In the 1830s, a Greek prime minister tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren't interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People then started stealing these potatoes so much that the crop spread to all of Greece.
29
In Poland, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has just been granted permission to register as a religion.
2
Astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he was the first person to observe canals on Venus, but because of a faulty adjustment of the eyepiece on his telescope, he was in fact looking at the blood vessels in his own eye.
4
Tickling was a form of torture used in ancient China on nobility because it left no mark and recovery was quick.
33
Neil DeGrasse Tyson considered becoming a male stripper to make money during graduate school. When he visited the club, the dancers came out with lighter fluid soaked jockstraps and set them ablaze while dancing to “Great Balls of Fire.” He chose math tutoring instead.
5