If you suddenly decided to travel around the world, what sort of vehicle would you choose? Likely a sailboat, or – of you’re feeling particularly ambitious – an aeroplane. Well if so, then you’re a far more reasonable person than Ben Carlin. When this former Australian mining engineer began planning his own round-the-world trip in the early 1950s, he decided […]
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2700 years ago or so, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal was initiating a program to gather copies of all books in his empire to his library. ‘Bookworm’ would be an apt description for him, had books not been made out of clay making them slightly undesirable to worms… Anyway, back to good old Ashurbanipal, he liked to boast about having the […]
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Considering the near total market-dominance and unparalleled level of brand recognition Netflix enjoys in today’s entertainment landscape, it’s hard to believe that at one point in time the company was considered a “niche” service. In fact, it is in part for this reason that in 2000 the then CEO of Blockbuster almost literally laughed in the face of Netflix’s co-founders […]
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The world of alcoholic cocktails is dizzyingly diverse, with as many potential drink combinations as there are varieties of alcohol and mixers. Some, like the Cuba Libre – rum mixed with Coca-Cola – are very simple, while others, like the Commonwealth – a monstrous, record-braking concoction boasting an astounding 71 ingredients sourced from every nation in the British Commonwealth – […]
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In his Aphorisms, written around 380 B.C.E, Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates describes a truly horrifying case of disease: “The master of a large ship mashed the index finger of his right hand with the anchor. Seven days later a somewhat foul discharge appeared; then trouble with his tongue – he complained he could not speak properly. His jaws became pressed […]
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Ever watched professional wrestling on TV and asked: how did we get here? How did we get to sword wielding Scottish warriors on one channel, and a jungle boy and his dinosaur friend on the other? Love it or hate it, the scripted nature of professional wrestling is a medium unto itself, with few sports like it. Boxing may get […]
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The Medieval Period (which began at the fall of Rome in the 5th century and is generally agreed to have ended in the 15th century, dovetailing into the early renaissance) is often portrayed by pop culture as being a time when peasants walked around with mouths filled with blackened, rotted teeth, and bodies covered in excrement and muck from lack […]
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Escape From L.A. Goldeneye. The Matrix. Ocean’s 11. The Fate of the Furious. These are but a few of the many popular films to feature electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. As depicted in these films, EMP is the ultimate weapon of the electronic age, able to destroy every electric or electronic circuit within its blast radius and plunge entire cities or […]
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The Great Depression of the 1930s brought sweeping changes to American life and culture, not least to the American vocabulary. As Americans increasingly blamed freefalling wages and skyrocketing unemployment on president Herbert Hoover, more and more common objects were derisively renamed in his honour. Sprawling “Hooverville” shanty towns popped up in nearly every city, the homeless slept under newspaper “Hoover […]
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The French Foreign Legion is among the most legendary fighting forces in the world. Created by French King Louis-Philippe in 1831, the Legion is unique in allowing volunteers from foreign nations to enlist and fight on behalf of the French state. Recruits may enlist under an assumed name and after three years’ service are eligible to receive French citizenship, meaning […]
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Modern commercial aviation is one of the safest possible forms of transportation, with a fatal accident rate of only one per 4.2 million flights. At this rate, an average person would have to fly every day for 16,581 years in order to have a near-100% chance of being killed in a plane crash. This exemplary safety record is thanks partly […]
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In the late 16th and early 17th Centuries, Europe found itself gripped by witch mania. After centuries of denying the existence of witchcraft, Church leaders incredibly came to believe that misfortunes such as plagues and crop failures were causes not by God’s will but rather individuals acting in league with the Devil. The resulting hysteria, stoked by the political turmoil […]
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In 1983, First Lady Nancy Reagan visited Longfellow Elementary School in Oakland, California, when a schoolgirl asked her about what to do if she was offered drugs. The First Lady responded, “just say ‘no.’” This trip was not the first foray by Mrs. Reagan to raise awareness regarding the dangers of drug use. However, this interaction was picked up by […]
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The Pavlov’s Dog experiment is among the most famous in the history of psychology. As the story goes, in 1901 Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov observed that if a dog was presented with food, it would begin to salivate in anticipation. If, however, that food was repeatedly presented alongside a separate stimulus – like the ringing of a bell – eventually […]
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It is a classic parenting nightmare: you drop your tiny tot off at the grandparents’ or a friend’s birthday party, hoping to get a few hours’ reprieve from tending to their every shrill, snot-nosed demand. But alas, your plan backfires, for when you return to pick them up you discover that their hosts have filled them up with enough sugary […]
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Imagine, for a moment that the unthinkable has happened. Whether due to nuclear war, climate change, an asteroid impact, or one too many classic 80’s movies being remade, society has utterly collapsed, leaving only a handful of survivors clinging to life amid the rubble of civilization. Every day, you and your loyal – if mildly radioactive – dog set forth […]
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One of the crown jewels of the American National Park system, Yellowstone spans nearly 9,000 square kilometres of northwestern Wyoming – an area of breathtakingly beautiful landscapes including mountains, canyons, lakes, rivers, and geothermal springs. Created by the American government in 1872, Yellowstone contains some of the popular and beloved natural attractions in the United States, such as the Grand […]
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The human body is an odd thing, at incredibly fragile yet at the same time surprisingly resilient. On the one hand, even the most seemingly minor injuries can result in an untimely death. For example, in October 1911, Jack Daniel, founder of the famous Tennessee distillery, entered his office and attempted to open the safe… But the lock proved troublesome, […]
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