On July 23, 1983, Air Canada’s Flight 143, with 69 people onboard, ran out of fuel at an altitude of 41,000 ft. The pilot managed to glide the plane down safely as he was a very experienced glider pilot. 22,300 pounds of jet fuel had been put in instead of 22,300 kg. – 

  Alligators have been a long-running problem for NASA, including climbing over their fences and entering buildings overnight

 When U.S. space shuttles started linking up with Russia’s Mir Space Station in 1995, both sides owed a small debt to the KGB. It was KGB that successfully stole the U.S. designs in the ’70s and ’80s, unintentionally laying the groundwork for the compatibility between the U.S. and Russian systems. 

  Before digital cameras, film from spy satellites had to be ejected from the satellite, and retrieved mid-air by specially designed aircraft lest it fell into enemy hands. 

   The 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was financed by the Quaker Oats Company to promote their new candy: The Wonka Bar. –

   Starbucks cares a lot about the employees and it spends more money on the health insurance premiums of employees than they spend on coffee beans. 

   People pay thousands of dollars to hunt Zebras on large ranches in Texas.

  Over 49,000 deer were hit by cars just in Michigan in 2013.

  t Chicago’s O’Hare airport a 20-year-old Bill Murray made a joke to another passenger that he was carrying 2 bombs. Overheard by a ticket agent, a couple of U.S. marshals were summoned to search his luggage. They didn’t find any bombs but rather $20,000 worth of pot. Murray was then arrested.

  Valentine’s Day is banned in Saudi Arabia. –

     In the town of Harar in Ethiopia, a man fed meat to a hyena in order to get him away from his livestock. Now, feeding hyena’s are a ritual in the city.

   The farthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was 401,056 km (249,205 mi), when Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise went around the Moon during the Apollo 13 emergency. –

  The BMW logo is an airplane propeller because they originally produced airplane engines. – 

 Bananas are curved because they grow towards the sun.

   The “Little Red-Haired Girl” in Peanuts was based on Donna Mae Johnson.After dating for three years Schulz proposed to her but she turned him down. 

   In 2003, the US troops found approximately $650 Million USD inside the walls of Saddam Hussein’s palace. –

   The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom again after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.

  Old English used the word ‘dore’ for male bees. Dumbledore means bumblebee

  Meditation reduces the need for sleep, in terms of maintaining alertness and reaction times.

  Staying awake for 17 hours leads to decrease in performance, which equals two glasses of wine. 

   Russia installed lighthouses powered by nuclear generators along its coastline in the 1970s. Two of those generators are now missing.

   An airline pilot ordered 30 pizzas for his passengers, after finding out they would be delayed 2 hours for weather. The pizzas were delivered within 30 minutes by Domino’s and were cleared by security and sent directly to the plane in an official airport vehicle

Onions are eaten and grown in more countries than any other vegetable, with at least 175 countries producing an onion crop. Unlike wheat (the largest global crop by area harvested), the onion is a staple of every major cuisine

   North Korea uses a fax machine to send threats to South Korea. 

  In 2003, a woman in Fort Worth hit a homeless man with her car. His body became lodged in her windshield. She drove home and then repeatedly visited the man in her garage and even apologized for hitting him. He died several hours later. She was tried and convicted for murder, receiving a 50 year sentence. –

  Hawaii has required employers to pay health insurance benefits to employees who work 20 hours or more per week since 1975. 

Canadians rescue deer trapped on frozen lakes, by blowing them to the shore with helicopter downdraft

   While campaigning in southern states Hillary Clinton would adopt a southern drawl.

 The pilot of Gemini 3, John Young, was reprimanded for smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the spacecraft.

  July was called Quinitilis until Julius Caesar died