You don't need to be afraid of this crocodile

Evolved to just eat fish, it poses minimal threat to humans with its extremely long, thin snout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharial

Eels are kind of like Aliens. You know, from the movie Alien?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moray_eel

They have a second set of jaws inside their mouth that they use to drag food in once bitten, since they can't swallow like many other animals using suction.

From weapon of war to weapon against cancer

Mustard gas, infamous for its role as a chemical weapon in WW1, was used to develop the first chemotherapy drug.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_mustard

Deathbed confessions are legally acceptable, even if you don't die

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_declaration

Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, a dying declaration is admissible if the proponent of the statement can establish:

1. Unavailability of the declarant -- this can be established using FRE 804(a)(1)-(5);
2. The declarant’s statement is being offered in a criminal prosecution for homicide, or in a civil action;
3. The declarant’s statement was made while under the belief that his death was imminent; and
4. The declarant’s statement must relate to the cause or circumstances of what he believed to be his impending death.

The declarant does not actually have to die for the statement to be admissible, but there must be a genuine belief that death was imminent and the declarant must be unavailable to testify in court. 

The original Siamese Twins

"They were joined at thesternum by a small piece of cartilage. Their liverswere fused but independently complete."

Born in the early 1800s, they graduated from being a curiosity tour attraction to having normal lives, including moving to the United States, marrying two sisters and having slaves.

Due to disagreements between the wives, they eventually had to live in separate households (they split their time between them). Their sons even ended up serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_and_Eng_Bunker

Chess in pairs... with a fun twist

Bughouse Chess is a chess variant where two teams of two players face off against each other. Captured pieces on one board may be placed by their teammate, on their teammate's board, in place of a normal move.

"Partners are normally allowed to talk to each other during the game. They can for instance ask for a specific piece, for more trades, ask to hold a piece, suggest moves or ask their partner to stall. Shouts like "Knight mates!" or "Give me pieces!" are common, and can lead to seemingly absurd sacrificial captures on the other board."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bughouse_chess

John McCain- even tougher than you might think

It's well known that McCain was a POW during the Vietnam War.

However, did you know that he refused to accept an early release when offered, despite serious injuries and illness?

"..the North Vietnamese offered McCain early release^[44] because they wanted to appear merciful for propaganda purposes,^[45] and also to show other POWs that elite prisoners were willing to be treated preferentially.^[44] McCain turned down the offer; he would only accept repatriation if every man taken in before him was released as well. Such early release was prohibited by the POW's interpretation of the military Code of Conduct: To prevent the enemy from using prisoners for propaganda, officers were to agree to be released in the order in which they were captured."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Prisoner_of_war

The mobile game to parody all mobile games

"The player is initially given a pasture with nine slots and a single plain cow, which the player may click once every six hours. Each time the cow is clicked, a point also known as a "click" is awarded; if the player adds friends' cows to their pasture, they also receive clicks added to their scores when the player clicks their own cow. As in other Facebook games, players are encouraged to post announcements to their news feed whenever they click their cow. "

"Unexpectedly to Bogost, Cow Clicker became a viral phenomenon, amassing over 50,000 players by September 2010—many of whom understood the game's meaning and used it as a symbol of objection to Zynga's practices. In response to its sudden popularity, he committed to improving the game with new features. Updates to the game added awards for reaching certain milestones (such as the Golden Cowbell for 100,000 clicks), the ability to earn Mooney by clicking on other users' Cow Clicker news feed posts, and the chance to randomly gain or lose Mooney on every click. New cow designs were also introduced, such as an oil-coated cow to commemorate the BP oil spill, and the "Stargrazer Cow", which was only a mirror image of the original cow that cost around $20 USworth of Mooney."


After $700 worth of extensions, the countdown clock expired on the evening of September 7, 2011. At this point, the game remained playable, but all the cows were replaced by blank spaces and said to have been raptured. Bogost intended the Cowpocalypse event to signal the "end" of the game to players; when addressing a complaint by a fan who felt the game was no longer fun after the cow rapture, Bogost responded that "it wasn't very fun before."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Clicker

Terrible materials to make billiard balls out of

...explosives.

" In 1869, with elephants having been poached to near extinction, the billiards industry offered a $10,000 prize to whoever came up with the best replacement for ivory billiard balls. John Wesley Hyatt created the winning replacement, which he created with a new material he discovered called camphored nitrocellulose—the first thermoplastic, better known as celluloid. The invention enjoyed a brief popularity, but the Hyatt balls were extremely flammable, and sometimes portions of the outer shell would explode upon impact."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose

Bill Russel: Hall of Fame center, regular vomiter

"Russell was driven by "a neurotic need to win", as his teammate Heinsohn observed.^[60] He was so tense before every game that he regularly threw up in the locker rooms; it happened so frequently that his fellow Celtics were more worried when it did not happen."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Russell

Don't cheat in the Olympics if you're from Russia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Onishchenko

"In electric épée fencing, a touch is registered on the scoring box when the tip of the weapon is depressed with a force of 750 grams, completing a circuit formed by the weapon, body cord, and box. It was found that his épée had been modified to include a switch that allowed him to close this circuit without actually depressing the tip of his weapon, so Onishchenko could register a touch without making any contact on his opponent.

Newspapers decried him as "Disonischenko" and "Boris the Cheat".^[4] Onishchenko earned the enmity of other Soviet Olympic team members: for example, the USSR volleyball team members threatened to throw him out of the hotel's window if they met him.^[5] He was removed from the athletes' village by Soviet officials the night of his disqualification and the next day reported to be "back in his home town of Kiev." Two months later it was reported he had been called before Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev for a personal scolding, dismissed from the Red Army, fined 5,000 rubles, stripped of all his sporting honours, and was working as a taxi driver in Kiev.^[2]"

Blood in the (Olympic) Water

In the 1956 Olympics, the Hungarian water polo team (whose country was occupied by Russia) played the Russian team for the pride of their country, not just themselves.

After vicious punching and kicking, one of the Hungarians had their head gashed open and blood trickled into the pool.

The Hungarians won 4-0.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_in_the_Water_match

How good was Mia Hamm?

In her college career at UNC Chapel Hill, the team only lost one time in 95 games that she played.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Hamm

Orphan Trains

Between 1853 and 1929, a quarter of a million children were shipped on trains to the rural Midwest of the United States from Eastern cities.

They were packed into trains and shipped off to to towns where they were often put on display, singing/dancing for interest adoption parents.

" In its early days, some abolitionists viewed it as a form of slavery, while some pro-slavery advocates saw it as part of the abolitionist movement, since the labor provided by the children helped to make slaves unnecessary."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_trains#History

George Foreman made more from his grills than as a boxer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foreman#The_Sunshine_Showdown_vs._Joe_Frazier

"The George Foreman Grill has resulted in sales of over 100 million units since it was first launched, a feat achieved in a little over 15 years.^[when?] Although Foreman has never confirmed exactly how much he has earned from the endorsement, it is known that Salton Inc paid him $137 million in 1999, in order to buy out the right to use his name. Previous to that he was being paid about 40% of the profits on each grill sold (earning him $4.5 million a month in payouts at its peak) so it is estimated he has made a total of over $200 million from the endorsement, a sum that is substantially more than he earned as a boxer."

Did you know they get spiders to fight each other in Southeast Asia?

It's a blood sport similar to cockfighting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_fighting

Almost everybody in Japan is cremated upon death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cremation_rate

Japan at a 99.85% cremation rate.  India has 85% and China at 48.50% as well.

The Mongols were undefeated... for 54 years

From when Genghis Khan took power in 1206, the Mongols did not permanently lose a single battle until 1260 at the Battle of Ain Jalut (they'd lost temporarily before, only to come back and win soon after).

Note that Genghis Khan died in 1227, with an empire that was twice the size of the Roman Empire at its peak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ain_Jalut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire

Best animation I've ever seen on how a key works

Demonstrates how the ridges and bumps in the key pop the tumblers into place:

http://yearinreview.tumblr.com/post/68814871127

Only with the correct amount of tension (based on the tumbler spring) will the lock open.