26Larry Donovan
In the 1880s, a man named Larry Donovan tried to make a living by jumping off bridges to gain fame and recognition. After he died penniless jumping off a low bridge on a drunken bet, his mother was quoted as saying: "I told him that jumping off bridges was a poor way of earning a living."
27. One of the reasons the gloves didn't fit O.J. Simpson is that he stopped taking medication for his arthritis which led to his hands becoming swollen.
28. The South Pacific island of Vanuatu banned the imports of western junk food as a way to combat future health problems.
29. A man named Steve Easton sneezed out the tip (penny sized) of a toy dart while he was at his computer. The toy had been lodged unknowingly in his nasal cavity for 44 years. He had to confirm with his mom.
30. Shifting Baseline Syndrome describes the phenomena, where each generation uses previous reference points as baselines despite those points representing significant changes from even earlier states. Each generation defines the "natural" state differently, and large changes over time often go unnoticed.
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31White Tigers
White tigers are not an endangered species that need to be saved, but are the result of double recessive traits, and are severely inbred to produce more white tigers, resulting in health problems.
32. The reason PINs are typically 4 digits is that the inventor's wife (John Adrian Shepherd-Barron's wife) could only remember 4 digits. Had she not mentioned this they would have been 6 digits.
33. The "bubonic plague" was a specific way of dying from the plague wherein lymph nodes would swell into lumps called "buboes." This is also the origin of bruises being called "boo-boos."
