Bill Gates just became the richest man in the world. Again!

Although he had lost the title to Mexican magnate Carlos Slim for over six years, a recent surge in Microsoft's stock price has let Bill Gates reclaim the title of the world's richest man.

Gates' fortune now stands at $72.7 billion, while Slim's is $72.1 billion. Slim's fortunes also fell because Mexico passed a bill that will tighten the reins of his enormous telecom company, America Movil.

Next in line? Warren Buffet at $59.7 billion, then Spaniar Amancio Ortega at $57 and finally, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad at $55.6 billion. What's remarkable is that both Gates and Buffet have already given so much of their money away, and yet they're still at the top of the list!

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A family found a $4.85m lottery ticket in their cookie jar!

Ricardo Cerezo had been buying lottery tickets compulsively. After a month, his wife was annoyed and asked him to go get them checked for prizes, or she was going to throw them away.

He took the tickets which had been put in a cookie jar and went to a 7-Eleven to check them. Most weren't winners. However, the last one said 'file a claim,' which meant it was worth $600 or more. That's when he went online and realized that he had won $4.85 million and didn't even know about it.

The family was facing foreclosure on their home, but now thanks to this fortunate windfall, they'll be able to keep their home. Hopefully they put the money to good use.

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A town in Michigan disappeared because they helped rebuild Chicago after the fire!

No good deed goes unpunished, they say. It might have been the case for the town of Singapore, Michigan. After the devastating fire that destroyed Chicago, Holland and Peshtigo in 1871, Singapore became a valuable source of lumber for the reconstruction.

The town became completely deforested after supplying lumber for helping with the reconstruction. This was their big mistake. Without the trees to cover them from the great Lake Michigan winds, the town became completely eroded. Sand started covering streets and houses.

By 1875, the town was completely vacated and it was consumed by sand. The town of Singapore now only lives in the name of the Singapore Yacht Club, located at one end of the town.

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Michael Keaton didn’t want Michelle Pfeiffer in the first Batman because it’d be too awkward. She played Catwoman in the sequel!

The 1989 film, Batman, stars Michael Keaton in the title role, Jack Nicholson as the villain and Kim Basinger as the beautiful love interest. Just one in a long series of Batman movies, this particular Batman film was a critical and commercial success with over $400 million in box office sales.

Before this success though, the film's casting was a difficult task. A veritable who's who of Hollywood leading men were considered for the role of Batman, including Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Selleck.

Producer Jon Peters and director Tim Burton both favored Michael Keaton, though. His was a controversial casting, and Warner Brothers received 50,000 protest letters about it.

Burton then suggested that Michelle Pfeiffer play Vicki Vale, the role that would later go to Bassinger.

Keaton had been in a relationship with Pfeiffer though and thought it would be too awkward. Bassinger was then cast, but Pfeiffer would later play Catwoman in "Batman Returns."

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UPS has saved more than 10 million gallons of gas by telling their drivers not to turn!

In 2004, UPS asked their drivers to do something that seems a little strange: Don't make a left turn unless it's absolutely necessary. Turns out, UPS engineers had been studying that since 2001, and realized that the most significant cause of idle time was caused from drivers making left turns.

What they did was design new routes which maximized the efficiency of package delivery by making a series of right-turn loops. This development has led to UPS saving more than 10 million gallons of gas since 2004, and reducing carbon emissions by 100,000 metric tons, or the equivalent of 5,300 cars being off the road for a year.

(Source)