People’s teeth used to randomly explode in the 1800s due to bad fillings. Before the advent of mercury amalgam, a wide variety of metals were used to fill cavities. Using two different metals could create an electrochemical cell – effectively turning the whole mouth into a low-volt battery.
NY City used to use hollowed out trees as water…
NY City used to use hollowed out trees as water mains in the early 19th Century. A working example was still connected to the city water lines as late as 2006.
In 1898 Nikola Tesla once tricked an entire crowd…
In 1898 Nikola Tesla once tricked an entire crowd into believing they could control a toy boat by shouting commands – he had in fact invented Radio Control and was piloting the boat himself.
Architecture, painting, poetry, music, literature…
Architecture, painting, poetry, music, literature, all used to be part of the Olympic Games.
Salvador Dali would take micronaps by sitting in a chair…
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.