Filed Under X

Strange news. Odd facts. Real stories. Random rabbit holes... and everything in between. 😂 Welcome to the files.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Wait... an alien crashed in TEXAS in 1897?! 👽

In 1897, a Texas newspaper reported that an “air ship” crashed into a windmill in the tiny town of Aurora, Texas.

According to the story, the wreckage contained the remains of the pilot, who was described as “not an inhabitant of this world.”

And according to the legend... they buried him in the local cemetery. 👽

Yep... Texas has an alien crash story that happened 50 years before Roswell.

More than a century later, the legend is still part of Aurora's history... it's even mentioned on the Texas historical marker at Aurora Cemetery.

I have questions.

Starting with… what exactly do you put on an 1897 alien’s headstone? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Filed Under: X

NOTE - Image is AI-generated. Story based on the 1897 Aurora legend.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Today's completely useless information...

In 1873, Colgate started selling toothpaste in glass jars.

And yes... the entire family would dip their toothbrushes into the same jar. 😳

In the 1890s, toothpaste started making its way into collapsible metal tubes, an idea inspired by the tubes artists used for paint.

Colgate introduced Ribbon Dental Cream in a tube in 1896.

So the toothpaste tube sitting in your bathroom today can trace part of its history back to an artist's paint tube.

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

https://t.co/1cCHWHKYll

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Christian Bale has spent nearly 17 years building something that sounds almost too simple.

A foster care village in California designed to keep siblings together.

Together California has 12 homes where brothers and sisters entering foster care can stay in the same place instead of being split up.

Most kids already arrive carrying one trauma. Getting separated from the only family they still have shouldn’t be the next one.I would love to see more states copy this.

Filed Under: Love ❤️

Link in the comments 👇🏼

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Todays completely useless information...

A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

I don't know who got to name this one...

but they understood the assignment. 😂

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

What were they thinking... 🤦🏻‍♀️

In 1970, an 8-ton dead sperm whale washed up on a beach near Florence, Oregon.

Obviously, it had to be removed.

So the Oregon State Highway Division came up with a plan...

Blow it up with dynamite.

They used half a TON of dynamite, expecting the whale to basically disintegrate into small pieces that scavengers could clean up.

That's not exactly what happened. 😂

Huge chunks of whale blubber went flying through the air... including one that crushed the roof of a nearby car.

Nobody was injured.

And there was still quite a bit of whale left on the beach.

I'm guessing someone eventually said...

“Okay... maybe we should've thought this through.” 😂

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

So... a National Guard member assigned to a crime fighting task force was arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on another Guard member...

over an argument about regulation haircuts.

I have questions. 😂

Starting with... what exactly ARE the haircut regulations?!

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Did you know...

Pennsylvania still has a law making fortune telling for money a misdemeanor?

18 Pa.C.S. § 7104 covers things like predicting someone's future through cards, palm reading or astrology.

But it goes even further...

It also includes claiming you can use spells or charms to give someone good luck, stop bad luck, find buried treasure, win someone's affection... or even put bad luck on a person or an animal. 😳

And this isn't an old law that disappeared a century ago. It's still in Pennsylvania's criminal code.

So now I'm curious...

Should fortune telling for money be illegal... or should adults be free to spend their money on it if they choose? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

It really is, but he wasn't always a “storm drain lizard”... at least I wouldn't think so, especially since someone is claiming him. 😂

Although it would be funny if that was also his original name...

I guess the only thing funnier would have been if he was found in Madison Square Garden instead of Missouri. 😂

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Well... this isn't something you expect to find in a Missouri storm drain. 😂

Animal Control was called after someone spotted a VERY large lizard hanging out in one.

Turns out it was an Asian water monitor.

They rescued him, named him Gojira... and apparently he has a “very friendly demeanor.”

I mean... just look at that face. 😂

Someone has now come forward claiming to be his owner.

I have questions...

Mainly, how did Gojira end up in the storm drain... and what is his real name? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Filed Under: X

[Grace + Sass @DawnBauer1111]

Difficult interactions create a contrasting battle of my ego, my need to be respected and despair over those pointing fingers of my thoughts while not recognizing their own! So I write. Thanks for another life lesson & prompting of a devotional entry…

Respect Over Acceptance

I remember saying it as a little girl, long before I had enough life experience to understand the weight of my own words:

I would rather be respected than accepted. I’m not sure I even knew what that meant then. But somehow, I knew there was a difference.

Acceptance can be conditional.

It can quietly say, You can belong here as long as you behave like us, believe like us, pray like us, choose like us, and make decisions we understand.

Respect asks something different.

Respect says, I may not understand your decision, but I will honor your dignity enough to ask why you made it.

I learned the difference painfully.

Years later, I left an abusive marriage with three small children after seeking help from the church and Christian counselors. Instead of someone asking, “What happened?” I was told I could no longer lead Bible study because I was now a divorced woman and it wasn’t a good look.

They saw the divorce.

They didn’t ask about the table that had been flipped with my 20-month-old son attached to it.

They saw the decision.

They didn’t ask about the desperation that preceded it.

They saw what it looked like.

They never asked why.

Decades later, I still recognize that same ache when someone reaches a conclusion about my heart without becoming curious about it first.

And perhaps that is why one question has become so important to me:

What happened?

Before deciding what someone should have done, I want to ask what happened.

Before assigning motives, I want to ask what happened.

Before judging someone’s response, prayer, decision, grief, anger, fear, or even failure, I want to understand the road that brought them there.

That doesn’t mean actions don’t have consequences.

It doesn’t mean truth becomes relative.

And grace certainly doesn’t require us to pretend harmful behavior isn’t harmful.

It means I can call out an act without condemning the person.

It means I can disagree without stripping someone of dignity.

It means I can remain curious long enough to admit that what I see from the outside may not tell me the whole story.

Maybe that little girl understood more than I gave her credit for.

She wasn’t asking everyone to approve of her.

She wasn’t asking everyone to agree with her.

Perhaps she was simply asking:

Before you decide who I am, will you care enough to ask why?

Today, I understand what she couldn’t yet articulate.

I don’t need acceptance from everyone.

But I do want to offer—and receive—the kind of respect that makes room for another person’s story.

Because grace doesn’t demand sameness before it recognizes dignity.

Scripture

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” — Romans 12:10

Reflection

Where have I confused accepting someone’s choices with respecting their humanity? Is there someone I have judged by what I could see without ever becoming curious about what I couldn’t?

Prayer

Lord, teach me to be curious before I am critical. Give me the humility to ask what happened before deciding what someone should have done. Help me recognize the dignity You placed in every person, even when I disagree with their choices. And when correction is necessary, let me address the action without condemning the soul. Amen.

Anchor

I do not have to understand someone’s why to respect them enough to ask.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

What were they thinking... 🤦🏻‍♀️

In 1970, an 8-ton dead sperm whale washed up on a beach near Florence, Oregon.

Obviously, it had to be removed.

So the Oregon State Highway Division came up with a plan...

Blow it up with dynamite.

They used half a TON of dynamite, expecting the whale to basically disintegrate into small pieces that scavengers could clean up.

That's not exactly what happened. 😂

Huge chunks of whale blubber went flying through the air... including one that crushed the roof of a nearby car.

Nobody was injured.

And there was still quite a bit of whale left on the beach.

I'm guessing someone eventually said...

“Okay... maybe we should've thought this through.” 😂

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Did you know...

North Carolina takes bingo prizes VERY seriously.

The state still has a law specifically regulating something called “beach bingo.”

Offer a prize worth $10 or less?

You're good.

More than $10 but less than $50?

Class 2 misdemeanor.

A prize worth $50 or more?

Class I FELONY. 😳

Imagine explaining that one...

“What are you in for?”

“Well... we got a little carried away at bingo.” 😂

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Today's completely useless information...

A fisher cat isn't a cat.

It's actually a member of the weasel family.

So naturally, we called it a fisher cat. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Why do we name things like this?

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

@wisdomXplorer I’ve hit 4 out of 5… I’ve never traveled to a new country alone.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Well... that's one way to answer a burglary call.

A homeowner in Washington called 911 after hearing banging inside the house.

Police arrived and found the intruder...

A bobcat.

At the top of the stairs. 😳

Apparently, it had gotten inside through an open window and then couldn't figure out how to get back out.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt... including the bobcat.

But seriously...

Imagine calling 911 because you think someone broke into your house and the police tell you there's a BOBCAT upstairs. 😂

I'm pretty sure the house belongs to him now.

Filed Under: X

Washington homeowner hears mysterious banging, calls 911 before police find growling bobcat at top of stairs https://t.co/WPwb9sEDnP #FoxNews

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

@RiddleSphere Apparently... I just want to know where the saying, "slow as molasses" came from... it wasn't from this.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

Did you know...

In 1919, Boston was hit by a flood.

Not water.

Molasses.

A massive storage tank holding about 2.3 MILLION gallons of molasses suddenly ruptured in Boston's North End.

And if you're thinking, “Well... at least molasses moves slow...”

Nope.

The initial wave reportedly moved through the streets at around 35 mph. 😳

It damaged buildings and the elevated railway and, sadly, killed 21 people and injured 150.

Apparently “slow as molasses” does NOT apply when 2.3 million gallons of it are coming at you.

History is wild. 😂

Filed Under: X

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

@yesadok Thanks... It's gonna give me something to do with all the random stories I run across... 😂 They don't really fit my other account.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

I had planned to shut this account down at the end of September.

My Premium runs out in October, and I had already decided I wasn't going to renew it.

But...

Instead of shutting it down, I've decided to do a little rebranding and run an experiment for the next month.

Welcome to Filed Under: X.

No niche. No posting schedule. No real strategy.

Just strange news, odd facts, real stories, random rabbit holes... and whatever else I stumble across that makes me think, “Wait... WHAT?” 😂

Basically, if I find it interesting, weird, funny, ridiculous, or worth talking about... I'm filing it under X.

At the end of the month, I'll decide whether this little experiment continues or whether I finally shut the account down like I originally planned.

Until then...

Let's see what we find.

[Filed Under X @WaitImThinkin]

@RiddleSphere Exactly... No pressure, just fun! 😂