The Lawsuit Over A Penny

In 1973, the price of copper was starting to increase dramatically. To cut costs, there was a proposal sent to Congress to produce aluminum pennies instead of copper. The Mint made about 1.6 million of these pennies and brought them to Congress for approval. They were rejected. So, all the coins were taken back and…

Underrated Value

In 1884, a young man died.  After the funeral, his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial to him, so they met with Charles Elliot, the president of Harvard University at that time. Eliot received the couple into his office and asked what he could do. After they expressed their desire to fund a memorial,…

Useless

3M Company’s researcher Spence Silver was working on a brand new sticky concoction. He discovered an adhesive that could make a piece of paper stick and re-stick on different things. 3M didn’t see a need and wrote it off as useless. One day, another of 3M’s employees, Authur Fry, told Silver about the problems he…

Tossed In The Trash

You’ve looked everywhere for it. You’ve checked in all the places you can think of, but there is that lingering thought haunting at the back of your mind, “I wonder if I accidentally threw it away.” Most times it turns out not to be the case. For some unfortunate people, however, several valuable items accidentally…

You’re Not Trash

A story is told about a woman who accidentally fell out of her second-floor window into a garbage truck that just happened to be outside. She tried to get the truck drivers attention but to no avail. She climbed her way near the opening and waited until the truck stopped so she could get out.…