’s wild how many people don’t realize there’s a difference between a courtesan and a prostitute. Folks just don’t read much these days.
These days, we’d call them escorts.
RE: Fact #49 (The Poisonous Crimes of Rhonda Martin) – You know, maybe we should be a little suspicious of anyone who ends up marrying their stepchildren.
RE: Fact #10 (Brosnan’s Bond Tuxedo Ban) – I figured it was ’cause the character’s so cool, he just doesn’t care and wears whatever he wants.
It’s cool if you didn’t think it was because he was James Bond, then it worked out.
RE: Fact #48 (The Bailout That Made a Profit) – The problem is all the people left homeless or financially ruined because the government put corporations ahead of them.
Yeah, that really doesn’t account for how much worse things would’ve been without those corporate bailouts. The whole financial system was about to go under, and I’m telling you, that would’ve been way worse than a quick stimulus payment straight to everyone.
Honestly, if they hadn’t bailed out the mortgage lenders, banks, and car companies, it would have caused a chain reaction that would have negatively impacted way more people than the war did. Do you know what happens to a country when its banking and lending systems totally collapse? Maybe more could have been done for the individuals who were affected, but those bailouts weren’t a mistake.
There’s a false choice here. The big lesson from 2008 was that you need to spend money on both things. Stopping a financial crisis is super important for helping people.
RE: Fact #20 (Short Drivers Face Airbag Danger) – If you’re thinking about these, an adult booster seat might help too.
My ego can only take so much, but you’re right.
This is why being shorter has its perks. You can get pedal extenders and booster seats. But for me, fitting into a mid-size sedan without my knees hitting the steering wheel is a whole other problem.
I can’t even dream about a multimillion-dollar hypercar because I’d never fit! That’s why Top Gear used to have hosts of different sizes: Big, Medium, and Small.
RE: Fact #32 (America’s Forgotten “Ugly Laws”) – With those anti-panhandling laws, the only jobs left seem to be at a freak show.
Or if you’re a comedian and your go-to punchline is always “it cost me an arm and a leg!”
RE: Fact #30 (Forgotten Prisoner Survives 18 Days) – What’s going on with Austrians always locking people in the basement?
Yeah, it does seem like a pattern. Even that super famous Austrian guy ended up in a bunker.
RE: Fact #29 (The Genain Quadruplets’ Shared Madness) – This title is kind of misleading. If you read the book, you’ll see the studies were so flawed they’re pretty much useless. The girls in these studies went through horrible abuse, including sexual abuse. This was overlooked because of popular ideas at the time, like blaming the mom entirely and eugenics.
RE: Fact #29 (The Genain Quadruplets’ Shared Madness) – The sisters were born in a midwestern town on April 14, 1930, and were famous locally because they were quadruplets. They all grew up together with their parents, who were described as “disturbed.” Their father was reportedly abusive, and their paternal grandmother might have had schizophrenia. It seems like Myra and Nora were treated better than Iris and Hester. Their parents called Hester a “habitual masturbator” and a “moron type” or “sex maniac.” Both Iris and Hester were circumcised as kids to stop them from masturbating. Their father, who went by the name Mr. Genain, also apparently abused them physically. Later, the NIMH offered to take the sisters into their clinic, where each was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Hester was the only one who didn’t graduate high school. Myra worked as a secretary for most of her life and got married, having two sons. She visited Nora and Hester often when she got older. Her older son passed away from AIDS in 1996 after a blood transfusion, but her younger son stayed close with her and became a maintenance worker. Nora ended up managing the money the sisters got from their photos being used in textbooks. Iris worked as a beautician for a bit, but she spent most of her adult life in institutions.
There’s a strong genetic link mentioned, but then they talk about a whole lot of abuse and neglect that clearly played a part too. Yikes, those poor girls.
That’s a good point you’re bringing up, but most folks who’ve gone through abuse and neglect don’t end up developing schizophrenia. A tough childhood definitely raises the risk, but it’s not the sole cause. There’s gotta be some genetic or biological vulnerability involved too. Otherwise, you’d see more people developing things like PTSD, depression, or OCD instead.
Hey, you should check out the book “Hidden Valley Road.” It’s about a family with 12 kids, and six of them were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Their story really helped with research into schizophrenia, genetics, and understanding why some people who might be predisposed to it actually develop the condition and others don’t. It’s a fantastic book, though it definitely has its share of sad moments.
There’s a good reason why twins separated at birth are so helpful for psychology research. When people share almost the same environment, it’s tough to figure out what’s due to their genes versus what’s from their surroundings.
RE: Fact #24 (Oppenheimer Projected by PalmOS) – Working in media, I can totally see this. It’s such a specialized thing that it makes more sense to stick with what works rather than rebuilding the whole control system. The article even pointed out that only about 30 cinemas can actually show a full 70mm movie.
RE: Fact #19 (Reagan’s Judges Still on Bench) – I worked as a law clerk for a federal magistrate judge back in ’85 and ’86. There was a judge on senior status then who had been appointed by Truman, so they weren’t exactly a newcomer.
A while back, I read about a Federal court judge who was almost 100. They lived in some sort of nursing home or eldercare place and were still working as a judge, at least part-time.
RE: Fact #31 (The Truth About Python’s Kill Grip) – It’s still a sh*tty way to die no matter what.
I’d rather go that way than get slowly squeezed, staring into a giant, unhinged jaw.
RE: Fact #43 (Metallica’s Rejected Toilet Album) – They used it on the back of the ‘Ride the Lightning’ t-shirts.
That design was also on the back of shirts sold during the Master of Puppets / Damage Inc European tour. I recall wanting to get one, but honestly, the front design wasn’t great.
RE: Fact #47 (The Fastest Flight Ever Recorded) – You can actually go inside the Concorde that set a speed record at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in NYC. They also have the space shuttle Enterprise, but you can’t go inside that one. It’s still a great place to visit though, especially just to walk around on the aircraft carrier’s deck.
If you’re not in NYC, there’s a Concorde you can check out in Bristol. It wasn’t really built for comfort or fancy amenities – it was all about being super fast, no matter what.
If I could skip five hours of sitting on a plane, I’d definitely trade a little comfort for that. Although, “comfort” is all relative because those seats are still way better than any economy seat these days.
So, in Sinsheim, Germany, there’s this awesome museum that has both a Concorde and the Russian Tu-144. The coolest part is that you can actually go inside both of them! It really shows you how similar their designs are and gives you a feel for the space. I totally recommend checking it out.
RE: Fact #37 (A Mass Suicide for Justice) – Not sure that was the best way to fight against a dictatorship.
RE: Fact #4 (Arnold’s Hidden Laser Power Pack) – You know, laser sights can even be built right into the gun grip nowadays. I use Crimson Trace, and they actually came standard on my Taurus snub nose .38spl. One really nice thing about this kind of sight is you don’t need special holsters for it. The laser emitter itself is super tiny, about the size of a pencil eraser, and it runs for ages on those little lithium watch batteries. And here’s a clever part: the button to turn the laser on is positioned right where your middle finger would naturally press. So as long as you’re holding the grip the way you should, the laser’s on.
It’s wild how much lasers have improved! Back in the 90s and early 2000s, when handheld laser pointers first came out, they were pricey. I remember my brother paying $50 for a small brass keychain one at the beach, and it barely shone a few hundred feet. The next year, they were $20. Now, you can get them for a buck or two, and some are so powerful they could blind airline pilots.
RE: Fact #20 (Short Drivers Face Airbag Danger) – I’m 5’1″ and my driver’s ed instructor had me use a booster seat. I should check these out.
I’m 5’1″ too, and I finished my driver’s ed, but couldn’t reach the pedals because my instructor just didn’t bother figuring out how to move the seat up.
But, I drive a Ford Fiesta and feel like I’m the right distance from the wheel, and I can reach the pedals fine. Maybe smaller cars are just better for shorter people.
I’m 5’1″ and my drivers ed instructor had me use a booster seat. I totally get that feeling.
Wouldn’t sitting on a booster seat make your feet even farther from the pedals?
RE: Fact #21 (FBI’s Unsolved Toy Box Clues) – The Last Podcast On The Left crew recently did a really thorough look at David Parker Ray’s life and crimes. It’s wild to think about what some people are capable of.
This is one of the most disturbing killers. They escaped justice when they died of natural causes.
Even though he claimed to have murdered 40 women, they haven’t been able to tie him to any killings yet. It’s wild that two women who survived weren’t believed at first – one of them even got divorced because her husband thought she’d cheated.
Really enjoyed this episode/series about him. It was tough to listen to sometimes because, to be blunt, DPR is a pretty awful person.
RE: Fact #36 (Love Letters Turned Into Art) – It’s a bit unsettling how much “outsider art” seems to be just staring at disabled people.
The MOMA in New York used to have a whole floor for Outsider Art. A lot of it was made by people with mental handicaps, and the descriptions did a good job of framing it as a look into their minds.
But there was one exhibit that was really cool and had nothing to do with a disability. It was about an old woman in the Midwest who found a massive collection of paintings her husband had done after he passed away. You could tell he’d taught himself how to paint. All the paintings were of the same woman in different beautiful gowns, and this woman was a bigger person who looked a lot like… him.
So, you can pretty much guess the story. It’s a bit sad but also a really sweet tale about cultural repression.
I’d also love to know the name! I can’t find any info about this exhibition on Google.
What’s the name? That’s a really sad story. I’m happy this artist was able to explore their personal identity through their art, though.
At the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, I found the docent’s description of removing all teeth from patients with Down syndrome to be pretty horrific. They presented it as being for the patients’ own good, without any criticism. I get that it’s a historical practice and relevant to the fiber artist who lived in an asylum, but it’s possible to acknowledge the horrors without endorsing those practices as compassionate.
I don’t think you can talk about removing all of someone’s teeth without some kind of criticism involved. If there was no criticism, it wouldn’t have been brought up. Maybe you’re not great at paying attention to docents.
I went to that exhibit. It’s really compassionate. It’s about a woman who really wants to create, and they made a spot in a museum to showcase that.
RE: Fact #5 (The Zong Massacre Insurance Trial) – Just so you know, the ship was originally Dutch and called Zorg. The British captured it and renamed it Zong, I’m guessing because it didn’t need much repainting.
I figured I’d save anyone with a weak stomach but a curious mind from reading the ship’s history, because it’s pretty fu*ked up, my friend…
RE: Fact #2 (Elvis’ Coffin Photo Scandal) – It’s pretty sad how many celebrities, living or dead, have had their own families mess things up for them, all for cash. I’d never trade fame for being able to trust my own family.
It totally gives off that “I remember when you were just like us, you’re not that special” vibe from relatives who do this. They’re probably feeling a mix of jealous, resentful, and just dryly amused that everyone’s fawning over him when they know he’s just a regular person with some talent and a good dose of luck.
Seriously though, we always seem to forget just how much people are motivated by money.
Seriously, I’d be so mad at anyone in my family who wouldn’t take $100k for a photo of me. Just take the money!
RE: Fact #50 (Tim Duncan’s Promise to His Mother) – Always loved his nickname, “The Big Fundamental.” Just an all-time great player who was all about business and technical skill.
Shaq’s definitely got his flaws, but he’s amazing at coming up with cool nicknames for people. He’s actually the one who started calling Paul Pierce “The Truth.”
Totally! Shaq’s got a real knack for nicknames, almost as good as his skills on the court.
RE: Fact #34 (The Fish That Causes Orange Oil) – That’s a pretty wide window for symptoms to show up, from half an hour to a day and a half after eating it.
It only lasted two days and they told us it was yellowfin tuna. I haven’t had sushi since then because I just don’t trust it anymore.
Yeah, I wouldn’t trust it either after that. But it also sounds like you were getting your sushi from a really sketchy spot.
RE: Fact #26 (Greek Fire’s Secret Lost Forever) – When the first guy shared the secret of Greek Fire, he got chained to a mountain and had his liver eaten by a giant eagle daily.
RE: Fact #47 (The Fastest Flight Ever Recorded) – Concorde was an amazing feat of engineering, but sadly, it wasn’t faster than email.
RE: Fact #30 (Forgotten Prisoner Survives 18 Days) – He was able to survive by drinking condensation off the cell walls. One of the news articles mentioned that an officer who had forgotten about him filed a missing person report the day before he was found. The report itself was on a form that had been invalid for ten years and didn’t reach the higher-ups until a week later. The three officers involved were fined a small amount, sort of a “we’re all to blame so no one is” kind of outcome. Mihavecz did later receive about €18,000 in civil damages.
RE: Fact #31 (The Truth About Python’s Kill Grip) – Yeah, it looks like constrictors have specifically adapted to hunt warm-blooded animals. They don’t really do much against cold-blooded critters. I remember hearing about a boa constrictor that tried to take down an iguana for a whole hour, and the iguana totally made it out alive.
The iguana was totally like, “Dude, will you just let me go already?”
Hey, so cold-blooded animals don’t need as much energy as warm-blooded ones, but their cells still need oxygen to live. It might take a bit longer, but it works out. Lots of snakes that constrict hunt reptiles and amphibians – kingsnakes even kill other snakes by constricting them!
RE: Fact #5 (The Zong Massacre Insurance Trial) – There’s an episode of Garrow’s Law about this case. That show was like a historical Law & Order, focusing on real court cases from the 1700s.
RE: Fact #42 (Polynesians Reached America First) – This sheds light on a super interesting puzzle: the sweet potato! Turns out, before Europeans showed up, Polynesians were growing and eating sweet potatoes, which were originally from the Americas. Even the name they used, kumala, sounds a lot like what the Quechua and Aymara call it, kumara. Genetic clues confirm that these two groups met, and the Polynesians got sweet potatoes from them.
This is totally right! It also kind of puts a final nail in the coffin for pseudoarchaeologists like Graham Hancock. If there was a global prehistoric culture, where are the plants they would have been farming everywhere?
Yeah, not just plants, but animals too! Wouldn’t you think a civilization that could travel the globe would have brought along pigs and goats, kind of like we did back in the 16th and 17th centuries?
Polynesian people are just amazing. It’s incredible how much they accomplished with technology that was basically Stone Age level.
So, it sounds like you’re saying the common understanding is that Polynesians reached Native Americans first, not the other way around. You also mentioned that no Native American tribe is known for open ocean navigation; they were all coastal peoples. And you noted that if there was any exchange, it hasn’t been recorded.
RE: Fact #45 (The Kids Who Invented a Number System) – This reminds me a bit of how they counted in the Myst games, the D’ni system, which was base-25.
RE: Fact #13 (Dave Gahan’s Twice-Abandoned Childhood) – That would be really rough.
Totally agree. Dave mentioned back in a 1987 interview that he’ll never forget the day he came home from school and found a stranger in his mum’s house. His mother introduced the guy as his real dad, and Dave remembers saying that was impossible since his father was already dead. He had no idea who this new person was. After that, Len visited the house often, but then vanished again for good a year later.
Jack Gahan, the guy Dave’s mom married after Len left and who adopted Dave, passed away when Dave was nine. That’s why Dave said his father was dead – he didn’t know Jack wasn’t his biological dad. Dave was originally David Calcott.
I’m not sure if this is the whole story. For one thing, how do we know that stranger was actually his dad? And for another, how do we know he took off again instead of, you know, passing away or something else.
RE: Fact #39 (The Woman Hidden for 42 Years) – A neighbor named Katica Carić said Golik was a bit quirky and her moods really changed. Sometimes she was quiet and kept to herself, and other times she was super aggressive and all over the place. She didn’t really hang out with the other people in the building, but everyone knew she’d yell at people for no reason and just run around the street aimlessly. Even when people tried to help her, she’d have these angry outbursts, and some people thought she might have had schizophrenia. Carić would do things for her, like buy groceries, but they never actually talked. Golik wouldn’t come out of her apartment, so she’d lower a bucket down the stairs with money and a list of what she needed, and Carić would just leave the groceries at her door. Golik also disappeared for long stretches of time, and during those periods, she’d rent out her apartment to other people. Carić mentioned she last saw Golik outside her place with two or three young guys, and she wasn’t sure if it was in 1963, 1967, or 1973.
RE: Fact #32 (America’s Forgotten “Ugly Laws”) – This is probably where the whole ghost sightings thing started. People would just throw a sheet over themselves to go out without being recognized.
RE: Fact #18 (Grant’s Groomsmen Surrender at Appomattox) – Just so we’re clear, when the Civil War actually ended is a bit fuzzy. The Confederates were kind of morons and told Lee not to surrender, telling him to keep fighting to the very end. So, while this marks the end of the last big battle, there were still other surrenders that happened after Appomattox.
Looks like they’re still going at it.
RE: Fact #18 (Grant’s Groomsmen Surrender at Appomattox) – Here’s an interesting tidbit about the surrender at Appomattox: the guy whose house was the site of the official surrender had actually lived up north in Virginia a few years earlier. Back then, his place was so close to the war’s first big battle that his home was used as a temporary HQ for a CSA general and even got hit by artillery! He moved, partly to get away from the war’s danger, but it still managed to catch up with him at the very end.
RE: Fact #23 (Tito’s Leg Refusal Ends a Nation) – He passed away at 87… I bet there were other things going on too.
Yeah, maybe he was just wiped out from dealing with all those KGB assassins. The story about him getting so annoyed he wrote to Stalin saying “stop sending people to kill me before I decide to send one after you and I won’t need to do it a second time” is probably a bit over the top, but he was definitely a strong guy.
RE: Fact #31 (The Truth About Python’s Kill Grip) – That’s super interesting! I actually have a bit about that in my misconceptions piece. You know, the one that says “A constrictor snake kills by asphyxiation.”
Turns out, people used to think constrictors squeezed the life out of prey by stopping them from breathing. But after watching rodents get taken down by snakes, scientists noticed the rodents’ hearts stopped way sooner than they would if breathing was the only issue. Plus, breathing stopped at the same time as the heart.
With actual asphyxiation, breathing usually stops a minute or two before the heart gives out because the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, and then the heart follows.
What they figured out is that constrictors actually cause circulatory arrest. They squeeze the prey so darn tight that blood just can’t get through. This ramps up the blood pressure so much that the heart can’t even pump. The heart takes blood in, but can’t push it back out, and either starts beating erratically or just stops completely.
So, they figured that out by putting a little device in a dead rodent that they fed to a snake. The device mimicked a heartbeat, and the snake just kept constricting it until they turned the device off.
Whoa, the snake kept squeezing the mouse until it pretty much exploded. It was messy, with blood all over the place.
RE: Fact #32 (America’s Forgotten “Ugly Laws”) – Yeah, it’s a bummer, but this law probably started with good intentions. Back in the day, folks would actually hurt or disfigure kids to make them better beggars.
Yeah, that kind of thing is still happening in places like Syria.
RE: Fact #16 (Cancer Charity’s Carcinogenic Perfume) – They also sold pink fracking drill bits. For fracking, which is known to cause cancer.
RE: Fact #41 (The Cursed Filming of Dr. Moreau) – The movie is about a character who’s a mix of man, beast, and cursed.
And it was 100% terrible. A friend worked at a movie theater when this came out, so we got to see it for free, and we still walked out.
RE: Fact #25 (Dog Wool That Outwarms Sheep) – You know, the fibers don’t actually need to be stretchy on their own. If they’re knit, that’s usually what gives the fabric its stretch in different directions, not the fibers themselves. Having stretchy fibers will definitely add to the fabric’s stretchiness overall, but it’s not a must-have.
Yeah, wool needs to be stretchy! That’s what gives it that fluffy loft – it’s the crimp in the fibers. Dog wool, like angora and mohair, doesn’t have that same loft. It also sheds more because the fibers are slippery and don’t lock together as well.
Knitting definitely adds some stretch, but if you compare knit wool to knit linen, you lose elasticity with the linen.
Dog wool is super warm, almost too warm for anywhere except the dead of winter up north. It’s comparable to angora, but the fibers are shorter since it’s mostly the undercoat.
Why haven’t people started making sweaters out of dog hair?
It’s pretty small-scale. Basically, settlers got rid of a type of hairless dog on the west coast. You can still see some of their blankets in museums.
So, that Wikipedia article linked in the post actually mentions that before sheepdogs became common, dog hair was actually the most popular fabric spun in North America. It also points out that it’s tough to get people to buy it because they’re kinda grossed out by the thought of wearing dog hair.
RE: Fact #40 (Why Shoe Sizes Use Barleycorns) – What’s this for? When would I even use it, and how? It’s not like I’m carrying around barley corn in my pocket.
If something’s common and shows up a lot, and it’s always pretty much the same size, people can use it as a basic way to measure things when they don’t have their own tools for it. That’s why the whole “banana for scale” thing on factrepublic is funny – bananas aren’t usually the same size.
This goes back to ancient Babylon. One kush, which is 180 barleycorns, also happens to weigh one shekel. A pendulum that’s two kush long will have a period of almost exactly two seconds.
That sounds so made up that I believe you
RE: Fact #46 (The Factory Roots of Open Offices) – So, it sounds like the managers are watching from their private offices to boost “efficiency” – but definitely not the workers’ efficiency. More like their own efficiency at, you know, watching over people.
RE: Fact #19 (Reagan’s Judges Still on Bench) – Manuel Real, who Johnson appointed in 1966, was still a Federal judge when he passed away in 2019.
RE: Fact #7 (Japan’s Courtesans Set the Trends) – It’s kind of like the Italian “cortigiana onesta.”
RE: Fact #19 (Reagan’s Judges Still on Bench) – How about a maximum age of 72 for all public office roles, including judges, the president, Congress, and defense positions? And for Congress, let’s cap it at 12-year terms.
The thing is, there are tons of 72-year-olds who are totally sharp and we really benefit from their wisdom and experience. But then, there are also plenty who are pretty much half senile.
What experience does a 78-year-old have that a 65-year-old doesn’t? Once you hit 60, life kind of takes a nosedive.
RE: Fact #17 (POWs Outsmart Guards With “Ned Kelly”) – After reading the article, I found out this was a pretty awful situation. The good news is that the Japanese General in charge was executed in 1946.
RE: Fact #49 (The Poisonous Crimes of Rhonda Martin) – In 1956, Martin wanted her body to go to some science place for an autopsy so they could figure out why she did the things she did. After she was executed, prison folks found a note where she said she wanted doctors to “find out why I committed the crimes I committed. I can’t understand it, for I had no reason whatsoever. There’s definitely something wrong.” But instead, her family got her body back at a funeral home in Montgomery after she was executed.
RE: Fact #26 (Greek Fire’s Secret Lost Forever) – Fingers crossed we’ll stop being able to make nukes someday. And hopefully, it won’t involve a bunch of explosions to get there.
The Nth Country Experiment showed it took 3 new PhD physicists, who had never worked on weapons before and only used unclassified info, two and a half years to design a working nuclear weapon. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can undo that.
The know-how for making nuclear weapons is already way more common than the recipe for Greek Fire ever was. Even if we decided to stop making nuclear weapons, nuclear power would still be around, along with the basic science it’s based on. Greek Fire was never used for anything by civilians or businesses, and it was easier to keep it a secret back then.
RE: Fact #18 (Grant’s Groomsmen Surrender at Appomattox) – Wonder if he ended up pardoning both of them.
Grant actually stepped in and stopped Longstreet from being indicted in the first place.
I’m reading a biography called Grant by Ron Chernow. The part I’m looking at mentions Longstreet and Wilcox being there. They were both later captured. Of course, different accounts might list slightly different people as attending. But Grant’s wife, Julia Grant, did write in her own memoirs that Wilcox was present.
Even though Longstreet was a Confederate General and really close to Lee, he actually worked hard to help the country heal after the Civil War. Lee also had a mindset of, “we lost, let’s move on.” It was actually the grandchildren of Civil War veterans who ended up glorifying Lee and trying to tarnish Longstreet’s name. That generation back in the early 1900s kicked off the whole “Lost Cause” idea and started putting up all those Confederate monuments. This happened after Congress and the more progressive Republicans stopped focusing on Black people in the South and let voter suppression and targeted violence ramp up.
The Lost Cause ideology really kicked off in the late 1860s, and things got more successful for it later on.
RE: Fact #43 (Metallica’s Rejected Toilet Album) – For some reason, Kill ’em All with a bloody hammer feels way more graphic than the cartoonish toilet and machete art.