Although Nostradamus died in the middle of 1566, his 1567 almanac was published because he had the foresight to prepare it before his death.
19
During the Black Plague, it was thought that bad smells were the cause of the plague. "Plague Doctors" therefore wore masks with long beak-like noses stuffed with flowers or smoke to hide the smells.
19
The Aztecs were the first to serve chocolate as a drink. They also mixed it with hot chili pepper to make it really 'hot'.
13
In 1799, a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina and used it as a doorstop. It was actually gold.
34
In 1956, the IBM 350 hard disk drive had 3.75 MB of storage, weighed over 2000 lbs, had to be moved around with forklifts, and was delivered via large cargo airplanes.
11
When the Egyptians destroyed Libya in the 13th century B.C. they took 13,230 penises of the conquered enemies as trophies.
220
In 1700s, the deer skin was a common medium of exchange between the trading settlers and the native Red Indians in America. This is how a buck became a slang for a dollar.
28