Quick Entertainment

Rental FAIL.

2011-05-14T11:46:00.002-02:30

Sign Placement FAIL.

2011-05-14T11:45:00.003-02:30

Faucet FAIL.

2011-05-14T11:45:00.001-02:30

Water Sign FAIL.

2011-05-14T11:44:00.003-02:30

Hover Forever !

2011-05-14T10:15:00.003-02:30

How to get in Space !

2011-05-14T10:15:00.000-02:30

The first product to have its barcode scanned was a packet of gum!

2011-05-14T10:14:00.006-02:30

The first item sold after being scanned with a UPC barcode was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum, at a price of 67 cents. The sale occurred at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974 at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.

Plane Survival !

2011-05-14T10:14:00.002-02:30

How to Steal Money

2011-05-14T10:12:00.004-02:30

Speed of Water vs. Speed of Light

2011-05-14T10:12:00.002-02:30

No More Bad Mornings !

2011-05-14T10:11:00.002-02:30

Bear Gryll's Meme

2011-05-14T10:10:00.002-02:30

Vinegar can help to stop a nosebleed.

2011-05-14T10:09:00.003-02:30

The acetic acid in the vinegar will gently cauterize the inside of the nose and stop the flow of blood. You can also fight off your nosebleeds by having more zinc in your diet, a task that can be accomplished by consuming more whole wheat bread. Vitamin K helps your body with blood clotting, so you should also try to consume more dark-green leafy vegetables, and having more Vitamin C will reduce your chances of getting a nosebleed in the first place. If you already have a nosebleed, you can also apply pressure to your upper lip. This is where a major blood vessel that travels to your nose is located, so if you hold a piece of cotton against it, you can slow down the bleeding.

A Jewish man recommended Adolf Hitler for the Iron Cross award.

2011-05-14T10:09:00.001-02:30

For his service in World War I, Hitler was initially decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class in 1914. Four years later, however, he was recommended for the advanced version of the award, the Iron Cross, First Class. The future dictator and notorious anti-Semite was recommended for this distinction by Hugo Gutman, a Jewish assistant to one of Hitler’s senior officers. This award was rarely ever given to a Gefreiter, which is the German equivalent to “private” in the U.S. military.

23 million chickens are killed for food in the U.S. every day.

2011-05-14T10:08:00.001-02:30

That’s 269 birds turned into KFC every second! Modern chickens are also bred to be abnormally heavy, which means that many cannot support their own body weight. The California Poultry Federation estimates that 30 chickens are consumed per Californian! All in all, 9 million chickens are slaughtered for food per year, which makes up 90% of the total land animals that are killed for human consumption.

Everyone actually pronounces Dr. Seuss’s name wrong!

2011-05-14T10:07:00.001-02:30

The good doctor, originally named Theodor Seuss Geisel, attended Dartmouth College in 1921. Soon after enrolling, he joined the school’s student humor magazine, the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern. He rose through the ranks of the publication and soon achieved the title of editor-in-chief. This success was short-lived however, seeing as Ted was forced to resign after he was caught drinking gin with some friends in his room - a major no-no during the time of Prohibition. To overcome his mistake, Geisel continued writing for the magazine in secret, under the pen name of “Seuss,” his middle name (the “Dr.” got added later on).

Strangely enough, we’ve all been pronouncing his pseudonym wrong! As Americans, we see Seuss and like to say “Sewss.” However, seeing as it is a German name, it should really be pronounced “Soice” - the way Geisel said it himself! Ted eventually switched this anglicized pronunciation himself, since most people already said it that way and it “evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with - Mother Goose.”

Alexander Liang, one of his fellow writers on the Jack-O-Lantern, wrote this short poem about the authentic pronunciation:

“You're wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice!”

The smallest state in America has the longest official name!

2011-05-14T10:04:00.003-02:30

That’s right - Rhode Island’s official state name is “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”. You may think this moniker is scarcely used, but it actually appears on several of Rhode Island’s official documents, including its state seal and the original Royal Charter issued by King Charles II in 1663! The full name harkens back to the unification of the “Providence Plantations” settlement with nearby communities into a singular government. Last fall, members of the state legislature voted to keep the word “plantations” the official name, despite the fact that it is reminiscent of Rhode Island’s role in the slave trade.

A British double-agent from Spain gave the Nazis fake intel while the Nazis gave him the Iron Cross award and paid him $340,000.

2011-05-14T10:04:00.001-02:30

In what must have been one of the greatest trollings in world history, Joan Pujol Garcia, a Catalan from Spain, offered the Nazis information on British troop movements. The catch was, he was in Spain the whole time, and he made up everything. Garcia, also known as “Garbo” to British intelligence, was working as a double-agent, who aided the British war effort by sending bad information to the Germans.

Most notably, Garbo told German intelligence that the D-Day invasion would not take place in Normandy, and would instead come from the Pas-de-Calais. To keep the Germans from catching on, he later sent them the real plans for the Normandy invasion, but only after it was already too late to use it. For his “efforts”, the Germans even awarded him the Iron Cross, making Garbo one of the only people to receive both the German Iron Cross and the British MBE award. In addition to the award, Garbo and his network of agents in Britain (all fictional characters) received a total of $340,000 US from the German government. Garbo had 27 fictitious agents operating under him during the war. To allay suspicions, every time one of his “agents” missed a valuable piece of information, Garbo would just kill him off. The Germans would then pay the “widow” a pension.

Around the World !

2011-05-14T10:03:00.003-02:30

Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey the national bird of the United States.

2011-05-14T10:03:00.001-02:30

Here is an excerpt from a letter Franklin sent to his daughter that expresses this desire:

"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Speed of Light

2011-05-14T10:02:00.001-02:30

UNLIMITED BREATHING

2011-05-14T10:01:00.001-02:30

If you touch your tongue while yawning, it can stop the yawn.

2011-05-14T10:00:00.001-02:30

sit tibi copia nostri.

2011-05-14T09:59:00.001-02:30

This is relevant to my interests.

2011-05-14T09:58:00.001-02:30