460/501 Bangladesh farmers switch to ducks from chickens due to floods.
In flood-prone areas of Bangladesh, farmers have switched from raising chickens to ducks. Ducks can float and swim during floods, making them more resilient than chickens.
459/501 Secret Service seized $100M in prop money from “Rush Hour 2.”
During “Rush Hour 2” filming, the Secret Service seized $100 million in prop money because it was so realistic that extras used it in local businesses. This led to a cease and desist order.
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458/501 Spanish man skipped work for six years, caught before award.
A Spanish civil servant skipped work for six years but still got paid, only to be caught when he was set to receive a service award. Joaquin Garcia, 69, was later fined €27,000.
457/501 Windows Notepad quietly gets spellcheck and autocorrect after 41 years.
Microsoft quietly added spellchecking and autocorrect to Windows Notepad after 41 years.
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456/501 Wragge named storms after disliked politicians, shaping modern naming conventions.
Hurricanes and cyclones have human names thanks to meteorologist Clement Wragge, who, in the late 19th century, named them after politicians he disliked. This practice allowed him to humorously describe the storms’ destructive behaviors. His naming conventions laid the foundation for modern storm naming.
455/501 Operating system and film stored on DNA, recovered error-free.
In 2017, researchers successfully stored and retrieved an operating system and a film on DNA without any errors.
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454/501 Boeing 747s use floppy disks for monthly navigation software updates.
Many Boeing 747s still use 3.5-inch floppy disks for critical software updates every 28 days. Engineers manually install these updates to keep the planes’ navigation systems current.
453/501 Blind astronomer sees ultraviolet light, runs observatory in Nova Scotia.
Tim Doucette was born with congenital cataracts, leaving him legally blind. After undergoing surgery to remove his eye lenses and widen his pupils, he gained the unique ability to see ultraviolet light, which allows him to observe faint celestial objects. He now runs the Deep Sky Eye Observatory in Nova Scotia, where he shares his passion for astronomy with others.
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452/501 Meghalaya’s living root bridges support 50+ people, last centuries.
These intricate bridges are made from living rubber fig trees! Crafted by indigenous groups in north-east India, these bridges take 10 to 15 years to be built, and once mature, some bridges can have as many as 50 or more people crossing. These living root bridges also have a lifespan of several hundred years.
451/501 Dolphins protected swimmers from a shark by forming a circle.
In 2004, while a lifeguard was swimming with his daughter, dolphins began circling them. He soon realized there was a shark beneath them. The dolphins’ actions drove the shark away.
