The Lion King was stolen?

  Some people think the Disney cartoon "The Lion King" bears some uncanny similarities to the 1950's Japanese anime series "Kimba the White Lion." Disney claims the similarities are all coincidental, I don't wanna make any judgment calls so why don't you decide?

Bubble wrap was a failed attempt at plastic wallpaper.

In 1957 two inventors named Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes were attempting to create a plastic wallpaper. Although the idea was a failure, they found that it did make for great packing material. That materail became the bubble wrap that you use when packing breakable things and then spend hours popping all the bubbles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_wrap
ps if you have a hankering to pop bubble wrap right now you can find a virtual version here http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml

Balloons were made for science

The rubber balloon was invented by chemist and physicist Michael Faraday in 1824.  He invented it for use with experiments involving hydrogen.  But what fun are rubber balloons if only scientist get to play with them?  It didn't take long before rubber balloons were being sold for a penny a piece at circuses and in parks in America. The latex balloons we're more familiar today were first manufactured by J.G. Ingram in1847 London.
http://www.balloongeeks.com/faqs/32-when-were-balloons-invented

The Northern Lights are mirrored at the South Pole.

The Northern Lights or Aurora borealis are an amazing display of  dancing lights caused by collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. These lights are also seen over the south pole and are referred to as Aurora australis. Scientists have learned that in most instances northern and southern auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with similar shapes and colours.

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

There has been a mystery radio signal in Russia since the early 1980's

UBV-76 is the call sign of a shortwave radio station that usually broadcasts on the frequency 4625 kHz (AM suppressed lower sideband). It is known among radio listeners by the nickname The Buzzer. It features a short, monotonous buzz tone, repeating at a rate of approximately 25 tones per minute, for 24 hours per day. The station has been observed since around 1982. On rare occasions, the buzzer signal is interrupted and a voice transmission in Russian takes place. Despite much speculation, the actual purpose of this station remains unknown to the public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

A horse tricked people into thinking he could do math.

In the early 20th century a horse named Clever Hans was trained by his owner Wilhelm von Osten, to answer simple question. Hans was said to have been taught to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, keep track of the calendar, differentiate musical tones, and read, spell, and understand German. Questions could be asked verbally or written down, and Hans would answer by tapping his hoof. He was wrong occasionally, but was generally about 89% accurate. However after a formal investigation in 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was watching the reaction of his human observers. Hans could read the subtle body language of the questioner (who knew the answer to the question) and would stop tapping his hoof when the involuntary change in body language signalled the correct answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_hans

Tomatoes are a fruit....or are they a vegetable?

Tomatoes have been classified as both vegetables and fruits, and I'm sure this classification has even been the source of at least one or two heated arguments. So you'll be happy to know that just like in elementary school, everyone is right. The term "fruit" is a botanical term, the seed-containing ovaries of a flowering plant, and by definition this would include tomatoes. The term "vegetable' however is a culinary term, and lacks a scientific definition and is instead, defined loosely by the culture of food. For example, plants which are most commonly used in soups, salads, or as side dishes to main course are typically considered vegetables. As as result vegetables have come to include things like tomatoes (fruit), corn (grain) and mushrooms (fungus, not even a plant). So you see the two terms are not mutually exclusive, so tomatoes can be referred to as both fruits and vegetables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatoes#Fruit_or_vegetable.3F