A curious mind can find something interesting almost anywhere. This collection brings together overlooked moments from history, surprising scientific discoveries, unusual human stories, and everyday truths that are not quite what they seem. Dive in and see which one stays with you for the rest of the day.
1 Angela Lansbury Fled Manson’s Orbit
In the early 1970s, British-American actress Angela Lansbury moved her family from California to Ireland after her daughter, Deirdre, became involved with Charles Manson and both of her children began using drugs. Her son Anthony had also suffered a heroin overdose and fallen into a coma, while a brush fire destroyed the family’s Malibu home in 1970. Lansbury and her husband bought an 1820s farmhouse near Conna in County Cork, where Anthony recovered after quitting cocaine and heroin.
2. In 37 BC, Roman polymath Marcus Terentius Varro warned readers of his agricultural treatise, De re rustica, about living near swamps and marshland. He thought that these places were favorable to the production of “minute creatures which are not visible to the eyes” that floated in the air and entered the body through the mouth and nose, causing serious diseases. Some 1,700 years before scientists first saw microorganisms in the 17th century, Varro described this invisible threat.
3. In a 2025 blind taste test conducted by culinary and sensory scientists at Drexel Food Lab in Philadelphia, 77% of 44 participants chose an instant coffee versus only 23% who picked drip coffee. Testers compared eight instant products to drip coffees from Folgers, Stumptown and La Colombe brewed by machine, rating them on attributes such as bitterness, texture, flavor and aftertaste. None of the drip coffees finished first, and the overall winner was Illy Intenso Bold Roast.
4. In 1640, a woman named Ann Hibbins, wife of wealthy Boston merchant William Hibbins, sued carpenters who had overcharged her for work on her house and won. Church authorities considered her conduct abrasive, demanded an apology, and excommunicated her when she refused, accusing her of usurping her husband’s authority. Within months of her husband’s death in 1654, officials began witchcraft proceedings against Hibbins, eventually securing a conviction from the Massachusetts General Court. Authorities hanged her on Boston Common in 1656, making her the third person executed for witchcraft in Boston.
5. Whenever a new Habsburg monarch moved into one of the dynasty’s palaces, they brought furniture matching their own taste and sent the previous furnishings into storage. Empress Maria Theresa formalized the practice in 1747 by founding the Imperial Furniture Depository, which stored, repaired, and restored the royal furniture. The Austrian state consequently inherited more than 160,000 pieces spanning five centuries, including furnishings from Schonbrunn, Hofburg, Belvedere, and Schlosshof palaces.
6 Nero Fell, Judges Awarded Victory
In the year 67 AD, Roman Emperor Nero took part in an Olympic chariot race with 10 horses instead of 4. He fell off his chariot and did not finish the race, but the judges gave him the victory anyway, because Olympic officials did not want to anger the emperor. The organizers even delayed the 65 AD Olympics until 67 AD to accommodate Nero, who won seven crowns for events including chariot racing, tragedy and lyre-playing.
7. In 2025, UC Berkeley scientists produced a color called “olo” that only five people have officially seen. Under natural viewing conditions, light that stimulates the retina’s green-sensitive M-cone cells also activates S-cone or L-cone cells, making olo impossible to see normally. Researchers mapped individual retinal cells and used precisely aimed lasers to stimulate the M cones while largely avoiding the others, creating what participants described as an extraordinarily saturated blue-green. The name comes from its theoretical LMS color coordinates of 0, 1, 0.
8. One justification for maintaining the United States’ 450 vulnerable ICBM silos is their ability to function as a “nuclear sponge.” The Air Force deploys about 400 single-warhead Minuteman III missiles across Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota while keeping another 50 empty silos in warm reserve. Supporters argue that an enemy attempting a first strike would have to direct a large number of warheads at these dispersed silos, consuming much of its arsenal and diverting weapons from cities and other strategic targets.
9. In December 1950, Captain Leonard LaRue’s SS Meredith Victory, a cargo ship built for 35 crew members and 12 passengers, took aboard more than 14,000 Korean refugees during the evacuation of Hungnam. The refugees stood chest-to-chest on deck and inside the cargo holds, while others rested atop drums of jet fuel. The unescorted ship navigated an enemy minefield and dodged air attacks during a three-day voyage with little food or water and no doctor or interpreter. Nobody died, and five babies were born before the refugees disembarked at Koje-Do in South Korea on Christmas Day, earning the vessel the nickname “Ship of Miracles.”
10. In the early 1860s, promoters presented “Idaho” to Congress as a Shoshone word meaning “gem of the mountains” while lawmakers considered creating a new territory around Pikes Peak. By January 1861, Congress had learned that its supposed Native American origin was probably fabricated and chose the name Colorado instead. The name survived through Idaho Springs, a Columbia River steamship, and Idaho County before Congress created Idaho Territory in 1863. More than a decade later, politician George M. Willing claimed he had coined “Idaho” after a little girl named Ida while posing as an elected congressional delegate.
11 Moon Caves Could Shelter Astronauts
NASA data has shown evidence of caves under the Moon that could offer future astronauts shelter from radiation. In 2024, scientists reexamined radar data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2010, and found evidence of a cave extending more than 200 feet from a pit in Mare Tranquillitatis, some 230 miles northeast of the first human landing site. Scientists believe the tunnel was carved by ancient lava under a hardened surface, and its full length can stretch for miles. A shelter built under a deep overhang would also protect astronauts from micrometeorites, dust and extreme temperature variations.
12. In 1953, a Filipino zoologist named Dioscoro Rabor shot the only known female Negros fruit dove near Pula on the slopes of Mount Kanlaon in the Philippines. He also shot a second bird presumed to be her mate, but he could not recover it from the undergrowth, leaving the female’s preserved skin at Yale University’s Peabody Museum as the species’ only specimen. Scientists have never definitively recorded another Negros fruit dove, although a local hunter claimed to have shot one in the 1990s. The IUCN lists the species as Critically Endangered, but experts believe any surviving population numbers fewer than 50 birds.
13. In 1971, Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes became the only NFL player to die after collapsing on the field during a game. With 1:02 remaining against the Chicago Bears at Tiger Stadium, the 28-year-old clutched his chest and fell near Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, who urgently signaled for medical help. After an ambulance carried Hughes to the hospital, officials played the final minute before a stunned, silent crowd, and doctors pronounced him dead later in the evening. An autopsy found that a coronary thrombosis had caused a massive heart attack and that one of his arteries was 75% blocked by undiagnosed arteriosclerosis.
14. American rapper Soulja Boy reportedly wrote and recorded “Crank That” at home in just 10 minutes using an unregistered demo copy of FL Studio, previously called FruityLoops, and only its basic stock sounds. He posted the song and dance instructions on MySpace in 2007, before Interscope Records professionally rerecorded and released the final version that May. The single spent seven weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, it became the first song to sell 3 million digital copies in the United States, establishing it as one of the earliest major Internet-driven hits.
15. In 1936, Adolf Hitler attended the secret Berlin wedding of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley and British socialite Diana Mitford and gave them a silver-framed photograph of himself as a wedding gift. Joseph Goebbels hosted the ceremony in the drawing room of his home, with Hitler serving as the guest of honor. The frame featured Hitler’s initials and the German eagle, while the couple kept their marriage secret until 1938.
16 Delta Crew Joked, Then Crashed
In 1988, the crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 joked before takeoff that if they crashed, their discussions about flight attendants’ dating habits, drink mixes, and other subjects would give the media a “juicy tidbit.” Shortly afterward, the Boeing 727 crashed just 22 seconds after leaving the runway at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14 people and injuring 76. Investigators found that the crew had failed to extend the flaps and slats for takeoff, while a malfunctioning warning system failed to alert them. News outlets repeatedly broadcast the embarrassing cockpit recording, provoking an outcry from pilots and prompting a federal law that prevents the NTSB from releasing actual CVR audio and only allowing relevant written transcripts.
17. During the 19th century, European settlers migrating to and settling the Great Plains sometimes experienced an affliction known as “prairie madness” or “prairie fever.” Its reported symptoms included depression, social withdrawal, changes in character and habits, and sometimes violence. The Homestead Act of 1862 spread families across isolated 160-acre farms, while distant towns, limited transportation, blizzards, hot summers, endless flat land, and relentless wind intensified their loneliness. Some sufferers returned East, while extreme cases ended in suicide.
18. George Lucas originally named the main character of Star Wars Luke Starkiller, and scripts written between 1973 and March 1976 also used the surname for Luke’s father. After production began, Lucas changed Starkiller to Skywalker because people on set associated the name with American cult leader Charles Manson and the murders committed by his followers. Lucas later said the name carried “very unpleasant connotations,” while “Starkiller” could also sound like “celebrity killer” during renewed media coverage of Manson.
19. In 1938, Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary and pretender to the Austrian throne, offered to take over the Austrian government expressly to organize resistance against the Nazis. Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg declined, and Nazi Germany later annexed Austria in the Anschluss. The Nazi regime then sentenced Otto to death, while Rudolf Hess ordered his immediate execution if authorities caught him. Adolf Hitler also ordered the confiscation of Otto’s personal property and the House of Habsburg’s assets.
20. American singer Karen Carpenter abused ipecac while battling anorexia nervosa, and the drug contributed to the heart failure that killed her in 1983. She used it to induce vomiting and disclosed that she could take more than 90 ipecac-based laxatives at once, along with 10 levothyroxine pills a day. Ipecac contains emetine, a compound that disrupts cellular respiration and can cause potentially fatal cardiovascular damage. Her mother found her unconscious in her room, and an autopsy later detected large doses of ipecac in her body.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Robert Moses, America’s Nondriving Urbanist
American urban planner Robert Moses, the man most responsible for shaping American cities around cars and highways, never learned to drive. Over four decades, he conceived, funded, and built a highway and parkway network that reoriented the New York region around automobiles and opened Long Island to mass suburbanization. His approach established a template for urban highway design that cities across the United States followed.
22. Moderate coffee can hydrate the body similarly to water, and researchers found no evidence that it caused dehydration in habitual coffee drinkers. In a 2014 crossover study 50 men took part in two three-day trials in which they drank either four 200-milliliter cups of coffee or the same amount of water per day. The researchers found no significant differences between trials in total body water, blood measures, 24 hour urine volume or urine concentration.
23. During the 1944 liberation of Paris from the Nazis, an American soldier stole the 12-meter (13-yard) French flag hanging from the Arc de Triomphe and took it home. He kept it for 65 years before returning it to Paris in 2010, but he remained anonymous because he felt too ashamed to come forward. Paris City Hall officials accepted the flag during a ceremony in southern France and thanked the veteran because he had once risked his life for France.
24. During his post-presidential world tour in 1879, former American president Ulysses S. Grant warned Japanese Emperor Meiji against taking foreign loans, lest Japan fall “into the abyss into which Egypt has fallen.” Grant delivered the warning during a two-hour meeting in Japan, where he also urged the emperor to resolve Japan’s dispute with China peacefully. The warning reportedly made a “forceful impression” on Emperor Meiji and his advisers, leading Japan to reject various loan proposals over the following years.
25. In 1830, neighbors in Massachusetts harassed and shunned a farmer, War of 1812 veteran, and abolitionist named Joseph Palmer because he refused to shave his beard. Early that May, four men armed with scissors and razors attacked Palmer outside a Fitchburg hotel and tried to shave him, but he fought back with a jackknife and wounded two assailants in the legs. Judge David Brigham convicted Palmer of “unprovoked assault” and imposed a $10 fine, nearly $40 in court costs, and a $700 bond. Palmer refused to pay because he believed payment would admit guilt, so authorities held him in Worcester County Jail for more than 15 months, releasing him in August 1831, after he finally paid.
RE: Fact #47 (Prince-Electors Had Thirty-Day Imperial Deadline) – So they had more than thirty days?
RE: Fact #15 (Hitler Gave Newlyweds His Photograph) – Considering who this couple was, that was probably their favorite gift.
It’s like a MAGA couple getting a signed photo of Trump directly from him, I’m sure they would have loved it.
RE: Fact #33 (Zacharie Cloutier Links Eight Celebrities) – The coolest thing is that we’re able to trace the lineage of some random French carpenter 400 years later.
The Catholic Church in Quebec was great at record-keeping. They tracked everything and preserved those old records from the start of the colony. They did it for control back then, but it’s a goldmine for genealogists now, so they’ve kept it up.
RE: Fact #36 (Judgment Day Beat Racial Censorship) – There is a wild irony in this story being centered on racial discrimination. The comic features an astronaut scouting a planet inhabited by robots who are identical except for their colors: half are blue and half are orange. One group is treated as inferior just because of their color, and the astronaut reports that the planet isn’t ready for contact until they overcome that racism. The kicker is that in the final panel, he takes off his helmet and he’s Black. Apparently, that reveal was enough to trigger a ban.
It reminds me of that Star Trek episode where people who are black and white on opposite sides fight each other. It was ridiculous, but the point was so relevant.
RE: Fact #21 (Robert Moses, America’s Nondriving Urbanist) – That explains why he designed the city the way he did. He grew up seeing cars as a luxury for the rich and wanted the city to be reserved for them. He even called the working class ‘animals’ and actively tried to sabotage New York’s mass transit systems.
RE: Fact #40 (Whisky Treats Ethylene Glycol Poisoning) – I’m a veteran and I’m old enough to remember our clinic keeping a bottle of Everclear in the drug safe specifically for this.
RE: Fact #16 (Delta Crew Joked, Then Crashed) – I’m confused because I’m 100% sure I’ve heard pilot voice recordings from many incidents that occurred after this.
Likely only relevant voice recordings, as stated.
RE: Fact #27 (Winchester College’s Abolitionist Corpse Display) – “But it wasn’t about slavery.” /s Plenty of the guys in Union blue knew exactly what they were fighting against.
RE: Fact #43 (Leonard Nimoy’s Smoking Caused COPD) – There is a radio station online that plays old broadcasts from the 30s through the 50s, commercials included. It is wild to hear ads where they actually say things like, “Most doctors recommend you smoke this brand for a cleaner, better taste.”
RE: Fact #31 (Alexander Kept Iliad Beside Dagger) – From what I recall, the “battle strategy” in the Iliad is basically: “this guy gets blessed by a god and goes on a John Wick-style rampage until he is taken down by someone blessed by a different god.” It is not exactly the Art of War.
Alexander led the charge in every battle. Since these guys were getting advice from deities living on mountains, getting blessed by a god was probably a solid strategy.
this really explains why Alexander was so successful. He understood that while wars drag on, they can also be won in a flash when things shift. He also believed the gods played a massive part in battle. He managed to take cities without excessive bloodshed and made sure not to insult the gods, either his own or those of the places he conquered. Faith and drive are major factors, especially when they’re buoyed by omens and rumors. Cruelty, unnecessary violence, and trampling over local cultures usually just come back to bite you. Even in the Iliad, when Hector kills Patroclus and tries to disrespect his body, it actually forces Achilles back into the fight despite his hatred for Agamemnon. Hector’s choices just unified the Greeks and made them stronger. And when Achilles drags Hector’s body, it doesn’t even make Priam surrender, even though he’s begging for his son back. There’s definitely a lot of wisdom for a commander if you read between the lines.
RE: Fact #17 (Prairie Madness Afflicted Isolated Settlers) – It’s a different time and place, but I watched a WWII documentary where a former German soldier mentioned that the endless, empty Russian steppes had a similar psychological effect on many of his fellow soldiers.
RE: Fact #43 (Leonard Nimoy’s Smoking Caused COPD) – Both of my grandmas were told by their doctors in the 60s to smoke to lose weight. One ended up dying of emphysema and the other from lung cancer.
RE: Fact #41 (Shanghaiers Kidnapped Sailors For Profit) – Around 1900, shanghaiing was a massive, organized criminal enterprise. In ports like San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, thousands of men were kidnapped annually to fill crews for long-haul merchant ships because the work was so brutal that nobody wanted to sign up voluntarily. Victims were often drugged with opium or just knocked unconscious.
RE: Fact #5 (Habsburg Monarchs Amassed 160, 000 Furnishings) – They should host a massive online estate sale, how cool would that be? Imagine being able to sleep in some random Habsburg monarch’s bed.
RE: Fact #42 (Trojan Language Probably Wasn’t Greek) – Most of the real evidence from that period was destroyed because the guy leading the Troy excavation was basically a hobbyist who used dynamite to blast a trench straight down to bedrock, destroying the layers he was actually looking for.
Schliemann was a total treasure hunter and I can’t stand him, but I definitely get the urge to use dynamite when I am trying to clear rocks and dirt that are packed as hard as concrete.
RE: Fact #23 (Arc de Triomphe Flag Returned) – I know it is not a huge deal, but it drives me a little crazy seeing that people apparently cannot spell French words correctly.
RE: Fact #34 (DELO Glue Suspended 17-Tonne Truck) – Just to clarify, it’s “tonnes”, not “tons”. A tonne is 1, 000 kilograms, while a ton is 2, 000 pounds. So 17.2 tonnes is actually just shy of 19 tons.
That really depends on where you live. Since “ton” isn’t a strict SI unit, a ton is just a metric tonne where I am. So for me, a ton is 1, 000kg.
RE: Fact #47 (Prince-Electors Had Thirty-Day Imperial Deadline) – Is that similar to how cardinals pick a pope? I heard if they can’t agree, they get locked in until they do, with their food rations cut until they make a decision.
The 1268 papal election actually lasted three years. Eventually, they started locking the cardinals in and cutting their food, and in the end, they even removed the roof of the room.
RE: Fact #23 (Arc de Triomphe Flag Returned) – I bet a lot of ordinary people back then didn’t really grasp the historical weight of what was happening around them. To the French, that flag was a symbol of resistance, but to most soldiers and locals, it was just one of thousands of flags being tossed around after the liberation.
RE: Fact #48 (Zombie Hack Seized Five Stations) – The Emergency Alert System is pretty vulnerable because the security on the broadcast equipment is sometimes really weak.
RE: Fact #37 (Warren Robinett Secretly Credited Himself) – Man, back then you really needed a good imagination.
RE: Fact #49 (Mongols’ False Retreat Crushed Rus’) – The wild part is that this was supposedly just a scouting mission. Jebe and Subutai weren’t even tasked with conquering territory, yet they managed to crush a combined Rus army on their way back and still had the presence of mind to report what they found.
It is not much of a stretch to call Genghis Khan, Subutai, and Jebe three of the greatest military minds in history. It is honestly mind-blowing that they were all serving under the same flag at the same time.
RE: Fact #13 (Chuck Hughes’ Fatal NFL Collapse) – Technically, Damar Hamlin also died on the field, but they were able to resuscitate him.
RE: Fact #17 (Prairie Madness Afflicted Isolated Settlers) – I grew up in the prairies but now live out east. My dad passed away a few years ago, so I went back and drove from Edmonton through Calgary to Banff. If you don’t live in the prairies, you forget how oppressive that much sky can be. It’s so blue and open with no buildings or trees to break it up. I can see why people got prairie madness, I really didn’t like it.
I drove across the U.S. west-to-east a few years ago and those endless, open spaces really got to me, too. I have thalassophobia, and it felt somewhat like that, just inverted.
RE: Fact #26 (Claudius Counted 5, 984, 072 Male Citizens) – The world was much less crowded before the Industrial Revolution.
RE: Fact #30 (Killer Bees Escaped Brazilian Experiment) – Just another reminder that honeybees are basically domesticated livestock, not a natural, native pollinator. Learning the truth about them completely changed my view.
RE: Fact #7 (Olo Required Selective M-Cone Stimulation) – What are the costs and risks to set this up? A science museum could make some decent money offering this as a special ticketed experience for science geeks.
I think it’d be a tough setup for the general public. If I recall correctly, the experiment required mapping the individual’s eye cone cells and positioning lasers to match their specific eye configuration. It’s like a fingerprint; since we all have these three types of cones scattered randomly, you’d need a unique map for every person. That said, with enough investment, maybe there could be software that does that quickly? Probably a future thing.
RE: Fact #20 (Karen Carpenter’s Fatal Ipecac Abuse) – I’ve read a few books on her, so I’m going by memory, but along with starving herself, she was heavily abusing ipecac, laxatives, and thyroid medication. She went to New York for full-time outpatient treatment, but she actually got worse. She ended up being hospitalized with a feeding tube, and the theory is that the weight gain happened too quickly. Eating disorders weren’t as well understood back then, and treatment has come a long way since. Even though I haven’t read the whole fact, I’ve always understood that it was years of starvation and medication abuse, combined with the rapid weight gain, that weakened her heart. It’s so sad because she was at a healthy weight when she died, but I’m not sure she had recovered psychologically.
RE: Fact #14 (Crank That Took Ten Minutes) – Meanwhile, the song you spent a year making on your $700 licensed version of Ableton only got a pity listen from your grandma.
RE: Fact #40 (Whisky Treats Ethylene Glycol Poisoning) – Whiskey isn’t a treatment itself, but it contains ethanol, which is. Ethylene glycol (antifreeze) isn’t inherently toxic until the liver metabolizes it. Ethanol and ethylene glycol compete for the same liver enzyme. If you flood the system with enough ethanol, the enzyme chooses the ethanol, allowing the ethylene glycol to pass through the body unprocessed. That said, ethanol isn’t the primary treatment, and no one should try to self-treat antifreeze poisoning by getting drunk. That would be incredibly dangerous.
RE: Fact #33 (Zacharie Cloutier Links Eight Celebrities) – Just a heads up: the combination of solid record-keeping and small founder populations means anyone with French Canadian roots will likely find enough family tree data to make these kinds of connections.
RE: Fact #14 (Crank That Took Ten Minutes) – I remember my PE class had to come up with choreography. We picked that song and the teacher didn’t see an issue with it, so there we were, four 13-year-olds happily cranking that and superman-ing that hoe.
RE: Fact #6 (Nero Fell, Judges Awarded Victory) – It’s worth noting that a lot of what we know about Nero comes from his successors who were clearly out to ruin his reputation. The Roman senatorial class looked down on chariot racing and acting, but Nero was actually popular with the common people.
RE: Fact #25 (Joseph Palmer’s Beard Provoked Imprisonment) – According to Wikipedia: “A prominent Fitchburg minister once accosted him: “Palmer, why don’t you shave and not go around looking like the devil?” Palmer replied: “Mr. Trask, are you not mistaken in your comparison of personages? I have never seen a picture of the ruler of the sulfurous regions with much of a beard, but if I remember correctly, Jesus wore a beard not unlike mine.””
RE: Fact #26 (Claudius Counted 5, 984, 072 Male Citizens) – For context, the current metro Rome population is just under 4.5 million.
RE: Fact #13 (Chuck Hughes’ Fatal NFL Collapse) – You should look up how many college players died before the forward pass was legalized.
That was back when both teams would just link arms and run headfirst as a human wall into the other side.
RE: Fact #36 (Judgment Day Beat Racial Censorship) – I’ve always wondered if the DS9 episode “Far Beyond the Stars” was meant as an homage to this.
RE: Fact #17 (Prairie Madness Afflicted Isolated Settlers) – I’m a West Coast rainforest dweller, so whenever I go somewhere without mountains where everything is brown, it feels off to me. My wife is from the desert, so she feels in her element whenever we go somewhere hot and dry. I think wherever you grow up sets your baseline for life.
RE: Fact #1 (Angela Lansbury Fled Manson’s Orbit) – She was an Irish citizen and had been visiting Ireland since the 1930s. Her kids had spent plenty of time there during summer holidays before they moved. It makes sense it was a natural place for them to go.
RE: Fact #4 (Ann Hibbins Faced Witchcraft Execution) – Witchcraft accusations were often just a cover for misogyny. They were usually aimed at women who didn’t fit the traditional mold, women who were outspoken, independent, and whose deaths often benefited someone else. It’s no shock that this happened to Ann. How dare she successfully call out men for not doing their jobs correctly!
RE: Fact #7 (Olo Required Selective M-Cone Stimulation) – I was a bit of a hippie back in the day, and I’ve definitely seen colors that felt like nobody else had ever seen.
RE: Fact #8 (ICBM Silos Create Nuclear Sponge) – One of my professors grew up on a massive farm in South Dakota. The government leased some of their land to build a nuclear silo, and that lease is still going 50 years later. He said that’s exactly how he was able to afford college.
RE: Fact #3 (Instant Coffee Won Blind Taste-Test) – Instant coffee has come a long way since I was a kid when the only options were those red and white labels. While I prefer using a cafetiere and ground coffee, I keep some of the newer instant brands on hand for visitors or emergencies. They’re actually pretty good.
RE: Fact #26 (Claudius Counted 5, 984, 072 Male Citizens) – This is a bit misleading. While free adult males were eligible for citizenship, most of them weren’t actually citizens. That was actually a big draw for military service, since you could retire as a citizen after your career in the army.
RE: Fact #30 (Killer Bees Escaped Brazilian Experiment) – “We were hoping for the higher production and docility of European bees and the temperature tolerance of African ones… instead we got the anger and vengeance of the African strain plus the ability to withstand cooler temperatures like the European one. Great.”
RE: Fact #1 (Angela Lansbury Fled Manson’s Orbit) – She used to be a regular at a shop my mom worked at in Cork City. They always had nice things to say about her. For a long time, they just treated her like any other customer until one day a delivery driver was complaining about someone stealing from his van. Another customer joked, “Jessica over there will sort it out, it’s probably your brother-in-law.” She took it really well and would share stories about her acting career every time she visited after that.
RE: Fact #24 (Grant’s Warning Deterred Japanese Borrowing) – >In a two-hour meeting with the emperor, Grant warned him against becoming indebted to foreign powers, lest Japan fall “into the abyss into which Egypt has fallen”; Grant’s warning reportedly made a “forceful impression” on the emperor and his advisors and led to the rejection of various loan proposals in the following years. [109]
RE: Fact #28 (William Franklin’s Loyalism Estranged Benjamin) – His grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bach, was also a hardcore anti-federalist. He ended up dying of yellow fever while waiting for his sedition trial, right before the Sedition Act of 1798 went into effect.
RE: Fact #41 (Shanghaiers Kidnapped Sailors For Profit) – The legend goes that James “Shanghai” Kelly had a bar in San Francisco with trapdoors to dump passed-out drunks onto boats to be forced into labor. It’s likely just a myth, but the fact that it was such a common story shows just how rampant that practice was.
RE: Fact #30 (Killer Bees Escaped Brazilian Experiment) – Does anyone else remember these being a big concern for a while back in the 90s?
RE: Fact #2 (Varro Predicted Invisible Disease-Causing Creatures) – This might also just be a misunderstanding of how malaria spreads. It was a massive problem across the empire, but the Romans didn’t realize mosquitoes were the ones responsible.
RE: Fact #3 (Instant Coffee Won Blind Taste-Test) – Pepsi beat Coke in a blind test too, which pushed them to change their recipe, a total disaster. Blind taste tests don’t really mimic how you actually drink something over time. They usually just favor whatever is sweeter.
RE: Fact #34 (DELO Glue Suspended 17-Tonne Truck) – Not to be confused with DELU glue, which made the truck swear it was hanging in mid-air when it didn’t actually lift an inch.
RE: Fact #12 (Negros Fruit Dove’s Sole Specimen) – I find it interesting that the only other sighting was in the 90s, from someone who also ended up shooting the bird. Things aren’t looking good for the species.
RE: Fact #24 (Grant’s Warning Deterred Japanese Borrowing) – One of the questions from China’s final Imperial Exam in 1904 included this: ###> Q3 – When Japan began its reforms, they hired Westerners and grew more powerful by the day. “Egypt hired over a thousand foreigners, yet lost control over their finances and judiciary, permanently weakening it. ” Go over the respective cases in detail and come up with a plan to learn from their gains and losses. Egypt’s situation was well-known throughout East Asia back then.
RE: Fact #11 (Moon Caves Could Shelter Astronauts) – If this isn’t the setup for a sci-fi horror or action movie, I don’t know what is.
RE: Fact #16 (Delta Crew Joked, Then Crashed) – In most countries, there is a button to erase the audio recordings when a flight ends. Investigators can sometimes recover the audio if there is a crash, but pilots still do it to cover their tracks, which usually just gets them into much deeper trouble.
RE: Fact #9 (Meredith Victory Saved 14, 000 Refugees) – Five babies in a crowd of 14, 000 people seems like a high number. Maybe there was some selection bias where pregnant people were prioritized or given the best chance to get on the boat.
RE: Fact #38 (Bees Detect Flowers’ Electric Signals) – Everything I learn about bees makes them sound more wild. How did they evolve to sense electrical charges? The static is one thing, but being able to detect the positive charge of a flower is mind-blowing.