1Rijksmuseum's Night Offer
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum rewarded its ten millionth visitor with the opportunity to spend a night alone in the museum. The winner had the privilege of sleeping beneath Rembrandt's masterpiece, "The Night Watch."
2. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) boasts the largest budget of any US intelligence agency, despite maintaining a nearly nonexistent federal workforce.
3. Of the 920 people at Jonestown, only two survived the massacre: Hyacinth, who hid under her bed, and 79-year-old Grover Cleveland Davis, who, hard of hearing, unknowingly slept through the tragic event.
4. To maintain the attention of young military recruits, the Nazis' Tiger Tank manual was filled with lewd jokes, limericks, and explicit content. The manual also featured a voluptuous blond character named Elvira, often sketched in red to make her stand out.
5. During the 1800s, Hawai'i became one of the world's most literate nations, with over 90% of the population proficient in reading and writing. Even King Kamehameha III proudly declared, "He aupuni palapala ko'u" ("I have a kingdom of education").
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Patented Orbital Trajectories
Orbital trajectories are subject to patents, and a telecommunications satellite was once abandoned after a necessary maneuver turned out to be owned by Boeing.
7. When humans take a breath, they replenish only 15% of the air in their lungs with fresh air. In contrast, when dolphins breathe, they refresh 90% of the air in their lungs with fresh air.
8. When Mike Meaney embarked on his record attempt to be buried alive, he omitted to inform his wife about his plan. She discovered it through a radio broadcast. He conducted workouts in a pub while confined in an oversized coffin, subsisted on a diet of steak and cigarettes, and endured 61 days buried alive.
9. Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain, filed for divorce from her first husband, Isaiah Silva, in 2016, after a marriage of less than two years. Their legal battle included a dispute over Kurt's guitar, which he played during his MTV Unplugged performance in November 1993. The court ultimately awarded it to Silva.
10. Arsenic was once marketed as a beauty product in the late 1800s. Women would nibble on wafers laced with arsenic or even use it for washing, hoping to attain a complexion free of "freckles, blackheads, and pimples."
11Controversial Mr. T Snickers Ad
A European Snickers commercial titled "Get Some Nuts," featuring Mr. T using a vehicle-mounted rotary machine gun to pelt Snickers bars at a speedwalker, branding him a "disgrace to the man race," was withdrawn in 2008 following complaints of homophobia in the United States.
12. The northernmost inhabited place on Earth is "Alert" in Canada. The armed forces maintain a year-round presence here, though the official population is recorded at 0. The average temperature in Alert is -17°C (0°F).
13. Despite maintaining neutrality during World War II, Switzerland was accidentally bombed over 70 times, with the majority of incidents involving the U.S. One such accidental bombing took place in Zurich in 1945, leading to the court-martial of the American pilots. The presiding officer in this case was Colonel Jimmy Stewart.
14. Director Werner Herzog sporadically hosts his own film school, which covers unusual topics such as "the art of lockpicking," "creating your own shooting permits," and "the thrill of surviving unsuccessful gunfire," among other subjects.
15. The Great Sheep Panic of 1888 saw tens of thousands of sheep, spanning an area of 200 square miles, simultaneously break free from their enclosures in southern England, creating a scene of apparent terror and chaos.
16Clochafarmor: Cú Chulainn's Anchor
Clochafarmor, a standing stone in Ireland, is reputed to be the place where the wounded hero Cú Chulainn tethered himself to remain upright while battling his enemies until his demise.
17. Bobby Sands, a member of the IRA, was elected to Parliament in 1981 while serving a 14-year prison sentence for his involvement in a furniture company bombing. However, before taking his seat in Parliament, Sands succumbed to a hunger strike he had organized, leading to his death.
18. In 2021, a hiker who was lost on a Colorado mountain for 24 hours disregarded calls, texts, and voicemail messages from rescue teams because he did not recognize the phone number.
19. During World War II, the Japanese Navy devised the "San Shiki" anti-aircraft shell. Weighing 3,000 pounds and measuring 18 inches in width, it was intended for use on battleships. Upon detonation, it produced a 5-meter-long flame burning at 3,000 degrees Celsius for enemy planes to fly through.
20. In 1859, Delos Ashley and David Jack acquired the majority of the California town of Monterey for $1,000. David then unethically evicted their tenants and claimed their products, including Monterey's cheeses. Jack sold these cheeses, which became so popular that his customers referred to them as "Monterey Jack's Cheese."
21Clare Torry's Pink Floyd Session
A 25-year-old named Clare Torry, who provided wordless vocals for Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" on their iconic album Dark Side of the Moon, completed her recording session in just two and a half takes. She received £30 for her performance.
22. The extent of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War was approximately 100 times the cumulative impact of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
23. In 2016, France enacted a Food Waste Law that prohibits supermarkets from discarding unsold food. The law mandates that supermarkets must either compost their surplus produce or donate it to charity.
24. Eagles possess the ability to distinguish rabbits from two miles away as distinct objects rather than just blurry dots. This is due to their large eyes, which can occupy more than 50% of their head, and their retinas containing five times more cells compared to humans.
25. The New Mexico Fish and Game Department introduced several dozen South African oryx in the 1970s to provide new hunting opportunities. The oryx has since become invasive in New Mexico, with thousands of them in the wild, causing disruptions to local ecosystems.
