"Paul McCartney, a Weird Al Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings’ “Live and Let Die”, titled “Chicken Pot Pie”, because McCartney didn’t want to condone eating meat. "
"Babies exposed to sign language babble silently with their hands even if they can hear. "
"Non-photo blue is a shade of blue that doesn’t reproduce on a black and white copy machine or grayscale scan. It’s used extensively in the graphic design industry."
"In October 2015, an Ohio man called police in a panic because he thought he had smoked too much marijuana. Police found him in the fetal position, surrounded by Doritos, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, and Chips Ahoy cookies. He was fine, and police did not charge the man with any crime. "
"Alligators in Louisiana have learned to balance sticks on their snouts specifically during egret and heron nesting season, when the birds are actively searching for nest materials. This is the first known case of predators using lures based on seasonal prey behavior. "
"Tumbleweeds spread radiation from old nuclear test sites. During the early 1960s, after aboveground nuclear testing finally ceased at the Nevada Test Site, the first thing said to grow back was Russian thistle (one kind of tumbleweed). "
"Cookies came from bakers making small “test cakes” to test the temperature of wood-fired ovens."
" In the DC universe, Santa Claus is a powerful 1800 year old immortal entity whose bone dust was once snorted like cocaine by John Constantine."
"In medical dramas, 75% of patients who receive CPR are revived. A study of real-world patients found the rate to be as low as 4%."
"During WWII a double agent, codename GARBO, received the highest honor of service from both the Allies and Axis."
"Most scratches on porcelain tableware are in fact metal residue from the metal in the utensils rather than scratches in the porcelain, since porcelain is much harder than steel used in most utensils."
"The volcanic system beneath Yellowstone holds enough magma to fill 11 Grand Canyons."
"The “Tree That Owns Itself” is a white oak tree in Athens, Georgia that is widely assumed to legally own itself and the eight feet of land surrounding it. According to newspapers, a deed written by Colonel William Jackson was written to the tree, giving ownership of the land to itself in the 1800s."
"In 2004, a woman engaged to a video game programmer anonymously vented her frustrations about her fiancé’s brutal 85-hour work week in a single blogpost which eventually led to three class action lawsuits and a $14.9 million judgment against Electronic Arts, whom he worked for."
"Paul McCartney started the recording of “Hey Jude” without knowing that Ringo was absent and sitting on the toilet. Ringo tiptoed his way back into the studio just in time for the drums to come on."
"The inventor of white out was fired from her job for not whiting out a mistake she made."