In 2010, someone bought a pizza using 10,000 in Bitcoin which, as of December 2023, has a value of over $400 million.
552
In 1992, Pepsi held a promotion in the Philippines, promising a $40,000 prize to people whose bottle cap had the number 349 printed on it. But Pepsi screwed up. They accidentally printed 800,000 bottle caps with that number. Pepsi was let off the hook due to some legal fine print, but five people died in the ensuing riots.
553
In 1996, Pepsi ran a TV commercial that satirically promised a Harrier jet to people who could collect 7,000,000 Pepsi points. When a business student tried to redeem the requisite number of points, he was denied. In the subsequent lawsuit, the student called for a jury trial, saying that the "Pepsi generation" would decide. Unfortunately for him, the judge didn't agree. Once again, Pepsi escaped without paying.
554
In ancient times, the city of Amman (capital of Jordan) was known as Philadelphia.
555
It has been estimated that 4,000 people died from pollution during the five days of London's "Great Smog" in 1952. The smog was so thick that ambulance service was canceled and even indoor events, such as theater screenings, had to be canceled due to poor visibility.
What??? Pepsi didn’t want to pay 32 trillion dollars even though that’s what they promised?? This is why people only ever drink Pepsi when there is no Coke, smh my head Pepsi.
There was a similar smog in Donora, PA in 1948 caused by a temperature inversion. It was greatly aggravated by the fact that the local steel mill kept cranking away as usual. Only when the steel mill shut down did the smog dissipate.
ANOTHER FACT! Heliocentric system was not "invented" by Copernicus, Arystarchus from Samos first thought: "Dude, i think that Earth is round!" and Copernicus said "Bro, you're right! I will make a book from that!
I'm fairly sure it was well known that the Earth orbited the sun in most cultures other than Europe because Christianity. Also, you can't "invent" it, it's only discovered.
In the 5th century BC the Greek philosophers Philolaus and Hicetas speculated separately that the Earth was a sphere revolving daily around some mystical “central fire” ........ I don't think that many before that time had come up with the idea, in any culture.
It is true that Aristarchus was the first known person to have proposed the heliocentric model, which eventually fell out of favour until Copernicus reformulated it many centuries later. But the fact that the Earth is round is quite different from that, and was widely accepted throughout the Middle Ages, in spite of what many people believe nowadays.
#551 - wasn't that a journalist? Might want to explain the detail to explain why the transaction is so specific. I'm sure many people have bought things with Bitcoin in the past.
The Great Smog was the demise of Charles Lightoller, the highest ranking officer to survive the Titanic. In charge of loading lifeboats on the port side, he refused to allow men in the boats and sent many out far under capacity. He jumped overboard, surviving on an upturned lifeboat with others and was the last survivor to be taken aboard the rescue ship.
anyone who wants to know more about #552 and #553, and the cognitive biases that allowed these events and others to occur, should listen to the episode of the podcast Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford titled ‘Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop’
Pingualuit crater, Canada: The crater is exposed to the surface, rising 160 m (520 ft) above the surrounding tundra, and is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep. The 267 m-deep (876 ft) Pingualuk Lake fills the hollow, and is one of the deepest lakes in North America. The lake also holds some of the purest fresh water in the world, with a salinity level of less than 3 ppm (by comparison, the salinity level of the Great Lakes is 500 ppm).
September 25, 2008 was the last time an unranked college football team beat a no. 1 ranked one. Oregon State defeated #1 USC 27-21.
Source https://bestlifeonline.com/blow-your-mind-crazy-facts/#:~:text=20%20Crazy%20Facts%20That%20Will%20Blow%20Your%20Mind,8%20Aldous%20Huxley%20and%20C.S.%20More%20items...%20
Source https://www.thefactsite.com/1000-interesting-facts/
Absolutely terrible. I'm thankful to have learned about it.
Maybe after his blunder in the Philippines he was promoted to international MKT... Maybe after the second he was given the keys to the Pepsi Kingdom.