The Taj McDonalds
People say the Taj Mahal is "the greatest monument to love ever built." What they don't know is 17th century emperor Shah Jahan also planned to construct a second palace -- the Taj McDonalds. Originally described as "a roadside dining establishment designed in the futuristic Googie style of architecture," the building was eventually constructed by the Shah's descendents in 1902. Despite sporting a 4-story rotating flying saucer, the Taj McDonalds ultimately wasn't as successful the Taj Mahal. It ranks 1,328th on the list of Most Cherished Landmarks, just behind a bowling alley in Garden Grove, California.
Radioactive Christmas-Tree Ornaments
Marie Curie really took one for the team. In 1908, the noted physicist wrote in her journal, "Rejoice! Pierre and I have discovered that this new 'uranium' emits a bewitching greenish light. We have sprinkled it hither and thither upon our Christmas tree. Oh, how it glows with a wondrous luminosity! Truly, we are blessed with splendid Yuletide cheer!" The Curies perished shortly thereafter. Fortunately for us, however, the discovery of radioactivity sparked a remarkable century of physics and gave rise to relativity, atomic fusion, and Tang.
The Endurance Expedition
Ernest Shackleton shoulda known better. Boat + ice = no boat. Yet, in 1914 the skipper of The Endurance threw caution to the wind and embarked with 22 crewmen on a very slow boat to the South Pole. Two years later, the 23 sailors limped back to port in a lifeboat -- cold, soggy, and slightly late for lunch. Thankfully, Shackleton used this colossal setback to learn from his mistakes. When asked about his 1918 expedition, the explorer responded, "We'll have more supplies, better topographical maps, and, oh yes, we'll be exploring Tahiti."
Marvin Mealworm
In 1928, a young cartoonist named Walt Disney introduced two loveable new characters: "Mickey Mouse" and "Marvin Mealworm." Mickey enthralled audiences with his winning grin and can-do attitude. Marvin Mealworm, however, disgusted millions with his putrid antics. He was quickly canned. But luckily for us, the spirit of irreverence and questionable taste lives on at WildBrain, a motley collection of animated favorites from around the world. Case in point: "Thank You Mask Man," the Lenny Bruce cartoon that continues to shock and amaze after all these years.
The Ford Pinto
Fast forward to the late '60s: Herbert Zimbleman, a draftsman for the Ford Motor Company, conceives of a radical new concept in automotive design -- put the gas tank in the trunk. Thus, the Ford Pinto was born. The zippy compact sold like hotcakes for seven years before consumer safety groups discovered a small manufacturing defect: When lightly prodded from the rear, the Pinto exploded into a fiery ball of death. Fortunately this story has a happy ending; the legacy of the Pinto lives on in dozens of enthusiast sites devoted to the legendary car's smooth lines, simple maintenance, and irrepressible flammability.
Three Commentators on Monday Night Football
An experiment in broadcasting terror, the 1970 debut of the three-man announcing team was a dark day for sports fans. Hard enough to stomach with two commentators, football games were immediately plagued with an exponential increase in unbearable Sports Cliches. "Third down and forever," "a Cinderella story," "faster than greased lightnin'." The verbal onslaught got so bad that, at one point, network executives actually had to cut away and broadcast the movie Heidi. Thankfully, the MNF team was eventually whittled down to the duo of Al "Giving 110 Percent" Michaels and Boomer "That's Gotta Hurt" Esiason.
The Bootsy Collins "New Age" Period
1988 found funk superstar Bootsy Collins out of the spotlight and looking to make a comeback. Hoping to capture a little of that Yanni magic, Collins traded in his sequined bellbottoms and bass guitar for a mock turtleneck and a Mellotron synthesizer. The new attitude worked out brilliantly until one night when, during his song "Waterfalls and Other Happy Things," Collins suffered a nervous collapse -- stepping to the mic, screaming "Supafunkadeelicious!" and launching into the 23-minute psychedelic jam known as "Funk Ain't Broke." As a result, Collins lost his lucrative contract with Windham Hill Records.