When Paul Fischer checked his bank account Friday night, he had a happy surprise. His balance had exploded to $88,888,888,888.88. A very lucky number indeed, and close to $89 billion. Of course, the balance was a technical error by SunTrust Bank, which quickly fixed the problem. It also may have occurred in other accounts. “You [...]
A typical space shuttle mission flies 200 miles above the earth’s surface and returns beautiful pictures on the way, but it involves 1,500 people, puts six or seven astronauts at risk and costs, depending on who’s doing the counting, close to half a billion dollars. Robert Harrison got some pretty good pictures too. He did [...]
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies. James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth [...]
Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There were some [...]
People take part in the 9th Annual No Pants Subway Ride in New York City January 10, 2010. The event organized by Improv Everywhere involves participants who strip down to their underwear as they go about their normal routine. SOURCE: Reuters
Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there’s going to be a Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve. “I remember the last time this happened,” says professor Philip Hiscock of the Dept. of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. “December 1990 ended with a Blue Moon, and many New [...]
April 2, 2010
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