1First Female FBI Agent
Alaska P. Davidson was the first female special agent that the Bureau of Investigation hired in 1922. However, she was forced to resign by Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1924. No female officers were rehired until 1972.
2. In an attempt to reach Saddam Hussein, who was hiding in bunkers too deep for conventional bombs, the US filled a 16-foot hardened steel artillery barrel with explosives, added fins, and airdropped it, creating the first "Bunker Buster." Iraq withdrew from Kuwait the next day.
3. The belief that lactic acid causes muscle soreness after a workout was debunked in the 1980s. Research suggests that the soreness is a result of physiological effects triggered by microscopic trauma sustained during intense exercise.
4. The impact of boxing gloves on injuries is a controversial issue. A report by the British Medical Association concluded that gloves do not reduce brain injuries and may even increase them.
5. During the shooting event of the 1965 World Pentathlon Championships, Herbert Polzhuber drank 10 glasses of beer and a bottle of cognac. When he stepped onto the shooting platform, he shot all his bullets into the ground and passed out. Shortly after this incident, alcohol was banned from shooting events.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6AC/DC's Rebirth with Brian Johnson
After AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott died of alcohol poisoning, the band considered disbanding. However, at the request of Scott's parents, they hired Brian Johnson as their new frontman and went on to create "Back in Black," which became the second-best-selling album of all time.
7. By 1965, boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson had gone broke, having spent all the $4 million he earned during his career. When presented with a huge trophy after his final fight, Robinson was so poor that there was not a single piece of furniture in his apartment strong enough to support it.
8. On June 4, 1944, Task Group 22.3 secretly captured the German submarine U-505 for the US Navy. Despite the crew's attempts to scuttle it, an 8-man boarding party rushed inside and kept the submarine afloat, towing it 3,150 km back to Bermuda. The capture of the ship was kept secret until after the war.
9. Jane Goodall met her first husband, Hugo van Lawick, when he came to photograph her for National Geographic in Gombe Stream National Park. They married in 1964 and had a son nicknamed Grub. However, when his funding dried up, he had to leave Gombe, and the couple eventually drifted apart.
10. It can take a master weaver up to 8 months to produce a Panama hat, which may sell for $200. Interestingly, the best hats can be sold outside of Ecuador for 50 times the amount the weaver is paid.
11Tragic Baseball Game Incident
In 1902, a 9-year-old spectator named Stanton Walker at a baseball game in Morristown, Ohio, died after being struck by a foul ball. The tragic incident occurred while his companions were passing a knife to sharpen a score-keeping pencil. The knife lodged between his ribs, causing his death within minutes.
12. Alfred Hitchcock refused to meet Steven Spielberg, whom he admired. According to Bruce Dern, this was because Hitchcock had agreed to be the voice of the Jaws ride at Universal Studios, and looking at Spielberg made him feel "like a whore."
13. Men tend to dream about other men more often than women do. Studies show that around 67% of men's dreams are populated by other men, while women's dreams contain an equal mix of both genders.
14. In World War II, the Japanese had a secret bio-warfare research unit called Unit 731. This unit performed lethal human experimentation, including infecting captives with plague and STDs as well as conducting vivisections without anesthesia. An estimated 200,000-300,000 people were brutally murdered.
15. The horns hand gesture was popularized in heavy metal culture by Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath). Dio mentioned that his Italian grandmother used it to ward off evil.
16US Remake with Same Star
When American producers remade the British crime thriller "Broadchurch," they decided to keep the leading star in the same role as a detective but have him speak with an American accent this time.
17. Calvin Klein's cologne "Obsession for Men" was experimentally used to attempt to catch a tigress that had become a man-eater due to a specific pheromone it contains.
18. The television show "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" was banned in Malaysia solely because the title was deemed too easily confused with the drug "Morphine."
19. Picky eating can be classified as a type of eating disorder known as Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). ARFID refers to extreme picky eating habits that can potentially lead to health issues.
20. West Virginia's split from Virginia during the Civil War was a controversial decision. Instead of joining the war, the citizens of West Virginia formed their own government. Legally, a state split requires the consent of the existing government. However, as the only representatives in D.C. were from West Virginia, President Lincoln recognized them as Virginia's legitimate government.
21Drum Loop Creator's Tragic End
Gregory C. Coleman, the creator of the most widely used drum loop sample in music history, tragically died homeless and in poverty, never receiving royalty payments for his creation.
22. According to North Korean state media, Kim Jong II was said to have been born under a double rainbow on a sacred mountain. Before his death, the skies were reported to have glowed red, and Mount Paektu and the impenetrable sheet of ice at the heart of the volcano cracked.
23. Water only blocks 20% of UV rays, even at a depth of 3 feet. Additionally, the water's surface reflects UV rays, leading to increased UV exposure for individuals in close proximity to water.
24. Smooth brain is a medical condition called lissencephaly, where individuals have brains lacking the typical bumps and folds. This condition is characterized by a lack of proper brain development.
25. A special edition PlayStation 2 was created for the game "Need for Speed" in the shape of a car. To turn on the console, users had to use car keys, and the game DVDs were inserted into the car's hood.
