1Narcissism in Athletes
Narcissistic athletes tend to perform better in high-stakes, highly competitive situations but fare worse in low-stakes situations. Conversely, non-narcissistic athletes perform worse in high-stakes situations.
2. In 17th-century England, the controversial practice of docking a dog's tail (i.e., amputation) signified that the dog was a "working dog" exempt from a luxury tax. Many owners chose to dock their dogs' tails to avoid the tax.
3. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church sold indulgences to absolve sins or crimes that had been committed or were to be committed.
4. Some of St. Nicholas/Santa Claus's bones were gifted to a New York City church by Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. Unfortunately, both the church and the bones were destroyed during the events of 9/11.
5. In 2019, Colorado passed a law known as the Lemonade Stand law, allowing kids under 18 to operate a temporary business without a license for no more than 84 days in a calendar year.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Choctaw Code Talkers
In World War I, 19 Choctaw Native Americans were deployed on the front lines and in command posts because their language was unknown to the Germans who were listening in.
7. Right after WTC 1 was hit on 9/11, there was no evacuation order for WTC 2, and occupants were instructed to stay put. Only some offices chose to defy this order. Only when a plane also struck WTC 2 did the protocol change.
8. In 1997, Oprah Winfrey faced a lawsuit for allegedly 'disparaging beef' following an outbreak of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease in humans) in Great Britain, which led her to abstain from consuming burgers.
9. The revival of some extinct animals is possible. In 2016, ecologists from UCSB recommended species for resurrection to have the most positive impact on Earth's ecosystems. The chosen species included the Christmas Island pipistrelle bat, Reunion giant tortoise, and Lesser stick-nest rat.
10. There has been an annual income requirement of 2000 pesos to become president of Argentina since 1853. However, due to a lack of adjustment for inflation, it is equivalent to $2.50 today instead of the original 3.3 kg of gold ($220,000).
11Barnacles and Their Unique Adaptation
The sedentary lifestyle of barnacles poses challenges for sexual reproduction since they cannot leave their shells to mate. To compensate, they evolved to have the largest penis-to-body size ratio in the animal kingdom, reaching up to eight times their body length.
12. In 1961, LEGO established its own airport and airline to facilitate global travel for its employees. Today, the airport is Denmark's second-largest and is roughly the size of Anchorage Airport, Alaska.
13. During the production of the film "Roadhouse" (1989), all the actors performed their own stunts. Actor Sam Elliott recalled, "All the actors, as far as I know, did their own fighting. I got the living daylights kicked out of me for the entire film."
14. Before modern sewage systems, Australian outhouses, known as "dunnies," were prevalent for waste disposal. These simple toilets comprised old drums with a seat, and squares of newspaper were hung on a nail behind the door. The "Dunny Man" played a vital role, arriving late at night to empty the toilets-usually filled drums. His duty included lifting the filled drum onto his shoulder, carrying it away, and replacing it with an empty one.
15. In 2006, Disney traded Al Michaels to Universal to regain the rights to Walt Disney's first character, Oswald the Rabbit.
16Spielberg's Reese's Pieces Solution
While making "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," Mars Incorporated, the company that owns M&Ms, refused to grant director Steven Spielberg permission to use the candy in the movie. As a result, Spielberg used Reese's Pieces, leading to an 85% increase in Reese's Pieces sales following the film's release in 1982.
17. In 2007, two Americans rediscovered Pure Nacional cacao trees that were thought to have been completely wiped out by disease in the early 20th century. The ancient Nacional varietal was cultivated more than 5,000 years ago and is believed to produce the world's most exquisite (and expensive) chocolate.
18. A meteor air burst traveling between 3 and 6 miles above Earth at about 60,000 mph on June 30th, 1908, caused a 12-megaton explosion over the Tunguska River in Russia. The blast flattened approximately 80 million trees over 830 square miles of forest.
19. While there have been no major medical emergencies in space (as of 2023), astronauts are trained to handle them. ISS astronauts devised a way to perform CPR in zero gravity by bracing their legs on the ceiling while pushing down on the patient on the floor below.
20. Los Angeles was the first American city to embrace sushi successfully. In 1966, Noritoshi Kanai and his Jewish business partner, Harry Wolff, opened Kawafuku Restaurant in Little Tokyo.
21Linkin Park's Name Change
Linkin Park initially desired to be called "Lincoln Park" but changed their name to register linkinpark.com.
22. During the filming of "Dirty Dancing" in October 1984, the Virginian cold weather caused temperatures to drop to 40 °F (4 °C) during the swimming scene. Jennifer Grey described the water as "horrifically cold" and mentioned that she might not have gone into the lake if not for being "young and hungry."
23. Able Archer 83 was a NATO war exercise that panicked the Soviets into believing that they were under attack, nearly prompting a nuclear retaliation. It is now considered the closest mankind has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
24. After the Battle of Pilska in 811 A.D., Bulgarian emperor Krum the Fearsome had the skull of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I, who was killed in the battle, covered in silver and used it as a drinking cup.
25. Giffen Goods represent an economic concept where poor-quality goods exhibit unusual behavior, defying conventional economic principles. In this scenario, as the prices of these goods rise, their demand paradoxically increases. Despite the typical expectation of the substitution effect, the income effect of higher prices results in greater consumption of the commodity.
