Michael Keaton was so against Batman Forever, that even $15 M couldn't sway him to reprise his role.

15 million dollars could probably sway most people to do a lot of things. 15 million dollars and the chance to play Batman would probably be heaven for some others. Not Michael Keaton, however.

Keaton played Batman in the first two films, Batman and Batman Returns. Though he was at first going to come back for the third movie, when Tim Burton was dropped as the director, Keaton left too.

Keaton was unhappy with the screenplay, because he felt it was too lighthearted. When he first said he would leave, he was offered the 15 million, but still refused. Consequently, he was replaced by Val Kilmer, who was later replaced by George Clooney.

Obviously after that came Chris Nolan’s reboot trilogy, and rumors say in 2016 comes the next Batman reboot with an all new cast and production team.

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The Pillars of Creation were most likely destroyed 6,000 years ago.

The name might be foreign, but the image should be familiar. It’s on the right. The Pillars of Creation are basically a star making factory in the Eagle nebula. The photograph was taken back in 1995, but recent evidence suggests they might have been destroyed a few thousand years ago.

As you likely know, it takes a while for images from that far out in space to reach us, so we’re looking back in time a few thousand years when we see most stars that far out.

Astronomers believe a supernova took out the pillars several thousand years ago, but we won’t see it for another thousand or so. It’s depressing to think about, but unfortunately a lot of what we see up there is dead.

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The Russians armed a space station with a 30mm cannon, and test-fired it in space, for 'self defense.'

The Salyut 3 was a Soviet space station launched on June 25, 1974. The Soviet Union released little information about its design because of the secretly military nature of it. Salyut 3 was equipped with a self defense gun that was designed to be used aboard the station.

Some accounts claim it was actually a Nudelman-Rikhter Vulkan gun. Due to potential shaking of the station upon firing the weapon, it wasn’t tested while in orbit. The gun was also positioned in such a way that it couldn’t be aimed independently of the station, and the station itself had to be turned to aim it.

Despite the initial concerns, following the final manned mission, the gun was fired an unknown number of times into space. Let’s hope The Beatles’ “Across the Universe” (which was projected into space) reaches aliens before that payload does.

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Keiko the whale from "Free Willy" was put into an unhealthy, small pool in Mexico City where he was malnourished after achieving fame from the movie.

Keiko was the first captive orca to ever be returned to life in the ocean, and he died back in 2003. His death was unexpected because he was in good health, but the day before his death he was lethargic and fatigued. He swam to a shore on December 12th, 2003, and died. He died of pneumonia.

He was captured in 1979 and sold to Mexico City where he performed for crowds. He eventually starred in Free Willy, and after much debate was set free like his character. Before that, though, he was put back in the Mexico City pool while his fate was decided. It’s thought that how he was treated then played into his death later, because of how malnourished and sickly he became there.

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Women can walk around topless in New York.

If you’ve been to New York, you’d question why this was such a pressing matter that someone took the time to put it into legislation. For 80% of the year in New York, it’s a bit cold for going topless.

The ruling was first made in 1992, following the case known as The People v. Ramona Santorelli and Mary Lou Schloss. During that case, multiple women were arrested for violating decency laws. Like with many places where being topless is legal, it was argued then that it was discriminatory because the same standard wasn’t help to men.

The New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the women, and it’s been legal ever since. Meanwhile, San Francisco could be in the process of banning nudity.

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