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Hosted at the dawn of the Space Age, the 1962 World's Fair featured a glittering array of futuristic technology. Nearly 10 million people came to see the new cars and gadgets or ride to the top of the new Space Needle. While its technology was advanced, the fair anticipated none of the social changes soon to come - the society of the future looked like that of 1950s, but with gyrocopters. Why did US President John F. Kennedy lie, claiming to be too sick to attend the closing ceremony? More...
1992 - The first exoplanets are discovered
Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced that he found two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
1967 - Dictator Georgios Papadopoulos assumes power in Greece
During his six-year reign, thousands of political opponents were incarcerated and tortured.
1934 - The Surgeon's photo, allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail
In reality, the famous image depicts a toy submarine with a head and neck made of wood putty.
1918 - The Red Baron is killed
Manfred von Richthofen was a legendary German fighter pilot. He earned his renown and nickname by achieving 80 air combat victories in World War I. He was shot down and killed during combat at the age of 25.
1509 - Henry VIII is crowned King of England
In popular culture, the monarch is known mainly for his six marriages, two of which ended with the wife's execution.
Historic Trivia pick
Man saws off own foot to continue receiving jobless benefits
An unemployed Austrian man cut off his own foot with a circular saw so he could continue receiving jobless benefits.
Hans Url, a 56-year-old from Mitterlabill, then took the foot and cooked it in the oven so doctors could not reattach it.
World's Fair starts in Seattle, Washington
Hosted at the dawn of the Space Age, the 1962 World's Fair featured a glittering array of futuristic technology. Nearly 10 million people came to see the new cars and gadgets or ride to the top of the new Space Needle. While its technology was advanced, the fair anticipated none of the social changes soon to come - the society of the future looked like that of 1950s, but with gyrocopters. Why did US President John F. Kennedy lie, claiming to be too sick to attend the closing ceremony? More...
1992 - The first exoplanets are discovered
Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced that he found two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
1967 - Dictator Georgios Papadopoulos assumes power in Greece
During his six-year reign, thousands of political opponents were incarcerated and tortured.
1934 - The Surgeon's photo, allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail
In reality, the famous image depicts a toy submarine with a head and neck made of wood putty.
1918 - The Red Baron is killed
Manfred von Richthofen was a legendary German fighter pilot. He earned his renown and nickname by achieving 80 air combat victories in World War I. He was shot down and killed during combat at the age of 25.
1509 - Henry VIII is crowned King of England
In popular culture, the monarch is known mainly for his six marriages, two of which ended with the wife's execution.
Historic Trivia pick
Man saws off own foot to continue receiving jobless benefits
An unemployed Austrian man cut off his own foot with a circular saw so he could continue receiving jobless benefits.
Hans Url, a 56-year-old from Mitterlabill, then took the foot and cooked it in the oven so doctors could not reattach it.
Url was airlifted to a hospital in Graz, where he was put in an artificial coma so doctors could stabilize him.“The planning was meticulous,” Franz Fasching, a police spokesman, told the Daily Mail. “Url waited until his wife and his adult son had left the house and he was alone. He then switched it on and sliced off his left foot above the ankle—throwing it in the fire so it would not be possible to reattach it before he called emergency services.”
He “then made his way to the garage where he called emergency services and waited for them to arrive.”
According to the Austrian Times, Url had complained before the incident that he was too sick to work and “didn’t like the work he was offered.”“The foot was too badly burned to reattach,” a hospital spokesman said. “All we could do was seal the wound. He had lost a lot of blood—he almost died on the way to hospital.”
The kicker
According to the paper, being footless does not necessarily qualify Url for unemployment compensation.“He will be assessed once he is out of hospital, and we will see what work we can find for him,”Hermann Gössinger, a spokesman for the employment benefits office, said.