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The famous Athenian lawgiver Draco was smothered to death by gifts thrown at him.

Not this guy

In the 7th century B.C. Draco was visiting the island of Aegina to be honored in front of a large crowd in the Aeginetan theatre. Back then it was customary to honor people by throwing their clothes at them. Draco was covered in so many caps and cloaks that he suffocated and died. The implication of this story is that Draco was literally “killed by kindness”. However, some scholars have a different interpretation.

Draco was famous for coming up with the first written constitution in Athens. His laws were well-known in history as being incredibly harsh. To this day we refer to harsh laws as “draconian”. With that kind of legacy, it’s a small wonder why people would want to kill him. Combine that with the fact that Aegina was a rival city-state to Draco’s home of Athens, and there’s good reason to suggest more sinister motives behind the Draco’s gruesome death by smothering.

An account of the official story. And here's a different take.

One of the 9/11 victims predicted the attacks.

Rick Rescorla was a security expert who served as the chief of security for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Center. He warned about the building’s vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks prior to both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the September 11 attacks. He predicted both attacks, implemented evacuation procedures for them, and led people out of the building both times.

In 1992, Rescorla warned the New York Port Authority about the possibility of a truck bombing in the building’s basement. When such a bombing did occur in 1993, Rescorla helped evacuate the building, and made sure he was the last person out. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, Rescorla warned again about another threat to the WTC: an airplane attack. His safety recommendations were not followed.

Rescorla was in the World Trade Center on 9/11, even though he was supposed to be on vacation. Once again, he led the evacuation efforts. After leading most of Morgan Stanley’s employees out of the building, he went back inside to rescue more people. He never came back.
(source)

There’s a deadly disease in Papua New Guinea that’s caused by eating human brains!

The traditional funeral ritual of the Fore people in Papua New Guinea is for family members to consume the bodies of the deceased. Unfortunately, eating human brains is the best way to contract a deadly, untreatable disease called Kuru. Kuru causes tremors, weakness, inability to stand, depression and emotional instability, and eventually the inability to eat. Perhaps the most disturbing symptom is the spontaneous, uncontrollable laughter. This symptom is common enough that Kuru is also known as the “laughing sickness”.

Kuru comes from a prion (an infectious protein) that attacks the brain. The prion is transmitted by the consumption of an already infected brain. The prion has a long incubation period; it can stay latent for 40 years after the initial infection before the host begins to develop symptoms. Kuru has no cure, and there’s no way to treat it. Thankfully, no one has reported having the disease since 2005.
(source)

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Gas isn’t more efficient when it’s cold.

Here’s a odd myth: “It’s more efficient to buy gasoline when it’s cold”. Gasoline becomes more dense when it’s cold. That means that a gallon of warm gas would have less mass (thus less gas) than a gallon of cold gas. Gas is sold by the gallon, so you could hypothetically buy gas for less than it costs to buy warm gas. However, an experiment to test this theory proved that the price difference would be negligible.

Gasoline takes a long time to cool down. On a hot summer day, the gasoline in a tanker truck is going to be very warm. The gas does cool down when it’s stored in an underground tank after the gas is still delivered to the gas station in the morning, but not enough to make a difference. A Consumer Reports experiment found that on a warm day, gas stored in an underground tank all day cools down anywhere between 8 and 17 degrees Fahrenheit. This adds up to only a 1% difference in volume between gas at its warmest and gas at its coldest. This is hardly enough to make a dent in your gas bill.

While cold gas is barely cost-efficient, one thing it certainly isn’t is fuel efficient. According to this list of cold weather driving tips, cold gas has a harder time evaporating than warm gas. In really cold weather, this means your car might not even start because the gas is too cold!

Read more debunked myths about saving gas.

The Arctic Tern is a bird that flies the circumference of the Earth every year.

With an expected lifespan of 34 years, the Arctic Tern can end up flying over 30 times around the circumference of the Earth in its lifetime. This is the longest annual migration trip taken by any bird in the world. Their migratory pattern brings them from their traditional breeding ground in the Arctic to their winter home in the Antarctic. When they come back to the Arctic in the summer, they typically return to the same breeding grounds where they were born.
(source)

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