Teddy Roosevelt regularly staged boxing matches in the White House, taking on anyone he could – including professional boxers. He only stopped boxing when his eyesight was permanently damaged by a punch from his military aide, Col. Daniel T. Moore.
Facts
Pregnancy physically changes…
Pregnancy physically changes a woman’s brain structure. Grey matter volume is decreased in certain areas, giving mothers a higher capacity for empathy to help better understand their baby.
While performing the first…
While performing the first space walk in human history, Alexey Leonov’s spacesuit inflated so much he couldn’t get back inside his space capsule. He had to let air out of his suit while still in the vacuum of space and was barely able to fit back through the airlock.
Byzantine⸒Greeks…
Byzantine⸒Greeks⸒hadn’t⸒figured⸒out⸒the⸒concept⸒of⸒spaces⸒so⸒they⸒wrote⸒like⸒this⸒instead.
The scientists who first discovered…
The scientists who first discovered the platypus thought it was fake. Although indigenous Aboriginal people already knew of the creature, European scientists assumed an egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, venomous mammal had to be an elaborate hoax.
The tallest person…
The tallest person in recorded history was Robert Wadlow, who was 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) tall and apparently still growing at the time of his death at 22 years of age.
George Lucas was fined $250,000…
George Lucas was fined $250,000 and “The Empire Strikes Back” was nearly pulled from theatres because he put screen credits at the end of the movie (which was rare) to preserve the dramatic opening sequences.
A Dutch bicycle company puts pictures…
A Dutch bicycle company puts pictures of TVs on their bike boxes to prevent damage while shipping. Doing so saw an 80% decrease in damage.
Firefighters saved a group…
Firefighters saved a group of piglets in a burning barn, as a reward the farmer sent the fire fighters sausages made from the same pigs they saved.
Egypt is building a new capital…
Egypt is building a new capital city as a replacement for Cairo. The city is being developed to have a “smart traffic” system and a green space larger than New York’s Central Park. They haven’t picked a name yet.