Fact of the day

Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Fact N° 1729
Since 1980, the Lunar Embassy has sold millions of plots of land on the moon.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty established outer space as belonging to "all mankind," and it prohibits any country from staking property claims on places like the moon. This didn't stop Dennis Hope, the "head cheese" of the Lunar Embassy, from filing an ownership claim for the moon in 1980, doing so as an individual. He is believed to have sold over 2.5 million 1-acre plots of lunar land for as much as $20 a piece.
Fact N° 1728
The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were the costliest and the most polluted in history.
Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, no host country had ever spent more than $15 billion on hosting the summer games, and in fact that figure was a record set at the previous Olympics in Athens. However, it's been widely reported that the Chinese government spent over $40 billion, far and away a record. Those Olympics also featured the most polluted air in Olympic history; researchers found that soot and other air pollutants were almost constantly at levels considered unsafe by the World Health Organization.
Fact N° 1730
Children's author Roald Dahl always insisted that a Rolls Royce be sent to collect his finished manuscripts.
During World War II, Dahl served his country first as a fighter pilot and later as a spy for MI6, operating out of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. His job was to befriend the rich and powerful, and to listen for any sign that the U.S. might want out of the war. Consequently, Dahl was exposed to the high life, attending only the most exclusive social events and enjoying only the finest things in life. Author Jennat Connat claims that when the war ended, Dahl's tastes remained lavish, and when he became a successful writer he insisted that his publisher send a Rolls Royce to his house to pick up his manuscripts.
Fact N° 1731
Jack Nicholson reportedly earned over $60 million for his role in Batman.
Nicholson's spin as the Joker in 1989's Batman remains one of the great villain roles in film history, but according to an entry on the film by Magill's Survey of Cinema, when the film began shooting, the role of the Joker was much smaller than it became. As it became obvious that Nicholson was stealing the show, his role was expanded, and his contract renegotiated to provide him with a percentage of the film's income. The result was an estimated $60 million.
Fact N° 1732
Pope Stephen VI lands on every "Worst Popes" list for having convened the notorious "Cadaver Synod."
Elected pope in May of A.D. 896, Stephen VI's pontificate lasted a little over a year but is only remembered for one of the most disgraceful acts in church history: Anxious, for his own reasons, to invalidate the acts and ordinations of Pope Formosus (A.D. 891-896), Stephen exhumed the man's body, dressed it in full pontifical vestments, and carried out a sensational mock trial, finding him guilty of perjury and of coveting the papacy. Pope Stephen VI declared all of Formosus' acts null and void. Unfortunately for Stephen, the so-called Cadaver Synod backfired; within months, Stephen himself had been deposed, imprisoned and finally strangled to death.
Fact N° 1733
No pro boxer has fought more bouts, or won more bouts, than Len Wickwar.
British Lightweight boxer Len Wickwar's pro boxing career spanned two decades, from 1928 to 1947, and in that time he managed to set the known record for most career bouts, as well as for most career wins. In 20 years, Wickwar fought an astonishing 463 bouts, and won 337 of them. He also lost 85, and 42 were draws. Do the math: On average, Wickwar fought 23 pro bouts every year.
Fact N° 1734
A specific set of freshwater invertebrates have not had sex in 80 million years.
Bdelloid rotifers are microscopic, multi-celled organisms that exist in fresh water. Males are non-existent; only females exist, and scientists believe it's been the case for as long as 80 million years. While this isn't the first species to reproduce asexually, evolutionary biologists are baffled by the bdelloid rotifers because typically such species die out after a few thousand years because they aren't adapting genetically, yet the bdelloid rotifers have done the opposite: not only have they survived, they've thrived, evolving into hundreds of individual species in the process.

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