We all need to see life from new angles from time to time. Perspective forces us to focus on what we would usually overlook when we're dialed into our daily routines. Sometimes just standing on a table or driving a different route to work is enough. But it's best to consider the lives of others and ponder their journeys, to look back at history and compare it to the present, to simply try new things and look for deeper meanings.
SHARE these amazing facts with all your friends today!
1. Confederate president Jefferson Davis was never tried for treason.
The federal government worried that he would either become a martyr if he were executed, or if not, that he might prove to a jury that secession was legal.
2. This is the last known cycad tree in the world.
And there will likely never be another one because it needs a partner to pollinate. The tree was discovered in 1895 and transferred to the Royal Botanical Gardens, where it has sat and grown ever since. No other cycads have been found, even near where this one was found, so this type of tree that dates from the time of the dinosaurs is on the brink of extinction.
3. In his Divine Comedy, Dante placed bankers in a lower circle of hell than murderers.
They're depicted as endlessly swatting sparks away from their eyes and surrounded by stinging sand.
4. After the 2008 banking collapse, Utah instituted a four-day work week.
Two-thirds of workers said it made them more productive, workplaces around the state reported higher morale and fewer absences, millions of dollars were saved on energy, traffic congestion eased, and carbon emissions were cut by 14 percent.
5. Mark Hamill believes that Luke Skywalker might be gay.
He says the character, who often looks like he needs to have a serious talk with his dad, is open to interpretation. "If you think Luke is gay, of course he is," he says, "You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves."
J.J. Abrams, director of The Force Awakens, backs him up, saying "it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.”
6. The WWII movie The Battle of the Bulge did such a bad job of re-creating history that former President Eisenhower, who commanded Allied forces in WWII, came out of retirement to denounce it.
Although it was filmed just 20 years after the actual battle, the filmmakers were sloppy with the details, made a half-hearted attempt to re-create the winter conditions, and didn't end the same way as the real battle, among many other things.
7. Alice Cooper gave up drinking in favor of golf.
The classic shock rocker turned his life around by taking to the links and now plays six rounds a week with a handicap of two.
8. In World War II, British and Japanese doctors used coconut water instead of saline to rehydrate soldiers intravenously.
With saline in short supply, desperate times called for desperate measures.
9. In a span of three days in 2008, Elon Musk took Tesla Motors and SpaceX from the brink of bankruptcy to a valuation of $1.6 billion.
After three failed launches, SpaceX finally found success in September, which proved fateful because on December 23rd, with funds running out, NASA came through with a $1.5 billion contract. The next day, with an hour left to invest in Tesla, investors came through with an injection of $20 million for Tesla.
10. In Ancient Greece, the Greek states put down their spears and shields for the three-month period leading up to the Olympics.
The pan-Hellenic truce allowed spectators and athletes to travel from all over Greece without harm.
11. Books on ethics are 50 percent more likely to go missing from libraries than other philosophy books.
Which suggests that experts on ethics might not practice what they preach.
12. One of the designers of the Titanic, Thomas Andrews Jr., was on board when the ship sank.
Among his design recommendations was a double-hull, water-tight bulkheads, and double the number of lifeboats, but he was overruled.
After the ship had hit the iceberg, Thomas helped Captain Smith assess the damage, and while the ship was going down, he worked tirelessly to get as many people into lifeboats as possible. He went down with the ship, throwing anything that would float to people in the water.
SHAREthese amazing facts with all your friends today!
Main image via University of Idaho
Collage image via Algonquin College
0 comments: