His mother died when he was 17, and his father died when he was 18. At the time, you were a minor until you were 21. He had himself declared an emancipated minor at 19 so he could inherit his father’s company, which made tools for drilling for oil.

He used the money from that company to invest in his many business ventures throughout the years. He was at one point the richest man in America.

As his mental health deteriorated he started filling his inner circle with Mormons, who he felt were trustworthy.

When he died, his autopsy revealed several broken-off hypodermic needles in his arm.

Source: National Geographic Channel

I was 12 when the LA Riots happened, and admittedly quite a bit less interested in current events at the time.

I did know that the whole thing had something to do with Rodney King, and there was a guy named Reginald Denney. I saw a show last night on the National Geographic Channel that was about the riots, and learned some interesting things.

LA Riots Background and Trivia:

• The riots occurred after 4 police officers were acquitted for allegedly using “excessive force” when apprehending Rodney King after a high speed pursuit. The apprehension was video taped by a bystander and the local news media edited the video to highlight the most offensive portions. Footage of King attacking the police was edited out. Footage of the officers using their batons to subdue King was not edited out. The officers claim that King continued to resist and fight after being tazed twice (which happened before the video camera showed up).
• After the verdict was announced, the Mayor immediately went on TV and fanned the flames of discontent by denouncing the verdict. That’s what you would call “Not Helpful.”
• The LAPD did not have a plan in place in case there was violence after the verdict. This was in part because everyone expected convictions based on the edited video they had seen on the news a million times.
• The Police Chief did not take command during the riots. He instead went to a political event. The mayor was trying to push a new law putting term limits on the Police Chief as a way to force out the Chief. The mayor and Chief had not spoken for more than a year prior to the riots.
• 59 Firefighters were hurt while trying to put out fires that the rioters had set. 4 were shot.
• Rioters looted and set fire to a large portion of South Central LA. Some Black business owners spray-painted “Black Owned” on their businesses. Rioters skipped these businesses and targeted the Korean owned businesses instead. There was quite a bit of animosity between the Black and Korean communities.
• Reginald Denney was a truck driver who was pulled out of his truck and beaten by a mob. His beating was captured by news helicopters. He survived, but needed brain surgery.
• Rodney King won $3.8 million from the city in a civil suit. Since the incident he has been arrested at least 11 more times for things like hit-and-run, indecent exposure, possessing PCP, spousal abuse, and fleeing from police and crashing into a house. He will appear in the second season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, since apparently society would rather put people on VH1 than incarcerate them.

Source: National Geographic Channel

If a large enough meteor hits the earth it can send the force through the Earth and out the other side creating volcanoes.

The force is called Antifocal Antipodal Force (Ann – tip – id – ull).

In simple (and probably slightly scientifically inaccurate) terms- the meteor hits earth, a shockwave goes through to the exact other side of the world (the point 180 degrees on the other side), agitates the magma under the earth on the other side, the magma needs a way to release the pressure, and presto- you have an instant mega volcanic eruption.

The neat thing about this is that while half of Earth is being vaporized by a meteor that is so large it touches both the ground and the stratosphere at the same time, the other half of the Earth is being slowly killed by the toxic fumes from a mega volcano.

There is a theory that a meteor like this hit the Earth a bajillion years ago and wiped out 99.9% of the life here. The resulting charred world was more fit for reptiles, which led to the rise of the dinosaurs.

I’m hoping that when it comes, it has my house in the cross hairs, since I’d prefer the instant vaporization. But I’m not sure how the people of Madagascar would feel about that, since that means they get the volcano.

Source: National Geographic Channel

Update: Post has been updated from the original. See comments for details.