26 Photographer Killed By Formaldehyde Mixup
In 1985, prize-winning photographer Bob East went in for surgery to remove an eye because of cancer and never came out alive. In the operating room, staff mistakenly injected formaldehyde, which was meant to preserve the removed eyeball, directly into his spine. The error killed him on the table.
27. Philipp Mainländer was a German philosopher who argued that God committed suicide to create the universe, with the cosmos itself being God’s corpse. In his view, the only way an infinite, timeless being could die was by shattering its own being into a time-bound universe. After developing this philosophy, Mainländer took his own life.
28. Combat medics have “live tissue training,” where instructors deliberately shoot a goat and then tell the trainees to save it. In this exercise, the animal receives a real gunshot wound so medics can practice treating severe trauma under realistic conditions.
29. Jackson Pollock eventually abandoned traditional titles for his paintings and started numbering his works instead. His wife, artist Lee Krasner, explained that “he used to give his pictures conventional titles, but now he simply numbers them,” because “numbers are neutral” and “make people look at a picture for what it is, pure painting.” By stripping away titles, Pollock tried to force viewers to focus on the paint itself rather than on any suggested meaning.
30. While watching “Borat” (2006) in a movie theater, Charlize Theron laughed so hard that a herniated disk in her neck locked up. The intense muscle spasm sent her to the hospital, where she had to stay for five days.
31 Mr Doodle Blurs With Self
In 2019, British artist Sam Cox bought a home, painted every surface white, and spent almost two years filling it with doodles. Halfway through, he was committed to a psychiatric ward because he believed he had become the “Mr. Doodle” character he was painting.
32. IO Interactive secured the James Bond game license by pitching with a modded level of their popular Hitman game. For the demo, the team took a Hitman mission, modeled Daniel Craig’s head, and put it on Agent 47’s body to show how their living, detailed spaces could work for a 007 game. According to game director Hakan Abrak, that simple visual swap helped convince the Bond rights holders and eventually led to IO making the next James Bond title.
33. In the 1995 film “Heat,” Val Kilmer plays a gunman in a famous downtown shootout and performs a rapid rifle reload on camera. His reload looks so realistic and technically accurate that the U.S. military adopted the footage for actual weapons training clips, using it as an example of proper rifle reloading technique under fire.
34. Researchers at Harvard have shown that we make blood cells inside our bones because bone marrow sits in one of the safest places in the body from ultraviolet radiation. In early vertebrates, blood-forming tissue originally developed closer to the surface, where UV light could damage the cells that make blood. Over evolutionary time, these tissues moved into the protective interior of bones, where the skeleton shields blood stem cells from harmful UV exposure.
35. William the Conqueror suffered fatal internal injuries when his horse threw his protruding stomach against the forward part of the saddle. He later died from those injuries, but his humiliation did not end there. After his death, his servants ransacked his possessions and left his body naked on the floor of his home.
36 All Red Line Cables Empire
From 1902, the British Empire linked much of its territory with the “All Red Line,” a global system of electrical telegraphs that connected far-flung colonies to London. Laying the longest section, from Canada to a Pacific island, required about 8,000 tons of undersea cable. Once the network was complete, engineers calculated that it would take 49 separate cable cuts to isolate the United Kingdom from its dominions.
37. Twin Flames Universe is an alleged MLM-style cult where followers were encouraged to gain weight, and as the number of male members declined, female members were pressured to transition into males. Based in Leelanau County, Michigan, the online spiritual group, run by Jeff and Shaleia Divine, gained wider attention after the Netflix documentary ‘Escaping Twin Flames’ exposed former members’ accounts of its practices. In 2025, the Michigan Attorney General opened an investigation into the organization after it was publicly labeled a cult.
38. Over the past decade (as of 2025), only about 10 percent of actively managed large-cap equity funds have beaten the S&P 500. That means roughly 90 percent of people who paid wealth managers for stock picking and market timing would have done better by simply putting their money into the most popular index instead.
39. In 18th-century London, condemned criminals leaving Newgate Prison for execution at Tyburn were allowed to stop at a tavern for “one last drink.” In 1724, highwayman Joseph Blake drank so heavily on his way to the scaffold that by the time he reached the gallows, he slurred his final words.
40. On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president, winning the election entirely with Northern and Western votes. His name did not even appear on ballots in 10 Southern slave states, yet he still secured a decisive Electoral College victory. He did it with just 39.8 percent of the popular vote.
41 British Unwritten Constitutional System
The United Kingdom does not have a single written, codified constitution, and there is no document officially titled a constitution. Instead, its constitutional system rests on acts of Parliament, court decisions and legal precedent, and long-standing conventions and practices.
42. In a legal battle over the discovery of Otzi the Iceman, one claimant told the court that she spat on the 5,300-year-old mummy to “mark it” with her DNA. She said she did this at the time of her alleged discovery so she could later prove that she had found the body, using the spit as a personal marker.
43. During World War II, the United States used German prisoners of war held in the American South as farm labor. In Mississippi and other states, camp officials forced these POWs to work in cotton fields to help make up for wartime labor shortages.
44. In 1930, more than 65 percent of the U.S. population went to the movies every week, meaning that out of every five people someone knew, three of them were regular weekly moviegoers. Over the following decades, that habit steadily faded. Since around 1964, the share of Americans who go to the movies every week has consistently stayed under 10 percent.
45. In October 2020, a group of libertarian cryptocurrency enthusiasts bought the cruise ship Pacific Dawn for about $9.5 million, renamed her MS Satoshi, and planned to anchor her off Panama as a floating city and tech hub where residents would buy cabins and spend Bitcoin in onboard businesses. The project quickly hit hard limits when the owners could not secure insurance for a permanent residential ship and realized they did not have enough money to keep such a large vessel running. By December 2020 they abandoned the plan and slated the ship for scrap, but a European cruise start-up later bought her, refitted her, and returned her to service as the cruise ship Ambience.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Runner Walks To Olympic Trials
In 1928, Black distance runner Dolphus Stroud qualified for the 5000-meter Olympic trials in Boston but had to get there on his own. He spent 12 days walking, running, and hitchhiking to reach the city, arriving only six hours before his race. Exhausted and malnourished from the journey, he collapsed during the sixth lap.
47. Dennis Fong, known online as Thresh, became widely recognized as the first professional gamer, earning about $100,000 a year in prize money and endorsements at the height of his career. In 1997 he hit a famous peak when he won a Ferrari as a tournament prize. After his competitive days, he moved into tech and co-founded the gaming service Xfire, which Viacom later bought for $102 million.
48. In the Fieldston neighborhood of New York City, the entire 1.1 km² area is privately owned, including its streets, sewers, and trees. As a private community, residents control and maintain the internal infrastructure themselves rather than relying on the city. Once a year, they close the streets to non-residents so the roads continue to qualify legally as privately owned.
49. The Air Force tasked four pilots to fly into the mushroom cloud of Ivy Mike, the first hydrogen bomb test. On 1 November 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific, the explosion yielded about 10.4 megatons of TNT and produced a towering radioactive cloud that the jets had to enter to collect data before turning back. Three pilots made it home, but Captain Jimmy Robinson ran low on fuel after leaving the cloud, crashed into the ocean on his way back to base, and never returned.
50. In World War II, Germany built the Type XIV submarines, nicknamed “milk cows,” which operated exclusively to resupply other U-boats at sea. Each carried a bakery, a small clinic with a doctor, fresh food, extra fuel, and torpedoes so front-line submarines did not need to return to port. By refueling and rearming U-boats in the Atlantic, the Type XIV allowed German submarines to patrol near U.S. waters for far longer than they otherwise could.
RE: Fact #43 (German POWs Picking Southern Cotton) – If I recall correctly, didn’t a bunch of German soldiers actually enjoy their time in America as POWs and end up moving back there after the war?
A bunch of Italian POWs actually stayed in the UK after WWII. Many were farm guys who were already doing what they were good at during the war, so they just decided to make a life for themselves there.
This one time, I knew this older German surgeon. He was born in Germany but came to the US for college. After finishing school, he went back to Germany to see his parents, planning to return to the US for med school. But then he got drafted into the German army and ended up as a tank commander. The very first battle his unit was in against American forces, he straight up surrendered his tank and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Kansas.
Wow, that’s wild. Glad he came out of it okay! Makes you wonder what would’ve happened if he’d been sent to the eastern front. I bet his education gave him more flexibility in how he served in the army.
Yeah, German POWs actually got better food and housing than they did during the war. They were treated with respect, following the rules of war. Lots of them even made friends, found jobs, and ended up moving to the US after everything was over.
A lot of them got overweight and wrote home about it to their families who had no food.
RE: Fact #38 (Active Funds Lose To Index) – So, if most folks are putting their cash into the S&P 500, does that mean smaller and mid-sized companies are actually a steal right now?
Back in the day, one of the first big questions with CAPM was how it priced stocks compared to Beta. Turns out, two economists found that smaller companies actually did better than bigger ones, and it was probably for the reasons you’re talking about. Nowadays, though, that’s not so much the case anymore.
RE: Fact #42 (Woman Spits To Claim Otzi) – Here’s a suggestion for an epitaph: “Vandalized an archeological treasure for personal glory. Visitors: please spit on this grave.”
That spit-covered tomb image made me want to gag.
RE: Fact #18 (Pilots Live In LAX Parking) – Seriously, can you imagine having to commute to LAX every single day? I think the traffic would totally wear me out, both in real life and mentally.
RE: Fact #15 (Walter VI Tries Fixing Florence) – So, he was only in charge for ten months? Did anything significant happen during that time?
RE: Fact #35 (William The Conqueror Fatal Saddle) – Apparently, his body was too big for the coffin, so the monks crammed it in, and his insides came out during the funeral.
RE: Fact #19 (Magnus Carlsen Memorization Child Prodigy) – I recall reading about fMRI studies on chess grandmasters. It seems they activate memory-related parts of their brain more than problem-solving parts when playing chess. That would totally make sense and could explain why Magnus Carlsen is so amazing at the game.
At a really high skill level, people are basically replaying old games. They’ll see a situation on the board and know it happened in a specific match from 2004 against a certain opponent, and they’ll know what the opponent should have done differently.
They actually did something similar with Carlsen; they showed him opening moves, and he knew the exact game and who was playing.
Playing chess online on my phone and in person for years, I’ve noticed that the first bunch of moves usually follow well-known game patterns. There are tons of books out there about those initial plays. But once you get past that, it’s like you’re on your own, facing all sorts of named openings. You either have to know a lot of these game strategies, or be ready to concede.
Yeah, I get that. I tried getting into chess a few years ago, and that realization totally killed my motivation. I’m looking for the opposite – like a quick, on-the-spot problem-solving challenge. Chess really feels like it’s all about mastering the “meta-game” these days.
RE: Fact #41 (British Unwritten Constitutional System) – From my perspective as an American, I sometimes wish we had something like the Brits’ elaborate and unique system of old traditions and unwritten rules. It’s not a complaint, though – they’ve earned it. You need less formal regulation when you can just reference history and say, “We tried that, it didn’t work out and just led us back to where we were, especially after someone tried to cancel Christmas.” My country just isn’t old enough to have traditions like these:
* Slamming a door in someone’s face to show the king doesn’t own you.
* Being intentionally loud when moving between buildings to remind people you’re a bit of a goof.
* Having a state church that’s highly respected, alongside laws that clearly give you the right to opt out of it just as easily as you can ignore your neighbor’s Magic: The Gathering group.
* A whole monarch whose main goal, as much as they can influence it, is to have minimal direct say in the country’s politics.
* The practice of “swan-upping.”
It’s actually pretty awesome.
RE: Fact #33 (Val Kilmer Reload Used Militarily) – So, Val Kilmer mentioned that someone told him this clip was used for U.S. military training. But as far as I know, there’s no proof it was ever actually used like that, besides Kilmer’s story.
Yeah, I remember them showing us that clip at USMC OCS to show us how to do “buddy rushes.” It wasn’t like we watched the whole thing or anything, they just used that bit to get us pumped and introduce the subject before we went into the actual class with PowerPoints and the like.
Yeah, I never saw that specific clip during my Army training, but what you’re describing sounds a lot like how they used movie or TV clips for training back when I was in. You wanna take a wild guess how many times they showed us the Leeroy Jenkins video in class?
So, for me, my experience was similar, but it wasn’t exactly part of formal training. It was more like, “Hey, this is pretty neat, right? Today we’re gonna learn about…”
Now, getting into the nitty-gritty, I’m curious who advised them on filming. There are a few small details if you really know what to look for. Both Pacino’s character, Hanna, and De Niro’s character, McCauley, were Marines. Hanna is explicitly stated to be a Marine, which McCauley grins about, and we catch a glimpse of a Marine tattoo on McCauley.
So, it’s totally believable that McCauley taught his crew those buddy rush and reload tactics after learning them himself. And then there’s that scene where Hanna takes a really well-aimed shot. We also have a scene that really grabs your attention: he breathes in, exhales, gets his sights lined up perfectly, and then slowly and steadily squeezes the trigger for a “one shot, one kill.”
It’s come full circle – fictional Marines trained our fictional characters, and now those fictional characters have “trained” real-life Marines. It’s my favorite movie of all time, thanks for listening to my rambling.
RE: Fact #37 (Twin Flames Universe Cult Investigation) – So, one thing I found hilarious was that they actually charged people for a PDF that was supposed to be their special diet, and it just turned out to be a bunch of hot dog recipes.
It’s like if people who make silly posts started a religion.
They called it “Divine Dish” lol
Add tater tots for extra spiritual fulfillment.
Those before and after pictures in the Netflix documentary are really intense. It’s wild how a bunch of them suddenly look so much bigger!
RE: Fact #32 (Hitman Demo Wins James Bond) – I can totally see that! Think about the first movie in the new trilogy. A top agent sneaks into a fancy party at a French palace. He uses his smarts to get backstage where a group of mercenary spies are about to sell off a list of MI6 agents to some terrorist bigwig. The agent has to take out both the guy in charge publicly and the real brains behind it all – a stylish woman who’s as comfortable on a runway as she is in a fight. Doesn’t that sound like a James Bond story that got lost somewhere?
With Hitman, you can choose how serious or silly you want to get, which totally fits the vibe for Bond. Are you going full Daniel Craig, drowning a guard in a toilet, stealing his clothes, and using a fiber wire? Or are you more like Roger Moore, rocking a clown disguise at a kid’s birthday party to get to a rooftop perch and snipe your target next door?
In Paris, there’s a mission where you infiltrate an auction as Agent 47, which feels very Bond-like. Actually, it’s not as 47 himself, but as Tobias Rieper, the alias he uses everywhere.
RE: Fact #29 (Pollock Numbers Paintings For Neutrality) – Yeah, that’s why you see so many classical pieces from the 1700s up through today just named something like “sonata no2,” “Symphony 9,” or “mambo #5.” It’s all the same fundamental idea.
RE: Fact #20 (Haym Salomon Finances Revolutionary War) – Looks like he passed away pretty young, around 45. It mentions his family tried to get paid back, and I’m wondering if they ever did. The story just stops after saying they attempted it.
His direct descendants seem to have done pretty well for themselves. One son ran a bank, and another was a member of New York Congress before taking a high position in the custom house.
RE: Fact #13 (Receding Gums Never Grow Back) – Yeah, they usually do grafting for gum problems like this. You gotta add some skin there.
My dentist mentioned that my gums are receding and in some spots, you can see the root of my tooth. I’m not totally sure why, since I’ve always taken good care of my teeth, I brush and floss really well, and I don’t smoke. I’ve also had very few cavities or gum issues in the past. But just hearing him describe what he might have to do was enough for me to order the softest bristles for my sonicare. Since I’ve started using them, he hasn’t brought it up again.
Maybe there was too much pressure when you were brushing? That sort of thing has definitely gotten me before.
Could be genetic! I used to really beat myself up about my gum recession even though I floss religiously and take great care of my teeth. But my dentist explained that there’s a genetic factor in gum disease. Turns out my dad had to get a gum graft at some point, so here I am with the same issue. Guess it’s just luck of the draw.
Does it work well? Is it painful?
I had one done too, and it wasn’t too bad. I went with the synthetic graft, so it wasn’t as invasive. If you have the regular procedure, it’s more of a hassle ’cause they have to take skin from another spot in your mouth, and then you’ve got two places that need to heal.
So my wife had that procedure done, and it was pretty painful for about a week afterward, but it worked out well for her and she got some great results.
RE: Fact #22 (Fisher Challenges Smoking Cancer Link) – I’m not a fan of that phrase ’cause people love to use it to shut down conversations. While it’s true that just ’cause two things happen together doesn’t mean one caused the other, seeing a correlation should definitely make you want to dig deeper and see if there *is* a connection.
RE: Fact #40 (Lincoln Wins Presidency Without South) – Even though they only got 39.8% of the popular vote, it’s worth remembering that was still the highest of the four candidates back in 1860. In our current two-party system, we often see anything less than 50% as a loss, but that wasn’t the case then.
I can think of at least five presidential elections in my lifetime where the winner actually got less than 50% of the vote: Clinton twice, Bush once, and Trump twice.
You’re spot on, but we do say “they lost the popular vote.”
RE: Fact #43 (German POWs Picking Southern Cotton) – So, the Genevieve convention meant soldiers could be put to work. Lots of German prisoners in Britain ended up doing farm work.
I remember reading something about a German POW who helped out with the gardening during the war. Apparently, he was a really nice, polite guy, but when the crocuses bloomed in spring, they spelled out “HEIL HITLER.”
RE: Fact #50 (German Type XIV Milk Cows) – So, this Type XIV submarine was basically a bigger version of Germany’s Type IX. It came out in 1941 when war broke out between Nazi Germany and the US. It was pretty slow and didn’t have much defense, but it was super important for Germany, letting them sink American ships off the Atlantic coast pretty much whenever they wanted. They usually refueled at sea, slowly transferring supplies between two surfaced subs using rubber dinghies, which took hours. The Type XIV had a crane, but it wasn’t used much because the seas were usually too rough. If they were spotted, the Type XIV would dive to hide, while the U-boat getting resupplied would try to distract the enemy before also diving.
They only ended up building 10 of the Type XIVs, even though they planned for 24.
Because the Type XIV was a slow, defenseless target that was key for resupplying lots of U-boats out at sea, the Allies really wanted to take them out. Over the course of the war, all ten of these submarines were sunk one by one, and 230-289 men went down with them.
Yeah, it’s wild to think about the casualty rate for U-boat crews. It really was almost a death sentence to be on one.
Man, that tech the US came up with after bringing in scientists from all over was wild. Like, radar on planes for submarine patrols, dropping depth charges and everything.
RE: Fact #45 (Crypto Cruise Ship MS Satoshi) – The Libertarian Crypto Bros seemed super hyped at first. Then, they realized the High Seas aren’t exactly a free-for-all. Turns out, you have to fly a country’s flag and stick to their laws, plus the laws of wherever you dock. And, they found out there would be a ton of HOA-like rules to keep the ship from burning down, like stuff preventing cooking fires and similar things.
Yeah, those HOA rules were something else. They had really strict guidelines for pets, like dogs only being allowed to bark at specific times. You could mine crypto in your place, but using a microwave was a no-go. A lot of crypto folks couldn’t get funding because even they weren’t willing to deal with all those regulations just to live in a tiny, isolated room. It was way simpler for many to just stay living on land in countries with lower taxes and crypto-friendly laws.
Yeah, I get the microwave thing. When you start one up, it’s a big burst of power, and that can trip breakers if they’re already pushed to their limit, especially if a bunch of people decide to make ramen at the same time. That’s why they’re usually not allowed in dorms.
Crypto, though, that’s a big but pretty steady power draw that you can plan for, unlike those sudden bursts.
Hair dryers are also a massive power hog, but they’re usually not banned, which leads to some funny situations. Back in high school, we had these banquets, kind of like the Adventist version of dances. So, at a certain point, all the girls in the dorm would turn on their hair dryers at pretty much the same time and blow the breaker. Then, when the power came back, they’d all turn them on again, even more at once…
From what I remember, a lot of the girls, even though they were told not to, left their hair dryers plugged in and switched on when the power went out. So when it came back on, the power surge was literally perfectly timed.
We tried warning them about this and asked them to try and spread out when they turned them on. But a lot of the girls were so self-important that they thought everyone else should wait for them to trip the breaker. They wouldn’t listen, their egos were too big. They also didn’t believe in RAs or basic manners. Teenagers, man, I don’t miss that…
RE: Fact #12 (Mussolini Botches Leaning Tower Fix) – Honestly, 90 cubic meters of concrete is like nothing in construction these days. I’m in the UK construction scene, and a simple detached house can use up to 50 cubic meters just for the foundations if they’re built with any significant depth.
RE: Fact #9 (Tiger Woods Rejects LIV Millions) – Tiger was already a billionaire, and his golf career built that wealth. It makes sense he’d see this as a gamble of his current fortune and golf status for an amount he could likely earn in a few years by sticking to his original plan. All things considered, it seems like the right move for him.
Phil Mickelson, on the other hand, always seems up for a gamble.
Mick got the money and was banned by the PGA. Then, after everyone else left too, they invited him back. Phil totally won that bet.
Phil Mickelson is also known for being a big gambler and a pretty awful person. So it fits.
Honestly, that’s because Phil Mickelson is a pretty big piece of sh*t.
This totally reminds me of something I heard on a podcast. They were talking about Tom Brady taking oil money to play flag football and someone said, “What’s the point of having fu*k you money if you don’t say fu*k you to anyone?” It’s good for Tiger!
RE: Fact #16 (Pickle Juice Stops Muscle Cramps) – Back when I used to party a lot, pickle juice was my go-to for hangovers. I’d chug some pickle juice, pop two Advil liqui-gels, have some yellow Gatorade, and do a shot of Pepto. It wasn’t healthy, but it got me through the day so I could pretend I didn’t mess up the night before.
RE: Fact #38 (Active Funds Lose To Index) – Most Americans don’t know about this, but it’s super helpful if you want to build your wealth or just make sure you have a good retirement fund.
The S&P 500 is the index with the most investments globally. I reckon most Americans know about it, even if it’s just because it’s what they put their 401k into.
RE: Fact #21 (Nevada Constitution Sent By Telegraph) – So basically, they were rushing to make it a state before the next election, and this all happened during the Civil War.
$86K+ sounds pretty reasonable when the other option is sending someone to their likely death.
It’s wild that nobody apparently cut or messed with the telegraph lines, especially since all the usual ways to communicate didn’t work.
RE: Fact #27 (Philosopher Of Gods Cosmic Suicide) – I’d say there were some early signs that this guy was a bit suicidal.
his grandfather, brother, and sister all died by suicide. That’s a family deeply affected by mental illness, which is really sad.
Yeah, the fact that suicide can be passed down through families is pretty scary.
Yeah, that’s pretty much what he was getting at with his ideas. Still a super interesting guy though.
Yeah, it’s like they describe that feeling right before someone ends it all, you know? When they’ve got their plan all set and seem super happy, even giving away all their stuff.
RE: Fact #11 (Costco Profits Driven By Memberships) – So pretty much, that’s how they do business. They sell stuff in bulk for a smaller profit because you pay a membership fee.
RE: Fact #36 (All Red Line Cables Empire) – I wonder who drew the short straw at the telegraph office to get sent to Fanning Island, which used to be totally empty before they put the relay station there.
RE: Fact #23 (Rome Disarms Then Attacks Carthage) – Rome had pretty much decided Carthage couldn’t be allowed to thrive anymore because they’d been a problem for nearly 100 years.
There was this deep-seated need in Roman thinking to totally crush anyone who wouldn’t just give in when they wanted them to.
With Carthage, though, they’d actually spent a decade causing havoc all over what’s now Italy. The first two Punic Wars cost Rome a ton.
The third Punic War was kind of like a ceremony of destruction. You can spot similar patterns in how Caesar dealt with tribes that rebelled in Gaul, like Vercingetorix being dragged through Rome before his shameful execution.
RE: Fact #29 (Pollock Numbers Paintings For Neutrality) – Hey, did you know the CIA actually backed Pollock as a way to fight a cultural war? The Soviets had this art style called “Soviet Realism,” and in response, the CIA began promoting abstract artists.
So basically, socialist realism was a reaction to Russian futurism and the avant-garde movement. The CIA backing abstract artists was just their way of showing off how ‘free’ their thinking was compared to the Soviets.
Just like Pollock, the CIA was pretty much just trying stuff out to see what worked.
RE: Fact #29 (Pollock Numbers Paintings For Neutrality) – In summary, Pollock had no fu*k idea what they were either
RE: Fact #13 (Receding Gums Never Grow Back) – Yeah, I learned that the hard way too. Seriously, take care of your teeth, everyone. Gum grafts are the worst, and you really don’t want to go through that.
I’m really careful with my teeth – never had a cavity and my gums are super healthy. Turns out, I’ve been brushing too hard, and it’s caused the roots of my upper molars to become exposed.
Yeah, I’m in the same boat. I’ve been super diligent with flossing since I was in my early 20s, but my gums are still in pretty rough shape all these years later.
My periodontist said it’s a mix of brushing too hard and grinding my teeth at night. Just my luck.
I totally get that. You guys who are young really need to floss! I didn’t floss at all from when I was born until I was 40, but now I do it every single night, especially after getting a gum graft. And now my teeth actually hurt a bit when I eat ice cream.
On the bright side, the surgery made me quit chewing nicotine gum, which was a good thing.
RE: Fact #31 (Mr Doodle Blurs With Self) – I had to project this guy’s film for a docfest last year. He came into the projection booth three times, even after we told him not to, just to get us to change the volume for his darn documentary. He was also really awful to all the staff. It’s all just a gimmick. Honestly, he was the rudest person I’ve ever met.
Was it Sam or Mr. Doodle?
RE: Fact #39 (One Last Tavern Drink Tradition) – The condemned would take this super long, slow walk from Newgate to Tyburn, which could take hours with all the crowds. On the way, they’d stop at this place in St Giles called The Bowl. It was like their halfway point where they’d get a strong drink – ale, wine, or liquor – served in a big wooden bowl.
A lot of people actually believed that an executed person’s hand could cure cancer. So, you’d often see moms rubbing their kid’s face with the hand of someone on their way to execution. The gallows at Tyburn were also where surgeons and anatomists got bodies for their work.
Yeah, I was thinking stopping for a drink was probably a way to show people that could be them heading to the gallows if they didn’t follow the rules. But then I remembered people used to watch executions back then.
Instead of a last meal, they get a last drink.
RE: Fact #32 (Hitman Demo Wins James Bond) – The new Hitman trilogy has really smooth gameplay that totally nails the spy vibe. Plus, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s awesome how it lets you go for either wacky, Monty Python-esque kills or super slick, professional ones.
When I first played, I was really feeling like a 007 type of game, so it’s no wonder they snagged that license. I’m really hoping they keep that open-ended level design going.
I didn’t really get the Hitman series until someone called the new trilogy “Tony Hawk’s Pro Murder.” Then it all made sense.
Even though there are only a few missions, this game is super replayable. I’ve maxed out every level to unlock all the main weapons and tools, and I still have a blast playing it again.
I really enjoy revisiting maps to discover new story elements, find different disguises, and mess around with new tools. Plus, that’s not even touching on the freelance mode – it’s a blast for testing out map knowledge and my skills.
Honestly, the hardest part about these new releases is just getting your hands on the game. It’s gotten so wild that there are actually guides out there showing people how to buy it. Plus, it’s fun in VR now, they finally got that mode working right.
RE: Fact #12 (Mussolini Botches Leaning Tower Fix) – They should have hanged Mussolini for that.
Yeah, upside down! Like a plumb bob, so he learns what vertical feels like!
RE: Fact #43 (German POWs Picking Southern Cotton) – These guys had it way easier than the ones on the eastern front.
Some German POWs actually said they were treated so well that they initially thought it was some kind of psychological operation. Once they understood that what they were witnessing was just normal American life, they realized they couldn’t possibly win the war.
So, the prisoners would team up their beer coupons to take turns having a few at once. They also got daily cigarette and meat rations, which was more than what American civilians were getting. One German guy even said he gained 57 pounds in two years as a POW.
Yeah, they complained to the International Red Cross inspectors about how the white bread and coffee weren’t as good as they thought they should be, but they knew they had it better in the US than anywhere else.
RE: Fact #24 (McDonalds Removes Salads In 2020) – Those salad shakers back in like 2006, or around then, were really awesome.
Seriously, they should bring back Salad Shakers as a snack wrap. We can all complain until they do, and then they’ll probably bring them back as a slightly worse version.
Seriously, the chicken they’re using now is terrible. They used to have Chicken Selects, and that was the best fast food chicken I’ve ever eaten. I’m so mad about it; I’ve been begging for them to bring back the Selects for years. These McCrispy strips are gross and nothing like how good it used to be.
Seriously, this! It fit right in the cup holder, I could shake the dressing in it perfectly, and it was awesome for eating on the go. Pretty sure that was the last time I ever grabbed a salad from McDonald’s.
And hey, can we get those danishes back that Burger King and McDonald’s had in the 80s and 90s? They were likely cheap, processed junk, but man, I loved them.
While we’re talking about it, Burger King’s French Toast sticks used to be better too.
I still shake my dressing on my salads for takeout. It makes sure you get an even coat and usually means you use less dressing, which is a plus. We have DQ “Grill N Chill” places around here, and you can get a salad instead of fries.
These came out in the 90s! I used to bring one to class with me every day for lunch when I was in undergrad. The chicken Caesar was my absolute favorite – I still think about them at least once a week.
RE: Fact #31 (Mr Doodle Blurs With Self) – Whoa, I totally thought “home” would mean something way smaller. That was HUGE!
So, a rich kid grew up with lots of opportunities and stayed rich. The article mentioned his family home is super close by.
RE: Fact #50 (German Type XIV Milk Cows) – Yeah, it’s pretty wild. What’s also crazy about German subs back then is how they did supply runs.
They’d meet up in the middle of the Atlantic at night, and the whole transfer would take like 12+ hours. Both subs were just sitting there, totally exposed. They had to pump fuel between them using hoses while they were both moving.
These “milk cows” carried over 400 tons of diesel fuel, fresh bread, spare parts for everything, and mail from home.
Some other cool submarine facts from that time are that US subs had ice cream makers and AC, Japanese subs could launch planes, and some German U-boats had snorkels to run their engines underwater.
Sadly, the milk cows got hunted down pretty fast once the Allies figured out where they were meeting. They only made 10 of them, and they were all sunk by 1944.
It makes sense, though – if you take out the supply ship, you pretty much shut down the whole wolf pack operation.
RE: Fact #49 (Pilots Fly Into Ivy Mike) – Wow, that’s rough! So, another pilot almost crashed. They found an airfield just in the nick of time, but both planes were running on fumes. Hagen’s jet flamed out when he landed, and he blew his tires. Robinson was too far away to reach the field. He thought about bailing out, but he had this heavy 60-pound lead vest on to shield him from radiation. So, he tried landing on the ocean instead. As he came down, his Thunderjet hit a wave and flipped. A rescue helicopter got there right as the plane went under.
Man, what terrible luck for Robinson. Died because of the very thing meant to keep him safe. It might have even been okay if the plane hadn’t flipped, ’cause it doesn’t sound like the first hit on the water was that bad.
RE: Fact #34 (Bone Marrow Protects Blood Making) – Man, they really got us with that x-ray machine thing, huh?
I think bones look white in X-rays because they’re the densest part of your body and X-rays can’t pass through them.
RE: Fact #43 (German POWs Picking Southern Cotton) – My grandpa got hurt by German artillery back in ’44. For the last year of the war, he was overseeing POWs working in the sugar beet fields in Wisconsin. He said they only had about one US soldier for every 100 POWs. The main issue was stopping the POWs from getting too friendly with the local young women, many of whom were of German heritage and spoke the language well. I checked it out later and found out that a lot of those POWs actually stayed in Wisconsin after the war, and their German community is still there today.
As a Canadian, I read “Summer of My German Soldier,” and it’s about exactly that.
Just wondering, how much Canadian, American, and English literature do you usually read in school?
RE: Fact #6 (Teens Meet Friends Far Less) – Back in the day, extracurriculars happened during school hours too. My friends and I would hang out when we could, but most days, band practice or baseball practice would go on until after dinner.
Sports were pretty much the only consistent way I hung out with people in high school. It feels like way fewer people are participating these days. It’s like there’s still this opportunity out there that people just aren’t taking advantage of.
RE: Fact #14 (Girl Has Transplant Heart Removed) – This is pretty wild! So, back in ’94, this kid Clark was only eight months old and had really bad heart failure. Doctors put her on a heart transplant list, but her heart issues were messing with her lungs too, meaning she needed a lung transplant as well.
Instead of a super risky double transplant, they tried something totally different. A top heart surgeon, Sir Magdi Yacoub, suggested giving Clark’s heart a break to see if it could recover. So, in 1995, they grafted a donor heart from a five-month-old baby right onto Clark’s own heart.
Fast forward four and a half years, and both hearts were doing great, so they just left the extra one in! The strong meds Clark was on to stop her body from rejecting the donor heart eventually led to cancer, and she had to go through chemo. Even when they cut back on the meds, the cancer kept spreading, and her body ended up rejecting the donor heart.
But here’s the amazing part: by then, Clark’s original heart had apparently made a full recovery! In February 2006, doctors removed the donor heart. By 2009, 16-year-old Clark was playing sports, had a part-time job, and was planning to head back to school. What a journey!
Aw, she’s a Time Lord. What an amazing case.
Yeah, I get it’s super wholesome, but this is exactly the comment I was hoping to find. It would have been pretty weird for factrepublic if I hadn’t come across something like this.
It’s really sad that a 5-month-old heart was available, but I hope the baby’s parents can find some peace knowing their child’s short life helped Hannah live a full one.
During my medical school rotation on the transplant service, the only overnight organ recovery I flew on was for a child under a year old. It was incredibly sad, but it was also a beautiful thing that three other kids got a second chance thanks to the parents’ decision to donate their organs.
Seeing how young she was when she got the transplant really tugged at my heartstrings. It’s a striking example, but it really highlights how we can’t always grasp the extent to which our lives affect others. Even a baby who was only here for five months, just laughing and crying, has profoundly changed the lives of so many. Complete strangers are mourning this child and expressing gratitude to the parents for helping prevent others from experiencing similar loss, even though the child’s specific story isn’t fully detailed.
For real though, how do people:
a) even think of something like that?
and
b) figure out there’s a chance it could actually work?
and then
c) decide, “what the fu*k, let’s give it a shot on this baby”?
It’s impressive, but also like, wow, and who gave the okay to even attempt it?
Modern medicine owes a lot to surgeons trying out all sorts of risky new things. It’s kind of a sad irony of the pandemic that it made us forget how far we’ve come as a species because of medical progress.
So, have you ever heard of “Collapse Therapy” for TB? Back before we had meds for tuberculosis, a common treatment was to collapse one lung. The idea was to ease the pressure from the sores, giving it a chance to heal. They’d do this by pumping air into the space around the lung to squish it down.
The sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein even wrote about his experience in the 1930s as a Navy guy. He mentioned needing air injections every few weeks because the body would absorb it. And get this – if the person giving the shot messed up, they could inject air straight into your bloodstream, and that was that, game over.
This was still way better than the original late 1800s method, where they’d actually cut into your chest and pack it with wax or something to collapse the lung.
RE: Fact #47 (Thresh Pioneers Professional Gaming Career) – So, apparently, he’s also the one who made the WASD key setup for movement really popular.
It’s pretty wild, hard to picture life without that.
When you think about it, this person might just be the most influential gamer ever.
RE: Fact #15 (Walter VI Tries Fixing Florence) – So, this story is pretty wild, but basically, back in 1315, Florence’s government, which was run by the wealthy folks, managed to ditch direct taxes. Instead, they funded the city through import taxes and forced loans from the rich, which they paid back with interest.
They thought the economy would boom and keep things afloat, but military costs went through the roof and their big banks started to tank. They were in a total mess and figured an outsider was the best bet. So, they brought in Walter, Duke of Brienne, as a temporary leader, with the promise that he wouldn’t mess with the tax system. Of course, Brienne had his own plans and immediately started appealing to the poorer people, who were getting hammered by the tax policies.
For example, the tax on oil jumped from 3 soldi to 15 soldi per measure, and the tax on hogs went from 6 soldi to 60 soldi each. Wine taxes also shot up, with the retail price ending up nine or ten times higher than at the start of the century.
The city also made every household buy specific amounts of salt, jacking up both the required quantity and the price. This meant the cost of everyday essentials for working-class families soared, especially since their wages weren’t going up. During a war in 1325, new taxes and higher rates increased tax revenue by a massive amount in just one year.
Back then, the government often sold the rights to collect taxes ahead of time, which meant buyers would add their own profit, making things even more expensive for consumers. By the middle of the century, the government stopped doing this and collected the taxes themselves.
RE: Fact #19 (Magnus Carlsen Memorization Child Prodigy) – I can’t believe a chess grandmaster is a nerd, lol.
They’d rather be called neurodivergent.
There’s absolutely no way Magnus Carlson doesn’t like trains.
Just ’cause you’re a nerd doesn’t mean you’re neurodivergent.
RE: Fact #27 (Philosopher Of Gods Cosmic Suicide) – Yeah, it’s a pretty common theme across many mythologies for the world to be made from the body of a god or similar being – like Ymir in Norse myths, Tiamat in Babylonian stories, Pangu in Chinese mythology, or Tlaltecuhtli for the Aztecs. It’s a recurring idea.
I guess it’s less common to have a story where there’s just one single God who actually killed themselves to create everything.
Yeah, the roots of Jewish and Christian beliefs already touched on something similar. Some ancient Jewish traditions actually thought the world was formed from the body of the Leviathan.
RE: Fact #23 (Rome Disarms Then Attacks Carthage) – This is a great example of why appeasement doesn’t work.
RE: Fact #49 (Pilots Fly Into Ivy Mike) – Yeah, they totally pulled that kind of stuff. For two weeks after an underwater test near California, my Dad’s boat was cruising around right in the affected area. Everyone on board had radiation badges, but nobody ever picked them up. Good times!
I always try to tell young people about the military: they can and will order you to do things that can harm your health permanently or even kill you. I think people usually only think of that in combat situations, but it can happen with pretty much anything. Like…
– Agent Orange
– nuclear tests
– burn pits
– hazardous substances leaking into housing on base, affecting families too
– tons of other unnecessarily dangerous stuff
And then they might just act like it’s not their fault and deny your medical claims.
So, here’s a neat bit of info: this situation is actually what pushed the US government to finally admit the Groom Lake airfield exists. Some US Air Force folks sued the government because they were having health problems from hazardous chemicals being dumped in burn pits without proper protective gear. The government’s comeback was that the work done there was super important for national security, so health and environmental rules didn’t apply.
This was put into effect with an executive order that lasted for a year. Since then, every president has renewed it annually.
Usually, the military is supposed to look out for the safety of service members if it doesn’t mess with operations, like making sure they have PPE. But that “if it doesn’t mess with operations” part is a pretty huge loophole. If they need you to risk your life for an operational reason, they’ll absolutely order you to do it.
RE: Fact #46 (Runner Walks To Olympic Trials) – The article mentioned he got into Harvard too but couldn’t afford it. Plus, his parents left Oklahoma because they saw Jim Crow laws coming. He wasn’t even allowed to run track in high school in Colorado. This whole story really hits me deep, you know? It’s just incredibly unfair, wrong, and frankly, disgusting.
Seriously, imagine all the geniuses we could have had. Humans are just a lost cause, like an evolutionary mistake. We just can’t stop hating each other. We could have been taking care of this planet, but we’re just too into hate.
Honestly, I’m more curious about the fact that people just as talented as Einstein have probably lived and died in tough, low-paying jobs than I am about the details of his brain.
We can’t just give in to that kind of thinking because there are still people like Dolphous Stroud out there. Yeah, we’re that bad sometimes, but we’re also that good.
RE: Fact #14 (Girl Has Transplant Heart Removed) – So, a friend of mine had a really scary cardiac event and went into arrest. They managed to save him, but his heart was damaged, and doctors thought it might heal.
They ended up putting him on an LVAD, which is basically a pump that helps out people with heart failure, usually while they’re waiting for a transplant.
The cool thing I learned is they can also use it to reduce the strain on the heart so it can actually heal. After about a month, his heart had improved enough that they took the device out. This was a few years back, and he’s totally fine and active now.
RE: Fact #47 (Thresh Pioneers Professional Gaming Career) – Yeah, I remember Xfire too! It felt super slick when I first used it, but it’s probably ancient history now.
Yeah, it was shut down a while back. I really liked Xfire too! Turns out it’s been brought back to life recently.
RE: Fact #23 (Rome Disarms Then Attacks Carthage) – After those last two wars, Rome basically decided to wipe Carthage off the map. They really didn’t stand a chance after that. The world can be pretty harsh sometimes.
RE: Fact #33 (Val Kilmer Reload Used Militarily) – It’s really cool when actors actually develop the skills their characters have. Like, you see it with Tom Cruise in Collateral, and obviously Keanu Reeves in John Wick.
RE: Fact #42 (Woman Spits To Claim Otzi) – How is that proof of anything? She could have spit on it at any time.
Yeah, I see your point. It doesn’t actually prove she found it, just that she messed with it. Kind of a strange way to “mark” something though, don’t you think?
RE: Fact #22 (Fisher Challenges Smoking Cancer Link) – His Wikipedia page has sections called “Views on race” and “Eugenics,” so you know it’s going to be interesting.
Reading this, it seems like he wasn’t doing too badly based on what he knew at the time. The problem is, that knowledge turned out to be incorrect later on. For example, their methods for measuring intelligence were really limited and prejudiced. He appeared shocked that people twisted eugenics for their own political and prejudiced reasons, instead of sticking to the science behind it. It’s still terrible, but you can understand how he arrived at his conclusions.
RE: Fact #7 (Menander Ancient Comedy Superstar Lost) – The Dishna Papers, sometimes called the Bodmer Papyri, are a collection of twenty-two papyri found in Dishna, Egypt, back in 1952. Later, Martin Bodmer bought them and they ended up at the Bodmer Library in Switzerland. These papyri include parts of the Old and New Testaments, early Christian writings, and works by Homer and Menander. The oldest one, P66, is estimated to be from around 200 AD. Most of the papyri are housed at the Bodmer Library near Geneva.
You can find parts of Books V and VI of Homer’s Iliad, plus three comedies by Menander (Samia and Aspis) among the Bodmer Papyri. There are also gospel texts, like Papyrus 66, which is a copy of the Gospel of John, also dating to around 200 AD and representing the Alexandrian text-type manuscript tradition.
RE: Fact #30 (Charlize Theron Hospitalized From Laughter) – Someone I know throws her head back when she has a really big laugh. It’s always cool to see that kind of reaction, and it makes me think if Charlize does that. That could be why she hurt her neck from laughing.
RE: Fact #24 (McDonalds Removes Salads In 2020) – My mom back in the day really liked those salads that came in a little cup. You’d add the dressing and just give it a good shake.
You know, I’m not really into fast food salads myself, but I did used to demolish the salad bar at Wendy’s back in the day.
RE: Fact #26 (Photographer Killed By Formaldehyde Mixup) – Seriously, why would anything in a surgical room be unmarked?
And who would ever think, “Hmm, I’m not sure what this vial is, but I’m going to inject it into this person’s spine”?
Here’s what actually went down: A circulating nurse asked about something, and someone on the surgical team said it was “CSF.” They told the nurse to give it to the anesthesiologist. A nurse anesthesiologist was looking after the patient and labeled the vial “CSF.” When the anesthesiologist came back to take over, they were told to reinject the CSF. So, they injected the actual CSF, plus the mislabeled vial. The doctor who first dropped off the unlabeled vial had already left – they were from a special place that was supposed to get the eye after it was taken out.
Yeah! Everyone’s so focused on the rod being gone, but I’m more like, what about the injection??
RE: Fact #7 (Menander Ancient Comedy Superstar Lost) – He really liked the saying “Whom the gods love dies young,” which is kind of ironic since he passed away at 52. He was also a super handsome and stylish guy.
That’s not really young or old, it’s like the gods are saying something.
The gods favored him, but they weren’t romantically involved with him.
RE: Fact #38 (Active Funds Lose To Index) – If their goal was to beat the S&P, then sure. Treasuries are a huge investment tool globally, maybe the biggest.
Someone was asking why not put everything into stocks, right after they jumped off a building when the market totally crashed and they lost their job.
RE: Fact #41 (British Unwritten Constitutional System) – The UK’s constitution is pretty wild – it’s basically one article that just says “Parliament is sovereign.” Everything else? Just traditions, conventions, or things Parliament has chosen to follow on its own for a while.
Hey, just wanted to chime in for anyone who might be skeptical. Our court system and constitution, which isn’t a single written document, has actually been pretty effective. We don’t have one specific text; instead, we rely on traditions, laws passed by parliament, and legal precedents. The fact that we’re one of the oldest modern democracies and haven’t needed major overhauls, unlike many other countries, suggests there’s something valuable about how we do things. You could argue a lot about why our uncodified system doesn’t work, but you can counter that by saying it’s been working for centuries, and doing a better job than countries with a written constitution.
This isn’t to say it’s a perfect country by any stretch. Personally, I’m not a fan of how things have been going for the last 15 years, but I really don’t think we need a written constitution.
So, it’s like it functions fine in real life, but when you try to explain *why* it works, it just doesn’t add up.
Yeah, that makes sense, right? Constitutions are really just for starting a new country, like a basic legal setup for a new state to build on. If you’ve already got something working, there’s no reason to make a whole new one.
Yeah, it’s a bummer that the folks in Parliament lately seem to have forgotten that and are choosing to feel powerless instead of using their authority.
Parliament has ultimate authority, but that doesn’t mean it’s smart or skilled. The real issue lies with voters – if people keep making choices that aren’t in their best interest, they’re going to get the results they’ve chosen.
Just a heads-up, in Scotland, the people are considered sovereign. This is actually written into the Acts of Union, which accepted the Declaration of Arbroath. Because of this, the UK has technically been in a constitutional crisis from the very beginning, and nobody seems to be in a rush to fix it.
Totally agree. I mentioned this somewhere else too. It’s like how people in Northern Ireland and Wales have these long-standing issues they mostly just try to ignore.
RE: Fact #34 (Bone Marrow Protects Blood Making) – Hey, just a quick thought: our bodies don’t really evolve with a set goal in mind. It’s more like traits that help us survive and have kids tend to stick around because those folks lived long enough to pass on their genes.
Like, in this example, if people who made blood outside their bodies ended up dying, then the ones who figured out how to make it inside their bones would survive and pass that ability on.
In biology, the purpose of something is just what it does. There’s no intended design, but traits stick around for a reason. Survival is a big deal for living things, so the “purpose” of an evolved trait is whatever it’s doing that helps the organism survive and reproduce. Basically, its purpose is not to be so bad that it kills the organism or stops it from having offspring.
survival of those just good enough to not die
That’s a really clear and spot-on explanation.
RE: Fact #44 (Weekly Moviegoing Collapses After 1960s) – Back in the day, before TV, you had movie serials! You’d go every week to catch the newest episodes. Plus, a single ticket would get you a main movie, a supporting film, the latest news, and usually a couple of cartoons too.
A lot of old theaters had air conditioning back then, which was a huge deal since most people didn’t have it at home. Coming from a super humid place, I can only imagine how awesome it must have felt to step into one of those cool theaters after being out in the heat all the time.
RE: Fact #36 (All Red Line Cables Empire) – So, basically, Britain took their sweet time with wireless tech because they didn’t want to mess with the telegraph business. That’s why Germany had it at the start of WW1, and the UK didn’t.
During WWI, Britain actually cut the direct cables connecting Europe and America. This meant that any telegraph messages between the Central Powers and the US had to go through Britain first, where they could be intercepted.
That’s WW2. Central Powers were from WW1.
The British were and still are really good at signals intelligence. They figured out who was talking to whom, from where, and about what. The Germans, on the other hand, tended to broadcast their wireless signals at full power all the time, which made them super easy to intercept. There’s a good video about “Room 40,” which was all about signal analysis, that’s worth checking out.
RE: Fact #24 (McDonalds Removes Salads In 2020) – A lot of folks in this thread are saying those meals weren’t that healthy, but honestly, they were way lower in calories compared to other things on the menu. Plus, they came with better greens than most people would get otherwise. You could even eat two of their salads a day and still be under 2000 calories for the whole day.
That southwest crispy chicken salad wasn’t exactly health food, but I wasn’t really worried about that. It was just my go-to favorite on the menu.
RE: Fact #1 (Toxic Moon Dust Irritates Astronauts) – Imagine some CEO testifying to Congress way, way in the future, like 100 years from now. They’d probably be saying something like, “We honestly had no clue that using that moon dust to build moon houses would lead to moon cancer.”
If it does, we’ll just slap a sticker on those moon dust houses to make it the consumer’s problem.
Why did you buy a moon house when we warned you that it would cause moon cancer and premature death? You chose to buy one!
Me, barely making ends meet: Fu*k, I was born on the moon! If I had a million bucks, I’d fly back to Earth!
They’re gonna claim that moon dust homes are giving people cancer in California.
RE: Fact #6 (Teens Meet Friends Far Less) – A lot of people say how is easier to do things at home, but not a lot of people discussing how kids aren’t really allowed outside anymore. Either they’re loitering or they have to spend money that their parents are likely struggling to get, there are few solutions that aren’t at school extra curriculars or at home.
Covid didn’t help either.
RE: Fact #20 (Haym Salomon Finances Revolutionary War) – A good chunk of that $650k wasn’t just his own cash, a lot of it came from fundraising. He really helped finance the Continental Congress though. The massive amounts of Continental debt he snagged with his own money were only worth about 10 cents on the dollar when he passed.
Was this an investment? Did his family end up making money from it?
So, it sounds like the government actually owed Salomon a pretty big chunk of change, maybe over $600,000, but nobody’s totally sure on the exact number. What’s wild is that when he died back in 1785, he had no money at all. And get this, even his family for ages tried to get some of that money back, but it was all for nothing.
This summary gets a lot wrong. It makes him sound like some rich guy who didn’t contribute anything but his money. He took on enormous risk by providing financial services to the new US, for which he was arrested repeatedly by the British. They forced him to serve as a translator on their ships and he used the position to help POWs escape. He was a member of the fu*king Sons of Liberty ffs.
And you guys let him die broke. Honestly, I’d pick the other summary, America looks better!
RE: Fact #48 (Fieldston Private New York Enclave) – So, I was turning around right after the fire station around that area, and this security car just appeared out of nowhere. They got super close, right on my bumper, and followed me all the way to HHPE.
This happened to me too! I took a wrong turn once heading to my ex-wife’s place. Turns out the whole neighborhood was owned by the Church of Scientology.
RE: Fact #31 (Mr Doodle Blurs With Self) – I mean, it sounds like he was
RE: Fact #42 (Woman Spits To Claim Otzi) – So the story goes, when they first found him, they thought he was just some regular old body. Turns out, he was super ancient and valuable! Later research also showed he was murdered. So, this lady’s point is that she found a murder victim and then, like, spit on him to leave her DNA? That’s a super weird move.
Back in 1991, how many folks were even considering DNA traceability?
RE: Fact #3 (Pope Leo Confronts Attila) – Italy was dealing with a really bad famine in 451, and things weren’t much better with the crops in 452. Plus, Attila’s destructive invasion of northern Italy that year didn’t help the harvest at all. To push on to Rome, he would have needed supplies that just weren’t around in Italy, and taking the city wouldn’t have helped his supply issues either. So, it made more sense for Attila to make peace and head back home. He also died in 453, which is why he never actually invaded Rome.
Yeah, that’s true. But it makes me wonder even more, like, what exactly did Leo and Atilla talk about?
You should probably stay or you might get jinxed like that last Invader who passed away not long after the siege. Here’s some gold too.
We’ve got no food, so you can either turn back and eat what you have left, or we can fight. But if we fight, we’ll have some casualties, lose out on future loot, and then you’ll starve on the way back anyway.
RE: Fact #20 (Haym Salomon Finances Revolutionary War) – Robert Morris was the main money guy for the revolution and didn’t get paid back. He wound up in debtors prison and died pretty poor after he got out. The US was loaded with debt and couldn’t collect much tax money at first. When Monroe was part of the Madison administration, he had to use his own personal credit to get loans for the country because nobody would lend to the nation.
He actually held important political roles from the very start of the US until he passed away, with his last gig being the first US senator from Pennsylvania. He lived about 30 years after the US was founded. It’s not really accurate to paint these folks as unappreciated and broke; they actually gave up their own money for the good of the country and were recognized with early political roles that still shape how our nation works today.
RE: Fact #4 (First EEG Of Dying Brain) – I had internal bleeding and went to the hospital, then collapsed. I immediately lost my hearing and most of my vision. It was surprisingly peaceful. I found myself back home, picking up my little girl, and then suddenly I was in my grandma’s yard, decades earlier. I woke up in a hospital bed and was bummed it was over. I was so close to her door, about to see her again. It was a wild experience.
Yeah, I’ve heard similar stories. It’s pretty wild how some folks who have had near-death experiences come back with no fear of death, and some are even bummed they aren’t there anymore.
I came close to dying once. I had a dream-like state and I was very accepting of it. There was nothing to be done and nothing that could be done. Very final, in a way that was very matter of fact. While I would still want to try to be alive if I had the choice, and I’m sure if I thought I was going to die I would fight for my life, I don’t feel particularly afraid anymore either.
My grandma was dancing with everyone she loved, and she was so upset about being pulled away from it that she tried to pull out her tubes to end her life again. They had to restrain her and sedate her again. She was in pain for months from missing that peaceful feeling, even though she said she was glad to be alive.
There’s a video showing some guy on the street being interviewed. He shared this wild story about how he was either pronounced dead or something close to it, but then he was brought back. He talked about how, ever since that happened, he’s had to put a lot of effort into finding ways to appreciate life. Apparently, the peace he felt was so intense that it made everyday living feel almost impossible to enjoy.
RE: Fact #45 (Crypto Cruise Ship MS Satoshi) – Seriously? You’re saying a bunch of folks who bet fake money don’t know how to run a hotel that floats? Wow, can’t believe that!
Some people gamble with fake money and think they’re super smart for it. If you want to gamble, go for it. It’s their ego, like a coke binge
They bought the ship thinking the High Seas was a total free-for-all. But then they found out they needed to fly a country’s flag and follow their laws. If they didn’t, they’d be considered pirates, and any military could take their ship. On top of that, there are international treaties and tons of regulations everyone agrees to. Turns out, the sellers totally took advantage of them, and the ship wasn’t even compliant with all those rules. They dropped millions on the ship before even getting a basic understanding of how international waters function.
RE: Fact #8 (Mbabaram Language Independently Says Dog) – From what I remember, “dog” doesn’t really have a clear origin story and just kind of showed up in English. Like someone else here mentioned, it sort of just sounds like what the animal should be called.
Apparently, the word “docga” comes from Old English and meant a strong hound or mastiff, but its actual origin is a bit of a mystery.
RE: Fact #14 (Girl Has Transplant Heart Removed) – Surgeon: Alright heart, did you get the memo? Think you can chill with the rest of the body now and behave?
Heart: Yeah, I guess so…
RE: Fact #37 (Twin Flames Universe Cult Investigation) – I gave this a shot and watched about two episodes, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around how strange it was, so I stopped watching. I get other cults, but this one was just too much for me.
RE: Fact #26 (Photographer Killed By Formaldehyde Mixup) – That whole article is wild. So, this doctor, Robert Ricketson, was doing back surgery on Arturo Itturralde and put surgical rods in his spine. But then he couldn’t find the rods. Instead of, you know, actually finding them, he used a screwdriver handle in Arturo’s spine, which sadly was fatal. That’s just completely bonkers.
RE: Fact #10 (Quick Brown Fox Hotline Test) – That phrase is a test phrase, and it includes all the letters of the alphabet plus all the numbers.
RE: Fact #16 (Pickle Juice Stops Muscle Cramps) – What’s really neat about this is that it’s not about salt and water. Pickle juice and other quick fixes for cramps work because they’re sour. Eating something sour triggers a bodily response that stops cramps fast.
My parents swear by a spoonful of mustard for bad cramps. It works wonders for them, but I just end up with facial cramps from pure disgust on top of my leg cramp.
Saw a pro athlete chug mustard packets like they were energy drinks, haha.
So, a drink with vinegar, like ginger switchel, would probably do the same thing, right?
That’s probably why farmers have liked it for ages.
Hey, does eating sour candy do the same thing? Also, is this good for period cramps, or just for muscle aches?
RE: Fact #2 (Kesha Rewrites Tik Tok Lyric) – Just so you know, the song “Tik Tok” came out 7 years before the social media platform with the same name existed.
You won’t believe how long we’ve actually been creating sound effects for clocks.
Isn’t that usually spelled “tick tock” though?
RE: Fact #6 (Teens Meet Friends Far Less) – When I was a kid in the 90s and 00s, I clearly recall seeing lots of groups of young people around. Now, you hardly see any.
If you check out an age population chart, you’ll notice way fewer kids compared to adults in their 30s and 40s.
RE: Fact #16 (Pickle Juice Stops Muscle Cramps) – Does this help with period cramps? I’m gonna drink a bunch of it.
I saw someone on TikTok a while back mention drinking pickle juice as a quick fix for period pain. It didn’t help me, but I bet it works for some people.
RE: Fact #41 (British Unwritten Constitutional System) – Just a reminder that not every country is the US.
RE: Fact #32 (Hitman Demo Wins James Bond) – I wonder which map they used. Paris seems like the most logical choice to me.
Yep, I guessed Sapienza from the first game before even looking, and it turns out I was right!
Sapienza would’ve been my first guess too! That lab area really feels super spy-like, which totally helps set that kind of mood.
RE: Fact #12 (Mussolini Botches Leaning Tower Fix) – So, seriously though, how could someone fix this, hypothetically speaking?
You can’t really straighten it out. The tower started leaning while they were still building it, so the builders tried to fix it by making the upper levels tilt the other way. Because of that, if you tried to straighten the bottom part, the top would still be leaning and might fall over. To make the whole thing straight, you’d basically have to take it all apart and rebuild it.
Totally get it, that’s a solid explanation.
Without that “lean” (whatever that is), nobody would care that this thing even exists.
RE: Fact #11 (Costco Profits Driven By Memberships) – It’s pretty wild to me that the money we get back actually covers our membership cost each year.
Oh, so you’re wondering if “money back” means money saved or money back from credit cards. Gotcha. I didn’t realize Costco had a cashback program.
RE: Fact #26 (Photographer Killed By Formaldehyde Mixup) – That’s a terrible situation, but at least he was given something to paralyze him. Back in 2006, Sherman Sizemore was given a drug that would paralyze him before surgery. However, the doctors forgot to give him anesthesia to put him to sleep. So, Sizemore suffered through 16 minutes of intense pain until the medical team figured out what went wrong. After realizing their mistake, his doctors attempted to cover it up by giving him a drug to make him forget. But sadly, he kept having flashbacks and nightmares even after leaving the hospital. He took his own life two weeks later.
Man, that story was rough to read. It’s so sad that this guy just trusted his doctor and then ended up with this awful PTSD, not even knowing where it came from. He couldn’t sleep, was screaming in his sleep for no reason, and had no idea what was going on with his mental health. His poor wife was totally lost, just wanting to help but not knowing how. She asked the doctor, who brushed it off, saying it was just a bad reaction to meds or some other excuse. It wasn’t until after he died by suicide that an investigation at the hospital uncovered the real reason and how much they tried to hide it.
All because one doctor didn’t want to face consequences. This guy went through hell and ended his life because someone else’s ego couldn’t handle taking responsibility.
I’m glad they got to the truth and his wife has some answers, but honestly, nobody really “won” after that court case. It was just a whole lot of unnecessary pain, death, and sadness caused by one person’s selfishness. Just awful.
They probably charged extra for the amnesia drugs, which is likely why there was a paper trail that forced them to fess up.
RE: Fact #13 (Receding Gums Never Grow Back) – They can actually regenerate bone and gums now, and there are a lot of new methods being worked on for that. For example, LANAP is one, but there are even newer ones. It’s true that they can’t regenerate on their own. There’s a clinical trial happening in China with dental pulp stem cells, and they’re also using rhFGF-2 injections and 3D printed bone scaffolding.
It’s awesome to hear exciting things about teeth and dentistry! I really hope some of it is true.
I basically survived on soda and candy as a kid, with “healthy” foods thrown in here and there, haha. I’ve definitely learned to eat better since then. My skin, hair, and nails have improved so much – my nails are like ten times stronger now, so I’m hoping that translates to my teeth too.
Man, my teeth were pretty messed up, and I think I had some bad dentists adding to the problem.
Do you have any good resources or places where you talk about this more? I’ll definitely look into the research, but I’m more into practical stuff for myself. How fast do you think dentistry will change? Are there specific types or keywords I should be looking for? I’ve heard of “holistic dentistry,” and that sounds like it could be right up my alley. I’m really aware now of how everything is connected, especially since I’ve learned how to eat properly.
I can do some pretty intense workouts without even trying, and I have a six-pack without specific ab exercises. I’d really love to avoid needing dentures!
I’m 33 and just started flossing around age 30. My dentist took photos and was so impressed with how much my gums “regrew” – almost 4mm in the first two years! They were astonished at the recovery, saying it almost never happens and that’s the most they’ve ever seen. My gums don’t bleed anymore, and I floss at least once a day, almost never skipping. Being a medical anomaly is my inspiration.
Totally a myth. I reversed my own mild-to-moderate gum disease. Before that, the little gum flap between my front teeth was totally gone, just a black triangle where it used to be. Now, years later, it’s super healthy and there’s no gap at all.
I’m sure really bad gum recession, especially with bone loss, can only get a little better. But saying it can’t improve at all is definitely not true.
RE: Fact #17 (North Korea Admits Japan Abductions) – People living in northwest Japan didn’t see this as just a conspiracy theory.
In ’98, I was warned not to go to the beach by myself.
So far, the Japanese government officially recognizes 17 abductees, and 10 of them came back in 2004. It’s likely there are dozens or even hundreds more who are still missing.
Also, the elite special forces unit of the Japanese Navy, the SBU, was formed because of North Korean activity in the Sea of Japan. The UK’s elite SBS unit helped model and train them at the start.
RE: Fact #25 (Robert Patrick Naked Train Embarrassment) – Super interesting detail: He was really struggling with substance addiction before this movie. As soon as he got cast, he quit everything cold turkey and stayed clean all the way through filming.
RE: Fact #3 (Pope Leo Confronts Attila) – He was probably like – Man, this place is rough, you’re not gonna dig it. I’m only there for my job.
Yeah, pretty much what most historians say happened. Italy was dealing with a huge plague and food shortage back then, so the Pope basically told him there was no use trying to conquer them since there wouldn’t be anything left for him there.
“Does it look like we have anything worth sacking?”
Yeah, that was pretty much how things were in Rome back in the fifth century.
Hey, just a heads-up, Roman emperors actually stopped living in Rome itself way back in the 4th century AD.
RE: Fact #50 (German Type XIV Milk Cows) – In the Broderbund game Wolfpack, there are a couple of missions where one of those things is just sitting out there, way too far from the convoy. I usually had a hard time getting close enough to actually start the resupply without smashing into it and sinking both subs.
RE: Fact #4 (First EEG Of Dying Brain) – That’s super interesting! It sounds like the brain might be replaying key life memories, kind of like what people report in near-death experiences, by creating brain waves linked to memory recall.
But there’s a big heads-up with this too:
“Scientifically, it’s really tough to figure out the data because the brain had bleeding, seizures, swelling – and it’s just one case. So we can’t really make huge assumptions or claims based on this one. ”
Even though I feel like this is what’s happening, we still need to be a bit careful before believing it as fact.
RE: Fact #28 (Goats Shot For Medic Training) – Yeah, it’s not just goats. I’ve heard they’ve used dogs, pigs, and monkeys for this in other countries and in the past.
In my country, pigs are pretty similar to us internally, and we don’t really have many goats. The pig is sedated before being shot, though.
RE: Fact #25 (Robert Patrick Naked Train Embarrassment) – Honestly, even though he’s a human with feelings, if I were Robert Patrick, I wouldn’t feel bad about my body at that time at all.
You can totally be good-looking, think you’re good-looking, and still be chill about being naked around others.
Yeah, it’s pretty common for good-looking folks to not realize how attractive they are.
RE: Fact #48 (Fieldston Private New York Enclave) – Breezy Point is another privately owned neighborhood in NYC.
Breezy Point feels like a fancy trailer park.
So, it began as a campground, and then folks started putting up sheds to actually live in on their spots, and it just sort of grew from that.
RE: Fact #36 (All Red Line Cables Empire) – The transatlantic section ran from 1866 to 1965.
My OCD is bothering me that it didn’t make it to 100 years.
RE: Fact #30 (Charlize Theron Hospitalized From Laughter) – You think she snorts when she laughs? I bet she’s the type who snorts.
RE: Fact #9 (Tiger Woods Rejects LIV Millions) – So he’s nearing the end of his PGA career, and could have jumped to LIV and basically coasted. I guess when you’re already sitting on hundreds of millions, a bit more cash isn’t worth tarnishing your legacy.
He seems to really value loyalty and putting the PGA first. His dad was in the military too, and he seems to strongly dislike the people funding LIV. Tiger has even mentioned that if golf hadn’t worked out for him, he would have joined the military.
So get this, he even got injured back in 2008. Tore his ACL during Navy SEAL training for some reason, and then somehow went on to win the US Open on just one knee. Wild.
He’s a really loyal person, huh?
Yeah, it’s way over a billion. The money from Saudi would still be a lot for him, but honestly, he’d be totally fine even without it.
It’s still pretty uncommon for the super-rich to cash out.
RE: Fact #3 (Pope Leo Confronts Attila) – By the way, Atilla passed away the following year. Maybe he was planning to come back and just couldn’t. That was kind of typical for the Huns. It’s just a guess, though. I’d really like to know what went down.
Makes you wonder if the Pope had something to do with it.
According to the wiki, the usual story from Priscus is that Attila was at a party for his new wife, a young woman named Ildico. During the party, he had a bad bleed and died. It might have been a nosebleed and he choked while passed out, or maybe it was internal bleeding, possibly from swollen veins in his esophagus.
If a historian could chime in, that would be great! But as I recall, Aetius was keeping Attila’s forces busy with guerrilla tactics after that big fight in the Catalonian Fields. The Huns were stretched too thin, so maybe Leo hinted that they should just regroup instead of trying to sack Rome’s already falling walls.
That was likely a big part of it, especially since Italy was already dealing with a famine and disease outbreaks. It would have been super tough to keep an army hanging around Italy long enough to lay siege to Rome.
RE: Fact #19 (Magnus Carlsen Memorization Child Prodigy) – It’s pretty amazing that Carlsen is from Norway, which only has about 5.5 million people. Most of the big chess countries, like Russia and India, have way more players and a long history with the game. But Carlsen didn’t just win the World Championship in classical, rapid, and blitz – he was also the world’s top-ranked player for over ten years, got the highest rating ever, and people often put him up there with Fischer and Kasparov as one of the best ever.
And unlike most other greats, they seem kind and mentally stable. …mostly.
Kasparov is pretty good. And Anand seems like the nicest guy in chess. He really helped Indian chess grow; he was their first grandmaster and then became world champ five times. The new generation of Indian chess stars, including the current world champ, actually call him “father.”
Before Vishy Anand, India didn’t really have a chess tradition. It’s kind of ironic that he’s the one who got beaten by Magnus in Magnus’s first world championship match. Even now, it’s mostly his city, with around 8 million people, that has produced a lot of Grandmasters from India. Vishy was already in his 40s then, so it wasn’t a shocker. Actually, Magnus used to be one of Vishy’s seconds before the 2013 championship.
It’s pretty wild that chess was invented in India over 2000 years ago, but it didn’t really have a big tradition there until Vishy. It reminds me of Buddhism – way more popular outside of India than within it.