September 2012
Canada made a usable $1,000,000 coin!
Canada made a usable $1,000,000 coin! A coin was actually introduced in 1979 sporting the official Canadian maple leaf and it is the official bullion gold coin of Canada produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. Walter Ott spearheaded the idea of the coin. It is one of the purest gold regular-issue coins of the world. The coin has a gold content of .9999 millesimal fineness.
It literally has no base...
Two Australian planes collided midair in 1940 and...
Two Australian planes collided midair in 1940 and managed to land while still connected! Two Avro Ansons from Forrest Hill air base in New South Wales, Australia were flying together for a training exercise. They were flying to Corowa, New South Wales piloted by Leonard Graham Fuller and Jack Inglis Hewson. They were flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet when they banked.
Fuller lost sight of...
Thereâs a pill that makes you poop gold!
Thereâs a pill that makes you poop gold! We’ve cracked the secret to alchemy…in poop! Well, not really. For $275 you can buy a starter kit with three capsules containing gold crumbs. Yes, edible gold was crumbled up and placed in pill capsules. The kit was created by Tobias Wong and Just Another Rich Kid for the New Museum, who sells them.
The New Museum’s website describes the expensive...
Thereâs an international group trying to...
Thereâs an international group trying to resurrect the Roman Republic, culture and all! Nova Roma is an international organization dedicated to the study and restoration of the ancient Roman culture. They are trying to bring back their system of religion and gods, art, virtues, and culture. They call the time of Rome the golden times and hold to the idea that Rome was the beginning of the...
August 2012
Pittsburgh is the only city in the US where all...
Pittsburgh is the only city in the US where all the sports teams share the same colors: black and gold! Pittsburgh is rich in history, including sports history. They had one of the founding members of the NBA, the Pittsburgh Ironmen, though they only played one season. From the beginning of the 1900s, they’ve had pretty successful basketball teams. Hockey has been played since the late 1800s in...
A kid found a bunch of puke worth THOUSANDS of...
A kid found a bunch of puke worth THOUSANDS of dollars! It’s not normal vomit, mind you, it’s whale vomit that this 8-year-old British boy found on a trip to the beach. The substance is called Ambergris and it’s valuable because it’s used to create perfumes and food flavoring.
Ambergris has a fecal smell when it’s fresh, but as it dries, it starts to have a more...
A Price is Right contestant once had a perfect...
A Price is Right contestant once had a perfect Plinko game because the producers forgot to un-rig the game beforehand!
If you’ve ever seen The Price is Right, you probably know what Plink is. For those who don’t know, let me explain. Plink is a large vertical board with a bunch of pegs placed all over the board. Players climb to the top of the board and drop giant chips down the...
The most dangerous book ever can literally KILL...
The most dangerous book ever can literally KILL you! Nope, we’re not exaggerating. “Shadows from the Walls of Death” sounds like a fantastic book of horror. The book is the most dangerous book known of, and not for the words it contains. It doesn’t even contain any words after the title page and preface. The 86 page book simply contains samples of wallpaper. The wallpaper samples are...
Which state didn't make slavery illegal until...
Which state didn’t make slavery illegal until 1995? http://bit.ly/R33pWr
Over long periods of time, couples do begin to...
Over long periods of time, couples do begin to look alike! We’ve all heard the old saying that a couple that stays together start to resemble each other. Science is proving it to be true. Couple who had no resemblance when they first married began to have similar, though subtle, facial features after 25 years. Research reveals that the happier the marriage, the more the couple resembles each...
Every Magic: The Gathering card has a printing...
Every Magic: The Gathering card has a printing error! We’ve talked about Magic: The Gathering before. It’s the first and one of the most popular card games in the world, with over 15,000 different cards that you can play with. However, since 1993, one thing has remained constant in Magic: the back of the cards.
In Magic, players make decks of 40 or more cards, mixing and matching...
Chipotle might be ripping you off!
Chipotle might be ripping you off! Or you might be getting a few extra cents from them. It’s being reported that Chipotle has started doing something strange with their bills: they’re rounding bills to the nearest quarter. For example, a bill that should have been $35.24 was turned into $35.25.
The reason they’re doing this is supposedly so that they can get people in and out...
A missing woman participated in her OWN search...
A missing woman participated in her OWN search party! You probably did a double take when you read this headline, but it’s true. A tourist in Iceland participated in an extensive 50-person search for a missing woman, only to realize the person she was looking for was HERSELF!
Here’s what happened. Last Saturday, a tour bus made a stop in Iceland’s popular Eldja Volcanic region....
Tomorrow will be the last Blue Moon until 2015!
Tomorrow will be the last Blue Moon until 2015! If you ever wanted to do something “once in a blue moon,” you should hurry up and do it tomorrow, because the next chance you’ll get won’t be until 2015. For those who don’t know (and I didn’t till today), a blue moon doesn’t refer to the color that the moon reflects. It refers to the rarity of a blue...
Apollo astronauts used autographs as life...
Apollo astronauts used autographs as life insurance! Apollo mission astronauts had it tough when it came to life insurance. NASA didn’t cover them, and traditional life insurance companies did not want to insure them either. It makes sense, from an insurance standpoint. They’re extremely intelligent, productive and valuable members of society going on extremely expensive and risky...
The group that burns the most US flags is the Boy...
The group that burns the most US flags is the Boy Scouts of America! This might seem contradictory, because flag burning usually has very negative connotations of disrespect, or protest or some sort of unrest. However, the way that the Boy Scouts do it is supposed to be ceremonial and respectful.
If you think about it, a ceremonial burning of flags makes sense. Every year, thousands and...
Women who live closer to the equator tend to have...
Women who live closer to the equator tend to have more baby girls! It sounds a little bit like one of those old wives’ tales that says you can influence the sex of the baby by following certain steps. However, this is science. It’s been found that women closer to the tropics have a slightly higher, but statistically significant, rate of baby girls than boys.
Scientists believe the...
The world's most polluted city is so contaminated;...
The world’s most polluted city is so contaminated; you can mine the top soil for metals! The city of Norilsk, in Russia is considered to be the world’s most polluted city. It’s an industrial city of around 100,000 inhabitants. It has extremely harsh climate, the average temperature for the year is 15.5F.
The city smelts Nickel Ore, which is directly responsible for severe...
Mini golf was invented for women!
Mini golf was invented for women! Mini golf might be a lot older than you thought. The oldest putt putt course in existence was built around 1867 by the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews. It was considered improper at the time for ladies to ‘take the club back past their shoulders.’ Because of this, they created a course that allowed them to play full games without doing...
Coke drinkers are more likely to have graduated...
Coke drinkers are more likely to have graduated college than Pepsi drinkers! Coke v. Pepsi is an old rivalry that seems to have no end in sight. It’s been a great marvel of marketing to see these brands ebb and flow through the years. Coke has always had a slight edge, and is the most popular around the world. In the US, Pepsi performs slightly better, and even overtook Coke for a while...
"Snipers" were originally shooters who were able...
“Snipers” were originally shooters who were able to kill a type of bird! As you probably know, snipers are highly skilled and trained marksmen who maintain close contact with enemies and can target and attack them from concealed or distant positions without being detected.
The name Sniper, then, makes a lot of sense when you consider where it came from. In the 1770s, soldiers in...
This year, many Chicago public schools are...
This year, many Chicago public schools are re-introducing something they haven’t had for 30 years: RECESS!The time kids spend at school has been heavily scrutinized in the United States for a long time. The thinking used to be that any amount of time NOT spent learning in a classroom was time wasted. This was the thinking behind Chicago’s long recess draught. It’s been 30 years...
Humans create more data in just two days than was...
Humans create more data in just two days than was created in all of history up until the year 2003! Sound too crazy to be true? It isn’t. While most of us realize the enormous leaps and bounds society today is making in the technological sphere of society, rarely do we try and conceptualize just how fast and big the “Technology Revolution” is. Google CEO Erik Schmidt recently spoke about future...
The White House snubbed track star Jesse Owens!
The White House snubbed track star Jesse Owens! Jesse Owens is one of the most famous athletes of all time, especially for his participation in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Owens achieved his fame at the Olympics by winning four gold medals and becoming the undisputed star of the time.
His victories were especially important for the fact that Adolf Hitler had planned the games to occur in...
Only 20% of Americans agreed with interracial...
Only 20% of Americans agreed with interracial marriage when it became legal! Only 20% of the population agreed with this landmark Supreme Court case! While today even the thought of whether interracial marriage should be legal sounds obvious, the America of 1967, when it was deemed unconstitutional to bar interracial marriage, was very different from the America of today.
Back when the law was...
Poop that floats is higher in fat content.
Poop that floats is higher in fat content. I sure hope you’re not eating anything right now, because it’s not going to get any less gross from here. When some condition impairs the body’s fat absorption, a common symptom is floating poop, since fat is less dense than water.
Such conditions include celiac disease, bacterial overgrowth, and chronic pancreatitis. A certain amount of floating poop...
Arizona legislators once hired a prostitute to...
Arizona legislators once hired a prostitute to swallow a glass eye in order to pass a bill! Before you get any ideas, this one wasn’t just for kicks and giggles. It was to get a bill passed. Now you might be thinking to yourself “How could hiring a prostitute to swallow a glass eye help get a bill passed?” For that answer, read on.
This all took place in early 1889. Arizona Governor Zulick...
Robert Louis Stevenson gave away his birthday!
Robert Louis Stevenson gave away his birthday! Robert Louis Stevenson, author of famous works such as Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was born in Scotland in 1850 and went on to become one of the most famous writers of the 19th century. However Stevenson was much more than just a literary genius.
Just three years before his death in 1894, Stevenson learned that the...
Furbies didn't really "learn" English, they just...
Furbies didn’t really “learn” English, they just started speaking more of it over a pre-determined amount of time. If this one destroys part of your childhood, we’re dearly sorry. If you’re too young to remember, Furbies were wildly popular toys that looked like a bizarre cross between numerous animals. They were notable for their ability to “talk” to one another and gradually...
Anti-Wasteful spending: There's a US Federal...
Anti-Wasteful spending: There’s a US Federal program that gives the economy $8 in benefit for every $1 spent on it The US economy receives about $8 million for every $1 spent on the NASA space program. Have you ever wondered what exactly exploring the universe can do for all of us here on planet Earth? Well turns out that the economic benefits of space exploration, particularly in the USA,...
The penguins from Batman Returns had their own...
The penguins from Batman Returns had their own luxury swimming pool! Additionally, they had half a ton of ice and fresh fish delivered daily. Needless to say, no penguins were harmed in the making of this movie! In fact, the animals’ comfort was prioritized above the humans; the plane on which they all flew over was refrigerated down to 45 degrees F, and the entire set to 35 degrees F.
During...
Pencil sales increased 700% in the year following...
Pencil sales increased 700% in the year following Sudoku becoming popular. While one might think the pencil, invented by Hymen Lipman, has been seeing less frequent use since the invention of the pen decades ago, it seems Sudoku proved otherwise. Though the pencil was invented a mere 150 years ago (when it was protested by many school teachers because it “encouraged careless thinking”), it’s...
When a Tonga king dies, the royal undertakers are...
When a Tonga king dies, the royal undertakers are not allowed to use their hands for 100 days afterwards. Does that sound a bit strange? Well it’s a pretty big step up from the older practice of severing the undertakers’ hands. They are known as nima tapu, which means “sacred hands.” For three months after burying the kind, they are kept in a special house where they are hand fed by others.
...
Check out some cool posts from our friends at:
Check out some cool posts from our friends at:
Star Wars Developer makes real life lightsaber
Technology that could help us live forever
Top 10 Failed Military Inventions
Top 20 movie villains of the 21st century
5 Weird Celebrity Pet Peeves
http://bit.ly/NUUKec
In Australia there are stingrays half the size of...
In Australia there are stingrays half the size of school buses! As if having claim on the deadliest spiders, snakes, jellyfish, and octopuses in the world wasn’t enough, it turns out that Australia also contains an animal known as the “giant stingray.” Giant string rays have also been seen in the river systems of Borneo, New Guinea, and Thailand.
Very few sightings of this animal have been...
When people hear a recorded phrase looped numerous...
When people hear a recorded phrase looped numerous times, they begin to hear it as a song. If you’ve wasted enough time on YouTube, you know this all too well. It was first discovered by Diana Deutsch in 1995, when she was fine tuning a commentary. She noticed the phrase “sometimes behave so strangely,” which was on a loop, started to sound like it was being sung instead of spoken.
It was...
35% of the population is born without wisdom...
35% of the population is born without wisdom teeth. If you’re like this writer, your mouth may have never gotten the memo that it was supposed to grow wisdom teeth. On the other hand, you might be one of the many people subjected to having them removed.
Well for those who fear becoming the latter of the two, it looks like evolution is running in your favor- we’re gradually losing our wisdom...
A bottle of $1.99 wine beat 2300 other wines in a...
A bottle of $1.99 wine beat 2300 other wines in a wine competition. It’s the kind of thing that would embarrass most wine connoisseurs. Many professional wine tasters equate quality with price. The higher the cost, the older the wine, the better quality it is. But at the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, that was all proven wrong.
The bottle of California wine, called Two Buck...
In 536 AD there was a world-wide dust cloud that...
In 536 AD there was a world-wide dust cloud that blocked out the sun for a full year. It’s one of those mysteries of history for which no cause is known. According to written records, for a year to a year and half in AD 536, a thick, persistent dust veil darkened the skies between Europe and Asia Minor. It’s believed that it covered numerous other parts of the world though.
The cloud is known...
Real scientists published a paper called 'The...
Real scientists published a paper called ‘The Effects of Peanut Butter on the Rotation of the Earth.’ Want to know the result? While one or two people work on things like perfecting male birth control or creating date rape combatting tools, it took hundreds of people to author a study on just how peanut butter affects Earth’s rotation. Even sillier than this notion? The list of...
Prince took down a YouTube video of his live cover...
Prince took down a YouTube video of his live cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ for copyright infringement. Radiohead’s response? “Unblock it, it’s our song.” It’s a pretty nice display of respect between musicians and respect of music. In today’s world of copyright insanity, where great music like Rebecca Black’s Friday can be removed from YouTube due to...
An anti-date rape straw has been invented in...
An anti-date rape straw has been invented in Israel. Date rape drugs, for those who don’t know, are any drugs that can render someone unconscious, generally those that can be dissolved in liquid and for the intention of nonconsensual sex. A straw has been developed in Israel by Fernando Patolsky and Michal Ioffe that attempts to combat this.
Currently, the straw can detect the two most popular...
Robert Downey Jr. claims Burger King saved his...
Robert Downey Jr. claims Burger King saved his life from his drug addiction. If you’ve seen Iron Man enough, you might have caught the Burger King product placement. While product placement isn’t exactly a rarity anymore (in fact, it’s only going to increase in movies in the coming years), the deal to have Burger King in Iron Man was actually spawned because of how it saved Robert Downey Jr.’s...
Top 8 Video Game Picture Facts
Top 8 Video Game Picture FactsFact #1 NEXT »
NEXT » http://bit.ly/NSsEQE
30 years ago, one could buy a pass for lifelong,...
30 years ago, one could buy a pass for lifelong, unlimited first-class travel with American Airlines. Now American Airlines is suing people who did. There are people who have purchased tickets earning them first class travel for life on American Airlines. As you might imagine, a lifelong first class pass is a pretty sweet thing. You can fly anywhere any time for any reason- all in first class....
In the US if your dog needs a kidney transplant,...
In the US if your dog needs a kidney transplant, you can take one from a stray animal- if you adopt the stray. Dogs are funny things in the US. Unlike in some other countries, dogs really are part of the family for most US families. So true is this that people really consider kidney transplants for their beloved animals.
An ethical dilemma then arises: why should a healthy dog lose a kidney?...
The location of the world's tallest tree is kept...
The location of the world’s tallest tree is kept secret from all but a select few scientists.
The tree, called Hyperion, is the tallest known tree in the world, and is hiding somewhere in California. At 379 feet, it’s about twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. Kept secret since its discovery, all that is known of its location is that it’s somewhere in Redwood National Park.
A team...
In 1976 there was a wine contest in Paris where...
In 1976 there was a wine contest in Paris where Californian wines beat French ones. The reporter covering the event was blacklisted for reporting it. It’s indeed a funny idea, the French losing at wine to Californians. But if you know much about Cali, then you know that the Napa Valley wine is a pretty big deal. Though not as big in 1976, Napa still produced some good wine. During that time was...
A nanometer is about the distance a beard hair...
A nanometer is about the distance a beard hair grows in the time it takes for a man to raise the razor to his face. Does that sound impressive? Well actually a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, so it’s pretty miniscule. It’s less a matter of how fast the average beard grows as it is a matter of how small the amount it grows is. To put in perspective, the space between atoms in a molecule is...
Sobhuza II, king of Swaziland, had the longest...
Sobhuza II, king of Swaziland, had the longest monarchial reign documented lasting 82 years and 9 months! Sobhuza became king of Swaziland when he was only a few months old in 1899. His grandma acted as regent until he turned 21 in 1921. He’s got the longest monarchial reign ever documented with a high degree of confidence. His personal reign from 1921 to 1982, lasting 60 years, witnessed the...
