Month: November 2020

Many of us assume that the way we speak “just makes sense.” However, anybody whose brain has ached from trying to sort of direct object word orders or verb tenses in a new language, only to hear local 3-year olds flawlessly rattle off a perfect phrase in that language, has a sense of how aspects

Many people will consider a job at a top tech company like Google the high point of their career. That is no surprise. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is one of the four trillion-dollar companies in the world. It receives millions of applications from would-be employees every year but only a handful ever manage to get

As a society, we are very lucky to live in the time period that we do. While things might seem terrible with climate change, armed conflict and pandemics, we really need to take a moment to appreciate the things we do have. Running water, central heating, food choices beyond compare. Most people would say we’re

In the 1960s, a Viking settlement was discovered in Newfoundland, Canada that predated Christopher Columbus’s famous voyage by about 500 years. The discovery shattered the notion that Columbus was the first person to discover the New World (outside of the indigenous people who had been living there for millennia, of course). So if the Norse

Art is a subjective thing. Some people look at modern art and see a pile of junk while others stare at a pile of junk and see profundity. One of the biggest misunderstandings about art history is that there has been a steady progression from primitive art to some level of perfection it reached recently.

We all know not to put up a middle finger at a polar bear. We all know not to tell a black widow that it’s got no friends. Would you hang around if you spilled your beer on a gorilla? There are many animals we instinctively know not to mess with. Here’s list of some

Quentin Tarantino started getting serious about writing and directing screenplays in his mid-twenties. At the time, he was working at a video rental store in Manhattan Beach, California, cutting his teeth on an amateur production called My Best Friend’s Birthday. The project was made on a shoe-string budget, using a basic 16mm camera and a

Just kidding. Obviously, there is a lot more to countries around the world other than their landmarks, but it cannot be disputed that they are a big part of the reason people choose to travel to certain locations. Some of these landmarks have amazing backstories, while others have fantastic legends surrounding them, drawing in visitors

Many people believe high-tech problems require high-tech solutions. It’s not quite so. Complex technologies sometimes require simple, low-tech solutions that may cost next to nothing. Cheap here doesn’t mean inferior since these solutions are often better than the more expensive, high-tech solutions. This list is evidence that the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle is

Step aside, #FloridaMan – this one’s for the ladies. Anything guys can do, girls can do better. And in the Sunshine State, “anything” includes narcotics, aggravated assault, public nudity and other inventive ways of ending up in handcuffs. In the era of #MeToo, Florida has evolved with our socially progressive times to become a truly

Expert answers often come with jargon that can put you to sleep. News stories help, but misinformation tends to creep in now and then. Journalists can’t be expected to sort through scientific minutiae during a crisis. It’s up to us to figure out the truth. And as you read through this list, you might be

According to the Pratfall effect, competent people become more likeable after making small mistakes. After all, everyone is prone to the odd blunder now and again. But some errors are so spectacular that they end up becoming the stuff of legend. For example, we all remember the tale of George Bell, the Excite CEO who

After a rough first winter in the New World, the Pilgrims came together in 1621 to give thanks for a successful harvest. The local Wampanoag tribe came to join them and the two groups celebrated together for several days. Nearly 400 years after the first American Thanksgiving, we hope that everyone remembers how it all

It takes a unique soul to become an artist. Some have it, some don’t. But with any artist, sometimes a creative mind can be a burden and drive them into some pretty dark places. Substance abuse and outright violence are common issues, especially with musicians. A study conducted on popular musicians from 1956 to 2006

Peru is a beautiful and fascinating country with a rich culture and history, but how much do you know about it? If you’ve never been to Peru, odds are you know little about it, which is a shame. The country has featured heavily in the news due to its ongoing political upheaval, but looking beyond

Artistic genius can be a flighty thing. No sooner have you started on a project than another brilliant idea enters your head and you turn to that. Leonardo da Vinci was famed for his creations in his day but he was also infamous among his patrons for his inability to deliver on promised artworks. One

Let us ask you a question… How many photos of the earth have you seen? By photos of the earth, we aren’t talking about photos taken from the upper atmosphere or the international Space Station. We mean photos taken from space or some other planet. For most people, the answer would be one or two.

While most people know of the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification, the process can occur naturally. It’s rare, but every so often, a corpse will lay in the right conditions, and many years later, they’re found. These naturally-occurring mummies have revealed numerous details about the lives these people led, and they are often thousands of

More than six months after the event, the Royal Family last week revealed Prince William tested positive to coronavirus in April. It was kept private to avoid alarming the nation. It’s not the first time the palace has opted to keep things within the royal family hush hush, although the reasons differ all the time.

One of the current bugaboos of the mainstream media in the United States is Q Anonymous. Despite months of left-wing chaos in major cities which has caused billions in damages and claimed lives, media figures like Savannah Guthrie of NBC News appear so concerned by Q that she more or less scolded President Donald Trump

3, 7 and 13 are arguably the most recognizable numbers when it comes to superstition. Bad luck, for instance, is said to come in threes, as is death. Some who believe in superstitions, held their breath after the news broke in 2016 that actor and talk show host Alan Thicke had passed away on 13

If a figure resembling Christopher Lee’s patrician Dracula were to swirl his cape through your Greek or Serbian mud streets any time between 1650 and 1930, there was only one reason to be frightened of him: namely, because someone so unusual and aristocratic must surely be your distant landlord. He was certainly powerful and dangerous,

The role of the First Lady is a unique position. Each woman who has occupied the unofficial office has made it their own, taking on everything from hosting guests, holding press conferences, tackling social issues, or influencing leaders behind the scenes. But there may be some strange facts you haven’t heard about some of America’s

It is an inherent fact that mankind has been committing criminal acts since before there were even words for the crimes themselves. Whether the behavior is a product of genetic disposition or environmental factors, humans are capable of horrendous feats that defy logical comprehension. It is often rather shocking to learn just how depraved humanity

The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in human history. Because it happened in the 20th-century, it is one of the most well-documented and detailed accounts of human suffering ever chronicled. The Nazis systematically slaughtered millions of people, and far fewer escaped the torture and degradation inflicted upon the populace by Goebbels and

Netflix recently released David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, an autobiographical feature recounting the life and times of the environmental broadcaster we all know and love. In this feature film, the 94-year-old Sir David Attenborough looks back at the evolutionary history of life on earth, mourns the loss of wild places he has visited

With over 2,000 years of riches and 1.2 billion subscribers worldwide, the Pope is one of the most well-known, powerful, and influential people in the world. For all the benefits that fame, power, and influence bring, there is one downside that always follows, and that is unwanted attention. Sometimes it’s unwanted because you’re trying to

In the evolutionary arms race between predators and prey a huge range of weapons and techniques have developed to give each side the edge it takes to survive. Many prey evolve ways to avoid the attention of their predators, but predators also find stealthy ways to capture their dinner. From camouflage, to play acting, to

We’ve all had those types of shower thoughts, where we take the time to consider how the world would be if some niche thing were different. For example, have you ever thought about what would happen, say, if humans devolved to monkeys? Perhaps maybe you joked once about how we’re ruled by the less intelligent?

The concept of reality TV has always been fraught with danger. The average viewer often asks themselves, why would anyone willingly subject themselves to being on such shows? Following reality TV’s birth in the 1990s and explosion in the early 2000s, it’s evolved to a curious state and it’s easy to cringe in hindsight at