The man who invented Coca-Cola did so because he was trying to use coca leaves to get him to stop using morphine. Cocaine is made from coca leaves and he wanted to use that substance instead of morphine. He became addicted because he was wounded during the American Civil War and was given morphine for the pain. Unfortunately he remained addicted to morphine for the rest of his life. He even sold off his Coca-Cola company shares so he could get quick money for his fix.

Archeologists have discovered that in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii they had fast food. They called them Thermopolias and essentially they were fast food stands for poor people of the city, who didn’t have cooking amenities. They served baked cheese, lentils, salty fish, bread and spicy wine. They were convenient and all over the city.

Before Ringo Starr, the Beatles’ drummer was a man named Pete Best. Best was very popular with the ladies. John Lennon allegedly said Paul McCartney wanted Best gone because he was jealous of his looks. Best was kicked out of the band in 1962. Not even a year later The Beatles became a world wide phenomenon. Best never spoke to any of the band members ever again. He started his own group called The Pete Best Combo but failed to gain recognition beyond his hometown.

There is a woman named Jo Cameron that has a rare gene mutation that causes her to feel no pain, depression or stress. There is a chemical in our brains called Anandamide which is a natural cannabinoid. She possesses twice as much Anandamide as the average person. When talking about her going through child birth, she said it felt like experiencing a “tickle.”

Usually Jellyfish eat and poop out of their mouths. However, there is a Jellyfish called Comb Jellies that go against that norm. When it needs to poop, an anus pops up out of nowhere then disappears when it’s done. It does not have a permanent connection between its gut and anus. It keeps on making waste until the gut fuses with it’s skin then it forms a temporary opening to let the waste out. Sometimes it can have more than one anus. Scientist call this phenomenon the “transient anus.”

During World War II there was a Soviet Union all female bomber regiment that wreaked absolute havoc on the Nazis. They did not have the fancy technology of today, in fact they barely had anything. They were given uniforms too big for them because they were made for men. They were given old crop-duster planes made out of wood and canvas that could only carry two bombs because they were so light. All they had to carry out their missions were compasses, rulers, stopwatches, pencils and flashlights. Despite all of this, they were able to complete over 30,000 bombing raids and dropped over 23,000 tons of munitions on the advancing German army.

The first rollercoasters built in America were on Coney Island in the 1880’s. Businessman LaMarcus Thompson choose that destination because he felt it was full of sinful temptations like brothels and saloons. He wanted to provide people with good, clean and wholesome fun.

The shortest war in history lasted less than 40 minutes. It was called the Anglo-Zanzibar war. The conflict got started when the sultan of the British colony Zanzibar died. A new leader took over named Sultan Khalid bin Barghash but without the consent of Britain. When Barghash refused to step down the brits sent warships to attack his palace. He fled very quickly thus ending the war.

The largest waterfall in the world is actually under water. How is that even possible you might ask? Well the answer is science. Located beneath the Denmark Strait, that separates Greenland from Iceland, the cold ocean water from the Nordic Sea flows south and meets the warmer water of the Irminger Sea. The cold dense water quickly sinks below the warm water and flows over a huge drop in the ocean floor. It’s nearly a two mile drop.

Despite toilet paper being around since 6th century AD China, Americans only started using it in the early 1900’s. Rich people would use hemp, wool or lace. Poor people would use whatever they could get their hands on; leaves, moss, hay, sea weed, sea shells, sand and even rocks. My favorite item they used though was corn cobs. The long rigid texture of it would guarantee a deep clean. I guess it beats the Roman times where they would use a piece of sponge on a stick that would sit in salt water all day, being used by everyone.

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