Salvador Dali would take micronaps by sitting in a chair holding a metal key above a plate. When he fell asleep, he’d drop the key and wake himself up.
In 1993 Pepsi ran a contest in the Philippines…
In 1993 Pepsi ran a contest in the Philippines in which it promised 1 million pesos, roughly $40,000, to the person who found the number 349 inside his bottle cap. Pepsi went on to mistakenly print 800,000 winning caps, leading to outrage and death threats to Pepsi executives.
The Moscow Water Dog is a now-extinct breed of dog that…
The Moscow Water Dog is a now-extinct breed of dog that was developed in the Soviet Union after WWII. They were bred to be water rescue dogs, but since they preferred biting drowning people to saving them, the breed was allowed to go extinct.
A woman from Northern England has 4 functioning…
A woman from Northern England has 4 functioning color cones (most of us have only 3) and that due to this she can see 99 million more colors than the average person.
English writer Charles Foster and his eight year old son…
English writer Charles Foster and his eight year old son lived like badgers in a hole in the ground for several weeks. They ate worms and grasshoppers, and traveled by crawling on their stomachs.
There is a fictional island in the South Atlantic…
There is a fictional island in the South Atlantic, off the west coast of Africa, at lat/long 0,0, called ‘Null Island’. Although it doesn’t exist in reality, it serves as an error trap for map systems. Map enthusiasts have given the island its own history, geography and even flag.
The FAA considered building a fake Havana airport in south…
The FAA considered building a fake Havana airport in south Florida in the 1960s to address a spree of skyjackings. Many plane hijackers at the time wanted to fly to Cuba. They would have landed at the phony airport, thinking they were in Havana, then been surprised and arrested by U.S. agents. It didn’t exist […]
You do better on attention tests if you wear…
You do better on attention tests if you wear a “doctor’s coat” compared to a “painter’s coat” even if it’s the same coat.
During World War 2, the British captured Germans and put…
During World War 2, the British captured Germans and put them in a bugged mansion where they served them wine and food and thus they were able to gather important intelligence from casual conversations between the ‘prisoners’ that helped them greatly win the war.
In Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal for a moose to enter…
In Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal for a moose to enter a saloon (via the sidewalk). This law was created to try to stop a local tavern keeper from getting his pet moose drunk and prevent the moose’s frequent drunken rampages.