A Challenger space shuttle engineer, Allan McDonald, raised safety concerns against the wishes of his employer & NASA. He was ignored; a fatal accident resulted. When McDonald spoke out, he was demoted by his company. Congress stepped in to help him. He later taught ethical decision making

An Olympian sold her silver medal to fund a boy's surgery. The buyer let her keep it

Alanis Morrisette was dropped by her record label after disappointing sales of her first two albums. Her third album, Jagged Little Pill, is the 13th highest selling album of all time worldwide

Dashrath Manjhi, the "Mountain Man," spent 22 years carving a 110-meter path through a mountain using just a hammer and chisel. Motivated by grief after his wife died due to a long route to the hospital, he shortened the journey from 55 km to 15 km.

Roger Fisher, a Harvard Law School professor who proposed putting the US nuclear codes inside a person, so that the president has no choice but to take a life to activate the country's nuclear weapons

Unescorted women prevented men from casually assaulting them in the early 1900s with a simple clothing accessory - the hat pin, and it was so effective as a weapon that laws were passed limiting it's length in many states

During the Apollo 13 mission, Jack Swigert realized he had forgotten to file his tax return. NASA contacted the IRS, who agreed that he was considered ‘out of country’ and therefore entitled to a deadline extension

Borat's first movie was banned in Kazakhstan but when the second was released they made a tourism campaign around "Very Nice!"

Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira attempted to create an ideal human being through her daughter, Hildegart. Hildegart read at 2, spoke 4 languages at 8, joined law school at 13, becoming professor there at 18. Her mother [took her life] her when she tried to run away.

A young couple in Japan divorce and remarry each other every 3 years to take turns using their family names, all because they can't come into agreement on which last name to use

At 15, Kara Robinson was kidnapped and assaulted by a serial killer for 18 hours. She managed to escape after manipulating him to feel at ease. She later helped police to capture him because she had memorized details of her surroundings

In a feat of rage, Emperor Hadrian once stabbed a slave in the eye with a pen. Feeling regretful whe he calmed down, Hadrian called the slave and told him to ask for literally anything as compensation. The slave replied "i just want my eye back"

DJ scratching was invented in 1975 when Grand Wizzard Theodore was playing records loudly, making his mother to enter his room to scold him. This caused him to hold the record still, accidentally moving it back and forth and liking the sound it made

There is a study that proves across 80 pairs of jeans that women pockets are generally half the size of men for the same brand. Only 40% of them can comfortably fit an iPhone X and only 10% can fit your entire hand. In comparison 100% of male jeans can fit both.

Chinstrap penguins take more than 10,000 micro-naps a day, lasting an average of 4 seconds, for a total of more than 11 hours of daily sleep

After his death, it was revealed that Stan Lee, famous Marvel Comics writer, suffered Elder Abuse from various handlers and family members who alienated him from the other part of his family and fired his accountants, lawyers, and caretakers that have been with him for decades

During the siege of Leningrad, scientists working at the world’s largest collection of seeds protected the seeds from the threats of the cold, the hungry residents of the besieged city, rats, and their own hunger. Twenty-eight of the botanists died during the siege, protecting their collection

Mozart died at 35, and wrote 800 pieces, 22 pieces every year he lived

The Last Of Us accidentally contains an IRL phone number, that leads directly to an adult hotline service

Until earlier this year it was legal for apartments in Austin, Texas to have no windows, and that landlords often didn't disclose this in advertisements

Charles de Gaulle was not told about the D-Day landings until 2 days before as the British and French leaders did not believe the French could keep the information secret

When Ben Stiller decided to play the lead role in Tropic Thunder himself, Tom Cruise called him & said that "he just couldn't get the script out of his mind" & asked him "What else is open?" Stiller suggested the role which Cruise had actually invented, studio head Les Grossman, and he took it

71 year old Bernard Gore was supposed to meet his wife and daughter in a mall in Sydney after first doing a little shopping himself. Instead, he exited a mall door leading to a stairwell labyrinth and was found dead 3 weeks later failing to find his way out

After John Ruffo was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison, his bail was set at $10 million. Most of his immediate family put their houses up as collateral to make bail. Ruffo then disappeared and the homes of his wife, mother, mother-in-law, and others were seized by the government

French pirate Olivier Levasseur allegedly tossed a necklace containing a puzzle that leads to his treasure into a crowd of people moments before his execution. He told the crowd to go find it if they can

Several elite colleges took nude photos of every incoming freshman from 1940s to 1970s including many famous people

The "microwave-safe" label on plastic containers only means they won't melt or warp, and doesn't guarantee that chemicals won't leach into your food when heated

The Million Dollar 1988 McDonalds record winner was 13, had his mom claim it, she squandered a good chunk of it, had her BF steal what was left, lost his mom 10 years later, doesn’t talk to his sister and now trims trees

Coolio was actually in his early 30s when he recorded Gangsta's Paradise, and its iconic line "I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24? The way things is goin' I don't know"

Hulk Hogan helped prevent Jesse Ventura from starting a wrestlers union

The codes which allow the President of the U.S. to authorize a nuclear attack are printed on a plastic card nicknamed "the biscuit." The president is supposed to carry the biscuit at all times