You know the phrase “let the cat out of the bag.” We all use it but rarely think about it. It’s believed to have come from an actual scam.   Back in the 1700s, piglets were often sold in bags. You paid first and you checked out your purchase later.   Some sellers took advantage of that gap. They’d swap the piglet for a cat. Cats were cheap and piglets weren’t.   Most buyers never looked. But every once in a while, someone opened the bag before walking away and out would jump

In 1971, a gang of thieves in London executed what looked like a perfect heist. Anthony Gavin, the mastermind, along with Thomas Stephens, Reginald Tucker, and Benjamin Wolfe, rented a leather goods shop called Le Sac two doors down from the Lloyds Bank on Baker Street. Over several months, they tunneled forty feet beneath a neighbouring restaurant straight into the bank’s vault. Using hydraulic jacks, thermal lances, and careful planning, they bypassed alarms and emptied hu

In the late 1970s, Jean-Michel Basquiat was completely unknown. He’d dropped out of school, had no stable place to live, and survived by selling hand-painted postcards and T-shirts on the streets of New York. One day, he walked into a SoHo restaurant and did what he always did to get by – he tried selling a postcard to someone at a table for a dollar. That “someone” happened to be Andy Warhol. Warhol handed over a dollar and a conversation started. That connection eventually

In 1859, on San Juan Island – a small island in the Salish Sea between Washington State and Vancouver Island, an American farmer shot a pig eating his potatoes. Britain demanded $100 in compensation, the farmer offered $10, and neither side would budge. Tensions escalated quickly: U.S. troops arrived, British warships appeared, and cannons were aimed – all over a single pig! No shots were fired, and remarkably, only the pig died. The standoff ended peacefully, but the offici

On September 26, 1983, Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov was on duty in a secret bunker that monitored U.S. nuclear launches. Suddenly, alarms went off and the computers showed five American missiles heading towards the Soviet Union. Protocol said he had to report it immediately, which could trigger a full Soviet response – and likely a nuclear war. But something felt off. Petrov thought, “Why would the U.S. launch only five missiles?” A real first strike would be hundreds. He

In the early 1900s, the Mona Lisa hung in the Louvre with almost no attention. No crowds, cameras or mystique. Then on August 21, 1911, the museum handyman vanished – and so did the painting. Police questioned Picasso. Crowds lined up just to stare at the empty wall. Newspapers around the world ran breathless updates on the missing artwork. Over two years later, in December 1913, the thief was caught in Florence, claiming he only wanted to “bring it home.” The painting return

In 1903, Mary Anderson visited New York City during a snowstorm. Streetcars kept stopping because the drivers had to climb out and wipe snow off the windshield by hand.Anderson went home, sketched a swinging arm with a rubber blade, and filed a patent for the first windshield wiper.Automakers ignored her. They said drivers wouldn’t want such a “distraction.”A few years later, as cars became faster and weather became a real hazard, every manufacturer adopted the idea.   And An

In 1982, engineer Lonnie Johnson was testing a new heat pump in his bathroom when a blast of water shot across the room. While it was a total accident, Lonnie instantly saw the potential.   He sketched a prototype, refined it, and kept pushing (even after multiple toy companies said no).   In 1990, the Super Soaker launched. It would generate over $1 billion in sales and became one of the bestselling water guns in history!   What does this have to do with Match and Fable’s la

During World War II , Vesta Stoudt watched ammunition boxes rattle down the line at the Green River Ordnance Plant. Soldiers needed to open them fast, but the thin paper tabs snapped off too easily. “Someone should fix this,” her coworkers said. Vesta wiped her hands on her apron. Someone almost always meant, no one . So, she tried a stronger cloth tape and It worked. She showed supervisors and while they nodded, politely, they did nothing. That night, at her kitchen table