There was a 1700s politician named John Strange, and his epitaph reads, “Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange.”
Between 1896 and the 1940s, thousands of people paid…
Between 1896 and the 1940s, thousands of people paid to see premature babies being incubated at circus sideshows. Since most hospitals didn’t have the funding available to provide incubators, it was the best chance to safe the infant’s lives.
The only woman who served in front-line reconnaissance…
The only woman who served in front-line reconnaissance in the Soviet marines during World War II, carried hundreds of men off the battlefield and was seriously wounded three times, received the highest award in the Soviet Union only in 1990, 45 years after the end of the war.
“Police police Police police police police Police police
“Police police Police police police police Police police.” is a valid sentence. Police is a city in Poland. Three different forms of the same word come into play above: law enforcement (the noun), the city (an adjunct noun/adjective), and the verb. We’ll can use substitutions to clarify the meaning — “patrol” for the verb form […]
An error of Costa Rica’s border on Google Maps led to an invasion…
An error of Costa Rica’s border on Google Maps led to an invasion of Costa Rica by the army of Nicaragua. Google responded, saying that their Maps “shouldn’t be used as a reference to decide military actions between countries”.
In 19th century Germany there was a man who was…
In 19th century Germany there was a man who was both the local tax collector and caretaker of the dog pound. Since tax collecting was a dangerous job, he used the pound to make a new breed a dog that would protect him while collecting. His name, Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann.
There is a Starbucks where they don’t write your name…
There is a Starbucks where they don’t write your name on your cup: the one at the CIA’s headquarters. Baristas are escorted to and from work, and the receipts identify the establishment as simply “Store Number 1.”
Legendary daredevil Evel Knievel was fired from his first job…
Legendary daredevil Evel Knievel was fired from his first job with a mining company after attempting to wheelie a bulldozer but ending up careening into power lines and knocking out the local town’s electricity supply.
The USSR proposed a doomsday ship; full of fissile material…
The USSR proposed a doomsday ship; full of fissile material navigating Soviet waters, which would automatically detonate if it detected nuclear war on Soviet territory, filling the earth’s atmosphere with a radioactive cloud.
Coca-Cola released a drink, Tab Clear, with the sole…
Coca-Cola released a drink, Tab Clear, with the sole intention to be marketed so bad, that people wouldn’t want to drink it, in an attempt to ruin sales of Pepsico’s equivalent, Crystal Pepsi, by comparison. It worked.