In the US, the “we’ll be back after these messages” often seen during kid shows of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s were mandated by the FCC to help children differentiate between the TV show and commercials.
Raisa Gorbachev once told a British minister there were more than 300 ways…
Raisa Gorbachev once told a British minister there were more than 300 ways to cook potatoes in the USSR. When he had doubts, she sent him a cookbook and a note: “My apologies for being somewhat inaccurate: in fact, there are five hundred, rather than three hundred, recipes to cook potatoes.”
When a Holocaust denial group offered $50,000 dollars to “prove that…
When a Holocaust denial group offered $50,000 dollars to “prove that Jews were gassed at Auschwitz,” a camp survivor, Mel Mermelstein sent them definitive proof. When they refused to pay, he sued them and was given $90,000 when the court noted, “It is simply a fact.”
In 2014 top secret photographs of the Hiroshima bomb being prepared…
In 2014 top secret photographs of the Hiroshima bomb being prepared for launch became declassified. Technicians signed their names on the tip of the bomb just hours before detonation.
It is illegal to refuse a person a glass of water…
It is illegal to refuse a person a glass of water in the state of Arizona.
As a Presidential candidate in 1968, Richard Nixon secretly…
As a Presidential candidate in 1968, Richard Nixon secretly sabotaged a peace deal in Vietnam. The war went on for 5 more years.
The “Alexandra Limp” was a short lived fad in Victorian London. Fashionable…
The “Alexandra Limp” was a short lived fad in Victorian London. Fashionable young women mimicked the limp of Princess Alexandra. Canny shopkeepers even started selling mismatched footwear, with one high heel, and one low. The practice was widely ridiculed, even at the time.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry served in WWII with a pilot named…
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry served in WWII with a pilot named Kim Noonien Singh and lost contact with him following the war’s end. Roddenberry named the villain Khan Noonien Singh after his comrade in hopes that Singh would notice and contact him.
Chinese people born in the year of the dragon are actually less…
Chinese people born in the year of the dragon are actually less successful on average because parents try to have children during these years and it causes increased competition for limited university spots.
A Malawian teenager taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring…
A Malawian teenager taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring power to his village. He then went on to build a second, larger windmill to power irrigation pumps. He did this all from books he read in the library.