These Vintage Photos Prove That Roller Derby Has Always Been Cool

Chicago Coliseum

The teams skated approximately 11.5 hours a day until they hit 3,000 miles, the distance between New York City and Los Angeles. Team standings were tracked with multicolored lights and their hypothetical progress across the U.S. on a large map.

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The More You Know

  • You spend about 10% of the time you're awake blinking.
  • In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead — he suffered a heart attack mid-race but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20–1 outsider victory.
  • The first American woman to go to medical school was admitted as a joke. Geneva Medical School thought it was joke when Elizabeth Blackwell applied to attend 1847. She graduated in 1849, started her own practice, and opened an infirmary for the poor.
  • Grasshopper Mice have evolved to turn scorpion venom into a pain-killer. They now prey on scorpions.
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