After the 1900 Olympics, croquet was discontinued because only 1 spectator watched the event.

A “forever alone” tale for the ages. You probably know what croquet is. At least, you probably know it’s that game where people hit balls with hammers to make them go through some things on the ground. For the purpose of this article, that’s all you need to know. The (new) Olympics, in their relatively early days, at one point decided to include croquet as a sport. 

The Olympic Committee is always adding in new sports year to year. In 1900, the Olympics were held in Paris, and France won every croquet event. Some of the first women Olympiads also competed in there. But it wasn’t that popular with the spectators. An Englishman travelled from Nice just to see this particular event. He was the only one. As a result, croquet has not come back to the Olympics. 

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An ancient tomb in Ireland is older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza!

Newgrange tomb is what is called a passage tomb, which means that it contains a narrow passage made of stone and earth and containing several burial locations. Beyond simply being a passage tomb, it is a site of historical importance. 

It is a spiritual and ceremonial representation of the people who lived in Ireland over 5,000 years ago when it was constructed! Newgrange was carefully constructed, showing evidence of a society that understood concepts of construction and that was well-organized. 

It is a kidney-shaped mound and has an inner passage that is 19 meters long. It covers over an acre of land. In the passage is a cross-shaped chamber with a corbelled roof. It also has 97 curbstones decorated with art. It has been called a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

Newgrange is one of several similar constructions that are built along the River Boyne. Together these structures are known as Brú na Bóinne. Knowthl is the largest of the mounds, but there are about 35 other smaller mounds. 

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The President of Indonesia has released 3 pop albums while in office.

Susilo Banbang Yudhoyono has been president of Indonesia since 2004. Widely known in Indonesia by his initials SBY, he is now completing his second term in office. Before he was ever President, or even involved in politics, SBY was a musician and was heavily involved in the music scene. 

He was once part of a band called Gaya Teruna, even. In the late Aughties (2000-2009), he started rekindling his interest in music, despite already being in office. Three years after he was sworn in, he released his first ever music album. 

In English, it is called My Longing For You, and is a collection of ten love ballads and religious songs. Many of the country’s popular singers performed on the album. In 2009, he joined musician Yockie Suryoprayogo and formed the duo “Yockie and Susilo.” 

The two released an album called Evolusi. In 2010, he released his third album, "I’m Certain I’ll Make It." Is it awesome or unprofessional? Well, that’s for you to decide. 

It’s worth noting that there have been presidents who have done much worse with their free time than compose music. But really, could a guy who rocks a Peci fez that hard be blamed for making music? 

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Autotune was originally used to find oil!

Autotune has become a must in the contemporary pop music industry. Everyone from Justin Beiber to Lil Wayne uses it to fix their off key vocals. It's most liberal use was perhaps in Rebecca Black's 2011 debut ''Friday.'' And of course, rapper T-pain is the gold standard for auto-tune usage, as he popularized it in his songs and even in a very popular App. 

It was designed by former Exon Engineer, Andy Hildabrand, who used sound waves to pin point the location of oil reserves under water. He realized that the same autocorrelation technique used to find oil could also be used to tame a singer’s unruly notes. 

In 1977, he released autotune to the public as a software plug-in for audio editing. It went from being used occasionally to smooth over a few notes to completely enveloping the singers' entire voices. In both its original and current situations, there's no denying that autotune has led to big bucks. 

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In a rare move for a TV show, FOX has absolutely no control over episodes of The Simpsons

Many shows are limited in the material they can broadcast by the network they are on, yet the TV show, “The Simpsons,” is not one of them. Networks like to have control over the shows they air so they can ensure no material is inappropriate or will put off viewers, but in the case of “The Simpsons” producers were able to negotiate a specific contract in which FOX could not make decisions or cuts to episodes.

The reason the show was able to negotiate this was because FOX was struggling as a TV network when “The Simpsons” signed on. Because they did not have large viewership they were desperate to get different shows to join their network, and so they allowed “The Simpsons” to air their episodes almost independently of FOX. This provision also allowed the show to make fun of FOX, which most other shows can’t do that easily! 

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