Halloween is on its way and feeble horror tales are being dished out left, right and center. The following true stories, however, are not only filled with death and gore; they actually happened. Though often brutal and nonsensical, ritual suicide is real and has occurred throughout history. The motives behind mass suicide are varied. In […]
Continue readingFor the past 56 years the Church of Scientology has blazed a path of headlines and mystery across the globe. Once existing only as the idea held by a single man, the Church has grown into a multinational, highly organized institution in record time. There is little doubt that trends in the 60’s and 70’s […]
Continue readingThe idea of the earth tearing itself apart is terrifying enough, but the devastation that earthquakes cause is only intensified by the huge waves that can follow a massive seismic disturbance in the ocean bed. Often, coastal inhabitants have just minutes to flee to higher ground, and any delay can cause shocking casualties. In the […]
Continue readingAside from catching chicken pox as a kid, nobody would ever go out of their way to get sick. Why would they? The best you can hope for is a few days off from work, and really, playing hooky isn’t as fun since Bob Barker stopped hosting The Price Is Right. However, there are a […]
Continue readingBefore everyone had a cell phone and the capacity to record video on the fly, a police beat down was, by sheer chance, caught on tape in Los Angeles on March 3, 1991. Public fury about racism and police brutality erupted when a portion of the video showing several LAPD officers Tasering, kicking, stomping and […]
Continue readingThose who ask the difficult questions, like “Why are we here?”, “From where do we derive morals?” and “What does it all really mean, when you get right down to it?” have given humanity amazing philosophical insights and ethical guidance. Unfortunately, thinking too much about these issues can sometimes also lead to the brains of […]
Continue readingThe 20th century was a time of great change, with devastating wars, the rise of two superpowers, and the fall of one. Demonstrations have been used throughout history to change the world, both peacefully and violently, but in the 20th century activism came into its own in an age of protest. 10. March on Washington […]
Continue readingThe cliché goes that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but some photographs eschew any such numeric limitation and go on talking to us forever; certain photo portraits have that rare power. Far more than pictorial representations of celebrated or instantly recognizable figures, they capture so much more, seeming to encapsulate not simply the […]
Continue readingPaul of Tarsus Saul of Tarsus, a.k.a. Paul the Apostle, Paul of Tarsus [?-65 c.e.] was a Hellenistic Jew and student of Gamaliel the Elder who served as enforcer for the Pharisaic Sanhedrin against the apostate Christian sect following the crucifixion of Jesus. Around 33 c.e. he experienced a dramatic conversion experience while on the […]
Continue reading
Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain. – Leonardo Da Vinci Biomimicry – The practice of developing sustainable human technologies inspired by nature. Sometimes called Biomimetics or Bionics, it’s basically biologically inspired engineering. 1. Velcro The most famous example of biomimicry was the […]
Continue reading