People & Society

Where Did the Bluetooth Name and Symbol Come From? October 29, 2020

Colombian drug trafficker Carlos Lehder bought himself an island in the Bahamas where he put an airstrip which controlled the drugs coming in from South America and entering the US. He became so wealthy he offered to pay Colombia's foreign debt for amnesty. October 29, 2020

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto and How Much Is He Worth? October 29, 2020

In England when Shakespeare was writing, the word 'Nothing' was slang for female genitalia, meaning 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a dirty double entendre. October 29, 2020

The Can-Can was a particularly scandalous dance in the 19th century because women wore pantalettes, which had an open crotch, and the high kicks were intentionally revealing. October 25, 2020

Sister Nancy, singer of Bam Bam which has been sampled many times by the likes of Kanye West and Jay-Z, didnt get any royalties from her record up until 2014. She was working in a bank in New York and decided to take the record label to court. She now gets 50%. October 23, 2020

In 1506, a 1000+ year old statue was unearthed. The main figure, Laocoön, was missing an arm. The pope commissioned a contest to find who would recreate the missing arm best. Michelangelo's version lost. In 1906 the original arm was found and in nearly the exact pose Michelangelo had sculpted. October 23, 2020

44% of adults have held on to their childhood teddies and dolls, and as many as 34% of adults still sleep with a soft toy every night October 22, 2020

In 1888, Richard Mansfield played Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in a stage production at a time when Jack the Ripper was murdering women. A theatre-goer wrote to the police accusing him of the murders because his stage transformation from a gentleman to mad killer was so convincing. October 20, 2020

The USSR expected to win the final of the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships, held in Moscow, but lost to Sweden. The organizers did not have the Swedish national anthem ready for the medal ceremony, so the Swedish players sang a drinking song and it was broadcast over the PA system. October 13, 2020

In 1984 an 8 year old girl with sickle cell disease developed acute myeloid leukemia. To treat the cancer, the doctors gave her chemo and a stem cell transplant from her sibling. Not only did this cure her cancer, but it cured her SCD too. She remains disease free nearly three decades later. June 17, 2019

Dartmouth (and a few other schools) makes all its students pass a swim test before the graduate, so that they won't drown and waste their education. June 17, 2019

In the Rock, Paper, Scissors game, on the first throw, paper is the best choice. Paper ties with paper and statistically, scissors is the least popular choice overall. Also, men favor rock. June 16, 2019

Blowing out birthday candles increases bacteria on cake by 1,400% June 11, 2019

Although GPS is free for the world to use, it costs $2 million per day to operate. The money comes from American tax revenue. June 9, 2019

WD-40 has never been patented as patenting would force them to disclose their recipe. June 7, 2019

Muhammad Ali's star on the Hollywood walk of fame is not on the sidewalk. It is on the wall of Kodak theater because of his request that "he did not want to be walked on." June 7, 2019

Meet a species of human that grew no larger than a modern 3-year-old child and lived on a remote island in Indonesia 18,000 years ago. These humans lived alongside Homo sapiens. They manufactured sophisticated stone tools, hunted elephants, and more, all with a brain only 1/3 the size of ours. June 4, 2019

Mythological smith gods, such as Hephaestus, Weyland, Svarog, Ptah, etc., are often depicted as crippled or deformed. This is now believed to be from constant exposure to arsenic, which was added to copper to make bronze. June 4, 2019

Jonah Hill was hospitalised with bronchitis after shooting for "The Wolf of Wall Street". He had been snorting Vitamin D for close to seven months since the movie involved several scenes of coke snorting. May 31, 2019