Almost Facts

Imagine logging on to YouTube and instead of endless cats doing backflips or people unboxing the latest tech gadget, you’re greeted by profiles, heart icons, and perhaps awkward video dates. Hard to picture, right? But that’s exactly the bizarre, barely-remembered backstory behind what could have been one of the world’s biggest dating sites—if history had … Read more

It’s wild to think that the Rubik’s Cube—one of the most iconic puzzles of all time—almost stayed locked up as a dry teaching aid. Before it became a worldwide obsession, a symbol of brain-twisting fun, it was a tool for something far more, well, serious: helping students grasp the mysteries of three-dimensional space. So how … Read more

Back in 2005, when astronomers discovered Eris—a Tenth Planet wannabe lurking way out beyond Neptune—the cosmic status quo rattled. Pluto, once comfortably perched as the ninth planet, suddenly found itself sharing the stage with a host of icy bodies competing for the spotlight. If you think Pluto’s demotion to “dwarf planet” was inevitable, you’re in … Read more

Imagine a dinosaur that almost slipped through the cracks of fame, a creature overshadowed by towering tyrannosaurs and flashy triceratopses. Velociraptors, those feathered speedsters with a reputation for villainy, nearly missed their chance to become household names. It wasn’t a lack of cool factor or predatory prowess that kept them out of the spotlight. No, … Read more

Imagine the world’s most legendary conqueror, Alexander the Great, barely making it out of his teenage years alive. Hard to picture, right? We’re so used to thinking of Alexander as this unstoppable force, a celestial blend of genius and destiny. But as a youth, he was no invincible titan. In fact, a brush with death … Read more

Imagine a world where the internet never became the sprawling, chaotic playground it is today—a world where your access to cat videos, memes, breaking news, or even random thoughts scribbled on a blog was locked behind closed doors, accessible only to a select few. Crazy, right? The idea that the internet was almost closed to … Read more

It’s wild to think that America, a country so stubbornly loyal to miles, pounds, and gallons, once came dangerously close to ditching it all for the metric system. You know, that neat, decimal-based system where everything bites off chunks of ten—meters instead of feet, liters instead of pints. It makes perfect sense on paper, yet … Read more

It’s wild to think of the Hubble Space Telescope—the iconic marvel floating 340 miles above Earth’s atmosphere—as anything less than a smashing success. Yet, if you rewind to its early days, it almost earned the title of cosmic disaster. The Hubble saga is a tale stuffed with ambition, engineering blunders, and a hefty dose of … Read more

It’s one of those stories that sounds like it’s been wrapped in legend and polished over decades: a messy lab bench, a forgotten petri dish, and a mold that changes the course of human history. Penicillin was stumbled upon by accident, but the real shocker? It was nearly dismissed as nothing more than a lab … Read more

Imagine having one of the most iconic bands in history walk into your office for an audition, only to pass them over. Sounds absurd, right? Yet, that was the reality for almost every major record label when The Beatles first came knocking. It’s a story that makes you wonder how often brilliance is overlooked simply … Read more