In 2010, architect and PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London, Julijonas Urbonas, from Lithuania, decided to attempt to design a method of euthanizing people that they might even enjoy. His solution- the Euthanasia Coaster, which he designed and built at a precise 1:500 scale. It’s a roller coaster that could seat up to 24 passengers and […]
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Today I found out that the Colosseum in Rome wasn’t finished until 80 AD; before that, Romans used the Circus Maximus for games. The Colosseum is one of the most iconic landmarks in Rome and incredibly popular with tourists. Movies would have you think that chariot races, gladiator shows, and battle simulations always took place there, but that isn’t true. […]
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If you liked this infographic, you might also enjoy: The Origin of the Loch Ness Monster The Origin of the Bigfoot Legend A Real Life White Whale that Destroyed Over 20 Whaling Ships and Survived Encounters with Another 80 Republished with permission from Flikli
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Today in History: October 31, 1517 On the last day of October in 1517, a scholar and priest named Martin Luther did as priests commonly did at the time when they had something to discuss amongst the clergy, he nailed a piece of paper to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. Unlike many other such documents nailed […]
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Thibodaux, Louisiana had a history of growing sugar cane. Settled sometime in the 18th century, it was incorporated into a town in 1830. Named after a popular plantation owner, it might not come as a surprise that—in addition to sugar cane—the town also raised quite a bit of racial tension back in the day. The town was occupied by Union […]
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This is a guest post from our friends over at List25.com For more great videos from List25, subscribe to their extremely popular YouTube channel here.
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In 1999, 37 year old Bill Morgan was a truck driver living in a travel trailer in Australia. That’s when disaster struck- while working, he got in a pretty bad accident that he nonetheless survived. However, medication he was given during his recovery resulted in him having an extreme allergic reaction that ultimately caused his heart to stop. After being […]
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Today in History: October 30, 1991 What later became known as “The Perfect Storm” was first referred to as “The Halloween Storm,” until Bob Case from the National Weather service coined the name we know it by today. No matter what you call it, it was a storm of monstrous proportions that battered the East Coast – especially New England […]
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For as far back as we are able to look into the prehistory of the human race, music has been a crucial part of the life of humans. Some scholars even speculate that human music may have come before language. From the beginning, people living in little groups sang and danced to self-made music. Drums and pipes were readily developed, […]
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In 1860, the clean shaven Abraham Lincoln was running for President of the United States. This clean shaven look was somewhat odd for a man of the age. You see, shortly before Lincoln decided to grow a beard, something of a beard revolution swept the United States and by the mid-19th century the formerly predominately clean-shaven men of America now […]
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Today in History: October 29, 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh was an explorer and scholar of the Elizabethan era who was born in Devon around 1552. He came from an affluent, well-connected gentry family, attended Oxford University and also studied law for a time. In 1578, Raleigh sailed for America with his half-brother Humphrey Gilbert, a venture that sparked his interest […]
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Garden gnomes are those statues you see of pint sized chubby human-like creatures usually wearing red hats and blue pants. You can find them in a variety of poses and pursuing various past times such as fishing, napping, or in the case of my personal gnome, smoking a pipe. Garden gnomes are typically male and have beards but you see […]
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The Legend of Zelda is aptly named, as the series has truly become a legend within the gaming industry. Every new generation of gamers have been given the opportunity to fall in love with it through their current Nintendo console. Or if they’re purists, going back to the original NES game. However, the fundamentals have pretty much always remained – […]
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Today in History: October 28, 1886 On this day in history, 1886, people flocked to New York City in droves. Every train entering the city was filled to capacity. New York’s many hotels, from the most exclusive to the most humble, had to turn away hundreds seeking lodging. No-one wanted to miss the grand ceremony of President Grover Cleveland dedicating […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Mark Twain Was Born and Died in the Same Years That Halley’s Comet Flew By the Earth This is a somewhat uncommon occurrence given that Halley’s comet only passes by the Earth approximately every 76 years. What makes it even more remarkable […]
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Myth: The Caesarean section procedure ultimately derives its name from Julius Caesar, who is often (falsely) claimed to have been the first baby born via Caesarean. It’s hard to pinpoint where exactly this story started, though a 10th century document is the likely culprit. The Suda, a Byzantine-Greek historical encyclopaedia, is one of the earliest records citing Caesar as the […]
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In this video from our YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we take a look at how exactly the practice of Halloween and Trick or Treating really got started. To make sure you don’t miss out on many more videos like this, be sure and subscribe to our new daily channel! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: […]
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Today in History: October 25, 1415 The English victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt has been immortalized by none other than William Shakespeare and is often hailed as one of the greatest military victories of all time. The battle that occurred in a muddy farmer’s field during a series of encounters called the Hundred Years War assured […]
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