A Chinese company, Ninebot Inc. made a knock off of the Segway. When Segway tried to sue them, Ninebot used the money they made from selling the knock offs to buy the company that originally made the Segway.
The Republic of Texas had its own embassy-like building…
The Republic of Texas had its own embassy-like building in London. When it joined the rest of the United States in 1845, the officials skipped town without paying their rent.
In 1945 the USSR presented the U.S. Ambassador with…
In 1945 the USSR presented the U.S. Ambassador with a carved replica of the U.S. Seal. It hung in his office for 7 years before it was discovered to have a small listening device embedded. It was one of the first “bugs” of the Cold War.
A computer tech forgot to install some new code…
A computer tech forgot to install some new code in a server. This resulted in a high speed stock trading company that did $21 billion in daily trades to go bankrupt in 45 minutes.
A guy made a chicken sandwich literally from scratch…
A guy made a chicken sandwich literally from scratch — he grew a garden, harvested wheat, slaughtered a chicken, traveled to boil ocean water for salt, etc — it took him 6 months and cost him $1,500. He didn’t think it tasted very good.
In 2013, a US IT worker outsourced his own job…
In 2013, a US IT worker outsourced his own job to a man in China. He paid the man 1/5 of his salary and then he sat at his desk browsing the internet. He was found out after a security audit discovered some suspicious VPN activity.
During WWI, King Albert I of Belgium personally lead the desperate…
During WWI, King Albert I of Belgium personally lead the desperate defense against the Germans, while the Queen served as a nurse, and their son, the 14 year-old Crown Prince enlisted in the infantry as a private.
‘Art’ used to be an Olympic sport. Artists were award gold…
‘Art’ used to be an Olympic sport. Artists were award gold, silver and bronze medals for architecture, painting, sculpture, music and literature across multiple Summer Olympics in the early 20th Century. The ‘arts’ were dropped from the Games because they drew too many professional artists.
The computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing….
The computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia, object addressing and dynamic file linking, bootstrapping, and a collaborative real-time editor were all demonstrated for the first time in what is the called the “mother of all demos” back in 1968.
1-3% of the population are known as the sleepless elite…
1-3% of the population are known as the sleepless elite. This group of people routinely get 6 hours or less of sleep daily and remain totally functional.