1Eurasian Magpie
The Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds as well as the most intelligent of all non-human animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as the brain of humans. It is the only bird known to pass the mirror test.
2. Scooby-Doo was designed by Iwao Takamoto who first learned illustration from fellow prisoners in the Manzanar concentration camp for Japanese-Americans in USA.
3. In 1993, a college basketball coach named Bob Knight invented a fictitious player named Ivan Renko to expose disreputable basketball recruiting experts. Sure enough, the "experts" began listing Renko as a prospect and some even claimed to have footage of the nonexistent player.
4. David Vogel and Disney's production president read M. Night Shyamalan's spec script for 'The Sixth Sense' and loved it. Without corporate approval, Vogel bought the rights for the movie for $3 million and for this he was dismissed by Disney. The film went on to spend 5 weeks at number one.
5. The "lower bar" on women's bikes is antiquated and was created to accommodate the heavy dresses women wore in the late 1800s.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Rob Konrad
In 2015, Ex-Miami Dolphins running back Rob Konrad swam for 16 hours to shore after he fell off his boat in the ocean.
7. Paul McCartney once mentioned that he liked Jelly Babies. Later his fans started throwing them at the Beatles during live concerts. In the USA, fans started throwing jelly beans at them after mistaking them to be the same thing. One concert had to be stopped twice because the Beatles members kept getting hit.
8. The first international war crime trial took place in the Holy Roman Empire in 1474. Peter Von Hagenbauch was found guilty of atrocities committed during the occupation of Breisach and beheaded.
9. In 2004, Reason Magazine sent out 40,000 special magazine prints, tailored to every subscriber, which surprised and terrified each one of them. Each cover of the magazine displayed the satellite photo of the subscriber’s house. The featured article was about how databases can be utilized on a mass scale with automation.
10. In the 4th century C.E., Roman bishop Acacius of Amida sold all of his church's treasures to free 7000 Persian prisoners captured by the Romans during the war. Theodosius II, the Persian emperor was so impressed by the act that he ordered an end to Christian persecution throughout his empire.
11Sand Mandalas
Buddhists create sand mandalas only to destroy them, to teach the belief that nothing lasts forever.
12. Palm fronds are extremely hardy and are difficult to process into mulch or compost and can take up to 50 years to decompose on their own. The fronds also account for 3.4% of the 1 million tons of waste each year in Phoenix, Arizona landfills.
13. In Iceland, Arctic foxes were the only land-based mammals roaming the landmass before humans arrived.
14. Grateful Dead concerts were so crucial to the LSD market that Jerry Garcia's death in 1995 contributed to a nationwide decline in LSD use.
15. During a contentious White House meeting about patronage appointments for customs officers in the Northeast, Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford became so angry at president James Monroe that he began whipping his cane at the president, forcing Monroe to use fireplace tongs to defend himself.
16Lilian Todd
Self-taught inventor/engineer E. Lilian Todd was the first woman to design and build an airplane, only 3 years after the Wright brothers' first flight. However, she did not pilot the aircraft herself because she was denied a permit.
17. The Toyota team was caught cheating in the 1995 World Rally Championship. Its engineers had developed a mechanism to temporarily remove the mandated turbo restrictor plate and give their Celica an extra 50 BHP.
18. Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger, the football player who became the basis of the classic sports film "Rudy", once ran a pump and dump scheme. He was charged with stock fraud charges and settled for $4.5 million.
19. Lynyrd Skynyrd based the group's name as a mocking tribute to a P.E. teacher named Leonard Skinner. He disciplined two of the band's members for letting their hair grow long.
20. Moe Howard of 'The Three Stooges' once broke three ribs filming a pratfall. Dazed, he managed to pick himself up off the ground and slap Curly in the face before passing out. The footage ended up being used in the finished short.
21Processing of Gelatin
Gelatin is obtained by boiling cattle and pig carcasses.
22. Potatoes are native to South America. They were introduced to the rest of the world only in the last 500 years.
23. Banjo player Bela Fleck has been nominated in more Grammy categories than any other musician and won Grammys in bluegrass, country, folk, pop, jazz, classical, and world music categories.
24. Fabric can be made from milk. In 1935, due to the Italian government wanting to reduce wool imports, Antonio Ferretti created a milk fiber derived from the casein protein in skimmed milk. Milk wool was soft, warm, and shrink resistant, but smelled like spoiled milk or cheese when wet.
25. The fat Chinese buddha is actually "Budai," a Chinese monk from the 10th century.
