Fun Facts That Are

In 1999, David Phillips spotted a Healthy Choice promotion: 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes. During the bonus window, that doubled. He found pudding cups at 25 cents each, bought 12,150 of them for $3,140, and donated them all to the Salvation Army — earning an $815 tax deduction. Total haul: 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles and lifetime Gold status. His story inspired the Adam Sandler film Punch-Drunk Love.

In 1999, a Swedish radiologist named Anna Bågenholm fell through ice while skiing in Norway and spent 80 minutes trapped under a frozen stream. Her body temperature dropped to 56.7°F — the lowest ever recorded in a surviving hypothermia patient. When rescuers pulled her out, she had no heartbeat and no breathing. Clinically dead. Doctors at Tromsø University Hospital spent 9 hours bringing her back using a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. She survived. And later became a radiologist at the very hospital that saved her life.

Pharrell Williams was fired from three different McDonald's locations. His reason: "I was eating the chicken nuggets." Years later, McDonald's hired him to produce "I'm Lovin' It" — the most successful fast food jingle in history.

In 1990, the cockpit windshield of British Airways Flight 5390 blew out at 17,400 feet. Captain Tim Lancaster was sucked halfway out of the aircraft. Flight attendant Nigel Ogden grabbed his legs and held on for 20 minutes while co-pilot Alastair Atchison made an emergency landing. Lancaster survived with frostbite and fractures. The cause? 84 of the 90 windshield bolts were the wrong size — installed by a shift manager who'd done it by eye instead of checking the manual.

Michael Larson was an unemployed ice cream truck driver who recorded episodes of Press Your Luck on his VCR and played them back frame by frame. He discovered the "random" game board only had 5 repeating patterns. He memorized them all. On the show, he hit 45 consecutive winning spins without a single Whammy and walked away with $110,237. CBS investigated and couldn't do a thing.

A memorial tree was planted in Los Angeles' Griffith Park in honor of Beatles guitarist George Harrison. It was killed by an infestation of beetles.

During an Easter egg hunt in Surrey in 2016, about 30 kids spotted two men sprinting across a field with a police helicopter circling overhead. Without being told, the children lay down in the dirt and formed a giant human arrow pointing the helicopter straight at the fleeing suspects. Both men were caught. The helicopter crew landed and handed out chocolate to every kid.

For centuries, the Gordian Knot defeated every scholar and king who tried to untie it. An oracle declared whoever solved it would rule all of Asia. Alexander the Great studied it for a moment — then drew his sword and cut straight through it.

Eminem's mother sued him for $10 million in defamation over one line in "My Name Is." A judge ruled in her favor — for $25,000. Her lawyer took $23,354.25 in fees. She walked away with exactly $1,645.75.

Pepsi ran a commercial showing a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points. A business student named John Leonard did the math, raised $700,000, and mailed Pepsi a check demanding the jet. Pepsi said no. He sued. A judge ruled "no objective person could reasonably have concluded" the offer was real. Pepsi re-aired the ad with the price changed to 700 million points and a "Just Kidding" disclaimer.

Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for $50 million to remove an aerial photo of her Malibu mansion from the internet. Before the lawsuit, it had been downloaded exactly 6 times. Two of those were her own lawyers. After the lawsuit, 420,000 people viewed it in a single month. She lost the case and paid $177,000 in legal fees. The entire phenomenon of trying to suppress something and making it more famous is now called "The Streisand Effect."

In 1987, American Airlines sold a lifetime unlimited first-class pass for $250,000. Steven Rothstein bought one. He flew over 10,000 flights. Breakfast in London, dinner in Tokyo. He even booked a fake passenger named "Bag Rothstein" to keep the adjacent seat empty. American Airlines estimates he cost them over $21 million before they revoked his pass — and handed him the termination letter at the gate.