When “Coke Classic” returned, it wasn't actually the same as the original.

In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company discontinued the original Coke formula and introduced “New Coke.” It was an overwhelming failure. Less than three months later, it was announced that “Coke Classic” would return. This was such a big deal that David Pryor, a US Senator, called it “a meaningful moment in US history.” 

As soon as the “Coke Classic” began circulating again, people were not all convinced it was the same formula, which turned out to be true. This was due to a change from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup. So the pre 1985 Coke is actually gone! People speculate that the introduction of the new Coke only to make the old Coke return was a marketing ploy to make Coca-Cola Classic sell more.

Changing beloved products can be a very difficult thing to do. Another good example of this is Tropicana and Gap, which changed their iconic branding. After facing similar backlash to the one that Coke got, they also reversed their decisions. Tell us, what brands or sites have you stopped using after they changed?

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There’s an entire power grid just for Texas!

There are actually only 3 power grids for the entire U.S. The Western, the Eastern, and Texas has its very own. It's a complex network of independently owned and operated power plants and transmission lines.

The system is becoming questionable due to aging infrastructure and energy consumption and is being examined and major changes could need to take place in the near future.

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In 1995, the USC created a robotic garden controlled by Internet users!

During its run online, any user could log on and control how the garden was tended to. For instance, you could enter commands to water flowers and a robotic arm above the garden would correspond by performing your task!

The website describes that the reason for this project was to give a peaceful community feeling where anyone can tend to plants peacefully. In the first year of being live, over 9000 members (there's no way that member level can be right ;) ) helped cultivate the garden at Southern Cal!

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JFK’s assistant was in the car behind him filming everything when he was assassinated, but ran out of film just before the shooting!

David Powers was JFK’s personal assistant and close friend. He was a military veteran and oversaw the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum from 1964 until 1994 when he retired.

David was in the secret service vehicle directly behind the President’s limousine during the assassination. He was taking personal film footage of everything up until 12:17 p.m., right before they reached Dealey Plaza where the President was shot. He ran out of film just before the tragedy hit.

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Winston Groom, writer of Forrest Gump, didn’t receive any royalties for the film adaptation!

The deal Groom made with Paramount was that he would attain $350,000 for the rights to his book as well as 3% of the film’s total box office gross. Seems fair, right? Unfortunately, the producers and movie studio did not end up paying Groom anything!

The reason for this was with a technique called “Hollywood accounting” which conned Groom out of his money by saying that the film lost money! It was said that both Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis earned $40 million from percentages in box office receipts! Because of this incident, Groom refused to allow Hollywood to turn Forrest Gump’s sequel, Gump and Co., into a movie.

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