Before alarm clocks became popular, British workers called “knocker uppers” were hired to tap on windows to wake people up in the morning.
Lake Placid Olympic Village became a federal prison after the Games. Since many athletes took home keys as souvenirs, all the locks had to be changed.
Pistachios are self-heating and under the right conditions can spontaneously combust. They are often treated as “dangerous cargo” at sea.
Lightning heats the air around it to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit—five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
As long as it contains two tablespoons of tomato paste, a slice of pizza counts as a vegetable in American public schools.