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When Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, died in January 1924, Winston Churchill summed up his life aptly: "[The] worst misfortune [of the Russian people] was his birth: their next worst his death." Lenin's death was a dangerous moment in history, Churchill aptly observed.

In 1952, the owner of a chicken restaurant named Harlan Sanders began franchising out his brand to other restaurateurs throughout the country. Colonel Sanders's chain, then known as Kentucky Fried Chicken (and now KFC), spread quickly, and Sanders became a very wealthy man.

Crying, many people believe, can be cathartic – a good way to relieve stress and let other emotions out. But in many cultures, crying – especially in public – is socially frowned upon.

On the southern shore of eastern Cuba is Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a small outcrop of land and sea controlled by the United States. The almost-rectangular 45-square-mile zone has been home to US troops since the summer of 1898, when Marines landed there during the Spanish-American War.

The Mexican state of Chiapas (officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas) is located in the nation's south, bordering Guatemala and the Pacific Ocean. Among the many indigenous people of the area are the Tzotzil, who are about 300,000 strong and live primarily in a municipality known as San Juan de Chamula (known simply as Chamula).

For many people around the world, the day starts with a cup of coffee. This has been true for centuries, but the origins of the drink aren't quite clear.

On April 15, 2014, the moon wasn't nearly as bright as the moon typically is, and appeared to take on a reddish color (from Earth, of course) – the result of a lunar eclipse, which occurs when the sun, earth and moon are aligned. The earth blocks most (but not all) of the sunlight that would have otherwise reflected off the moon's surface, leading to a dull, red sphere in the sky.

Yves Rossy is a pilot. Like most other pilots, he flies things. But unlike any other pilot, the thing he flies is himself.

In 2011, a total of 81,000 people were adopted by Japanese families. If you think that's a lot of babies changing families, though, you're wrong – but not because 81,000 is a small number.

The name Edward Martin is hardly a household one. At the pinnacle of his career – at least, the part that's relevant to this story – he competed in his hobby's world tournament three times.

In 1999, a 22-year-old Missouri man named Cornealious Michael Anderson held up a Burger King at gunpoint, making away with more than $2,000 in cash. He was captured two months later, and in July 2000, Mike Anderson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Alligators' tails allow them to swim. By moving its tail from side to side, the animal can propel itself through water at fish-like speeds, which is important because when it comes to eating, alligators have a pretty easily defined diet: if it is in or near the water, it is food.

On March 9, 2014, Neil Moore was in Wandsworth Prison, a maximum security prison in London, England, awaiting trial. Moore, whose modus operandi was fraud, had been charged with orchestrating a series of bank heists – pretending to be a bank official and, via a bit of social engineering, he had managed to convince (real) staffers at other financial institutions to wire him some cash.

The 1970 FIFA World Cup has a few unique claims it can make: it was the first and only time that Israel qualified for the final stage; it was also the only time that Argentina failed to qualify; and it was, to date, the only time that the qualification rounds helped spark a war.

In September 2013, a New York City man named Antonio Ciccarello died as a result of a stab wound. About five days prior to his death, Ciccarello was commuting to work like he normally did, traveling from Manhattan's Lower East Side to Times Square. But this trip was different.

Paninis with ham and Colby cheese; Moroccan roast chicken breast; lentil, quinoa and eggplant salads; a make-your-own-gourmet-burger bar; chipotle pulled pork over brown rice; poached pears; porridge; and balsamic strawberry craft sodas – according to various news reports, those are some of the items on the menu at The Corner, a cafe in Sydney, Australia.

When you place a telephone call, magic happens. You hit some buttons, the phone makes some noises, and then the machines take over.

In 1983, a woman named Rita Quintero was found in a small Kansas town, wearing eccentric clothing and rummaging through trash cans for her next meal. Officials approached her, aiming to take stock of the situation, but Quintero appeared uncooperative.

As of this writing, the Gobi Desert in northern China/southern Mongolia encompasses about half a million square miles (about 1.3 million square kilometers) – and that's "as of this writing" because the Gobi Desert is growing.

At a few hundred dollars a ton, scrap metal is decently valuable – and it's most certainly a good source of extra revenue for those who run body shops, construction sites, junkyards and the like. And if you're a thief, it's also a pretty good thing to steal – not only is the demand for scrap metal rather robust (therefore making it pretty easy to find a willing buyer), but scrap metal also looks like any other metal, making tracing it back to its true owner very difficult.