Even simple tools like forks, which we assume must have been around forever, were only introduced to Western and Northern Europe in the last couple of centuries. In this list, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most surprising simple things that are not as old as you think. 10 Sofas Like many fashionable things, sofas and couches first appeared in the royal French court. Portraits from the late 1600s show noble French women lying down on sofas....
10The Red Square Nebula Things in space are fairly rounded, for the most part. Planets, stars, galaxies, and the shape of orbits are all at least somewhat circular. Then there’s the Red Square Nebula, a cloud of gas shaped like, well, a square. Understandably, this made astronomers do a bit of a double take, because things in space aren’t supposed to be square. But it’s not really a square, either. If you look closely at the image, you can see that the cross shape really forms the sides of two cones with their tips touching, but there aren’t exactly tons of cones in the night sky, either....
Fire urchins are spineless—as in lacking a back bone—but make up for it with the worst external spines of any animal on Earth. Unlike many urchins, these aggressive hunters actively pursue their prey with tiny jaws attached to venomous spines. If stepped on by a human, the spines and jaws release an extremely potent paralyzing toxin with burning effects, that have often resulted in deaths. Unfortunately, antivenin has not yet been developed for protection against this bite....
So, you put it off, and off, and off, until you finally give in and give it a go! And, begrudgingly, that’s right: Margot Robbie smashes it out of the park with a fantastic performance of a disgraced figure skater. My knowledge of figure skating could be written on the back of a stamp…five times, with enough room to include the script of I, Tonya. But that got me thinking, it can’t just be me that has avoided a great film due to the sport it depicts....
While classics such as the World’s Largest Ball of Twine seem weird enough, an in-depth look reveals much stranger sights. Here are ten of the strangest US roadside attractions. (For those curious, the ball of twine is in Cawker City, Kansas.) 10 Unclaimed Baggage CenterAlabama Born from the mind of a man named Doyle Owens in 1970, Unclaimed Baggage Center (UCB) is a secondhand store with a unique supply chain: US airline companies....
10 Alcohol A few giant clouds of alcohol have been found in the Milky Way and in areas surrounding star nurseries, the largest of which carries enough booze to make 400 trillion trillion pints of beer. In addition to your old college friend ethanol, scientists have found equally large clouds of methyl and vinyl alcohol. Unfortunately, as with most cool things in space, these clouds are too far away for us to do anything fun with them....
10The First Movies For A Black Audience When most people think of the first movies made specifically for black audiences, they probably imagine the “blaxploitation” craze of the 1970s. In fact, the African-American film industry dates all the way back to the first decades of the 20th century. Between 1910 and 1950, at least 500 movies were made with majority-black casts. Known as “race movies,” they were usually helmed by black directors and featured African-American heroes in everything from romances to Westerns....
See Also: 10 Teachers Who Completely Lost Their Minds Despite their hard work, there have been instances of teachers being fired for strange and often ridiculous reasons. Of course, there are times when a teacher should be and is fired, but more often than not, those issues are over sexual crimes, and they don’t belong anywhere near children. These ten teachers did nothing so horrendous as molesting a child; instead, they were canned for rather ridiculous reasons....
Unbeknownst to many, some of the fan favorites have dangerous and even deadly histories. From malevolent spirits to curses and inexplicable bad luck, horror movies young and old have been plagued with weird occurrences that will make the films themselves seem mundane in comparison. And so, dear readers, I present to you: 10 Terrifying Horror Movie Mishaps. 10 Twilight Zone: The Movie Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) encompasses four different segments, one of which involves Bill Connor, portrayed by Vic Morrow, and is based on the 1961 episode “A Quality of Mercy....
Rotten corpses fester, and their funk attracts attention. Even when human remains are concealed from sight, the inevitable fetid aroma they produce betrays their location. Often, our first contact with death is its stench. 10 Nine Mutilated Corpses In October 2017, residents of Zama, Japan, reported a “nasty smell like sewage” seeping from a neighbor’s apartment. Authorities investigated the residence of Takahiro Shiraishi and found nine mutilated corpses packed in coolers....
10Artificial Enlightenment Some believe that Buddhism is the religion best suited for coping with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), since Buddhism doesn’t necessarily prescribe a central role to the human species in its belief system. Buddhism prescribes respect for all forms of life, with some texts indicating that non-human creatures may also achieve enlightenment. Buddhist cosmology has always accepted the concept of beings existing in “formless realms,” which seems a highly appropriate way of thinking about artificial intelligence....
What we do have paints a portrait of a man who did a lot more than just write a few plays. We’ve been able to piece together some parts of Shakespeare’s life pretty clearly, and the real Shakespeare might not be the man you expect. 10He Stole A Theater Shakespeare’s landlord got fed up with cleaning up after actors and decided it was time to shut down his theater and start renting to decent, reasonable people....
10 Arousal And Disgust Sex is an innately disgusting thing. Copious body fluids aside, the mere act of sex is something we would never do if pleasure wasn’t involved. That may be one of the reasons arousal actually inhibits feelings of disgust. “Disgust-induced avoidance” is the scientific term for not wanting to do something gross, like hesitating to drink a glass of water with a large fly floating in it. Normally, you wouldn’t even think about it....
Within the last few years, hobbyists and mischief-makers have freely flown their drones into airports, blocking runways and stopping airplanes from landing or taking off. Airplanes trying to land are usually left circling. Some even get diverted to other airports before they run out of fuel. Nevertheless, the drones will continue hovering over the airports for hours or even days, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and governments confused. 10 Heathrow Airport In May 2017, flights were diverted from Heathrow Airport in London after two drones flew into its airspace....
Based on the accounts detailed blow, female guards seem to be more likely to get pregnant from sex with male prisoners than the other way around. One productive inmate even got four prison guards pregnant at the same time. The stories are intriguing, to say the least. 10 Tavon White And Four Guards In 2015, authorities at Baltimore City Detention Center busted a drug and gun-running business operated by several members of the Black Guerrilla Family who were incarcerated at the prison....
A select few tourists, however, step even farther and cross the line of the law. These ungracious guests damage property, steal, break boundaries, dishonor traditions, and disgrace their home countries. When that happens, you just love to see them get what’s coming. This list features ten of the most terrible tourists ever, both their idiotic crimes and their (hopefully) satisfying punishments. 10 Who Leaves a Baby? In 2019, a British tourist staying in Tenerife, Canary Islands, was arrested after a drunken public fight ended with her abandoning her three-month-old baby on a public street....
It is a marketing tool that appeals to businesses and grieving families desperate for closure. The 2017 film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri covered this theme. The fictional Mildred Hayes resorts to shaming the local police department into action by placing billboards around the town, detailing her daughter’s unsolved murder. Director Martin McDonagh dreamed up the idea while traveling around Texas and seeing huge roadside signs placed by the anguished parents of a murdered woman....
Unfortunately, many cases are ignored or mishandled in such a way that the abused child continues to suffer. When social workers fail to act, the consequences can be deadly. Their negligence in these cases makes them almost as culpable as the perpetrators. 10 Mona Sock Mona Sock was born on October 25, 1993. Her mother, Martha Milliea, was unable to provide a stable home environment. After several years of floating between homes, social workers placed Mona with her older sister, Harmony, and her husband, Lonnie Francis....
A trip to a professional such as a therapist will lead you to options such as asking you to volunteer more, be more trusting, spend time with children, and actively seek out good news, among others. While these options might work, these ten true-story movies will also help restore your faith in humanity. Spoiler Alert Warning! 10 Just Mercy We’re greater than our worst mistakes. We all need mercy. The movie Just Mercy features heavy-weight actor Michael B....
10Alectryomancy Alectryomancy was the practice of divining the future through the fortune-telling power of chickens. First, a chicken was placed amid piles of grain. Each pile represented a letter, and the answer the diviner sought was spelled out by the chicken pecking at the piles. The chicken, preferably a pure white cockerel, would first have its claws cut off. The severed claws were then wrapped in lambskin and fed to the chicken, which was presumably hungry enough to swallow them....
