26Gothic architecture
Despite its modern association with vampires, one of the key principles of Gothic architecture is to allow in as much natural light as possible.
27. After successfully ditching his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in 2009, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger was granted lifetime membership in the Seaplane Pilots Association.
28. A German naturalist named Renous in the 1830's was arrested for heresy for claiming he could turn caterpillars into butterflies.
29. A man named Roberto P. Hernandez was jailed for a robbery he did not commit in 1985. The authorities confused him with another man because the two had the same name, birthday, weight, height, brown hair and eyes, and tattoos on their left arms. Only their Social Security Numbers differed, and that too by only 1 digit.
30. The title of Pantera's 1992 album "Vulgar Display of Power" was inspired by a line in "The Exorcist". When Father Karras asks Regan why she can't make the straps restraining her disappear if she's supposedly the devil, she replies, "That's much too vulgar a display of power, Karras."
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Cash registers
The bell on early cash registers (circa 1884), not marketing, is why prices like $1.99 rather than $2.00 exist. The 1¢ change back to the customer forced the cashier to open the till ringing the bell and make a change. Otherwise, the sale could more easily be pocketed by the clerk.
32. When Beethoven conducted the premiere of Ninth Symphony in Vienna, he was completely deaf. After it ended, one of the soloists had to turn him around so he could see the audience applauding.
33. During World War 2, Britain drafted women, starting with 20-30-year-old singles, and eventually employing almost 90% of all single women and 80% of all married women in essential war work in roles such as mechanics, engineers, munitions workers, air raid wardens, bus and fire engine drivers.
34. NASA Vehicle Assembly building interior volume is so vast that it has its own weather, including "rain clouds form[ing] below the ceiling on very humid days."
35. Claude Monet frequently became upset with perceived faults in his paintings and would destroy them on the spot. Once, he made the news by destroying 15 paintings he had created for an exhibition.
