26Cleopatra's Bet
Roman legend says that Cleopatra won a bet with Mark Antony about who could throw the most expensive party by dissolving her priceless pearl earring in a glass of vinegar and drinking it.
27. Europe's wine owes its existence to the grafting of vines onto American grape rootstock that wasn't vulnerable to a species of aphid that was destined to wipe the industry out. In the late 1800s, Phylloxera, an insect that looked like an aphid, caused a lot of damage to European vineyards and almost put an end to the wine industry there.
28. Censors demanded that female cast members of Star Trek cover their navels during filming. Gene Roddenberry was so irritated by this that in his 1973 TV movie "Genesis II," he gave the villains two navels so that viewers could easily tell them apart.
29. Truckloads of bananas can trigger false alarms in radiation portal monitors (the things that detect nuclear material at the ports) because they are somewhat radioactive.
30. When Amelia Earhart failed to arrive at her last destination, Howland Island, a lighthouse was built there to honor her. The lighthouse on Howland Island was bombed during WWII and later rebuilt as an unlit beacon. Howland Island is now a nature sanctuary with no human occupants.
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31Zhao C Name Controversy
In 2009, a 22-year-old Chinese man by the name of Zhao C (赵Ｃ) was compelled to legally alter his name because it contained a Latin character that was not "part of the national standard for "numbers and symbols" of the People's Republic of China."
32. Koala bears have chlamydia, and they can't take the same antibiotics that are used to treat chlamydia in humans because it would disrupt their gut bacteria balance, which they require to break down the eucalyptus leaves they consume.
33. Those who have the "Asian flush" reaction after consuming alcohol are more likely to develop esophageal cancer than those who do not.
34. When a vault at Universal Studios caught fire in 2008, it destroyed between 118,000 and 175,000 audio master tapes and about 50,000 digital film files. The list of affected musicians includes Duke Ellington, Tupac Shakur, and the Banana Splits.
35. More than 250,000 American children who had been orphaned, abandoned, or homeless were taken by "Orphan Trains" from the East Coast to the Midwest between 1854 and 1921. There were "self-adoptions," "family adoptions," and even "auction-style adoptions" of these children once they reached their destination.
