Ok, I've allowed this thread to lay dormant for far too long so to make up for a little of the missed time, I've decided to update it with several amazing facts and bizarre accounts that I'm sure none of you could possibly ever live without knowing!:
The Pop-Tart Wars
Kellogg’s didn't invent them–Post did. In 1963, using the same technology they used for "Gaines Burgers," Post developed a fruit-filled pastry that could be stored without refrigeration. In 1964, they unveiled "Country Squares." The food industry ooohed and aahed.
But it too too long for post to get its product to stores. In just six months, Kellogg's created and test-marketed pop-Tarts. Country Squares–which seemed to describe a food for middle-aged rubes from the sticks–was sunk. Changing the name to Post Toast-Em Pop-Ups didn't help=by 1967, Pop-Tarts had the toaster pastry market locked up.
The Hamburger
In 1879, in his restaurant near the docks of Hamburg, Germany, Otto Kause began serving a sandwich American sailors loved: two slices of buttered bread, pickle strips, and a fried beef patty with a butter-fried egg on top. With a mug of beer, it mad an excellent, inexpensive dinner.
So many Yankee seamen came to his restaurant for the sandwich that Kause listed it on his menu as "American Steak." When the sailors returned home, they taught restaurants along the Eastern seaboard how to make it. Soon, all a customer had to say was, "Bring me a hamburger." The name stuck, even when the recipe changed.
Rats can go without water for longer than camels can.
The Scales of Justice
Plaintiff: Gloria Sykes, 25-year-old resident of the San Francisco Bay area
Defendant: The City of San Francisco
Lawsuit: In 1964, Sykes was hit by a San Francisco cable car while crossing the street. The only visible injuries were a few cuts and bruises. But later, she claimed she realized that the accident had turned her into a nymphomaniac. She sued, seeking compensation for neurological and psychological damage.
Guess the verdict.....
... Verdict: Apparently she had had ______ 50 times in one five day period with multiple partners. She successfully sued the cable car company and won $50,000.
The distance between a Boeing 747's wingtips is longer than the Wright Brothers' first flight.
Origins of Two Brand Names
Delta Airlines. When Huff-Daland Dusters, the world's first crop-dusting service, moved to Louisiana in 1925, they changed their name to Delta Air Service (because they were serving the Mississippi Delta).
Sara Lee. Charles Lubin and his brother-in-law owned three bakeries in the Chicago area. But Lubin dreamed of bigger things–he wanted a product that would be distributed nationally. In 1949 he created a cheesecake that he could sell through supermarkets, and named it after his daughter, Sara Lee Lubin.
The tongue is the only muscle in the human body attached at just one end.
Paradise, South Dakota, was named by two residents called Adam and Eve.
Ronald Reagan is the only U.S. president to have performed in las Vegas.
New York's central park is almost twice as big as the entire nation of Monaco.
Your brain uses 40% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream.
Life's Little Ironies
• In 1974, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered 80,000 buttons promoting toy safety. They said: "For Kids' Sake, Think Toy Safety." The buttons were recalled when the agency found they had "sharp edges, parts a child could swallow, and toxic lead paint."
• "The town council of Winchester, Indiana, passed an antipornography law, but the editors of the town's only newspaper refused to publish it on the grounds that the statute itself was ographic. Unfortunately, a law does not take effect in Winchester until it has been published in the newspaper."
Why are barns painted red?
"In the early nineteenth century, farmers learned that the color red absorbed sunlight extremely well and was useful in keeping barns warm during winter. The farmers made their red paint from skim milk mixed with the rust shavings of metal fences and nails."
I'm BAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!! :fork: :wave:
Stick with me here, guys. This is actually one some of you might find interesting:
