Want to be the expert the next time you play trivia? Just remember some of these fun facts. From history to science to the hilariously bizarre past profession of Danny Devito, enjoy these fun facts that will have you destroying your trivia competition in no time: Bubble wrap was originally intended to be used as 3D wallpaper. The last movie ever rented at a corporate Blockbuster was “This Is The End” at a store in Hawaii....
The family of gangster Al Capone is auctioning off 174 personal items, including his gun, diamond-monogrammed jewelry, personal letters, and even the last photo of him ever taken. Witherell’sCapone’s favorite gun, a 1911 semi-automatic, 0.45-caliber pistol, is expected to fetch up to $150,000. Suffering from an advanced stage of untreated syphilis, Al Capone spent his final days in a hallucinatory trance and ranting at imaginary guests. Dead at 48 years old, he left behind a family and a Florida mansion full of valuable personal belongings — which his surviving granddaughters are auctioning off in October....
Aerial photography guru Alex MacLean captures extraordinary images by sticking his hand out the cockpit window of his Cessna 182 plane. Source: Huffington Post Alex MacLean’s photography is unique to say the least. Unlike most of his peers, as both a photographer and pilot, MacLean takes most of his pictures by sticking a camera out of the cockpit window of his Cessna 182 plane. With such an incredible vantage point, MacLean captures aerial images that uncover perspectives unseen by most of the world....
Though some have suspected that Cheryl Crane simply took the blame for her mother, Lana Turner, she nonetheless bore the brunt of the scandal which rocked mid-century Hollywood. From her earliest years, shy and unassuming Cheryl Crane was the object of media attention. The only child of megastar Lana Turner, one of the most recognizable sex symbols of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Crane was surrounded by scandal from birth, whether it was the questionable antics of the film industry’s power players or her mother’s many publicized love affairs....
In December 1982, Charles Scudder and his partner Joseph Odom were brutally murdered in their Corpsewood home by two acquaintances in a drug-fueled robbery gone awry. The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia/Amy PetullaA portion of the mansion’s exterior as it looked at the time of the Corpsewood Manor murders. Dr. Charles Scudder came from a wealthy family and worked as a professor of pharmacology at Chicago’s Loyola University — a “good job” by his own definition....
Ted Bundy’s childhood was a troubled one. He never knew who his biological father was, though some rumors claimed that it was his own grandfather through incest. From the 1993 TIME/LIFE hardcover, True Crime-Serial KillersIn a photo from Ted Bundy’s childhood, Bundy, far right, sits with his mother and his three half-siblings in their family home in Tacoma. Ask any developmental psychologist and they’ll tell you that your current lifestyle is a byproduct of the kind of childhood you had....
Harlequin ichthyosis, a genetic disorder that results in overly thick skin that’s prone to cracking, used to mean certain death. Now, some people with the condition have lived into their 30s. Steven Schloss/Barcroft Media/Getty ImagesFive-year-old Evan Fascianos’ mother rubs cream on his neck. He is one of only a couple dozen sufferers of Harlequin ichthyosis. Living with a rare genetic disease can be difficult, painful, and sometimes even lonely. For those living with the serious skin disease known as Harlequin ichthyosis, the world can be a particularly cruel place where harsh judgements, fear, and a lack of understanding override the necessity of love, care, and kindness....
Before the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Cowpens, the colonists were in danger of losing the South to the British — but one man’s military genius turned the tide of the war. Taking place on January 17, 1781, the Battle of Cowpens marked a turning point in the American Revolutionary War in the South, boosting morale and offering colonists new courage in what would be the final days of the fight for independence....
After becoming the sole survivor of the LANSA Flight 508 crash over the Peruvian rainforest in 1971, Juliane Koepcke spent 11 days in the jungle clawing her way back to civilization. Juliane Koepcke had no idea what was in store for her when she boarded LANSA Flight 508 on Christmas Eve in 1971. But then, the hour-long flight turned into a nightmare when a massive thunderstorm sent the small plane hurtling into the trees....
Lonnie Johnson was born in Alabama in 1949. The odds seemed stacked against him, but the young genius worked his way to NASA and later, to multi-millions. It’s easy to assume that the creators of the vast majority of children’s toys are likely boasting strong backgrounds in marketing, advertising, or even the creative arts. Yet perhaps one of the most impressive pedigrees in the arena of toy inventions comes from none other than a former engineer with both the United States Air Force and NASA, meet Lonnie G....
In the 1980s, Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta were the most invincible drug lords in South Florida — but their reign wouldn’t last forever. First-generation Cuban immigrants Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta may have started out as high school dropouts, but everything changed after they began selling drugs in the Miami area. They initially planned to just make a little extra money, but they ended up taking control of one of the city’s biggest drug-smuggling organizations as the “cocaine cowboys....
Known for her prowess on the battlefield and her penchant for cross-dressing, Yoshiko Kawashima became a polarizing figure in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Wikimedia CommonsBorn a princess in China, Yoshiko Kawashima lived most of her life as a spy for Japan. Yoshiko Kawashima’s life sounds like something out of the movies. Born a Chinese princess at the turn of the 20th-century, she was sent to Japan following the fall of the Qing Dynasty....
Lahore, Pakistan is among the 10 most polluted cities in the world. And now lawmakers have a simple solution for fighting back. ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty ImagesA Pakistani vendor carries balloons on a street amid heavy smog in Lahore, one of the 10 most polluted cities on the planet as of last year. The Clean And Green Pakistan initiative aims to change that over the next five years. According to last year’s world air quality reports, Faisalabad and Lahore, Pakistan are two of the 10 most polluted cities in the world....
Researchers found 12 ancient hepatitis B genomes, including one variation of the virus that’s now-extinct. MSN NewsPrior to the study, the oldest human virus detected was from 450 years ago. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of human hepatitis, which afflicts over 250 million people. Now, we know that is has been infecting people for at least 4,500 years. Research published in the journal Nature on May 9, 2018, revealed that Hepatitis B was found on skeletons from the bronze age, making it the oldest human virus ever discovered....
Poetry challenges known as ‘flyting’ duels were the medieval equivalent of the modern-day rap battle. JPIMediaThe 16th century manuscript contains a poetry duel that uses the word “fukkit.” Centuries ago, during a plague lockdown in Edinburgh, a bored student poet put pen to paper. The result became a collection of 400 poems featuring the works of numerous Scottish writers. The anthology contains a poem that historians believe is one of the earliest recorded uses of the F-word in the English language....
Devised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962, Operation Northwoods called for CIA agents to attack U.S. military personnel and civilians so they could blame it on Cuba’s communist regime. U.S. Air ForceU.S. Air Force General Edward Lansdale was the commander of the anti-Cuban Operation Mongoose, under which Operation Northwoods was developed. In the early 1960s, America’s leaders turned an increasingly nervous eye south, where communist leader Fidel Castro had risen to power in Cuba....
“If you treat [pit bulls] right, they would give their life for you and I owe my son’s life to him.” Gina RichardsonZeus the pit bull after being bitten by a coral snake while defending the two children. They say that dogs are man’s best friend — and for the Richardson family of Sumter County, Florida, that couldn’t be more accurate. According to CBS News, their nine-month-old pit bull Zeus recently gave his life to protect the family’s two young boys from a deadly coral snake....
Edward Price was charged with three counts of second-degree burglary, concealing stolen property, and possession of an illegal firearm. Tulsa Police DepartmentEdward Price was allegedly responsible for five different burglaries between July and September. Thanks to the help of a little sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were able to identify an alleged serial burglar they believe was responsible for multiple burglaries from units at the Waterside Apartments between July 23 and September 13....
Between 1972 and 1976, Robert Berchtold groomed the Broberg family in order to get closer to their 12-year-old daughter Jan — who he eventually abducted and married. NetflixRobert Berchtold had an obsession with his 12-year-old neighbor Jan Broberg, even sleeping in the same bed as her four nights a week. On Oct. 17, 1974, Robert Berchtold picked up his young neighbor Jan Broberg from her piano lessons in Pocatello, Idaho, so he could, he claimed, take her horseback riding....
Instead of several days, it took Pierre Carter just 20 minutes to descend Mount Everest on his paraglider. Pierre Carter/7 Summits 7 FlightsPierre Carter paraglides over the Himalayas after taking off from an altitude of 26,000 feet at the South Col on Mount Everest. As dozens of climbers slowly made their way down Mount Everest last month, one mountaineer soared above them all. At noon on May 15, 55-year-old Pierre Carter took off from the South Col of Everest in a paraglider and flew to the ground, landing in just 20 minutes....
