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.
3
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
Outside of the bedroom, the most common place for adults in the U.S. to have sex is the car.
391
Allegedly, Chrysippus, the Greek philosopher, died of laughter after getting his donkey drunk and watching it try to eat figs.
47
There is a city called "Batman" in Turkey.
23
Omar bin Laden (Osama's son) was denied citizenship in Britain in 2007 because "Omar failed to provide his father's permanent address".
19