"In 2001, a 13-year-old Boy Scout named Cody Clawson went missing for over 18 hours near Yellowstone Park. Clawson resorted to using his belt buckle to signal to planes overhead. Eventually, he got a pilot’s attention - and that pilot was none other than Harrison Ford - who rescued Clawson."
"In his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression."
"In 2015, a woman's parachute failed to deploy while skydiving, surviving with life-threatening injuries. Days before, she survived a mysterious gas leak at her house. Both were later found to be intentional murder plots by her husband."
"A group of horses were trained to communicate whether they wanted a jacket. All horses in the group successfully communicated that they did want a jacket when it was cold and did not want a jacket when it was hot."
"Octopuses deliberately throw shells at each other. Researchers found that 66% of throws were made by females, often in response to mating attempts. For a creature with no thumbs or rotator cuffs, they had a 17% hit rate."
"The first African American woman to win an Oscar, Hattie McDaniel in 1939, wasn't even able to attend the premiere of the movie she preformed in due to it being held at a whites-only theater."
"In 1976 groundskeeper Richard Arndt caught Hank Aaron's 755th home run ball & tried to return it to Aaron but was told he's unavailable. The next day the Brewers fired Arndt for stealing team property (the ball) & deducted $5 from his final paycheck. In 1999, he sold it at auction for $625,000."
"A man named Göran Kropp from Sweden rode his bicycle to Nepal, climbed Mount Everest alone without Sherpas or bottled oxygen, then cycled back to Sweden again."
"During a rap beef, Jay-Z wrote a diss song against Nas, describing him having an affair with Nas girlfriend. Jay-Z's mom was disgusted with her son's behaviour and made him apologize to Nas and his family."
"On April 18 1930, the BBC's evening news report simply said "there is no news" and then played piano music for the entire segment."
"Chief Baker of the Titanic, Charles Joughin, survived by getting smashed on Brandy and calmly paddling around until dawn when he was rescued by a lifeboat. He was also one of the last people off the ship, riding the stern rail into the sea like an elevator."
"More people died taking selfies (379) than from shark attacks (90) between 2008-2021."
"Muhammad Ali's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is on a wall instead of on the ground. This is because Ali, a devout Muslim, did not want people stepping on the name "Muhammad"."
"In the early 60s, the US Coast Guard got letters from the public demanding to know why the castaways on the TV show Gilligan's Island had not yet been rescued."
"War pigs were used by the Romans because the squeals would scare war elephants into fleeing, and cause them to trample their own armies."
"Most animals can see UV light — humans being blind to it is the exception not the rule."
"That 'Rocky' (1976) was inspired by the true story of Chuck Wepner, a local boxer from New Jersey who was set up for a dream fight with Muhammad Ali. Wepner quit his job to train full time, and against all odds, lasted 15 rounds with the champ. Stallone was in the audience."
"Steven Spielberg desperately wanted to release Schindler’s List in 1993 in time for the Warsaw Ghetto anniversary. But Universal wanted him to finish Jurassic Park first. To keep Universal happy, he had George Lucas oversee Jurassic’s post-production while he’s filming Schindler’s List in Poland."
"Squirrels terminal velocity is so low they can fall from any height and survive."
"While dogs may not pass the traditional mirror test, they do pass a "smell mirror" test, suggesting they understand the concept of 'self'."
"The reason why animal shelters are full of huskies, is because of the TV show Game of Thrones. Everyone wanted their own real life dire Wolf, but then abandoned them after they realize how much work they are."
"French geologist Michel Siffre, who in a 1962 experiment spent 2 months in a cave without any references to the passing time. He eventually settled on a 25 hour day and thought it was a month earlier than the date he finally emerged from the cave."
"If you tune your radio to 91.9 FM for one city block in Montclair, NJ you can hear a looped recording of "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men which has been broadcasting for at least 13 years straight."
"When “Star Wars” officially debuted in theatres on May 25th, 1977, George Lucas was so busy approving the film’s advertising campaigns that he forgot the film opened that day. That same evening, he went out for dinner in L.A. with his wife and saw crowds lining up to see the movie."
"John Von Neumann worked on the first atomic bomb and the first computer, came up with the formulas for quantum mechanics, described genetic self-replication before the discovery of DNA, and founded the field of game theory, among other things. He has often been called the smartest man ever."
"In 2016, an Oregon man essentially dissolved inside a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming after he accidentally fell into it."
"A dude in the middle ages wrote a book claiming that witches were stealing men's penises, putting them in a nest, feeding them oats, and keeping them as pets. He was in part responsible for starting the European witch trials."
"Lou Bega, singer of iconic Cuban song Mambo No. 5, is a German man of Italian & Ugandan descent. His only interaction with Cuban culture was a vacation to Miami as a teen."
"Craigslist generates over $600 million in revenue annually with only 50 employees."
"12 years before taking their fans to court for sharing their music, Metallica released the "$5.98" EP, titled to stop their record label and music stores from overcharging fans - the record came with a sticker warning 'DO NOT PAY MORE!!!'—a direct jab at music industry markups."
"Combining 50mL of alcohol and 50mL of water doesn't make 100mL."
"Philanthropist and engineer Avery Fisher was motivated to start his own company after, identifying a way to save his employer $10,000 a year, was immediately denied a $5/week raise."
"If you feed a human body to pigs, they will eat just about all of it except the teeth. Several murderers in rural areas have used this fact to their advantage."
"Louis XIV had an elephant at Versailles, a gift from Portugal's king in 1668. The animal became part of the Ménagerie, the palace's zoo, and was fed 80 pounds of bread, 12 pints of wine, and two buckets of soup daily. It is the only African elephant recorded in Europe between 1483 and 1862."
"The largest unfinished church in the world, the Sagrada Família, began construction in 1886. It is expected to be completed in 2026, nearly 150 years after it began construction."
"If you have a fear of bridges, you can hire a service where someone gets behind the wheel of your car and drives you across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a 4.3-mile stretch in Maryland known as one of the scariest bridges in the world."
"A French Socialite Named Blanche Monnier Was Imprisoned by Her Family in a Secret Room for 25 Years, From 1876 to 1901. According to officials, Monnier had not seen any sunlight for her entire captivity."
"1700s Persian emperor Nader Shah kept fried peas on his person at all time, which he would eat if he didn't have time to prepare a proper meal."
"Actress Alicia Witt's parents were found frozen to death in their Massachusetts home in December 2021.They refused help on home repairs repeatedly."
"In 1964, 17-year-old Randy Gardner set the world record for sleep deprivation by staying awake for 11 days and 25 minutes, providing valuable insights into the effects of extreme sleep loss on the human mind and body."
"In 1993, James Scott purposely damaged a levee and caused a massive flood of the Mississippi River only to stall his wife from coming home so that he could party."
"In the USA, 60 people die from walk-in freezer accidents per year."
"Schizophrenic hallucinations vary across culture, western illusions usually being more violent and harmful."
"29 bars in NJ were caught serving things like rubbing alcohol + food coloring as scotch and dirty water as liquor."
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If it's free, who pays the doctors? What you are referring to is taxpayer funded, not "free". Nothing in life is free.