Some say we're living in a golden age of political corruption, but the truth is that Congress has always been a bit corrupt. If there's a law, chances are a lawmaker has broken it. Just because you're the ones responsible for making the rules doesn't mean you have to like them.
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At some point, we've all stared at the ceiling and thought to ourselves "I wonder how fast cars can go?" The answer, of course, depends on the car, and what your definition of "car" is. The point is, the world's fastest car is less of a car and more what you'd call a space shuttle on wheels.
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Between 2009 and 2018, Amazon paid a whopping 3 percent tax rate on its many, many billions of dollars in profits. Obviously, Amazon won't go broke making billions and paying virtually nothing. But how much would you have to tax Bezos each day to take all his money away in a year?
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It's difficult to know exactly why, but in recent days, the question has been raised: can the president of the United States extend a presidential pardon to himself? Maybe it's a societal innocent curiosity, or because Mercury is stuck in retrograde.
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Scandinavia's been getting a lot of attention lately. Sweden's got Greta Thunberg staring daggers of ice into anyone alive when PacMan was invented, Norway's got Olaf from Frozen, and Finland? Well, now they've got themselves the world's youngest prime minister.
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Long before Michel Foucault learned that "knowledge is power," Nikola Tesla brilliantly illustrated that genius is AC power. Tesla had a goldmine sitting between his ears, and his fruitful mind produced world-changing inventions. But sometimes the world makes no sense, and Tesla died penniless.
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Prior to the Rumble in the Jungle Muhammad Ali taunted Foreman mercilessly. Even the fans chanted, "Ali, bomaye" ("Ali, kill him"). That mugging marked the end of Foreman's undefeated streak and start of an unbeatable friendship.
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Old West narratives aren't just full of plot holes and mysteries; they're also riddled with bullet holes. Some of those bullets were fired by the fastest gunslingers ever to bust a cap. Here's the fastest gunslinger in the West.
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This holiday season, while you're playing with your freshly unwrapped drone or whatever radio operated doodads the youths are fiddling with these days, don't thank your parents or your spouse. Thank the electrifying genius Nikola Tesla. Here's Tesla's greatest invention you didn't know about.
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Every army needs a good mascot. During World War II, Polish soldiers had a cigarette-smoking, beer-chugging brown bear named Wojtek. And despite the smoking, he was a breath of fresh air.
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Almost everybody loves coffee. You probably drank coffee when you first woke up this morning, and there's a decent chance that you're sipping on some right now. Human beings didn't evolve with coffee beans in their mouths, however. So when did people first start drinking coffee?
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The internet is ablaze with rumors that one of the world's most iconic tokens of toking, Willie Nelson, quit smoking weed. For a society increasingly enamored with the emerald cabbage of jazz, this was devastating news. After all, Nelson penned the classic "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die."
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It's a constant of the universe that we, as individuals, have a difficult time reconciling our current selves with the people we used to be. But what about those who've achieved greatness? No, turns out they can self loathe with the worst of us. At least, that's how Bill Gates feels.
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The US already has a national anthem, but its de facto theme music might just be the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," a song whose intro consists of the word 'money' sung over and over. It captures the ravenous passion for cash that shapes America's character. But just how much money is in the US?
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade writes that one of the least-explored aspects of the Spanish Civil War was the "deliberate and systematic persecution of women" perpetrated by Franco's forces. What was life really like for those women?
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Diamonds are not really worth much. Yet some of these not-so-precious gems can sell for tens of millions of dollars. So before revealing the most expensive diamond in the world: What makes a clump of old carbon worth more money than most people could earn in several lifetimes?
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"True Egyptian pharaoh? Is that like a true Scotsman?" If you take it to mean "of or relating to Egypt," then Cleopatra clearly counts as the last true pharaoh. However, if you interpret it in terms of native-born Egyptian pharaohs, then the last was actually Nectanebo II.
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Everybody, at some point, has stolen something, either in a moment of misspent youth or as a shady adult who should really know better by now. Generally, though, our forays into criminality don't end with billion dollar items in our pockets. Here's what really happened when the Mona Lisa was stolen.
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Perhaps the award for worst neighbor of all-time, though, should go to the anonymous person in the town of Dax, France. This ornery neighbor, who consciously made the decision to buy a house next to a small farm, got so fed up with the sounds produced by said farmer's ducks that they sued. And lost!
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Bernie Sanders famously proclaimed, "I don't think that billionaires should exist." For the time being, they do exist. Here is the highest-paid CEO in the world.
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To the shock and horror of many a historical voyeur, Jackie Kennedy's pink suit will be under lock and key until 2103. So unless you're one of the lucky few who expects to get cryogenically frozen and regenerated, you'll be too busy eyeing the inside of a coffin to worry about seeing a suit.
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Warrior queens are rarer than warrior kings, due to the nature of history's treatment of women in power. When they're even allowed power, that is. The good news is, the ones that do exist are cool as hell. Here are the most powerful warrior queens in history.
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The Mona Lisa is perhaps the world's most recognizable piece of artwork. It's also, at 21 inches by 30 inches, about the same size as most office break room posters. How did it become the most highly valued painting in the world when it started as something King Francois I looked at while he pooped?
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In a third-act twist that nobody expected, Germans are getting their gold, art, and jewels stolen and Indiana Jones has nothing to do with it. German police reported that in the early hours of November 25th, a very Hollywood heist took place in the Grünes Gewölbe museum at the Dresden Royal Palace.
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It is a long-accepted truism that there is not a single animal on Earth that would be less creepy if it had more legs. You might think that snakes would benefit from the addition of lil' paws to their serpentine forms. You'd be wrong. And, thanks to a new fossil find, science can now prove it.
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In the last century, there have been rivalries that have defined the cultural landscape. But perhaps none of them had the same impact as the decades-long frenemy throwdown that was Bill Gates versus Steve Jobs. While they were both successful, Jobs had one thing that made Gates jealous.
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Every Christmas has a "hot toy," and it's a phenomenon that stretches back decades. Here is the most popular Christmas toy the year you were born.
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