A man with severe OCD and a phobia of germs attempted to commit suicide with a gun to his head. Instead of killing him, the bullet eliminated his mental illness without any other damage.
100 Mind-Blowing Instead Facts
During the 1908 Olympics in London, the Russians showed up 12 days late because they were using the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.
In the Netherlands version of Sesame Street, instead of Big Bird, they have a bluebird named Pino. He was later established as Big Bird’s cousin.
In 18th Century England, having a pineapple was a symbol of wealth because of high import fees. They would be used as displays instead of being eaten.
Instead of an agent, Bill Murray uses a 1-800 number where you can leave a message for him if you want to cast him for a movie or event.
In a few Appalachian forests, some fireflies glow blue for up to a minute instead of flashing yellow.
Instead of having an army, Andorrans all must keep a rifle. The law also says that police officers can offer up a firearm if the need arises.
When Kurt Russell smashed the guitar in “The Hateful Eight,” he accidentally destroyed an irreplaceable 145-year-old museum piece instead of one of the replicas.
Ants don’t have lungs. They instead breathe through spiracles, nine or ten tiny openings, depending on the species.
Hippos can’t swim. Hippos do have big bones, so big and dense that they’re barely buoyant at all. They don’t swim and instead perform a slow-motion gallop on the riverbed or the sea floor. Hippos can even sleep underwater, thanks to a built-in reflex that allows them to bob up, take a breath, and sink back down without waking.
The Golden Girls was supposed to have a different theme song. That’s right: Instead of Andrew Gold’s iconic “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the show’s producers wanted to use Bette Midler’s song “Friends,” according to Jim Colucci, author of the book Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorised Look Behind the Lanai. But the rights to the Divine Miss M’s song were too expensive, and the rest is sitcom history.
Kleenex tissues were originally intended for gas masks. When there was a cotton shortage during World War I, Kimberly-Clark developed a thin, flat cotton substitute that the army tried to use as a filter in gas masks. The war ended before scientists perfected the material, so the company redeveloped it to be smoother and softer and then marketed Kleenex as facial tissue instead.
The CIA headquarters has its own Starbucks, but baristas don’t write names on the cups. Its receipts say “Store Number 1” instead of “Starbucks,” and its workers need an escort to leave their work posts.
Most wasabi paste isn’t real wasabi. Wasabi is expensive, so most companies use horseradish instead. Real wasabi is milder than what you’ve been getting with your sushi.
People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when having their pictures taken. In the 1840s, a big—dare we say, cheesy—grin was seen as childish, so one London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths taut. And that look predated today’s “fish face” selfie by, oh, about 180 years.
The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona. The Spanish city thought the design was too ugly, so Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead, as a temporary landmark during its 1889 International Exposition. French critics didn’t like it much either though.
People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when getting their pictures taken. In the 1840s, a cheesy grin was seen as childish, so a London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths tight. Now you know why people never smiled in old photos.
The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona. The Spanish city thought it was too ugly, so Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead. French critics weren’t too thrilled either, but it’s one of the most famous landmarks in the world today.
There is McDonald’s on all continents except Antarctica. Fast food giant McDonald’s serves 120 countries with about 37,855 restaurants worldwide – but you wouldn’t find a single McDonald’s joint in Antarctica. Not only does it have a McDonald ’s-shaped void, but Antarctica is the only demilitarised continent worldwide. Instead, the entire continent is relegated for educational and scientific purposes.
DreamWorks Studios was created by a former Disney employee. Jeffrey Katzenberg produced some of Disney’s biggest hits, namely: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. With the success of these classics, he requested a promotion. However, due to internal conflicts, he got fired, instead. It was then that he founded DreamWorks Studios with other familiar film personalities, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Sudan has the most pyramids out of any country. One of the mind-boggling fun facts: The plentiest pyramids in the world is not in Egypt! Instead, the record belongs to Sudan with 255 pyramids – which is twice the amount of the pyramids in Egypt.
Not sporty? Try aggressive sitting. Ok, it’s not as tame as it sounds – think skateboard tricks but with a stool. Sporthocking is a unique German street sport created in 2007. It combines the principle of skateboarding with a distinct rubber-lined funnel stool instead of a board. Participants can spin, kick, throw, juggle, and slide. However, the hocker rule of thumb is they always have to slam their bottoms down on the stool to signify the end of each trick.
The Speaker of the House isn’t allowed to speak in England. Okay, not literally. Instead, the Speaker of the House acts as a mediator for debates. They are not allowed to speak their own opinion on an issue.
The word “testify” is based on… testes? The term “testify” is said to be rooted in the Ancient Roman custom of making men swear on their testicles in court. However, there is no written confirmation that this is the case. Instead, people may have taken the Latin word testis out of context: it can mean testes but also translates to witness. You decide which one makes more sense.
Tom Hanks was not paid for Forrest Gump. This may be surprising for one of his most iconic roles, but Tom Hanks did not receive a set fee for this film. Instead, he signed an agreement that entitled him to percentage points from the film’s profit. Ultimately, his part in the film’s earnings netted him at US$40 million.
Elvis only won 3 Grammys. The King of Rock and Roll had 18 #1 hits in his career but only bagged 3 awards out of his 14 nominations. Instead, the record for the most Grammy wins belongs to George Solti, the longtime leader of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at 31 Grammy awards.
Superman used to leap places instead of flying. Superman’s flying was only a somewhat recent development. In the 1940’s, Superman would only leap onto tall buildings. Thinking it looked silly, the animators of Superman’s first animated show requested permission to give him flight. Superman’s been flying high ever since.
Ben & Jerry’s learned how to make ice cream from a $5 course at Penn State. The titular Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends. Although Greenfield finished college, he was unable to pursue med school. Cohen, on the other hand, dropped out of school. In 1977, Cohen and Greenfield completed a course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University’s Creamery. One of the fun facts no one knows about this famous product: Have you ever wondered why Ben & Jerry’s is so chunky? Ben Cohen has a condition where he can’t smell or taste anything. Instead, he relied on food textures texture to provide variety in his diet. This led to the company’s trademark chunks in their ice cream.
The CIA headquarters Starbucks doesn’t put names on the cups. Its receipts say “Store Number 1” instead of “Starbucks,” and the cafe workers need an escort to leave their work posts.
The first baby stroller was pulled by animals. William Kent invented the first stroller for the 3rd Duke of Devonshire in 1733. However, it did not have handles for parents. Instead, the strollers were pulled by goats, dogs, or miniature horses.
People used to answer the phone with “ahoy”. Back during the 1800s phone greetings were inspired by the Simpsons when Mr. Burns would pick up the phone with “Ahoy-hoy”. Thomas Eddison, however, wanted users to use ‘Hello’ instead. We know who won that argument.
The U.S. Navy uses Xbox controllers for their periscopes. Instead of using a control stick, the Navy opted for this controller so that the learning time could be reduced. This was also the least complicated way of controlling the periscopes.
The official language of Ireland is not the most spoken in the country. Instead, its inhabitants are more comfortable speaking in Polish rather than Irish. English is also more dominant since the beginning of the 19th century.
Starfishes do not have blood. If you were to cut one of its legs, blood would not spill out. Instead, they simply regrow their lost limbs as if nothing happened. Starfishes get their nutrients by using the seawater found in their vascular systems.
Coca-Cola was originally green. However, the company itself said that this may be due to the green bottles they once used. New marketing techniques switched to plastic bottles instead of glass later on.
Strawberries are the only known fruit to grow their seeds externally. When a strawberry flower is pollinated, the fruit will not swell. Instead, it fertilizes the ovaries in the flower and forms small dry fruits separately.
Carrots have zero fat content. Instead, they contain several minerals and vitamins that are good for your health. A carrot’s water content also ranges from 86-95%.
More fast-food employees were killed while on shift than police officers in 1998. Fast-food murders are more common in the United States than in any other country. This may warn you to have your order for delivery instead.
Birds require gravity to swallow. Birds cannot chew their food and instead swallow their prey whole. The oesophagus of a bird is wide enough to swallow larger meals. They depend on gravity to push their food down the oesophagus and then later be propelled into their stomachs.
Owls cannot move their eyes sideways. This is because their eyes are too big to move in any direction. Instead, they turn their heads to see what is around them. The owl can turn its head 270 degrees.
The only mammals that can fly are bats. The legs of bats are too weak for them to be used for walking, so instead, they use their wings to travel around. Rather than flying, bats mainly glide from one place to the other.
White chocolate isn’t chocolate. Aside from the pineapple on pizza debate, white chocolate is one of the most polarizing food items that has divided nations. Whichever one you prefer, the hard truth is that white chocolate isn’t chocolate. It doesn’t contain cocoa solids. Instead, white chocolate is made of cocoa butter, milk, and sugar.
Cheddar cheese is not orange. Originally, the colour of cheese changes with the seasons because of the cow’s diet. During the summer or spring, the beta-carotene in grass makes cows produce yellow cheese. On the other hand, fall and winter cause them to eat hay instead, producing whiter cheese. With that, farmers started dying the cheese since people preferred yellow ones.
Apollo 11 only had 20 seconds of fuel when it landed. Before the Apollo landing was confirmed with, “The Eagle has landed” the crew nearly didn’t make it. The Apollo crew had to fly manually instead of following the plotted trajectory to avoid dangerous areas. As such, it cut down on their fuel. Before the successful landing, the 30-second fuel warning had already passed.
People born blind experience dreams of emotions, sounds and smells instead of images. Dreams are a product of our subconscious that is influenced by the stimuli we encounter in waking hours. For people who were born blind, their dreams manifest in other sensations such as smells and sounds.
Machu Picchu is 100% handmade. You read that right – Machu Picchu is the best remaining example of Incan engineering. No tools, wheels, or animals were used in constructing the royal estate. Instead, hundreds of men pushed up 50-ton rocks or scaled the mountain to form what we now know as the Incan ruins.
Lara Croft’s PS1 proportions were a mistake. When Toby Gard was editing the character model for Lara Croft, he mistakenly typed 150% instead of 50% for Croft’s bust size. The proportions we see on the PS1 game were a result of this error.
Roman Polanski had pee thrown at his face during Chinatown. If you’ve had any experience making a video group project, you’d know the high-tension environment of productions. Fights are pretty much inevitable. One of the most iconic cinema fights and funny facts: During the shoot for Chinatown, Faye Dunaway asked for her character’s motivation in one particular scene. Instead of offering advice, Roman Polanski yelled, “Say the fucking words. Your salary is your motivation.” This friction continued until the director wouldn’t let Dunaway take a toilet break. Fed up, Dunaway threw a coffee cup with her pee in his face.
There is a Starbucks cup in all frames of Fight Club. Move aside, Game of Thrones. David Fincher directed Fight Club at the height of Starbucks cafes popping up everywhere. He claimed it was “too much of a good thing,” and put a Starbucks cup in every shot of the film. Starbucks allowed its products to be shown in the ‘90s cult classic, as long as their shop was not destroyed on film. For the cafe scene, Fincher used the fictional Gratifico Coffee instead.
A Coca-Cola employee offered to sell Coca-Cola’s secrets to Pepsi. Snitches get stitches, yet it seems this Coca-Cola employee forgot when they tried to betray Coca-Cola. In 2006, a secretary at Coca-Cola HQ was arrested for stealing a sample of an unreleased product and attempting to sell it for $1.5m to Pepsi. However, the two soda companies instead got the FBI involved. In the end, the thief was arrested.
The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be in Barcelona. The Eiffel Tower may be an iconic tourist spot for lovers and travellers alike, but it wasn’t so loved in its first years. When Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Barcelona, the officials thought the design looked too ugly, so Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead.
There’s an apartment inside the Eiffel Tower. When Gustave Eiffel designed the tower, he added a hidden apartment on the third level—but he never lived there, nor did anybody. Instead, Eiffel used this space to entertain guests such as Thomas Edison. Though it wasn’t big, the apartment was decorated with wallpaper, furnished with wooden cabinets, and even had a grand piano. Nowadays, you can get a peek at the unique space through a window if you ride up the tower.
The Dutch village of Giethoorn doesn’t have roads. Instead, its buildings are connected entirely by canals and footbridges.
The Katzenklavier was a piano made out of cats. No, it wasn’t made out of their skin or bones, but it’s still one of the most disturbing WTF facts: Designed in the 17th century by Athanasius Kircher, it was a piano that had a row of caged cats with different pitches. This cat piano would then be played with the traditional keyboard that drove nails into their tails instead of into strings.
There’s a McDonald’s with a turquoise arch. The McDonald’s in Sedona, Arizona, is the only joint in the world with turquoise arches instead of the yellow, golden ones. The restaurant used turquoise arches after government officials said the yellow-gold ones contrasted too much with the area’s red rocks.
Chip bags are full of nitrogen. The excess air in chip bags isn’t there to fool buyers into thinking there are more chips inside. Instead, bags of chips are filled with nitrogen. Oxygen would spoil the chips fast, but nitrogen preserves freshness, prevents combustion, and creates cushioning during shipping.
The “wasabi” you get with your sushi isn’t wasabi. In the U.S., 99 per cent of sushi restaurants serve horse radish with green food colouring instead of real wasabi.
People used to answer the phone by saying “Ahoy!” What would you do if you called someone and they answered with, “Ahoy!” I, for one, would throw my hands at how unnecessary that would be. However, when the public started using the phone in the 1800s, inventor Alexander Graham Bell decided that phone calls should be answered with “ahoy” instead of “hello.” However, Thomas Edison wanted users to answer the phone with “hello.” By 1880, “ahoy” was just something a pirate would say.
Chalk is edible. Chalk is not toxic, but digesting large amounts is still not advisable. Eating your classroom chalk is also not advised. Check out these edible chalk brands instead.
Reindeer love grass. If you want to meet Santa on Christmas Day, you might want to consider keeping your lawn fresh instead of leaving cookies. Rudolph and his kind love greens such as willows, birches, and sedges. However, they would occasionally eat their old antlers for calcium.
Salt used to be a currency. For ancient civilizations, salt was so valuable that the Romans used it as money. They even paid their soldiers in salt rations instead of money.
In the Netherlands’ version of Sesame Street, there’s a bluebird named Pino instead of Big Bird. Pino was later introduced as Big Bird’s cousin.
People used to say “prunes” when taking pictures. In the 1840s, it was considered childish to smile for pictures so it became popular for people to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” to keep their mouths taut.
Hippopotamuses can’t swim. We always see them in the water, but hippos can’t swim. Their bones are large and dense, making it hard for them to float. Instead, they do a sort of “slow-motion gallop on the riverbed or on the sea floor.”
In the 1840s, children were taught to say “prunes” instead of “cheese.” This was to have their mouths closed. Just another weird historical fact in the world of photography.
In the 1840s, people said “prunes” instead of “cheese” when having their picture taken.
RoboCup is an annual soccer game where the players are robots instead of people. The robots come from all over the world.
Black holes have theoretical opposites known as white holes. Black holes are known for their voracious appetites; their influence is so strong that even light can’t escape their gravity. But they have a theoretical converse – white holes. They are effectively the opposite of their dark relatives, spitting out light and matter instead of trapping it. So far, they are purely hypothetical objects; astronomers are contemplating how they could form in reality.
Planets can wander through space without a parent star. Not all planets form and stay around stars: astronomers estimate that there could be more than 200 billion of them floating free and drifting through our Galaxy. These ‘rogue’ planets were thought to have been kicked out of their home systems. While this is true for some, other planets may have formed completely independently of an accretion disk (as was the case for our Solar System) instead of forming from the collapse of tiny, cold clouds known as globulettes.
The New Year celebration enjoyed by the ancient Egyptians was known as “Wepet Renpet.”Instead of celebrating the same day every year, they waited until the annual flooding of the Nile River, which usually happened in July.
WHALES ARE DIVIDED INTO TWO MAIN GROUPS. There are two types of whales: the baleen whales and the toothed whales. Baleen whales, including humpbacks and blue whales, have fibrous ‘baleen’ plates in their mouths instead of teeth, which help them filter out and consume huge quantities of zooplankton: small prey including krill, fish or crustaceans called copepods. Whereas toothed whales, such as orcas, beluga and sperm whales, have teeth which enable them to feed on larger prey such as fish and squid. All dolphin families, including porpoises, are also classified as whales, as they are more related to their toothed counterparts.
Interestingly, pink, white and albino axolotls are more common when bred in captivity. We’re not sure why this is, but you’ll rarely see a pink or white axolotl in the wild. Instead, they’re much more likely to be brown or green.
A company in Japan awards non-smokers an extra six days of paid leave each year. It was brought to the marketing firm’s attention that employees who went for smoke breaks had more than 15 minutes of extra time away from their desks each day. Instead of penalising smokers, they came up with a creative incentive to quit smoking while keeping their non-smoking employees happy in the process!
There’s a restaurant in New York that employs grandmas instead of chefs. The menu at Enoteca Maria is a little unconventional, as half of it is a fixed Italian menu while the other half changes daily. This is because a different grandmother comes in every day with not just a new menu but a completely new cuisine! The owner decided to run his restaurant like this as he had lost all maternal figures in his life and wanted to re-create the feeling of eating in his grandmother’s kitchen.
The first rap song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song was Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” It rapidly became one of Eminem’s most successful singles, staying at the top of the charts for 23 weeks running (that in itself won the song a Guinness World Record!). Eminem didn’t attend the Academy Awards as he thought he wouldn’t win, so instead spent the evening at home sleeping and watching cartoons with his daughter. One of his producers ended up accepting the award on Eminem’s behalf.
Recessions may not be good for our finances, but it turns out that they’re good for our health. Researchers in the US initially studied data from previous economic crises expecting to find a correlation between mortalities and economic crises. What they found was surprising, as harder times seemed actually to reduce mortality rates instead of increasing them. This is because during a recession, there is less traffic, and cleaner air, and people have less money to spend on unhealthy things like drinking alcohol or smoking.
Books published in Norway are bought by the government to stock the country’s libraries. All books must first go through quality control, and one thousand copies will be purchased and distributed by Arts Council Norway if they pass this step. If it’s a children’s book, 1,550 copies are purchased instead. Not only does this keep small publishing businesses afloat, but it’s also of immense benefit to fledgling writers in Norway.
It turns out that you don’t need to drink six to eight cups of water per day. Water is without a doubt one of the most important things on our planet, and since around the 1940s, it’s been popularly believed that you should drink about 84 ounces (2.5 litres) of the stuff every day to stay healthy. Researchers have since delved deeper into the issue and concluded that you don’t need to drink anywhere near that much, as you get a lot of water from the food you eat. Instead, you’re merely advised to drink when you’re thirsty and drink extra on particularly hot days.
Only one married couple has ever been sent to space. Mark Lee and Jan Davis met during their astronaut training programs but decided to keep their relationship secret. NASA had an informal policy against sending out married couples on missions. Nine months before their mission, they got married, and by the time NASA found out it was too late to begin training replacements. Instead, they made their informal policy formal to prevent it from happening again!
One of Fleetwood Mac’s founding guitarists disappeared just before a show and was found days later as a newly initiated cult member. Jeremy Spencer was with Fleetwood Mac from the very beginning, but during a tour to the US in the 70’s he became quite disillusioned with his career and life in general. He met members of Children of God, a religious cult in California, and decided to join them instead of continuing on the road to stardom. Jeremy Spencer is still affiliated with the cult, now known as Family International.
It turns out that most people don’t procrastinate because of laziness. Instead, many factors have been found to cause this crippling condition, such as task aversion, perfectionism, fear of failure, and overall anxiety issues. Other key factors that influence how much we procrastinate come down to the goals we set for ourselves and how concrete or abstract they are. The key to combating procrastination is identifying the specific factors that cause it and combating them individually.
Sloths don’t fall out of trees when they sleep because of how their claws evolved. Fortunately for many a sleeping sloth, their claws evolved quite the opposite of how ours did. While our hands are naturally open, and it takes force to clench them, this isn’t the case for sloths. Instead, their claws’ “relaxed” position is a tight grip, and it takes quite a lot of force for them to unclench their claws.
The more money people spend on their weddings, the more likely they are to get divorced. Maybe it’s time to ditch those plans of a fairytale wedding. It’s not just how much you spend on your wedding, but the engagement and wedding ring too, with bigger spenders finding themselves more likely to be looking for love again sooner than more frugal fiancés. Instead of splashing out on your wedding, it’s better to go all out on the trip of a lifetime!
Antarctica isn’t owned by any single nation. Instead, the continent is governed by many of the world’s countries through the Antarctic Treaty. The first signatories of the treaty were the seven nations that had some form of territorial claim to Antarctica: The UK, Norway, New Zealand, France, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.
Panama hats aren’t originally from Panama but from Ecuador! These timelessly stylish hats have been known to the Western world since at least the 1800s and have been seen atop the heads of many famous people ranging from President Theodore Roosevelt to Brad Pitt. They’re made from a type of palm called the Toquilla palm, a native Ecuadorian plant that is painstakingly woven together into the iconic shape. Artisans were struggling to sell the hats in Ecuador, so they exported them to Panama – where they ironically gained their name instead of from the country of origin!
The US Army has its private herd of bison. Unfortunately, it’s not part of some sort of secret plan to create a mounted bison regiment. Instead, the US Army base of Camp Pendleton in California was gifted the bison back in the 70s. The San Diego Zoo entrusted the bison to the base for safekeeping, and they’ve done such a great job at it that the herd has grown from 14 to 90 or so! The herd is constantly monitored, not just to ensure they’re in good health but also because they’re quite dangerous wild animals!
The name Google was supposed to be called Googol, but when searching if the domain was taken, the creators accidentally searched “Google.com” instead of “googol.com” and liked it better.
People started wearing pyjamas, originally spelt “pyjamas,” instead of nightgowns so they’d be prepared to run outside in public during World War I air raids in England.
As the years go by, more and more job traditional jobs will disappear. Instead, robots are poised to replace human work.
Google rents out goats. You read that right; instead of mowing their lawn, Google rents goats to eat the grass at their Mountain View headquarters. A herder will bring 200 goats which are herded by a border collie named Jen.
Apollo 11 astronauts couldn’t afford insurance. Life insurance for a space mission cost a fortune because the risks were extremely high back then. So instead, the astronauts of Apollo 11 signed hundreds of covers that their families could sell in case anything went wrong.
Mexico’s presidential palace is 14 times larger than the White House and started allowing visitors for the first time in 2018. From 1935 to 2018, the Los Pinos presidential palace was the official place of residence for Mexico’s presidents and was closed off to any who weren’t expressly invited. This changed in 2018 when Andres Manuel López Obrador was elected the Mexican President, winning his campaign on the back of promises to fight corruption. As a gesture of goodwill, he chose not to move into the palace, instead simply living in a small apartment in Mexico City’s central district. To give you an idea of what the Mexican president gave up, the presidential palace covers 603,000 square feet (56,000 square meters).
Hackers uncovered a flaw in Hotmail’s security in 1999, which allowed access to any Hotmail email account by entering “eh” as the password. This crippling flaw was deemed to be “the most widespread security incident in the history of the web.” The group that took responsibility for the flaw’s exposure, known as Hackers Unite, claimed that they didn’t want to destroy anything by leaking it but rather wanted to draw seemingly much-needed attention to Microsoft’s failing security systems. Experts believe that the ability to access any email account with a simple password was unintentionally left behind as a “backdoor” by Microsoft’s engineers, something Microsoft has never admitted. Instead, they merely palmed it off as an “unknown security issue.”
College of the Ozarks doesn’t charge tuition. Instead, students work on campus at least 15 hours a week and have two 40-hour work weeks.
The Japanese have a work philosophy called “kaizen,” where people constantly seek ways to improve methods instead of just doing it the same way.
There is a difference between graffiti and street art. In graffiti, the writers are generally not interested in the public understanding their work; instead, they use it to speak to other writers. Street art is used to engage everyone.
The Style Wars began in the 1970s and introduced the concept of bombing. Graffiti artists created bigger and bigger pieces in an attempt to achieve fame. They would often “bomb,” or “hit,” one area, which meant painting many surfaces in an area. For the sake of time, they often threw up tags instead of complex pieces.
Human Intelligence: Unlike the CIA and DIA, the NSA does not publicly conduct human intelligence gathering. Instead, it focuses on SIGINT and cybersecurity.
During the reign of William the Conqueror, criminals were not given a death sentence but were instead blinded and castrated.
George Washington was not the first President to reside in the White House, instead, it was John Adams and his wife Abigail.