Hitler. Himmler. Goering. Goebbels. Even the most casual student of history knows this roster of infamous Nazis that were responsible for some of the greatest evils the world has ever known. Of the millions that were killed by German hands during World War II, countless thousands were prisoners of war. Often massive numbers of prisoners were killed at a time […]
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After World War II, the German state was utterly destroyed. It was split in four parts, and to top it all, coming face to face with the scale of the atrocities their government and armies committed through public events like the Nürnberg trials. This in combination with the process of de-nazification, which can be seen as a large-scale rehabilitation program, […]
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On June 7, 1912, Lieutenant Roy Kirtland took off from a field outside College Park, Maryland in a Wright Model B, the first aircraft ever purchased by the American Army Air Services. To his right sat Captain Charles Chandler, a Lewis light machine gun cradled between his legs. As Kirtland banked the aircraft 300 feet over the field, Chandler took […]
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We’ve all heard the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale, and then, along with his father Geppetto, creating a fire so that the whale sneezes them out … Or something like that. Whatever the case, being swallowed whole is a fate that has permeated our mythology and stories throughout time. But what is the actual typical progression to […]
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“Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” Well, of course Superman could hurdle skyscrapers. He can fly after all. Compared to the kind of aerial self-propulsion that Daedalus couldn’t have conceived of, jumping over even the Burj Khalifa seems hardly worth mentioning. Super-vaulting seems more along the lines […]
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The phrase ‘the peaceful use of nuclear weapons’ might sound like the ultimate oxymoron. While nuclear reactors are widely used to peacefully generate electricity and medical isotopes, it is difficult to imagine a peaceful use for atomic bombs on account of the whole, you know, radioactive BOOM. But incredibly, between 1961 and 1989, both the United States and the Soviet […]
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If you’ve ever heard of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico at all, it’s probably because for a time the densely populated town next to El Paso, Texas was known as “the most dangerous city in the world”. But it turns out that at one point a bizarre sequence of events led to a rather odd nuclear disaster occurring there. Now, you […]
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Magnets are everywhere. Just about every electronic device uses them including the speakers you’re using to listen to me talk right now. Deriving their name from the Greek Island of Magnesia, magnets have come to play an integral part of our modern world. As anyone whose ever watched a certain particularly powerful mutant of the villainous variety do his thing […]
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Regardless of your politics, I think we can all agree that Donald Trump is by no means a humble man, and he’d be the first to admit that the Trump Family comprises something of a rich and powerful dynasty. As it turns out though, Trump’s wealth and influence can all be traced back to a bizarre confluence of good fortune […]
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At the time of writing this, conman Steven Jay Russell is sitting in a 6×9 ft maximum security isolation cell where he is sentenced to spend the next century and a half- 22 to 23 hours per day, only let out for things like showers, a little exercise, and to see the occasional visitor during visiting hours. However, even then […]
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Anyone who’s ever watched pretty much any movie in the history of ever or otherwise watched professional pugilists spar words with one another in a media session knows that those trained in the art of kicking ass are required to register their hands as deadly weapons in the United States. Further, if they use their fists of fury against the […]
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In the early going, knighthood was an honor earned by those who had distinguished themselves in battle in some significant way or otherwise had made themselves into an absolutely exceptional soldier through many years of training. Later, the honor became somewhat more exclusive, generally limited to nobility or those who were the children of knights, but still typically requiring extensive […]
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While there are many relics attributed to Jesus surviving through more modern times- including famed 16th century Catholic Priest Erasmus pointing out the large number of buildings that could be built using all the pieces of Jesus’ cross that were then around- unlike some other figures in the history of Christendom, relics of Jesus’ body itself aren’t really a thing. […]
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If you’ve ever found yourself eating a “special” brownie or two and not long after have an insatiable urge to partake in a stuffed crust meat lover’s pizza, followed by a couple McDonald’s McGriddles, a Quiznos Steakhouse Beef Dip Sub, and then finish it all off with a McFlurry or a Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait, well, it turns out you […]
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One of our Patrons, DJ, asks: What’s the deal with Hollywood Accounting? Here’s a fun fact for you to mull over, despite having a clause in his contract that entitled him to a share of the total net profits of Return of the Jedi, David Prowse didn’t get so much as a single thin cent from Lucasfilm from this because, […]
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To paraphrase famed scholar Christopher Wallace- more money means more problems. As paradoxical as this claim may seem given yet another famed scholar more recently claimed “Whoever said money can’t solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve ’em”, Mr Wallace, or Biggie Smalls as he was better known to those who had no respect for his […]
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If we were to ask you to list a few things about former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, it’s likely that many of you would mention things like his role in the abolition of slavery in the U.S., his assassination, his hat and beard (which incidentally the latter was grown because a little girl suggesting he’d get more votes that way), […]
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Though many of you are perhaps not familiar with the name Don LaFontaine, if you’ve ever watched a movie trailer basically ever, you have almost certainly heard his voice or at the least someone trying to mimic him. A titan of the entertainment industry, LaFontaine lent his inimitable voice to a quarter of a million projects during his career before […]
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