Treasure

After Einstein's death in '55, Dr. Thomas Harvey illegally preformed an autopsy and removed Einstein's brain and kept it for himself in the name of research (despite not being a brain dr.). Harvey kept the brain for 40 years, even taking it on a road trip, in attempts to get it studied, finally giving it to an actual brain dr. for research. After all that, turns out Einstein had an average to small brain.

BTW, Happy Hobbit Day, y'all

Most adult cats are lactose-intolerant, but just like most lactose-intolerant people I know, cats also love milk. While kittens can drink milk, Adults do not have enough of the enzyme to digest lactose from milk, causing them to vomit, have diarrhea, or get gassy. So while you might let your cat have a few drops of milk as a treat, better skip the full saucer.

Wimbledon goes through over 54,000 balls every year, and they keep them at exactly 68 degrees F. The gas molecules inside the ball expand in warm air making the ball bounce higher. A cooler tennis ball causes the molecules to shrink and the ball bounces lower. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing at all unless you play tennis or need to adjust the ball for fetch with your dog.

Fun Fact: Bees that eat colored sugar will make colored honey. This was discovered near an M&M factory where the bees were dining off of the colored sugars used for the candies and then were producing green and blue honey. I wonder if it is slightly M&M flavored honey? Somehow, that does not sound tasty now that I think about it.

Everyone knows bananas are yellow because of organic pigments called carotenoids, right? And as they ripen, chlorophyll (green pigment) begins to break down. If you shine a blacklight on a ripe banana, the chlorophyll breakdown makes the banana fluorescent blue! So if you're ever going to go to a blacklight party, be sure to take a few bananas along as snacks.

Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the Civil Rights Movement and famous for a lot of his speeches, got a C in the public speaking course of his college. That just goes to show you, grades don't mean everything!

WD40 is a household/auto mechanic lubricant great for getting rid of grinding and squeaks. It stands for Water Displacement, 40th Attempt. Apparently 1-39 didn't work so well, but I didn't think you'd need to announce it to the world.

Brad Pitt is a fairly well-known actor who has done some good work. Including playing the Greek hero Achilles in Troy. The Greek hero could not be defeated unless struck in the heel. While filming the movie, Pitt injured his Achilles tendon, which set him back 2 months! Annoying for the actor, but hilariously ironic. I guess however great Pitt was, not even he can overcome a Greek hero's weakness.

Thomas Edison invented the Kinetograph (basically a video camera) in 1892. He filmed shorts involving famous people like Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, and Boxing Cats. Yes, the famous Thomas Edison invented... cute cat videos. Click below to see the 1894 short.

Nikola Tesla was a European electrical engineer who paved the way for current system generators and motors, and the way electricity is transmitted and converted to mechanical power is thanks to his inventions! He was also incredibly eccentric, had a great sense of humor, loved pigeons, chose celibacy for his work, "communicated" with aliens, and was so terrified of pearls. Pearls?

Today in 1966, television goes where it has never gone before! Gene Rodenberry pitched an idea for a "23rd-century interstellar exploration as a sort of outer space Western," and thus Star Trek aired its first episode. It was canceled just three seasons in, but reruns prove that the show will live long and prosper. Not to mention the billion reboots and reimaginings.

One of the most prolific mathematicians in history was homeless. Paul Erdős (1913-1996) was a Hungarian mathematician who spent the last 52 years of his life traveling and sleeping at his friends' houses. He would just show up, expect to be taken in, fed, and his laundry done while he lectured professionally. By all accounts, he was an incredibly polite guest, who would bring you fame through collaboration.

Beetle Bailey is one of the laziest comic characters ever, possibly even beating out Garfield for sheer laze. He was created by one of the hardest working and most prolific creators. 9 syndicated strips! And that's only the syndicated ones. Maybe BB was his wish-fulfillment?

Double Fact day! On this day in 1950, the comic strip Beetle Bailey launched, the day after it's creator's 27th birthday. Mort Walker lived from 1923 to 2018, and his beloved comic was continued by his sons; Greg, Brian, and Neal. Beetle Bailey has 25,550 strips and counting!

John Reznikoff holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of hair from historical celebrities. Barber Marx Sizemore cut Neil Armstrong's hair and sold it for $3,000. Armstrong's lawyers threatened to sue Sizemore for breaking an Ohio law, but Sizemore said he wouldn't pay, and Reznikoff wouldn't give back the hair. I'm stuck on... it's a hair collection.

The most expensive wine in the world is the Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1992, which sold in 2018 at $500,00. That's the price of a decent house, around here, but it is not rated the best tasting wine in the world. That honor goes to the Member’s Mark Riesling, which has held the title as best wine since 2017. It's sold at Sam's Club for less than $11. Ironic much?

In 2010, 163 bottles of champagne were dredged up from the bottom of the Baltic sea. It's guessed they were traveling from Germany to Russia when the ship sank over 170 years before. Oenologists declared the seabed a perfect wine cooler and tested the wine. “Sometimes cheesy,” with “animal notes,” and elements of “wet hair.” With a description like that, I'd have left it on the seabed.

It's amazing how many scientific discoveries were accidental. In 1928, Alexander Flemming, a bacteriologist, left a petri dish in his lab while on vacation and returned to find that liquid around the mold had killed the bacteria. This was the first antibiotic! Before it was called by the austere name of penicillin, it was called "Mold Juice." And you wonder why no one trusted it at first.

Aquagenic Urticaria is a rare condition that causes an allergic reaction to water whenever the person comes into contact with any kind of water, even tears. While not a true allergy, scientists have no idea what causes the reaction. As of 2011, fewer than 100 cases were reported, meaning there isn't much data to go around. This is so sad, and they can't even cry about it.

@Hylius