Stories

For around 150 years, a still life painting depicting a half-eaten pie and nuts collected dust in Woodford Academy, a 19th-century school in Australia. The painting was one of many artifacts donated to the National Trust of Australia and recently rediscovered in a major collection review.

In November 1983, NATO ran a military exercise called Able Archer 83, simulating nuclear escalation in Europe. Soviet intelligence watched closely, suspecting it might be a cover for a real attack. As NATO forces practiced raising DEFCON levels, Soviet forces readied their nuclear arsenal.

On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. prepared to become the first American in space, but after hours of delays, he faced an unexpected issue—the need to relieve himself.

In 1972, Martha “Marty” Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline for teens in Chicago and encountered alarming patterns. Sexual assault survivors lacked a way to prove their cases, often left without justice due to inadequate evidence collection methods.

Throughout history, some cultures have worshiped deities associated with toilets and sanitation. In ancient Rome, Sterculius was honored as the god of manure and fertility. Romans believed he transformed human waste into fertilizer, essential for agricultural productivity.

On August 2, 1830, King Charles X of France abdicated during the July Revolution. His son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, was next in line and briefly became king. However, political turmoil forced his reign to be the shortest in French history.

In 1853, George Crum, a chef in Saratoga Springs, New York, unintentionally created the potato chip. When Cornelius Vanderbilt complained about thick fries, Crum sliced potatoes wafer-thin, fried them crisp, and sent them out as a joke. Vanderbilt loved them.

In 1944, Shoichi Yokoi, a sergeant in the Japanese Army, was stationed on Guam during World War II. When American forces took the island, Yokoi and other soldiers retreated into the dense jungle, determined to evade capture.

Adrian Carton de Wiart, born in 1880 in Belgium, fought in several major wars, including the Boer War, both World Wars, and conflicts in between. In his first battle, he was shot in the stomach and groin but managed to survive.

In 1904, the Droste cocoa company in the Netherlands introduced a unique product packaging. Illustrator Jan Misset created an image featuring a nurse holding a tray with a cup of cocoa and a box of Droste cocoa, which depicted the same nurse holding the same tray and box, creating a visual loop.