Fascinating Fact Fridays

Greta Thunberg and Al Gore have nothing on one of the world’s earliest climate warriors. What if I told you that Genghis Khan–the guy who casually expanded the Mongol Empire like I expand my To-Be-Read list–also helped lower humanity’s carbon footprint? Now, it would be a stretch to say that that was his primary motive, but I like to think that my boy Genghis knew what he was doing. So how does mass devastation on an unprecedented level result in a greener Earth? As the Mongol hordes laid waste to the armies of Eurasia, they displaced millions of terrified peasants as they fled the onslaught. Entire regions of farmland were abandoned, and with no one left to plow the fields, Mother Nature began her comeback tour. Trees reclaimed huge swaths of agricultural land, and those forests acted as giant carbon sinks, scrubbing CO₂ from the atmosphere at a scale we could only dream of today. How much CO₂ are we talking about here? Well, according to some estimates, the conquests of Genghis Khan ...

How much time have you spent contemplating the idea of time travel? Not enough you say? Well then put on your imagination hats, if you will, and envision a reality where theoretical physicists have theoretically solved the complexities of time travel. Take that, this reality’s Albert Einstein. Laura and Ashlee arrive at work one Monday morning and unable to bear the full brunt of a 5-day work week, they desperately place an Amazon order for the new Toshiba Time Machine 5000 Super Deluxe with oiled bronze accents. A large box is wheeled into their office by 2pm that same day because there are some benefits of capitalism. There are no English instructions included, but setup is still a breeze because it turns out that Laura is fluent in Mandarin, much to the 惊喜 (surprise) of Ashlee. They rush to change as they’ve wisely ordered the kit that includes time traveler suits (they even have pockets!). They hop aboard the cylindrical capsule, quickly admiring its oiled bronze accents (good cho...

How many times have you been hosting a fancy dinner party where the conversation starts to lull, leading you to exclaim, “Come on everybody, let’s head down to the bone room!”? Now, there’s no record of Thomas Jefferson actually saying this during a lavish party at Monticello, but I can only assume it must have come up. What’s the bone room you ask? Well that’s a silly question—it’s a room full of bones, of course! Specifically, the bones of mastodons and other prehistoric creatures. It’s a little known fact that our nation’s 3rd president was obsessed with paleontology. He was so fascinated by the idea of ancient, gigantic animals that he turned part of Monticello into his own prehistoric playground that came to be called the “bone room”. But here’s the kicker: Jefferson didn’t believe animals could go extinct. He was convinced that mastodons, those elephant-sized behemoths, were still out there, roaming the unexplored corners of America. In fact, Jefferson was so intrigued by the ide...

In 1964, Rembrandt Films purchased the film rights to The Hobbit for a period of 3 years with the obligation to produce a feature-length “full color” film in that timeframe. By 1967, funding had yet to be secured to produce said movie, a proposed deal with 20th Century-Fox had just fallen through. Rather than forfeit the rights to The Hobbit, Rembrandt produced a rushed 12 minute film that has been described as “short and lacking in detail, barely resembling the original story”. Rembrandt premiered the film on June 30th, 1967, which was conveniently the last day before their film rights expired. They rustled up a crowd of moviegoers and gave them all dimes which they immediately gave back to “pay” for their ticket. At the conclusion of the movie, each patron signed a document stating they had paid to see the Hobbit film. This allowed Rembrandt to retain their film rights, which they then sold back to Tolkien for $100,000, the value having increased significantly in those 3 years due to...