One of the seven wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis, was burned down by an arson who wished to be famous for his crime. Following his execution, the Ancient Greeks made it an offense subject to the death penalty to mention his name.
During the Cold War the CIA spent $3.8B to construct a ship….
During the Cold War the CIA spent $3.8B to construct a ship with a 16,000ft underwater claw arm in order to retrieve a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine.
When Ronald Reagan watched Back to the Future for the first…
When Ronald Reagan watched Back to the Future for the first time, he loved the joke about who was president in 1985 (Ronald Reagan? The Actor?) so much that he made the theater projectionist stop the film, roll it back, and play the joke again.
The first African American person to hold an International…
The first African American person to hold an International Pilot License was Bessie Coleman, a woman who had to learn to fly in France when no one would agree to train her in the US. She was licensed two years before Amelia Earhart was.
The American Humane Association complained about a live maggot…
The American Humane Association complained about a live maggot being eaten in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” on the grounds that it was cruel to the maggot. A maggot that had “died of natural causes” had to be found.
In a report from 2013, most of the funds raised by the NFL don’t…
In a report from 2013, most of the funds raised by the NFL don’t fund cancer research. In the end, after everybody has taken their cut, only 8.01% of money spent on pink NFL merchandise is actually going towards cancer research.
When José Mujica was detained he spent 10 years in solitary…
When José Mujica was detained he spent 10 years in solitary confinement, 2 years of which were at the bottom of a empty well. After this he went on to became president of Uruguay.
Crime is a major problem in Pine Ridge Indian reservation…
Crime is a major problem in Pine Ridge Indian reservation and since many of the Native Americans grow up as master horsemen, the reservation has an actual problem with gangs of Indians on horseback terrorizing the towns and riding away into the sunset where police vehicles can’t follow.
A drilling company in Louisiana accidentally caused a sinkhole…
A drilling company in Louisiana accidentally caused a sinkhole in a lake. The resultant whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres of the surrounding terrain.
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane…
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane in Los Angeles and found himself en route to Aukland, New Zealand instead of Oakland, CA. The accents of the airline staff resulted in the word “Aukland” being pronounced as “Oakland” which confused the flyer.