10 Strange Ways Things Were Done In The First Democracy

10 Leaders Were Chosen At Random The government of Athens was run by a council of 500 men called the Boule. While every citizen played a role in turning the great wheel of democracy, the Boule were especially important. They ran the day-to-day affairs of the government, decided what decrees would be voted on, and played a very major role in leading the country. The Greeks didn’t get to vote for their council, though....

January 20, 2023 · 8 min · 1516 words · Elaine Silverthorn

10 Surprisingly Pleasant Things You Get From Anger

10Anger Helps In Negotiations (If It’s Real) Negotiating is all about being levelheaded and outsmarting your opponent, right? Not entirely. All of our interpersonal interactions function on an emotional level as well as an intellectual one. Research shows that sometimes getting mad can help your case. People are programmed to be cautious around someone who is angry. Therefore, it can make the person whom you’re haggling with more cooperative if you get upset—they’ll try to give you stuff to appease you....

January 20, 2023 · 10 min · 1932 words · Patricia Manning

10 Tales From The Life Of The Most Notable Children S Author

10 His Unfortunate Experience With President Roosevelt Dr. Seuss was a very shy person. He was afraid of crowds and would do anything to avoid them. He developed this phobia during his days as a member of the Boy Scouts in Springfield thanks to President Theodore Roosevelt and the Boy Scouts of America. A descendant of a German immigrant living in the United States during World War I, Dr. Seuss was given war bonds to sell....

January 20, 2023 · 8 min · 1670 words · Joey Pitt

10 Things You Know About Pirates That Are Wrong

10 Nautical Lingo Pirates really did have their own nautical lingo, and we still use many of these rebellious seafarers’ phrases today. “Learn the ropes” is a phrase that today means “become familiar with the way something should be done.” This comes directly from needing to literally know the complex network of pulleys and ropes that controlled a ship’s sails. Being able to tie the proper knot and pull the correct rope to open or close a sail was important know-how for any sailor....

January 20, 2023 · 9 min · 1812 words · James Conner

10 Things You Might Not Know About Machu Picchu

10Why It Was Built The origins of Machu Picchu remain rooted only in theories. Its hidden beginnings endow the city with an awe-inspiring presence that can only be described as magnetic, and no real answer seems to be forthcoming any time soon. There are several popular theories. Perhaps the city was a sacred convent or a royal retreat. Some said it was the last Inca city to resist the Spanish, that it was constructed to represent a specific landscape from Inca myths, or that it was meant to honor the sacred river and mountains which surround it....

January 20, 2023 · 9 min · 1887 words · Susan Flynn

10 Unbelievable Times Politicians Pretended Science Didn T Exist

Well, Neil, that “informed democracy” you speak of is well and truly over. Politicians are so ill-informed these days that they come out with some pretty ridiculous and unscientific nonsense. 10 Ted Stevens vs. The Internet Net neutrality (also known as open Internet) has returned to the news, with communications companies fighting the FCC to give some sites priority use of their bandwidth. Under the current legislation, all Internet is created equal, with no traffic getting precedence....

January 20, 2023 · 13 min · 2754 words · Robert Kennedy

10 Unconventional Uses Of Nanotechnology

10Film Making Without the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in the 1980s, the field of nanotechnology might have remained science fiction. With its atomic precision the STM has enabled physicists to study the structure of matter in a way that was impossible with conventional microscopes. The astonishing potential of STM was demonstrated by researchers at IBM when they created A Boy and His Atom, which was the world’s smallest animated film....

January 20, 2023 · 10 min · 2030 words · Ilene Barber

10 Useful Parasites You Should Learn To Love

In French, the term “puce”—literally meaning “flea”—is a term of endearment akin to “darling.” Fleas are famous for being the performers of “flea circuses,” in which they appear to perform such acts as kicking balls, pulling carts, rotating Ferris wheels, and playing instruments. In the 1920s, several insect-related phrases existed to describe excellence. Of these, only “the bee’s knees” survives today. For a time, however, “the flea’s eyebrows” was also used to express admiration....

January 20, 2023 · 6 min · 1073 words · Deborah Rundle

10 Visions Of Hell That Will Scare The Crap Out Of You

SEE ALSO: 10 Entrances To Hell That You Can Visit But it turns out that the “standard” version is exactly that: a wishy-washy average that contains only a fraction of the possibilities. Glimpse inside the visions of some of history’s wildest mystics and you’ll find versions of Hell that could give your nightmares nightmares. 10 The Apocalypse Of Peter Around the late second century, a whole swathe of imitation holy books started appearing across the ancient world....

January 20, 2023 · 10 min · 1969 words · Richard Jones

10 Ways American Slavery Continued Long After The Civil War

The Civil War brought the Confederate States back into the Union, but the people who lived in the South weren’t through fighting. They were determined to keep things exactly as they were during the heyday of slavery. They made state laws that let them keep black people in essential servitude. As a result, slavery in America lived on for a lot longer than most people realize. 10 Slavery Was Used As A Legal Punishment The 13th Amendment didn’t make all forms of slavery illegal....

January 20, 2023 · 10 min · 1939 words · Robert Kahn

10 Worst Fad Diets Celebrities Swore Worked

Trigger warning: This article contains a discussion of restrictive eating without the consent and supervision of a medical professional. Always speak with your doctor before starting a weight loss program. 10 The Juice Cleanse – Salma Hayek The juice cleanse is an ever-popular fad diet that celebrities constantly reference as their go-to diet before big events or when they need to drop weight quickly. While it’s true that some individuals might lose weight while doing a multiple-day juice cleanse (only drinking juice is essentially just starving yourself, duh), some outlandish medical claims have been made about juice cleanses....

January 20, 2023 · 7 min · 1450 words · Joanna Jones

10 Worst Killings At Music Venues

The first mass shooting during the aforementioned 35-year period took place in a welding shop in 1982. Eight were killed, and three were wounded. The shooter was a high school teacher carrying one shotgun. Fast-forward to the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting, in which 59 people were killed and over 500 wounded by a man with an arsenal of at least 23 guns (many of them fully automatic). Essentially, these figures speak for themselves....

January 20, 2023 · 10 min · 2124 words · Alan Smyer

20 More Famous Last Words

Es Lebe Die Freiheit! (Long live freedom!) Said by: Hans Scholl – German resistance leader, spoken from the guillotine, before his execution in 1943. Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough! Said by: Karl Marx, asked by his housekeeper if he had any last words. I have not told half of what I saw. Said by: Marco Polo – Venetian traveller and writer....

January 20, 2023 · 3 min · 543 words · Heidi Weafer

20 More Interesting Historical Oddities

In 1752, there were only 354 days in Great Britain and its colonies. This was because Britain adopted the Gregorian Calendar in place of the Julian calendar. The lost days were September 3 – September 13 inclusive. The Hundred Years’ War (a war to determine who the rightful King of France would be) was actually 116 years long. It was during this war that Saint Joan rose up in France to lead her army to victory....

January 20, 2023 · 4 min · 755 words · Charles Hvizdos

20 Weird English Words

Erinaceous Like a hedgehog Lamprophony Loudness and clarity of voice Depone To testify under oath Finnimbrun A trinket or knick-knack floccinaucinihilipilification Estimation that something is valueless. Proper pronunciation based on Latin roots: flock?-nows?-n?k?l?-p?l?-f?k-ation. Inaniloquent Pertaining to idle talk Limerance An attempt at a scientific study into the nature of romantic love. Mesonoxian Pertaining to midnight Mungo A dumpster diver – one who extracts valuable things from trash Nihilarian A person who deals with things lacking importance (pronounce the ‘h’ like a ‘k’)....

January 20, 2023 · 1 min · 169 words · Frank Steege

5 Suicides That Were Almost Certainly Murders

What happens, however, when a suicide is actually a murder most foul? Murders that were—for reasons from laziness to bribery to full on political conspiracy—ruled suicides when they weren’t? In many cases, suicides they legally remain, despite every shred of evidence pointing to an outside hand, a dirty deed carried out by a monster in human skin. Let’s take a look at 5 cases of suicide that were almost certainly murders....

January 20, 2023 · 7 min · 1318 words · Marcella Crowell

8 Characteristics Of Psychopathic Killers

See Also: 10 Signs You May Be A Psychopath 8 The Charming Psychopath Most women love a charming, intelligent man—the kind of guy who gives compliments without leering and can work out a difficult math problem without struggling. The problem? You won’t immediately know if he’s hiding violent psychopathic tendencies. The first killer who comes to mind when thinking about charm, intelligence, and the pretense of caring about others is Ted Bundy....

January 20, 2023 · 9 min · 1763 words · Erin Niemi

Another 10 Great Parodies

(Courtesy of ThoseLilRabbits) For those who don’t know this is a parody of the “Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years.” Contributor: JimmySchaps

January 20, 2023 · 1 min · 27 words · Mary Roberts

Crossword Competition 1

The competition will run for one week. At the end of the week, the answers will be posted here, and all correct entries will be added to a draw. One random entry will be selected as the winner – so every correct submission has a chance. Until I can find better software, you will need to print off the puzzle (it is in pdf format) and work out your answers on paper....

January 20, 2023 · 2 min · 219 words · James Woodard

Horrifying Witch Hunts

The myth: Most people tried for witchcraft were burnt to death at the stake. We all think of the middle ages as a time of darkness lit only by the dim light of glowing embers – the consequence of yet another witch burning. But the reality really is far from that. While there are thousands of myths surrounding the so-called “dark ages” we will focus here on the witch hunts....

January 20, 2023 · 2 min · 369 words · Michael Johnson