On Christmas Eve in 2008, SpaceX and Tesla were literally hours from bankruptcy until Elon Musk was able to secure $20M from investors in those final hours. Two days later, SpaceX won a contract with NASA worth $1.6B.

An $80 worth of coca leaves, from a Colombian peasant, can sell for $800 as coca paste, $2,147 as pure cocaine in Colombian ports, $34,000 just over the US border, and $120,000 on the streets of New York

In 1994 the CEOs of the seven biggest tobacco firms testified before Congress that “nicotine was not addictive” despite overwhelming scientific evidence

Russia is opening a “Military Disneyland” that will allow guests to shoot military grade weapons and try out various military simulators.

A full-time cashier at Costco makes about $49,000 annually. The average wage at Costco is nearly 20 dollars an hour and 89% of Costco employees are eligible for benefits.

A man independently carved a 360 ft long pathway through a mountain to help shorten a route to/from his impoverished town. After 22 years and much abuse, it was completed and cut 35km off of a commonly traveled route.

Jon Huntsman instituted a 4 day work week in Utah: 2/3 of employees said it made them more productive, it reduced conflict at home and work, led to higher staff morale, lower absenteeism, and cut carbon emissions by 14%

Inmates of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. can get free laser tattoo removal, e.g., gang sign tattoos they want to break from. Over 2,200 inmates have had tattoos removed; the removal incurs no cost to the public, paid for in part by the charity Homeboy Industries

In 1919, a serial killer in New Orleans stated he would kill again, but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing. On that night, all dance halls reached capacity and amateur bands played jazz at hundreds of house parties. There were no murders

L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, falsely claimed to have been a nuclear physicist. In reality, he flunked both high school and college, leaving after his sophomore year at George Washington University during which he failed a course of “Molecular and Atomic Physics.”

In 1977, Aerosmith’s flight crew inspected a Convair CV-240 for possible use and rejected it because they felt the plane and crew were not up to their standards. That plane crashed on October 20, 1977 from fuel exhaustion due to poor maintenance, killing three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

A man has hidden $2 million worth of gold in an unknown location. The only clue to the location is a poem. So far, people have came as close to 200 feet of the treasure, but has not yet been discovered.