10 The London Myth When it comes to opium dens in the Victorian era, surely there was nowhere that had more of these seedy places than London. We read about them in the works of Dickens and in Sherlock Holmes, and it’s one of the quintessential images of the darker side of Victorian life. Only, it’s not exactly true. While there were opium dens in London, there were nowhere near as many as we tend to think....
The Parker Solar Probe is designed to travel millions of miles and get closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history. Along the way, it will receive gravity assists from Venus, become both the fastest and most autonomous object ever made by humanity, and virtually carry more than a million passengers. Here are 10 stellar facts about NASA’s mission to the Sun. 10 Goal To ‘Touch The Sun’ The Parker Solar Probe has a mission to do what no other man-made object has ever done—namely, to probe the outer atmosphere of the Sun....
But there is always a bit of exaggeration and artistic license. In the case of prison stories, the plotlines concerning conjugal visitation may be the worst offenders. Below, we break down some of the most rampant rumors about conjugal visits and show that the reality can be far less exciting. 10 Phasing Out Despite the prominence of conjugal visits in popular culture, very few states in the US allow them....
10 Letter Written By Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus is arguably the most famous explorer in history. In 1493, he wrote an eight-page letter addressed to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who financed his historic 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The letter, which was written in Latin, narrated Columbus’s first impressions of Cuba and Hispaniola. The historic letter was stolen from a library in Florence, Italy, in 1950. The staff didn’t notice that the real document was stolen because it was replaced by an excellent forgery....
Most of us are used to house flies and wasps, perhaps the widely recognisable ladybug beetle, but few are aware of just how distinct and strange insects can be. Evolved in incredible ways to ward off predators, source nourishment, and efficiently reproduce, there are myriads of examples we can look at. We’ll be examining ten of these wild adaptations today. 10 Incredible Firsts In The Evolution Of Life On Earth...
As easy as it seems, it turns out that many DIY colonial ambitions fell foul along the way, either from conflict, disease, financial infeasibility, or perhaps even otherworldly powers. What follows are 10 examples of colonial enterprises that ended in failure. 10 Little Venice (Klein-Venedig)1528–1546 Indebted to the Welsers, a prominent German banking family from the early to mid-16th century, Spain granted colonial rights to a German enterprise to establish a colony in what is today Venezuela....
10 Maria Anna Mozart Maria Anna Mozart (left above) was a musical genius. A child prodigy before her brother, Wolfgang Amadeus (center above), she dropped jaws all over Europe. At only 12, she fluently performed difficult piano pieces. She might even have been the root of Wolfgang’s remarkable legacy: Maria was trained only by her father, Leopold (right above), a court musician, but both Maria and Leopold guided Amadeus from age five onward....
Black cats are famous, infamous, and full of paradoxical reputations. Here are some of the more far-fetched ideas about the ubiquitous midnight moggies. Let’s separate the truth from the hype! 10 Black Cats Bring Bad Luck Is your kitty the Devil incarnated? When he’s just missed the litter box again, you might be tempted to think so. But back in 1233, Pope Gregory IX was absolutely certain. He announced that black cats were here to do the Devil’s work, and life for these noir felines was never the same again....
The founder of a group of black Muslims which became the Nation of Islam (NOI) in Detroit, Michigan in 1930. Muhammad’s theology was a blend of 50% theosophy, 50% traditional Islam, and 100% crazy. Muhammad taught his followers that the Earth was over 76 trillion years old and at the time before the creation of Adam, there was one continent called “Asia”. He also taught a very bizarre view of the origin of the human race, and this is where the bigotry comes in....
But sometimes, you end up getting something you weren’t expecting. Sometimes, the deliveryman marks the point when your day for from normal to surreal. Whether it’s fraudsters delivering head injuries or the real deal dropping off something disgusting, here are ten terrifying delivery horror stories. 10 Coffee Criminal Sean Magna was from the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal in Canada. Working as a deliveryman, Magna would deliver coffee to cafes and restaurants, making sure to always be paid in cash....
10Extra Kidneys When most organs are transplanted, the old non-functioning ones are usually removed. However, in the case of kidneys, they are often left in the body. This means someone whose kidneys have failed (and has received a donor organ) will have their new kidney plus both of the old ones that no longer work properly. The reason for this is the location of the kidney. It is located in a rather inconvenient spot in your lower back, so the doctors performing the operation just leave them in unless there is a really important reason to remove them (such as the non-functioning kidney being infected)....
But this wasn’t always the case. Before the government protected kids from things such as figurines covered with lead paint, older generations were handed some wild toys and told to go outside and play. This list presents ten toys that prove your grandparents were from a tougher age in history. 10 Belt Buckle Derringer Toy Gun In 1959, Mattel gave the world a toy gun that didn’t need hands to work....
Due to a lack of lifeboats, a fast-sinking vessel, and missed communication with nearby vessels, more than 1,500 people lost their lives following the liner’s collision with an iceberg on April 14, 1912, which sank within 2 hours 40 minutes on April 15, 1912. Continue reading to learn about ten of the most tragic stories from the Titanic. 10 The Fortune Family The Fortune family from Winnipeg, Canada, were first-class passengers on the Titanic....
Notably, unidentified and presumably intelligently controlled craft that can buzz military bases with impunity could certainly represent a direct risk to national security. Here are just ten of the best and most interesting UFO incidents to have taken place over various Air Force facilities around the US. 10 18 Silver Discs Hover Over Nellis AFB October 1951 In October 1951, at a closed part of the Nevada desert reserved for nuclear testing named Yucca Flat, several military personnel witnessed 18 “silvery, rotating discs” hovering over the area for 15 minutes....
The man didn’t speak a word and left with a hefty stack of stolen cash. Cowboy Bob, as the robber came to be known, would frustrate the FBI throughout the early 1990s and shock everyone when his identity finally came to light. 10 The Robberies During that first robbery, Cowboy Bob wasted neither time nor words. He slipped the cheerful young woman at the counter a note that read, “This is a bank robbery....
This list highlights some of the most underrated songs of the last 70 years, according to various websites’ stats, fans’ opinions, and rankings on Top “However Many Songs” lists. Which of these do you agree with? 10 “Cindy Lou” – Dick Penner (1957) The ’50s saw artists like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Ritchie Valens, and Patsy Cline dominating the music scene, to mention but a few....
10 The Spontaneous Combustion Of Matilda Rooney A farmhand named John Larson spent Christmas 1885 with his employers, Patrick and Matilda Rooney, an elderly couple who lived just outside of Seneca, Illinois. They shared several drinks before Larson retired for the evening and went upstairs to bed. Sometime during the night, he underwent a coughing fit and had trouble breathing, but soon drifted back to sleep. When Larson woke up on Christmas morning, traces of soot were on his pillow....
In the past, people tried many different methods to promote their longevity, some more pleasant than others. Did you know, for example, that Taoist sexual practices, if performed correctly, are supposed to confer immortality? Over the centuries humans have tried to live longer by eating such things as rattlesnakes, caterpillar fungus and bee pollen. They’ve drunk mercury, tea mushroom extract and colostrum, the first milk of new mothers. Nowadays we know a lot more about strategies that can really work....
This week, we look at individuals who did their best to make the world a slightly better place. We have a man who lifted one million kilograms for charity, a doctor who went the extra mile for his patient, and a little girl who pulled an ancient sword out of a lake. We also examine some new technologies that give us reason to be hopeful for the future. There is a network that could allow us to communicate with each other just by using our brains....
10 Erin Langworthy Visiting Victoria Falls in southern Africa is a dream for many, but for 22-year-old Erin Langworthy, it turned into a nightmare. The Australian was bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge while visiting Zambia in 2012 when the cord snapped and she plunged 111 meters (364 ft) into the crocodile-infested Zambesi River below. She was swept down the swollen river, her feet still bound together by 10 meters (30 ft) of rope, and spent 40 minutes in the water, until she finally managed to grab onto some rocks and an employee of the bungee company pulled her onto the river bank....
