Author Archives: Contributor

Looking for something often results in nothing, but stumbling on to something while looking for nothing can change the world forever. Consider the following products and how your life might have been different without them coming about by sheer coincidence. Post-It Notes Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist working for 3M, was trying to develop a […]

I recently saw a French game show in which contestants believed they were giving other contestants life-threatening electric shocks. The stunt was based on the Stanley Milgram experiment, a highly controversial test carried out on normal folk who agreed to take part in a bonkers psychological study back in the 1960s. Alas, that wasn’t the […]

Most of us have had lousy jobs and famous people are no exception. Of course, there are your ordinary crappy jobs and then there are those jobs that are truly weird– either because you would feel kind of uncomfortable around anyone who did them, or they don’t fit what we know about the person at […]

Throughout history, there have been individuals who have demonstrated an unparalleled level of resilience and willpower. People who refused to give up even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Their incredible determination has inspired many, and their stories serve as a reminder that no challenge is too great to overcome. Whether you are striving […]

Grandmothers are supposed to be sweet, loving old ladies with a plate of fresh baked cookies in one hand and a handful of lemon drops in the other, ever ready to dispense hugs and wisdom. The ladies on this list need to re-read their job description and start knitting more afghans. The Bank Robber When […]

Stoned out students usually get all the credit for sexual revolutions, but a lot of progress in the field of recreational whoopie-making has actually come thanks to the efforts of your boring old scientist. We have compiled key scientific developments in how we understand sex — none of which would make a decent porno. Physical […]

First of all, is the safe from Home Depot? If so, the safe is probably worthless. Not worthless as in it can’t be resold to some other dummy hoping to protect some trinkets from snooping children. Just worthless as in it won’t keep determined individuals out for very long should they come wielding crowbars and […]

No one wants to use a public restroom. We all know this. It’s not an enjoyable experience for anyone and honestly if there were any other place to go, we’d happily do it. But the reason we don’t want to use them isn’t because they are innately bad, it’s because there are garbage people that […]

American freak shows are something of a cultural Atlantis, an artifact of the entertainment industry immersed deep beneath the rising waters of modernity. An up-close exploration of this now-abandoned institution takes the curious visitor back in time to the origins of show business, celebrity, and the modern art of the spectacle. The freak show as […]

When you’re watching an old TV show like I Love Lucy, you might notice something a little strange: Lucy and her husband, Ricky, sleep in separate beds. Literally two different single person beds next to each other with space in between. This always confused me as a kid, and it wasn’t until I got older that […]

Whether it’s the classic one-eyed, peg-legged, crow-sporting classic pirates or the modern day Somalian pirates in their boats of unfortunate quality… as long as there are oceans, there will be pirates lookin’ for booty. This is all stuff you already knew about pirates, but here are 20 badass things you might not have known about […]

Despite a humble beginning, Andrew Jackson grew to become a legend. Born in the backwoods of South Carolina, he attended school only sporadically as a boy. By the age of 14, he had been predeceased by both of his parents and his brothers and fought in the American Revolutionary War (during which time he contracted, […]

Teachers like to whine online, and that includes the sex ed ones. At least we imagine they’re hot. But when they’re making fun of their students and we get to see the stupid questions they’re fielding, we have to wonder about the youth of today. Kids are either getting stupider or they’ve started teaching sex […]

America’s origin story is packed with drama, paranoia, actual conspiracies, and a good deal of nonsense. The nonsense has a funny way of sticking. From the sinister and outrageous to controversies that are still debated to this day, we retell eight rumors and conspiracy theories about the Founding Fathers that just refuse to die off. […]

Imagine that for twenty years you have known a well-respected member of your community. He’s a devoted husband and father, a doctor in a high position with the World Health Organization, and a trusted friend and neighbor. Now imagine one day you wake up to the news that he, over the course of the past […]

Detoxification products don’t work. Unless you are poisoned or suffering from severe drug withdrawal, there is no reason to attempt to “detoxify” your body. Your lungs, liver, and kidneys are a specialized and evolved purification system, and sending in a “detox” product to do their job is about as helpful as sending an army reserve […]

When it comes to tension surrounding race and Super Bowl victories, rioting makes perfect sense. But occasionally, the strangest things—like eggnog and nylon—can induce a riot, leaving historians scratching their heads forevermore. Straw hats Perhaps one of the weirdest riots to ever take place was the Straw Hat Riot of 1922, when people were rampaging […]

Absinthe has a bad reputation, even compared with other alcoholic beverages. But from its early use as a medical elixir to the wave of absinthe bans that occurred during the early 1900s, the drink has a very colorful history involving everything from medical miracles to murder. Medicinal roots Absinthe is an anise-flavored, distilled spirit that […]

We tend to look back at ancient technologies with an air of superiority, but there are more than a few historical inventions and artifacts that reach beyond our understanding. Some may be nothing more than legends, while others are well documented or even surviving as unexplained curios to this day. Stradivarius violins Antonio Stradivari lived […]