George R.R. Martin’s idea for Game of Thrones began with his pet turtles. He said, “I decided they were all knights and kings…and I made up stories about how they killed each other and betrayed each other and fought for the kingdom. So, Game of Thrones, actually began with turtles.”
In 2013 a cat named Cookie went missing while on holiday with his…
In 2013 a cat named Cookie went missing while on holiday with his owner in Grasse, southern France. 18 months later Cookie returned “dirty and emaciated” having traveled a journey of 700-miles, all the way home.
In the 1960s, Nichelle Nichols, the black actress that played Uhura in Star Trek…
In the 1960s, Nichelle Nichols, the black actress that played Uhura in Star Trek, wanted to quit the show. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked her out of quitting the role because he believed presenting a black woman working alongside white men would help further the goal of racial equality.
Since Ronald Reagan, each outgoing United States president has left a private…
Since Ronald Reagan, each outgoing United States president has left a private message on the Oval Office desk for the incoming president on Inauguration Day.
There is a 100-year-old woman still teaching math at her…
There is a 100-year-old woman still teaching math at her elementary school in Brooklyn.
A staff writer for The New Yorker came to the office every day …
A staff writer for The New Yorker came to the office every day from 1964 to his death in 1996 — and never published a single story.
Minutes before the Halifax Explosion, (one of the largest non…
Minutes before the Halifax Explosion, (one of the largest non-nuclear, man-made explosions) a dispatcher named Vince Coleman returned to his station to send a warning telegram, saving 300 lives at the cost of his own.
Members of the band “Good Charlotte” protested against KFC’s treatment…
Members of the band “Good Charlotte” protested against KFC’s treatment of chickens. Then in 2012 and 2013 appeared in a number of KFC commercials in Australia and even tried to set a world record for eating KFC on “Australia’s Got Talent”.
After Betelgeuse goes supernova, it will be brighter than a full moon…
After Betelgeuse goes supernova, it will be brighter than a full moon and visible during the day. It will shine for weeks/months before fading away. It will likely explode within a million years.
Finland is a future-obsessed nation. It was the first country in the world to…
Finland is a future-obsessed nation. It was the first country in the world to offer a master’s degree in futures studies, has a special parliamentary committee for the future, and its government is required by law to produce an official review of the future every four years.