Latest Facts

Red Bull settled a $13 million lawsuit after a customer argued it was no better than coffee. A can has 80mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee has 150mg. Red Bull offered $10 per person to anyone who bought one since 2002. So many people claimed it that the payout dropped to $4.25.

In 1938, Lee Byung-chul started Samsung in Daegu, South Korea as a small trading company selling dried fish, vegetables, and noodles. The name Samsung means "three stars" in Korean — chosen to symbolize something big, numerous, and powerful. Today Samsung's annual revenue equals roughly 20%% of South Korea's entire GDP. From noodles to semiconductors. The stars delivered.

Matt Damon says James Cameron offered him 10% of Avatar's box office. He couldn't take it \u2014 he was locked into the Bourne franchise. Avatar grossed $2.9 billion. That 10% would have been worth roughly $250 million.

On May 22, 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoin for two Papa John's pizzas — the first real-world Bitcoin purchase. At the time, those coins were worth about $41. At Bitcoin's peak, they would have been worth over $700 million.

Dale Schroeder worked as a carpenter at the same Iowa company for 67 years. He never married. He drove a rusty old Chevrolet. When he died in 2005, nobody could believe he had secretly saved $3 million. He left it all to send 33 complete strangers to college. They call themselves "Dale's kids."

In 1996, a 3-year-old boy climbed a barrier at Brookfield Zoo and fell 24 feet into the gorilla enclosure. He was unconscious. An 8-year-old gorilla named Binti Jua picked him up, cradled him against her body, and carried him to the enclosure door where keepers could reach him. Her own 17-month-old baby, Koola, clung to her back the entire time. The boy spent four days in hospital and made a full recovery. Binti Jua is still alive at Brookfield Zoo — now a grandmother.

In January 2007, Wesley Autrey was waiting for the subway in New York with his two daughters, ages 4 and 6. A man nearby had a seizure and fell onto the tracks. Autrey jumped down, pulled him into the drainage trough between the rails, and lay on top of him as the train arrived. Five cars passed over them. The train left grease on Autrey's hat — that's how close it was. Both men survived.

Alan Naiman was a Washington state social worker who earned $67,200 a year. He wore shoes held together with duct tape, bought his clothes at the grocery store, and bragged about going entire days without spending a cent. When he died at 63, his coworkers discovered he had quietly amassed nearly $11 million and left most of it to children's charities.

While filming Matilda, Mara Wilson's mother was dying of cancer. Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman quietly cared for Mara like their own daughter. DeVito secretly took an unfinished cut of the film to the hospital and screened it for her dying mother. He kept it quiet for years.

In 1986, Cleveland released 1.5 million balloons to set a world record. A storm pushed them back down. They clogged Lake Erie, shut down a Coast Guard search for two missing boaters who drowned, caused a horse stampede, and triggered so many 911 calls about UFOs that the system crashed. The city was sued for years. The record was never officially recognised.

Jesse Dimmick broke into a Kansas couple's home while fleeing a homicide, held them at knifepoint, then fell asleep. They escaped. He was convicted of kidnapping. Then he sued them for $235,000, claiming they'd made an oral contract to hide him from police. The judge threw it out.

Before painting happy little trees, Bob Ross spent 20 years in the US Air Force as a Master Sergeant. He was the guy who screamed at you, made you scrub latrines, made you make your bed. When he left, he vowed to never raise his voice again. That's why he whispered.

Kevin Costner was offered the lead in The Shawshank Redemption. He turned it down because he was committed to Waterworld. Shawshank became the highest-rated film in IMDb history. Waterworld became Hollywood's most expensive punchline.

In 2005, a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl was kidnapped by seven men who intended to force her into marriage. When police and relatives found her a week later, three lions were standing guard around her. The kidnappers were gone. A wildlife expert said the girl's crying may have sounded like a mewing lion cub, which could explain why they protected her instead of attacking. The lions turned and walked back into the forest as the humans approached.

In 2009, Wells Fargo held both the first and second mortgage on a Florida condo. When it needed to foreclose, Florida law required it to sue all lien holders, including itself. So Wells Fargo hired one law firm to file the lawsuit against Wells Fargo, and a second law firm to defend Wells Fargo against Wells Fargo.

John Travolta was offered the lead in Forrest Gump but turned it down for Pulp Fiction. Both films were nominated for Best Picture in 1994. Travolta was nominated for Best Actor. He lost the award to Tom Hanks - playing the exact role he had turned down.

A 13-year-old Boy Scout got lost near Yellowstone. He spent 18 hours alone in rain and sleet. When a helicopter appeared, he used his belt buckle to flash sunlight at the pilot. The pilot was Harrison Ford. He'd volunteered for the search. Ford landed and said: "Boy, you sure must have earned a merit badge for this one." The kid: "I already earned this badge last summer."

Violet Jessop was on the RMS Olympic when it collided with a warship. She survived. She was on the Titanic when it hit an iceberg. She survived. She was on the Britannic when it hit a mine. She survived. Three sister ships, three disasters, one woman on all of them. She kept going back to sea. Died at 83 — on dry land.

Virginia inmate Robert Lee Brock sued himself for $5 million. His argument: getting drunk violated his own civil rights and caused him to commit crimes. Since he couldn't work in prison, he asked the state to pay on his behalf. The judge called his legal theory "innovative" then ruled it "totally ludicrous."

In 1992, Jim Carrey was a broke, struggling comedian. He drove to a hilltop overlooking Hollywood and wrote himself a check for $10 million. He dated it Thanksgiving 1995 and wrote "for acting services rendered" in the memo line. He kept it in his wallet for years. Just before that date, he was paid $10 million for Dumb and Dumber. When his father died, Carrey slipped the deteriorated check into his coffin.

Since 1966, the Swedish city of Gavle has built a giant straw Christmas goat in the town square. Arsonists have burned it down 43 out of 60 years. The city tried guards, CCTV, fences, and fireproofing. In 2005, attackers dressed as Santa and a Gingerbread Man shot it with flaming arrows. In 1976, an American tourist burned it down and told police he thought it was a tradition.

At his peak, T-Pain had $40 million in the bank. He bought a $1.7 million Bugatti. He let his manager invest in real estate properties that were, in his words, "complete dumps." Within a few years, he was so broke he had to borrow money to buy his children Burger King.

In 1965, French lawyer André-François Raffray agreed to pay 90-year-old Jeanne Calment a monthly fee for her apartment in Arles — he'd get it when she died. Calment lived to 122 years and 164 days, becoming the oldest verified person in history. Raffray died in 1995 at age 77, having paid more than double the apartment's value. His widow was legally required to keep paying until Calment finally died in 1997.

In 1989, a man bought a painting for $4 at a flea market. He wanted the frame. When he took it apart, he found a folded document hidden behind the canvas — an original 1776 print of the Declaration of Independence, one of only 26 known to survive. It sold at Sotheby's for $2.42 million.