The centennial light bulb is located at Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore. It’s a hand-blown bulb with carbon filament. The mysterious bulb continues to baffle scientists who have no idea how its managed to glow for so long. It even has a website dedicated to it: centennialbulb.org.
Other materials such as lead, gold, metal wire and springs, and brass screws were used to keep the dentures together for our President.
Potatoes were blamed for leprosy, syphilis, sterility, and early death.
The myth originates back to 1919 when a two-year-old baby of an army officer died of poisoning. The cause was incorrectly attributed to a poinsettia leaf. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine reported over 22,000 cases of poinsettia exposure to poison control centers during 1985 to 1992. Most were worried parents concerned that their children ingested the leaves. 27 people attempted to commit suicide by eating poinsettias. But in every case, the patients survived. Only 6% experienced negative symptoms.
All tears contain organic substances including oils, antibodies, and enzymes and are suspended in salt water. Different types of tears have distinct molecules. Plus, when tears dry the crystallized salt takes on different shapes and forms.
The molasses wave was 15-feet high and 160-feet wide and swept through the city at 35mph. The 1919 disaster killed 21 people and injured 150. The damage caused by the spill was worth $100 million in today’s money.
Head binding was done to upper class babies just after birth while their skulls were soft. The practice was common among the Mayans and the Chinookan tribes. Early written records of cranial deformation date to 400 BC in Hippocrates’ description of the Long-heads or Macrocephali.
Archaeologists excavated foundation-type mineral pigments for the skin and cockle shells meant for necklaces hinting that Neanderthals had a taste for makeup and jewelry.
Pole sitting is the act of sitting on a flagpole for as long as possible. Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly sat on a flagpole on a dare by a friend. It lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes. Other people copied him and set records of 12, 17, and 21 days.
Lincoln slipped while he was waiting on a train platform. Booth grabbed him by the collar and saved him from falling in front of an oncoming train. This happened shortly before the president’s assassination.
Tensions were mounting between the two countries because of immigration issues and resulted in rioting before the second North American qualifying round of the 1970 FIFA World Cup. It lasted for 100 hours.
The sentence uses three meanings of the word buffalo: the city of New York; the uncommon verb to buffalo, meaning “to bully or intimidate”; and the species of bison. Paraphrased, it means, “Bison from Buffalo that bully bison from Buffalo are themselves bullied by bison from Buffalo.”
Ocean water contains bacteria, worms, crab larva, fish eggs, and much more.
Caesar ended up spending 38 days with the pirates and befriended them. He told them he would hunt them down once he was freed and crucify them. He made good on his promise too.
Maria Assunta rescued the stray cat from the streets and when she died left her favorite pet everything she owned. The cat received many offer from people wanting to help take care of it. Today, Tommaso the cat is being taken very good care of by Assunta’s old nurse, Stefania. Tommaso and Stefania live in at an undisclosed address outside of Rome to avoid con artists and kidnappers.
It was classified as a soft drink before that.
Wolves were reintroduced to the park after a 70 year absence. Their presence set off a “trophic cascade” that altered the movement of deer, sent trees soaring to new heights, attracted beavers, rabbits, bears, bald eagles and other animals to the area, and stabilized the banks of rivers making them less susceptible to erosion.
Dentist William J. Morrison and John C. Wharton invented the machine that would melt crystallized sugar. They originally called it fairy floss and introduced it at the 1904 St. Louis Fair. It was a huge hit. One dentist, Josef Lascaux, independently invented his own cotton candy machine and started selling it at his dental office.
It wasn’t caused by closure or disaster, but the result of too many vehicles on the road, particularly large trucks carrying construction supplies to Beijing, ironically for road work to help ease congestion.
DeBeers has a massive stock of rough diamonds in their warehouse. They carefully released enough diamonds for the demand, while continually adjusting the degree to which rough diamonds were made available. This caused escalating prices and increased the perception of rarity. Among gems, diamonds are actually the MOST common and are not rare at all. Look around you, how many of your women friends have diamonds? Rubies, emeralds, and sapphires are very rare and far more valuable and have always been the gems for engagement rings given to royalty.
The flag design was for a high school class project. Heft got a B- for his work, but it was changed to an A later.
That’s way too many selfies!
The Japanese company makes fasteners and architectural products at 109 YKK companies in 71 countries. It accounts for half the world’s zipper business. Their zipper factory in Macon, Georgia makes about 5 million zippers a day.
He’s played so many roles and lived in the US for so long, he forgot his own voice.
When he first started Match.com in 1995, Kremen got everyone he knew to sign up, including his girlfriend. While he was busy with the company, she got busy meeting her new man.
Pots of honey found in ancient Egyptian tombs were preserved and still edible after thousands of years. The secret to its everlasting shelf lie is the seal. As long as it is sealed properly, honey will not spoil.
Gros Michels bananas were a staple in the late 1800s, but Panama disease devastated the plantations and supplies of the bananas got wiped out, but the cultivar survived in Thailand.
Bennet Cerf didn’t believe Dr. Seuss could write a book with using exactly 50 unique words. He bet him $50 and never paid up. But the book became Dr. Seuss’s best-selling book.
The teacher didn’t think much of his singing either. Elvis brought his guitar to school and played and sang for her, but it didn’t change her mind. Thankfully, Elvis didn’t let her opinion keep him from pursuing his dream.
