Socrates was very worried that the increasing use of books in education would have the effect of ruining students’ ability to memorise things. We only remember this now because Plato wrote it down. 10
At the start of Operation Good Hope…
At the start of Operation Good Hope, US forces were supposed to land on the beaches of Mogadishu under the cover of darkness. Instead, they were met by CNN who was covering the landing live on television. 10
In the years following the Kennedy…
In the years following the Kennedy assassination, when she found herself in need of money, Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother would go to Dealey Plaza and sell her autograph to tourists. 10
In a study of 640 dream journals…
In a study of 640 dream journals conducted by Harvard, psychologists determined the dreams of prisoners in WWII POW camps were less aggressive than the standard male population. Rather than visions of extreme violence, the majority of soldiers dreamed of escape, family, loneliness, and home. 00
After cutting off his ear, Vincent van…
After cutting off his ear, Vincent van Gogh painted a portrait of the doctor who treated him, then gave it to the doctor. The doctor hated it and used it to repair a chicken coop before giving it away. It’s now worth $50 million. 00
Stephen Hawking was born on Galileo…
Stephen Hawking was born on Galileo’s death anniversary and died on Einstein’s birth anniversary. 00
In Japan male students can confess…
In Japan male students can confess their love to another person by giving them the second button from the top of their school uniform. The second button is the one closest to the heart. 00
France had a “proto-internet” called Minitel…
France had a “proto-internet” called Minitel, to which half the population had access. It allowed for buying plane tickets, shopping, 24-hr news, message boards & adult chat services. It was used to coordinate a national strike in 1986. Some believe it hindered the internet’s adoption in France. 00
In 1901, a doctor was told mid-surger…
In 1901, a doctor was told mid-surgery that he was needed urgently elsewhere, to which he responded that he could not leave “even for the President of the United States”. He was then told he needed to operate on William McKinley, the President of the United States. The doctor maintained his claim and actually didn’t […]
Newly discovered fossils…
Newly discovered fossils show that moths and butterflies have been on the planet for at least 200 million years whereas flowering plants came along around 130 million years ago. Butterflies survived without flowers for 70 million years. 00