The world's first Buddhist ruler, Emperor Ashoka, who ruled India from 274-232 BCE, was the first ruler in human history to ban slavery, the death penalty, animal cruelty, and deforestation. He even advocated gender equality in education and religious institutions.
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'⸮' is a punctuation mark that was first proposed in the 1580s to denote sarcasm or irony.
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In 2011, a couple bought a box of textbooks for $10. Inside, they found a 25-cent bill signed by the president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, and subsequently sold it for $63,250.
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50 years ago Cheerios were called Cheerioats.
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In 1999, a fisherman found a love letter in a bottle from a soldier in WWI. He returned said letter to the now deceased widows 86 year old daughter.
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Daniel Webster, who ran for president and lost three times, declined the Vice Presidency twice, thinking it a worthless office. Both presidents who offered it later died in office, meaning that if he had accepted, he would’ve become president after all.
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Scientists have revived a flowering plant from a fruit stored away in permafrost by Arctic ground squirrel 32,000 years ago.
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An underwater forest off the coast of Alabama that is 50,000 years old was uncovered by Hurricane Katrina.
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