Slash has had a defibrillator implanted since age 35. Years of drug and alcohol abuse had given him congestive heart failure, and he was given as little as 6 days to live in 2001.

Duff used to drink a gallon of vodka per day. He then ‘cut that back’ to 10 BOTTLES OF WINE A DAY. His pancreas swelled up to the size of a rugby ball and was told that if continued drinking he would die soon. He’s been the picture of health ever since.

Following the death of Nicole van den Hurk, her stepbrother falsely confessed to killing her to get her body exhumed for DNA testing, thus leading to the arrest and prosecution of her attacker. On 17 January 2014, the police arrested a 46-year-old man identified as Jos de G. in Helmond, after his DNA matched traces found on the remains and at the crime scene. De G. had previously been convicted of three rapes, being sentenced to three years preventive detention and compulsory treatment for one of them. It was apparent from further examination that Van den Hurk had been raped prior to her death. The case went to trial in April at the court of Den Bosch, and on 3 July the Openbaar Ministerie charged De G. with rape and manslaughter. On 21 November 2016, he was found guilty of rape and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. In determining the penalty, the court took into account the finding that De G. was insane at the time of the crime. He was found innocent of manslaughter.

A cow named Cincinnati Freedom evaded police officers for 11 days after jumping a six-foot fence to escape a slaughterhouse; after finally being caught, and she was given the “key to the city” by Cincinnati’s mayor and allowed to live out her days in a NY sanctuary

The 7th time that park ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning coincided with the 22nd time he fought off a bear with a stick. Unusually, he was hit while in his truck, driving on a mountain road—the metal body of a vehicle normally protects people in cases such as this by acting as a Faraday cage. The lightning first hit nearby trees and was deflected into the open window of the truck. The strike knocked Sullivan unconscious and burned off his eyebrows and eyelashes, and set his hair on fire. The uncontrolled truck kept moving until it stopped near a cliff edge. He was hit again on August 7, 1973, while he was out on patrol in the park, Sullivan saw a storm cloud forming and drove away quickly. But the cloud, he said later, seemed to be following him. When he finally thought he had outrun it, he decided it was safe to leave his truck. Soon after, he was struck by a lightning bolt. “Although he never was a fearful man, after the fourth strike he began to believe that some force was trying to destroy him and he acquired a fear of death.”

A man survived the sinking of a ship in 1871, leaving him traumatized afterwards. Some forty years later he was finally able to overcome his fears and sail again… only to die on the Titanic. Ramon Artagaveytia of Uruguay was one of the 65 passengers to survive the fire and sinking of the ship America on December 24, 1871, carrying 164 passengers. He escaped by jumping off the ship and swimming for his life. According to a letter he wrote to his cousin, Enrique Artagaveytia, he suffered from nightmares and woke up in the middle of the night hearing screams of: “Fire! Fire! Fire!” Even during the simplest of trips, he would stand on the deck wearing his lifebelt out of fear. On April 10, 1912, he boarded the Titanic. In one of his letters, he expressed the assurance he felt because they had wireless telegraph on board. He felt that unlike the time nobody could see their light signals when America sank, they could communicate with the whole world instantly. However, the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, and Artagaveytia was one of the 1,500 who died.

Three people died inside a flight simulator in a flight safety building at the Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport, Kansas, when a real plane crashed into it. The 53-year-old pilot, Mark Goldstein, was a retired air traffic controller who had been recognized for his safety efforts by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He later became a contract pilot and was ferrying this plane from Wichita to Mena, Arkansas when the plane lost an engine during takeoff. The two-story building of the Flight Saftey Cessna Learning Center at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport had around 100 people in it at the time of the crash. Three people who were in the flight simulator at that time were found dead along with the pilot whose body was found on the roof.

Medal of Honor recipient, Roy Benavidez, was attacked by an NVA infantry battalion. He had 37 puncture wounds, an exposed intestine, a broken jaw, and eyes caked in blood. He was assumed to be dead until he managed to spit in the face of the doctor who was zipping him up in a body bag. On May 2, 1968, 1,000 men of the NVA infantry battalion surrounded a 12-man Special Forces patrol, which included nine Montagnard tribesmen. Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez was monitoring the radio when he heard someone appealing for help. Carrying a medical bag and a single knife, Benavidez got off the helicopter to help the patrol. Soon after entering enemy grounds, an NVA soldier stabbed him with a bayonet. Benavidez pulled the bayonet out and killed the attacker with his own knife. After the battle ended, Benavidez was thought to be dead as he had 37 puncture wounds, an exposed intestine, a broken jaw, and his eyes were caked in blood. As soon as the examining doctor was about to zip up the body bag, Benavidez spat blood on the doctor’s face giving a sign that he was alive. After courageously fighting in the battle for six hours and recovering from the injuries, he received a Distinguished Service Cross for his exceptional bravery along with four purple hearts.

In order to be qualified to pilot supertankers and other large vessels, pilot boat captains train on to scale versions that handle like their larger counterparts

Intelligent disobedience occurs when a service animal trained to help a disabled person goes directly against the owner’s instructions in an effort to make a better decision. This behavior is a part of the dog’s training and is central to a service animal’s success on the job. When a blind person wishes to cross a street and issues an instruction to the assistance dog to do so, the dog should refuse to move when such an action would put the person in harm’s way. The animal understands that this contradicts the learned behavior to respond to the owner’s instructions: instead it makes an alternative decision because the human is not in a position to decide safely. The dog in this case has the capacity to understand that it is performing such an action for the welfare of the person. In another example, a blind person must communicate with the animal in such a way that the animal can recognize that the person is aware of the surroundings and can safely proceed. If a blind person wishes to descend a staircase, an animal properly trained to exhibit intelligent disobedience will refuse to move unless the person issues a specific code word or command that lets the animal know the person is aware they are about to descend stairs. This command will be specific for staircases, and the animal will not attribute it to stepping off a curb or up onto a sidewalk or stoop. In a similar circumstance, if the person believes they are in front of a step and they wish to go down, but they are in fact standing in front of a dangerous precipice (for example, a loading dock or cliff), the animal will refuse to proceed.

Nearly 100 million sharks were used to be killed each year in China, mostly for their fins. However in few couple of years, 85% of Chinese consumers gave up shark fin soup, largely as a result of campaigning by ex-NBA player Yao Ming. What makes this egregious is that the sharks are caught, de-finned, and thrown back alive without their fins where they float around and die or sink the floor and die. It’s sort of like cutting off the chicken’s wings and throwing it on the ground and leaving it to die.

Tanya Savicheva a young girl trapped in the Seige of Leningrad. She kept a diary of the names of each family member that died, ending with a final entry for herself: “The Savichevas are dead Everyone is dead Only Tanya is left” Zhenya died on December 28th at 12 noon, 1941 Grandma died on the 25th of January at 3 o’clock, 1942 Leka died March 17th, 1942, at 5 o’clock in the morning, 1942 Uncle Vasya died on April 13th at 2 o’clock in the morning, 1942 Uncle Lesha May 10th, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, 1942 Mama on May 13th at 7:30 in the morning, 1942 The Savichevas are dead Everyone is dead Only Tanya is left

There is a Star Wars comic called Into the Great Unknown in which Han Solo and Chewbacca crash into Earth after using Hyperspace blindly. Native Americans kill Han, and his body is discovered by Indiana Jones 126 years later while searching for Sasquatch—which turns out to be Chewbacca. Han Solo and Chewbacca run afoul of an Imperial fleet after leaving the planet Hovan 99. As they evade a Star Destroyer and several TIE Fighters, Solo takes the Millennium Falcon blindly into hyperspace. The ship emerges in an unfamiliar system that contains several planets and moons, and the pair lands on a blue world after detecting life on it. The ship’s rear repulsorlift controls give out and they are forced to crash land. As they search for a settlement, Solo and Chewbacca are attacked by a group of Humans who wield spears, bows, and axes. Chewbacca fights them off with his bowcaster and his own strength, but Solo is struck by several arrows and begins to slowly bleed to death. Anticipating that he will not survive, he asks his co-pilot to return him to the Millennium Falcon, where he passes away in the captain’s chair. 126 years later, three Humans make their way through the same forest—an archaeologist named Dr. Jones, his sidekick Shorty, and their guide, in search of a legendary monster that has been sighted in the area. Chewbacca watches from afar as they come across the Millennium Falcon, board the ship, and discover Solo’s skeleton. The skeleton feels familiar to Jones, and, rather than continue his search for the monster, he decides to leave it as part of the “great unknown.”