Last week's Curios covered life-saving silly string, the perils of flip-flops, and customs for space travel.
Curio #783 | The spice of life
We spicy food lovers may have even more research to get fired up about. According to the the latest good news, eating spicy food is directly linked with a lower risk for death...keep reading
Curio #782 | Bestselling hoax
Who doesn't love a good hoax tale? Jean Shepherd was an American humorist, best known for writing the stories that became the cult classic movie A Christmas Story. But Shepherd mostly worked as a radio personality. He also pulled off one of the greatest hoaxes of all time...keep reading
Curio #781 | Serious silly string
Silly String turns out to not be so silly. Those aerosol cans that spray colorful strands of liquid string became a US soldier's best friend in the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. While serving in Iraq in 2006, Todd Shriver asked his parents in New Jersey to send him Silly String. But it wasn't for a party on the base - Todd thought it might be able to save soldiers' lives...keep reading
Curio #780 | Happy birthday to justice?
In 1988, Warner Music Group bought the rights to the song "Happy Birthday to You." Though most legal experts believe the original copyright was issued in error, Warner Music still collects around $2 million a year from TV shows, movies, and public performances. Now a federal lawsuit filed by a group of independent artists could change the happy birthday landscape forever...keep reading
Curio #779 | Flip, flop, ow!
Beware flip-flop wearers. Though flip-flops are a summer religion for many, they are also extremely dangerous. The floppy style of sandal originated in ancient Egypt, and what we call "flip flops" today descended from the Japanese zori shoe. The footwear was first popularized in the West by Allied soldiers returning from WWII. Unfortunately, no major improvements have been made since then. If you don't believe the shoes are dangerous, check out these stats...keep reading
Curio #778 | An issue of life or death
In this age of electronic documents, there are still two official forms that are required to be on paper: birth and death certificates. To prevent forgeries, each state has its own rules and printing procedures. Which was fine until an Ohio company named Sekuworks unexpectedly closed this year...keep reading
Curio #777 | Moon customs
Guess what Buzz Aldrin's first task was after returning from the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. He went through customs, of course! Aldrin was required to fill out a US Customs form on behalf of the crew, which also included Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins. Aldrin recently posted scans of the actual forms on Facebook. Besides containing signatures from Aldrin and the Honolulu customs inspector, the documents list the itinerary as...keep reading
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