12750

Not all of Henry Ford's mechanical engineering worked out as successfully as the Model T Ford.

When Henry Ford was about ten years old, he noticed steam rising out of his mother's teapot on the stove. He figured that if the steam were trapped in the teapot, the whole thing would have to rise into the air. To test his theory, Henry took a clay teapot and corked the spout from inside and tied down the lid. He then put the teapot in the fireplace and settled down to watch closely. Soon something happened, but it wasn't what Henry expected. The teapot exploded, breaking a window and a mirror in the living room and scalding Henry and cutting his cheek with bits of shrapnel.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12751

In 1975, orchestra conductor Jose Serebrier accidentally stabbed himself through the hand with his baton while performing. The audience and musicians were impressed by the fact that he continued leading the orchestra in perfect timing as if nothing had happened.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12752

When he heard that Sarah Bernhardt may need to have a leg amputated, PT Barnum sent a telegram offering $1,000 for her leg.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12753

A husband and wife from Switzerland stopped in a restaurant in Hong Kong and asked that their poodle be taken to the kitchen and fed something. Because of a misunderstanding, the waiter did what he thought they wanted, and had the cooks fry the dog for the couple

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12754

Due to a temperature inversion and air pollution, the "London Fog" turned into a smog that killed 2,850 people during December 5-13, 1951.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12755

In a laboratory in Paris where researchers were conducting secret research to decide whether an unnamed industrial product causes cancer, six of the workers have come down with various rare cancers and two have died.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12756

Eel-skin wallets have been known to demagnetize credit cards

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12757

Russian scientists grew an orchid in space then returned it to earth. Before they could study it fully, someone stole it from the laboratory.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12758

In 1987 or 1988, in Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois, someone passed bad checks. I mean really bad. This unidentified person purchased at least $800,000 of merchandise at many stores, but with counterfeit checks. To avoid eventual capture, the thief coated the checks with some sort of chemical that caused them to disintegrate within hours. By the time the checks reached the banks, they were nothing but powder

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12759

A party was held in Moscow to celebrate the coronation of Czar Nicholas II in 1896. Free beer was offered to the public, causing a massive stampede in which 5,000 people were killed in the crush

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12760

There has been much speculation, but so far no proof, about what caused 30 towns to disappear from the USSR in 1958. All we know is that map-makers quit putting the towns on maps in an area of about 460 square miles. Some people have proposed that a natural disaster, such as a meteor strike could have done it, others say a military experiment went haywire.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12761

In the early days of television, game shows in which the contestants could win huge prizes were common. One fifty-four-year-old woman won big on the TV show, "Temptation," and promptly died of a heart attack during live broadcasting.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12762

During the 1954 Cotton Bowl, a halfback was close to completing a 95-yard touchdown with no opposition in sight. Tommy Lewis, a fullback of the opposing team, got so excited he leaped off the bench and tackled the halfback himself!

__________________
A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12763

Responses to emergencies by modern fire departments are very well choreographed, but it wasn't always so. In 1963, while the Matlock residence of New Hyde Park, NY was burning to the ground, the two fire departments which responded could not put out the fire, because they were too busy arguing about which department should do it.

__________________
A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

12764

When a girl in France was attacked by a molester who tried to kiss her, she bit off his tongue

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.