The Worst Christmas Shortages In History
Christmas will never be immune to buzz-killing shortages. These are the worst Christmas shortages in history.
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Why Brazil Sends People To The Deadly Snake Island
According to Smithsonian magazine, some 2,000-4,000 golden lancehead vipers live on the island officially known as Ilha da Queimada Grande (which translates literally to Big Burned Island, though its colloquial name obviously suits it better).
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How Horses Led To The Invention Of Pants
At what point in history did we as a people decide, yes, pants they are important? That was right around the time we decided walking was for losers and started riding horses. Yep, horses are the reason for all this pants nonsense.
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The True History Of The Pencil
The history of the pencil is inextricably linked with the entire history of human communication as it flowed from oral traditions to written communication, and the development of written languages, where tiny scrawled symbols denoted sounds made by the human mouth, tongue, and throat.
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The Reason Christopher Columbus Didn't Actually Discover America
Not only did Columbus not discover America -- there were already Native Americans who had been living there for thousands of years -- he literally never set foot in what became the continental United States.
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Who Really Wrote 'The Night Before Christmas'?
Traditionally, it's been attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian and professor of Middle East and Greek literature. For some years now, academics and descendants of the poet Henry Livingston, Jr., have claimed he should have bragging rights for creating it.
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The Truth About The Man Who Invented The Ballpoint Pen
If you're a writer, it's something you expect to have on you at all times. The ballpoint pen, your trusted companion throughout school and the days when checks were still being used, has only been around since the 1930s. And we have one man to thank: Lászó Biró.
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What Became Of Alamo Survivor Susanna Dickinson?
Remember the Alamo? The battle famously left very few survivors after Mexican troops advanced into the garrison. Among those few survivors were Susanna Dickinson and her daughter, Angelina. Dickinson and other survivors corroborated much of what we know about the siege and final assault.
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Did Ben Franklin Really Invent A Stove?
Also known as the "Pennsylvanian Fireplace," Franklin wrote in his autobiography that he invented the stove in 1742, but according to Founders Online, it was more likely during the winter of 1739-1740. The stove was a metal-lined fireplace that stood away from a building's chimney.
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The Inventor Of The Bowie Knife Isn't Who You Think
Common characteristics include a coffin-shaped handle, a heavy cross guard -- the piece of metal found at a right angle to the blade above the handle -- and a "sweeping clip blade" with a "partially sharp top edge." The blade itself might measure anywhere from 9-12 inches in length.
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The Origins Of The Humble Paperclip Will Surprise You
It's a small, ubiquitous little tool, so common and unassuming that it's easy to take it for granted. But for all its many uses, the paperclip is actually a relatively recent invention. The humble item now litters almost every office desk drawer in America.
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Inside Missouri's Indian Cobra Scare Of 1953
Indian cobras are "large highly venomous snakes," one of the "'big four' species that inflict the most snakebites on humans in India." Native to southeast Asia, they are "can be found throughout India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and southern Nepal," often near water. But Missouri? Not so much.
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Why People Are Freaking Out About Animals Evolving Into Crabs
The hot evolutionary question at the moment is, "why do so many creatures evolve into crabs?" It's a query that suggests many more questions: What do you mean, so many creatures? Do different animals evolve into the same thing? Could it happen again? What is so special about crabs?
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This Is How An Advertisement Actually Predicted Pearl Harbor
In 1941, about two weeks prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, an advertisement in The New Yorker seemed to predict the attack.
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Here's How Wallabies Ended Up In Ireland
We know what you're thinking. Ireland is just about as far from Australia as you can get, both in terms of distance and climate — how could wallabies possibly be living there? Well, as you can guess, they didn't get there naturally.
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What It Was Like Taking Part In The Liberation Of WWII's Concentration Camps
Taking part in the liberation of World War II's concentration camps was an unimaginable horror that most Allied troops did not expect. It's estimated that up to 20 million people died in concentration camps. A small percentage survived to be liberated by Allied troops during World War II.
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The Darkest Movies Of The Past Decade Nobody Is Talking About
The 2010s were full of brutal, gruesome movies. But not all of them got the attention they deserved. From psychologically disturbing dramas to gory horror flicks, these are the darkest movies of the past decade that nobody is talking about.
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The Real Reason Buses Don't Have Seatbelts
Everywhere you drive, people or things are constantly reminding you to buckle up. That's what makes it all the weirder that when kids get on a school bus, there are no seatbelts to be found. How is that legal? Well, here are the details you need to know about why buses don’t have seatbelts.
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The Mysterious Aztec Sun Stone Explained
Westerners have known about the Aztec Sun Stone since 1519, do we really understand what it was used for? Was it a calendar? A political statement? What about a warning of the end of the world? Read on to see the mysterious Aztec Sun Stone explained.
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The Great Fire Of London Finally Explained
In 1666, when the Great Fire of London swept through the city streets, it destroyed a massive part of the medieval structures. To finally explain the Great Fire of London, learn exactly how it was started, what was destroyed, and why a French watchmaker was blamed for starting the fire.
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This Is The Oldest Recorded Joke In History
Humor is a distinctly human trait. While different cultures and generational groups might disagree on what we find most funny, the tendency to laugh at jokes unites all of humanity. And humor is by no means a modern invention; humans have probably been telling jokes since we first started talking.
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The Truth About The Man Who Saved More Lives Than Anyone Else In History
Society is indeed full of heroic figures like these. But when it comes to the total number of lives saved, there is one man who has all these others beat. That man is the American agricultural expert Norman Borlaug, who may have prevented over a billion deaths.
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This Is Why Elon Musk Left South Africa
His mom has Canadian citizenship, which he therefore shares, so it was simply a good choice for him when thinking of the future. Canada was a gateway to Silicon Valley, full of "all the cool stuff." Musk did exactly that: He leveraged his education in Canada to move to the US and build a startup.
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The History Of The Star-Spangled Banner Explained
Francis Scott Key was so inspired by his experience during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 that he wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." Yet, the path taken by Key's words and the flag that inspired them has been long and unexpected. This is the history of The Star-Spangled Banner explained.
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This Was Queen's Most Underrated Member
It seems like a band's bassist usually gets the short end of the fame stick. Queen's bassist, John Deacon, is no exception to that rule. A large part of that probably has to do with Deacon dropping out of the musical spotlight following Freddie Mercury's tragic death in 1991.
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The Shady History Of Payphones
Stories about the end of public payphones, when they are published, tend to sound like coverage of their phasing out in New York, which talk about their obsolescence. While payphones certainly are an outdated technology, however, they also have a sordid history.
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What Life Was Like For Women In The Wild West
History class might have taught you that women in the United States won the right to vote in 1920 after a hard-fought struggle that culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment. But decades earlier, many women who lived west of the Mississippi River sated their hunger for suffrage.
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