These days, kids know Pukwudgie as the name of a house from Ilvermorny, the American version of Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter series. The Pukwudgie is one of many mythical creatures referenced in the books. But what exactly is a Pukwudgie?
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When Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine, the future emperor saw greatness on the horizon. But if if it weren't for a crazy twist of fate, instead of marrying Napoleon, Josephine would have gotten a forced divorce from her own head. Here's the reason Napoleon's first wife was nearly executed.
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In 1983, Randy and Vicki Weaver packed up their belongings and moved to a place in rural Idaho, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border, known as Ruby Ridge. A decade later, an 11-day standoff with the government ended in tragedy. Here's why the Ruby Ridge standoff was worse than you think.
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The whole world loves dogs. But in Nepal, they really show it. During the five-day Hindu festival of Tihar, one day is set aside as "Kukur Tihar," or "Day of the Dogs."
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The Spanish flu was very different than seasonal flu - it kicked off in the spring of 1918 on the tail end of World War I, and it was downright brutal.
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Rosetta Stone: It's not just a linguistics software company. And Napoleon isn't just the name of a cream-filled dessert pastry. But they are inextricably linked, and for good reason.
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Women at Versailles lived in the seat of political power but had none of it themselves. This is what life was really like for women at Versailles.
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William Tecumseh Sherman famously observed that "war is hell," and Don Bluth asserted on several occasions that "all dogs go to heaven." They can't both be right.
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In the 1890s, explorer Robert Peary (left) started an Arctic expedition with all ten of his toes. He returned with only two. As recounted in Explorers and Exploration, the other eight toes snapped off when fellow explorer Matthew Henson removed Peary's sealskin boots ...
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You'd think that being directly responsible for saving thousands of lives, of amassing and analyzing data that contributed to massive improvements in sanitation and health care, and honored by Queen Victoria herself would be enough. But no. Florence Nightingale never married.
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It turns out that people have been trying to make self-driving cars a reality for quite a long time ... in fact, possibly even longer than you can imagine.
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Italian dictator Benito Mussolini doesn't typically top people's lists of role models. But some of his descendants have defended him. Here's what they're up to today.
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An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, instantly killing 80,000 people, and days later on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. Thousands would die from radiation sickness. But that's just the beginning. Here's why the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were worse than you thought.
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If you take a moment to look around you in the short period of relative comfort before takeoff and after landing at an airport, you might notice a peculiar thing: The entire gate area is carpeted. Here's why.
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Henry VII, the Tudor monarch who gave us Henry VIII and all of the drama and spectacle attached thereunto, is among the monarchs whose mortal remains grace the interior of Westminster. What about his son, the VII?
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In 1540, Henry VIII gave his primary advisor, Thomas Cromwell, the axe. Well, technically the executioner gave him the axe, but the point still holds. Citing a dubious "contemporary" source, Arthur Galton describes an "ungodly" affair in which the executioner hacked at Cromwell's neck for ...
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Bill Gates is one of those modern-day legends. Love him or not, admire him or not, the guy has an impressive string of accomplishments on his resume, going back to high school ... including a nice mugshot.
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If the X-Men say it's cool, and if Mr. SpaceX/Tesla Motors himself, Elon Musk, says it's cool, then it has to be very cool indeed. And indeed it is: It's the SR-71, sometimes referred to as the Blackbird, adapted (quite radically) for toting mutants to battle evil on behalf of all of us.
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Watches complete a wardrobe, and make a statement. The Swiss brand Patek Philippe, for instance, has been around for decades, is highly regarded, and has made some of the costliest watches ever sold.
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Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England are forever bound in history -- especially because the Queen of England ordered her rival's death. What makes their relationship intriguing is that they never even met.
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Henry VIII is best remembered for one pastime: finding new ways to call mulligan on his panoply of marriages. His last wife was Catherine Parr, who came within spitting distance of being another notch on the king's beheading stump. This is the reason Henry VIII nearly executed Catherine Parr.
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Baby Jessica became famous on October 14th, 1987. The world got its first taste of binge-worthy cable news child endangerment when 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a 22-foot well in Midland, Texas and stayed there for 58 hours. She was eventually rescued. So whatever happened to Baby Jessica?
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Anybody who doesn't live in Oregon or New Jersey and who has pumped their own gas knows that sometimes the pump stops before the tank is full. Here's why.
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There is much more to Paul Revere than just his famous midnight ride, so here are some common misconceptions about the Revolution's midnight rider.
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When you think of "outlaw bikers," you most likely think of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. But there have been a lot of tragic twists and turns in troubled history of the Hells Angels.
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Porsches are a brand indelibly connected with luxury, and the price points of their cars reflect that, regardless of whether they're vintage or fresh off the lot. But how did they get to such an elevated status?
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Henry VIII captures the popular imagination for mostly the wrong reasons. 'Tis a pity, because there was much, much more to his story, not the least of which were Henry's military accomplishments.
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