A new use for olive oil

Olive oil can provide a closer shave when used in place of shaving cream.

Check out realsimple.com for more new uses for everyday things.

Oleic acid

Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid. It makes up a large percentage of olive oil.

Armin Meiwes

Armin Meiwes is a German who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim he had found via the Internet. After jointly attempting to eat the detached penis, Meiwes killed his victim, and continued to eat a large amount of his flesh.

Don Siegelman

Don Siegelman was the governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. He was released from prison on March 28, 2008 after serving nine months for corruption.

Tyler Crotty

13 year-old Tyler Crotty was caught trying to stave off sleep during a George Bush rally in 2004.

Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research was founded on the Microsoft Redmond campus in the state of Washington, and most of its computer scientists still work at this location.

Korean Airlines flight shot down by Soviet Union

In 1983, Korean Airlines (KAL) flight 007 ended up nearly 200 miles away from its expected destination where it flew into Russian airspace and crossed over the Kamchatka Peninsula, where some top-secret Soviet military installations were known to be located. The Soviets sent two fighters to intercept the plane who located the KAL flight and tried to make contact with the passenger jet. Failing to receive a response, one of the fighters fired a heat-seeking missile. KAL 007 was hit and plummeted into the Sea of Japan. All 269 people on board were killed.

Animadvert

Animadvert means "to comment critically, usually with disapproval."

pictotux

The picotux 100 is the world's smallest Linux computer.

Al Gore...again

Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean in 2004.

Harry Enfield

Harry Enfield is an English comedian.

Here is one of his videos from his show.

Radio-frequency identification

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several feet away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

Rebecca Schaeffer

In California in 1989, Rebecca Schaeffer, a TV actress, was murdered by Robert John Bardo, who got her home address through the DMV records. Since then, California has restricted access to DMV files.

Operation Moon Angel

Hackers broke into a NASA computing facility that controlled the Hubble telescope and changed its orientation toward Earth to spy on a nudist colony near Camden, Maine. One of the hackers said when arrested: "Getting arrested for hacking is the first significant step in my career goal of becoming a highly paid security consultant."

From the book Morality and Machines: Perspectives on Computer Ethics by Stacey L. Edgar.

Jacobo Arbenz

Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was the president of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954. He was ousted by the U.S. and was replaced by a military junta that plunged the country into chaos and long-lasting political turbulence.

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a square in London, England that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

Tip O'Neill

Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. was a U.S. Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts and served as Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987.

War of the Worlds

In 1938 thousands of people were fooled into believing that Martians had invaded New Jersey when they mistook a broadcast of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds for a newscast of real events.

The Year Without a Summer

The Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities destroyed crops in parts of Canada and northern Europe.

Ann Hodges

Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama is the only person on record to have been hit by a meteorite.

Human body

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Wingtips

Wingtips, or brogues, are low-heeled shoes made of heavy leather, said to have originated in Scotland.

The war in Afghanistan

George Bush sent only 11,000 troops to Afghanistan in 2001. There are more policemen in New York City than that.

Wyoming

There are about 59,000 registered Democrats in the state of Wyoming.

Hoysala Empire

The Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian empire between the 10th and the 14th centuries.

Grapefruit seed extract

Grapefruit seed extract (GSE), also known as citrus seed extract, is a liquid derived from the seeds, pulp, and white membranes of grapefruit. While there has been no scientific demonstration of efficacy, this extract has been claimed by some practitioners of alternative medicine to possess antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties.

Cockroach control

Place sliced or crushed cucumbers near your food to keep cockroaches away.

Check out other pest control techniques.

George P. Burdell

George P. Burdell is a fictitious student officially enrolled at Georgia Tech in 1927 as a practical joke. Since then, he has received several degrees, served in the military, gotten married, served on MAD Magazine's Board of Directors, and been involved in many other things.

Parliament Street

Parliament Street is a 50 meter long street in Exeter, England. The street is approximately 45 inches at its widest and less than 25 inches at its narrowest.

Tommy Douglas

In November 2004, Tommy Douglas was voted "greatest Canadian of all time" following a nationwide contest. He was Canada's "father of Medicare" and led the first socialist government in North America.

Bulletproof vests

Most bulletproof vests offer little protection against arrows, ice picks, stabbing knife blows, bullets with their points sharpened or armor-piercing rounds. As the force is concentrated in a relatively small area with bladed weapons and armor-piercing rounds, they can push through the weave of most bullet-resistant fabrics.