People & Society

Intriguing facts about human culture, religion, psychology, and social behavior.

In 1992, a man named Stefan Mandel won a $27,036,142 jackpot, 6 second prizes, 132 third prizes, and 135 minor prizes in ONE lottery, by buying EVERY SINGLE COMBINATION possible - Over 5.5 million tickets. All 44 US states with lotteries have since changed their laws to prevent this. May 26, 2019
Meet Peter Oakley, known as Geriatric1927 on youtube, he was the most subscribed youtube account in 2006, in his channel he talked about his life experiences, such as growing up in the UK during WW2 and experiencing the British inter-war school system, he passed away in 2014 at 86 years old May 22, 2019
Japan proposed an amendment to the Treaty of Versailles that outlawed all racial discrimination. Despite receiving a majority vote for it to be added to the treaty Woodrow Wilson personally vetoed the measure and as a comprise let Japan claim a number of islands in the Pacific. May 22, 2019
Pope John XII was the only Pope who was ever beaten to death by a jealous husband for sleeping with his wife. He was also accused of turning the papal palace into a brothel, sleeping with his niece, toasting the devil, ordaining a 10yr old boy, and misusing papal funds to pay gambling debts. May 21, 2019
A key symptom of depression is anhedonia, typically defined as the loss of ability to experience pleasure. It is a core feature of depression, but it is also one of the most treatment-resistant symptoms. Using ketomine, researchers found over-activity in the brain blunting reward seeking May 19, 2019
After 37 years of work and 1,4 billion billion crayons, Emerson Moser, Crayola's senior crayon maker revealed at his retirement party that he was actually colorblind. May 16, 2019
James Watt calculated horsepower by measuring the output of an actual horse in order to quantify how many horses his steam engines could replace. May 13, 2019
A devout Mormon set out in 1955 on an archaeological expedition to prove the Book of Mormon's claims. After 15 years instead he found nearly every claim in the BOM was wrong and the papyrus J. Smith claimed written by Abraham was actually just a page ripped out of the Egyptian Book of the Dead May 12, 2019
Archaeologists routinely find edible honey in ancient Egyptian tombs - the stuff never spoils, due to extremely low water-content, very low pH, and hydrogen peroxide (made by an enzyme in the bees' stomachs). May 10, 2019
Although they spend 16 hours a day in water, hippos can't swim because they are too muscular and sink. Instead they just run around under the surface. May 10, 2019
The highest-grossing single-unit independent pizzeria in the nation, Moose's Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, is in Anchorage, Alaska. Its annual sales are approximately $6 million. May 9, 2019
Timeless physics is the controversial view that time, as we perceive it, does not exist as anything other than an illusion. Arguably we have no evidence of the past other than our memory of it, and no evidence of the future other than our belief in it. May 8, 2019
A New York University study found that people with easier-to-pronounce names have higher-status positions at work May 7, 2019
Martin Luther King Jr. started a pillow fight in the hotel room with other civil rights leaders in the hour before he was assassinated May 4, 2019
Maurice Sendak's classic book "Where the Wild Things Are" was supposed to be titled "Where the Wild Horses Are" but he realized he couldn't draw horses so he changed it to "things" instead May 3, 2019
If microwaves had clear glass windows you would be exposed to the harmful microwaves they emit. The metal mesh screen over the windows have large enough holes for our eyes to see inside, but small enough to block the harmful microwaves that would otherwise be emitted. May 3, 2019
The oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date is the sacred fig tree "Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi", planted in 288 BC. May 2, 2019
The oldest bar in the world is in Ireland. Archeological records have found that the walls of Sean's Bar have been around, and serving, since 900 AD. Further, there are records of every owner of the pub back to its 10th century founding. It opened over 1100 years ago. May 1, 2019
The magician Houdini took off a year during WWI to promote the war effort and taught soldiers how to get out of handcuffs giving away some of his magic secrets. April 29, 2019
Volvo opened up the patent for three-point seatbelt cause "it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from" April 28, 2019