John von Newmann was a child prodigy who could divide eight-digit numbers in his head by age six and learned calculus by age eight. He developed the computer architecture that virtually all computing devices use today. He became a US strategic adviser and his game theory led to the MAD doctrine. content.time.com/time/magโฆ
Ted Kaczynski (better known as the Unabomber) received an invitation in 2012, while incarcerated at ADX Florence, to his Harvard graduating class's 50th anniversary reunion. He RSVPed, noting his occupation as "prisoner" and his eight life sentences as "awards." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tedโฆ
Bill Paxton was in the crowd when President Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Photographs of an eight-year-old Paxton being lifted above the crowd are on display at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilโฆ
The relatives of John F. Kennedy's grandmother, Mary Josephine Fitzgerald - who outlived the US President by over eight months - kept her completely unaware of his assassination until she died at 98 in August 1964. cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=Dโฆ
In 2014, due to a glitch in the Canadian version of iTunes, a Taylor Swift song titled โTrack 3โ was released and immediately shot to the top of the charts. Fans who downloaded the song had purchased eight seconds of static noise for $1.29. time.com/3531142/taylor-sโฆ
BMW driving instructor Johan Schwartz claimed the record for longest drift in 2018. He drifted in a 2018 M5 for 232.5 miles, over eight hours, and had five mid-drift refuels. thedrive.com/news/17508/nโฆ
There's a species of scorpion that loses its tail when threatened, just like a lizard. Trouble is, its anus is located at the end of its tail, meaning it may survive for up to eight months sans anus, and without ever defecating again nationalgeographic.com/scโฆ
Today I learned about Smoky the dog, who was a Yorkshire dog found in New Guinea by an American Soldier during WWII and survived 150 Air Raids and once parachuted from 30ft in the air. She was later rewarded with Eight Battle Stars and was also the First Recorded Therapy Dog. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoโฆ
Theodore Roosevelt was a major force in labor rights, implementing eight hour workdays and industry safety regulations, abolishing slavery in the Philippines and peonage more generally, investigating child labor claims, and establishing the forerunner to the USES, among many other things. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squโฆ
James Earl Jones does not appear on screen in his eight movies with the highest domestic box office gross. He provides a voiceover in five Star Wars movies, two Lion King movies, and Adam Sandlerโs Click. the-numbers.com/person/12โฆ
During World War II's U.S. air raid on Chichi Jima island, nine shot-down flyers parachuted and, of them, eight were captured. They were tortured and beheaded. Reportedly, some may have been partly eaten. The one flyer who evaded capture was George H.W. Bush, who later became president. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiโฆ
When Congress imposed a gag rule in 1836 to suppress debate about slavery, ex-President John Quincy Adams refused to comply, risking censure and spending the next eight years introducing thousands of antislavery petitions until the rule was repealed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johโฆ
On December 26, 1862, thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hung in Mankato, Minnesota, in the largest mass execution in US historyโon orders of President Abraham Lincoln. Their crime: killing 490 white settlers, including women and children, in the Santee Sioux uprising the previous August. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakโฆ
The 1994 Northridge earthquake also spread a deadly infectious respiratory disease, the first earthquake known to do so. The landslides released coccidioidomycosis (or "valley fever") into the air, infecting 203 residents over the first eight weeks, killing three. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/199โฆ
In Poznan, Poland, eight clams get to decide if people in the city get water or not. Theyโre equipped with sensors atop them that trip the water supply pumps when they close due to detecting something unsafe in the water. zmescience.com/science/poโฆ
The National Spelling Bee titled 8 Co-Champions after running out of words in a 3.5 Hour Final. Starting with 562 Contestants, the Final Eight continued for 20 Straight Rounds of Spelling Words without any errors. theguardian.com/sport/201โฆ
Today I learned the difference between Mbps and MBps. When Internet providers advertise speeds of up to 100Mbps, they mean Megabits per second, not Megabytes per second. One megabyte is equal to eight megabits and therefore speeds of 100Mbps equals 12.5MBps... attplans.com/resources/diโฆ
That, during the 2017 London Bridge Terror Attack, a man fought all three attackers with his fists shouting "Fuck you, I'm Millwall". He was stabbed eight times and survived. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/201โฆ
In 2018 a 75-year-old British man pooped into a container for six to eight weeks, built a homemade pump, drove 200 miles to his former friend's house and used the pump to spray the poo all over the hallway and stairs through the mailbox. mandatory.com/the-world/1โฆ
Today I learned of Lloyd Scott, a former footballer who, in 2002, completed the London Marathon while wearing a 130lb (59kg) deep sea diving suit. Finishing the entire race took him five days, eight hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englandโฆ
Today I learned of Kea Tawana, who attempted to single handedly construct an 86 foot long, 28 foot high ark on an empty lot in Newark, New Jersey. The Ark was composed of salvaged materials from nearby abandoned buildings, and was under construction for eight years. It was condemned and abandoned in 1987. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keaโฆ
the 2006 World Cup has been the only edition in which no hat-tricks have been scored, while the 1954 edition had a record of eight hat-tricks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisโฆ
Only five Olympians have ever won more than eight gold medals. Four of them have nine golds each. Michael Phelps is the fifth, with an unbelievable 23. wikipedia.org/wiki/List_oโฆ
North Korea has their own basketball rules: slam dunks are worth three points, field goals in the final three minutes of the game are worth eight points, three-pointers are worth four if the ball doesn't touch the rim, and a point is deducted for missed free throws. heraldsun.com.au/sport/baโฆ
In poker there is a hand called a 'dead man's hand' consisting of two aces and two eights, and it is given this name because it is the hand Wild Bill Hickok had when he was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilโฆ
On October 29, 1969 during the Chicago Eight conspiracy trial, judge julius hoffman ordered Bobby Seale bound and gagged after supposedly interrupting court proceedings. loc.gov/exhibitions/drawiโฆ
Monarch butterflies go through four generations in one year. The first generation only lives a few weeks, whereas the fourth generation lives eight to nine months saveourmonarchs.org/how-tโฆ
Edward Jenner discovered vacination by injecting puss from a milkmaid's cowpox sore into an eight-year-old boy and then attempting to infect him with smallpox six weeks later. The boy did not develop smallpox, indicating that the earlier exposure to cowpox protected him from infection. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwโฆ
A fisherman in Florida hooked a swordfish so big that it dragged his boat for 20 miles and fought for eight hours before he could pull it in. It turned out to be the biggest swordfish ever caught in Florida waters. tampabay.com/florida/2019โฆ
Kelly Clarkson's single "Since U Been Gone" was inspired by the 2003 song "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. "Maps" and "Since U Been Gone" share similar introductions, post-chorus guitar breaks, and middle eights, and are both in the key of G major. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinโฆ
Today I learned of Littlewoodโs Law of Miracles, which defines a miracle as a hugely-improbable, 1-in-a-million event. Assuming there are roughly eight hours per day where humans are alert, and we experience an โeventโ once per second, on average we should expect to experience a miracle about once per month. science.howstuffworks.comโฆ
On June 11, 1964 in Germany, a deranged World War II veteran attacked an elementary school with a flamethrower and a lance, killing eight students and two teachers. findingdulcinea.com/news/โฆ
: Brine Pool - the mystical lake of death at the bottom of the sea. A brine pool is a large area of brine on the ocean basin with salinity three to eight times greater than the surrounding ocean acting as a death-trap to any unfortunate creature that strays into its toxic waters youtube.com/watch?v=xuJiUโฆ
In 1949, the United States planned to targeted 70 Soviet cities with 133 nuclear weapons, of which eight would be dropped on Moscow and seven on Leningrad en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniโฆ
In the 1960s, the CEO of Ampex wanted his employees to take LSD to improve their creativity. The board of directors said no, and then had to fire him after they discovered he'd snuck off anyway on a mountain hike with seven or eight engineers and given them LSD. siliconvalleywatcher.com/โฆ
Actor Oliver Reed, who appeared in over 50 movies died during the shooting of "Gladiator" in 1999, after out drinking sailors from the royal navy in a pub in malta. It is reported that he drunk eight pints of lager, twelve double rums and half a bottle of whiskey, and insisted on paying airmalta.com/blog/malta/oโฆ
There are alien-like large bodies of brine under the ocean known as Brine Pools that have three to eight time the level of salinity than that of regular ocean water, creating a murky and toxic environment for marine sea life. amusingplanet.com/2018/11โฆ
Cpl Tony Stein earned the medal of honor by creating a hybrid Machine gun which quickly ran out of ammo. Kicking his shoes off, he ran back down to the beach eight times to get fresh ammunition. Each trip back, he carried a wounded Marine on his back en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonโฆ
Today I learned of CSX 8888, known as "crazy eights": A runaway train that ran uncontrolled through Ohio for two hours at up to 82 km/h. Police tried to stop it by shooting at a fuel cut-off switch and it was eventually stopped by a second locomotive chasing behind it so an engineer could jump aboard. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSXโฆ
In 1911, a "witchcat" appeared near Pottsville PA. It caused hens to crow like rooster and pigs to bark like dogs. Thomas Howell, the man who saw it, died along with eight cows and horses, the deaths attributed to a hex. The family crafted a golden bullet to shoot the cat and break the hex. schuylkillhavenhistory.coโฆ
Honeybees sleep between five and eight hours a day, some bees hold each other's legs as they sleep. Colonies are divided into different sectors of work. There are cleaners, nurses, security guards, also collection bees whose sole job is to cache nectar in comb. Promotions happen as well. bbc.com/earth/story/20160โฆ
In 1907 President Roosevelt sailed into Provincetown Massachusetts harbor, eight battleships in two squadrons formed a lane for the yacht to pass through. His mission was to lay the cornerstone of the Pilgrim Monument. iamprovincetown.com/placeโฆ
Not only is field hockey the national sport of Pakistan, but the national team has won four Hockey World Cup championships, eight gold medals at the Asian Games, and the only Asian team to win the Champions Trophy (three wins). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakโฆ
Today I learned about the Serapis Flag (aka the Franklin Flag), a US flag designed by Ben Franklin and John Adams before news had reached them of the official US flag. It consisted of 13 eight-pointed stars on a blue field and 13 alternating red, white, and blue stripes. revolutionary-war-and-beyโฆ
Before the title of "Help!" was decided on, the titles "Eight Arms To Hold You", "Who's Been Sleeping in My Porridge", "The Day The Clowns Collapsed" and "High-Heeled Knickers" were under consideration. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helโฆ
The sons of Prince Heinrich LXVII Reuss of Schleiz were named Heinrich V, Heinrich VIII, Heinrich XI, Heinrich XIV, and Heinrich XVI, part of a naming convention going back eight centuries. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priโฆ
Eight women that are believed to have had a romantic relationship with Adolf Hitler attempted to commit suicide at least once. Four of them succeeded: two shot themselves, one allegedly threw herself out of a window and the other was Eva Braun who took a cyanide pill at Hitlerโs side. ww2gravestone.com/eight-wโฆ
Although the design of Ursula in The Little Mermaid is based in an octopus, she was drawn with six tentacles instead of eight to reduce animation costs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursโฆ
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