1. The ‘Evel’ in Evel Knievel - world famous motorcycle stuntman - was originally ‘Evil’, a nickname bestowed on him by the police in his early life. He continued using the nickname, misspelling it to soften it and to rhyme with his last name.
More details
2. The term ‘sniper’ was first attached to sharpshooters who could shoot the most challenging of game birds, the snipe.
More details
3. Soviet era training jets had limited range by design - to prevent pilots from defecting.
More details
4. In the 17th century, a country’s nautical reach was governed by the so-called Cannon Shot rule - giving countries control of water up to 3 miles offshore, roughly the range of the cannon in those times. That rule held until the mid-20th century - though artillery saw great advancements - largely because nations saw no advantage in claiming more.
More details
5. Richard Nixon was a ace poker player. In fact, most of the funding for his first congressional run came from poker winnings.
More details
6. Built in 1956, the Southdale Shopping Centre in Minnesota is considered the world’s first true shopping mall.
More details
7. The myth that it is unlucky to light three cigarettes from the same match is supposed to have been propagated by Swede Ivar Krueger - who ran a pan-European monopolistic matchmaking firm between the World Wars.
More details
8. One - or even a few - bullets puncturing the skin of an airplane is no big deal. The cabin of the airplane is pressurized and the hole creates a small leak, but the pressurization system will compensate for it.
More details
9. Though officially Route 66 ended a block away, Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California is symbolically viewed as its west end.
More details
10. Originally, football and baseball players daubed a black stripe on their cheekbones to improve contrast sensitivity. The black stripes supposedly minimised the skin’s reflectivity and cut down on glare - helping them see better, particularly when looking at the sky or bright lights.
More details
/archive/10 things
About:
Iqbal Mohammed is Head of Innovation & Strategy at a digital innovation agency serving the DACH and wider European markets. He is the winner of the WPP Atticus Award for Best Original Published Writing in Marketing & Communication.
He blogs about #innovation, #technology and #marketing at misentropy.com. You can reach him via email or Twitter.