In 1987, a Chicago TV station had its broadcast interrupted by a pirate signal that shows a man in a Max Headroom mask mumbling and being spanked with a fly swatter. Despite investigations by the FCC and FBI, this became the only known incident in which a hacker interrupted a major TV broadcast without getting caught.
19
Rather than use CGI, Tim Burton had 40 squirrels trained to crack nuts for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
16
Mackinac Island, Michigan, has banned cars since 1898!
4
Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established free religion, leading many peoples to join his empire before they were even conquered.
28
As of April 2010, Bill Gates had donated $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime! That's more than half of his total net worth!
23
The Simpsons are responsible for popularizing the word 'meh'.
12
Some older/less efficient worker termites will develop 'backpacks' of toxic chemicals that explode when the termite is threatened. They are essentially used as suicide bombers when the colony is being attacked.
8