After inflicting decades of torment and abuse, Marvin Gay Sr. shot his son Marvin Gaye at point-blank range inside the family’s Los Angeles home on April 1, 1984. As music critic Michael Eric Dyson once said, Motown legend Marvin Gaye “chased away the demons of millions… with his heavenly sound and divine art.” But while this soulful voice healed those who listened, the man behind it suffered a tremendous amount of pain....
From Robert Kahn and Vint Cerf to Tim Berners-Lee, discover the true inventors of the internet and learn what inspired them to change the world forever. The World Wide Web is a wonderful place, but have you ever wondered who invented the internet? The answer is not a simple one since there is no one person who can take all the credit. Who Invented The Internet? Although it seems like the internet was invented yesterday, the concept is actually over a century old and involved individuals and organizations from all over the world contributing to it....
The Passamaquoddy people were granted ownership of Pine Island after they supported colonists during the Revolutionary War, but later generations reneged on the promise. Boston Public LibraryChief Neptune of the Passamaquoddy tribe in 1921. Native people in the United States have lost 1.5 billion acres of land since 1776. But one tribe just got some of their lands back. The Passamaquoddy purchased Pine Island in Maine, where, once, their people lived for 10,000 years....
The mad scientist did more than invent things. Here are 11 Nikola Tesla predictions that’ll shock you with their accuracy. Smartphones And Wireless Communication Devices One of Tesla’s visions for the future included a mass communication system that united the world via small personal devices. “…through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles… A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket....
As the murderous drug kingpin fell, many took credit for the kill, but who was truly responsible for Pablo Escobar’s death? “I would rather have a grave in Colombia than a jail cell in the U.S.” Pablo Escobar’s words, spoken out of spite for United States law enforcement, would become a reality sooner than the drug kingpin anticipated. Wikimedia CommonsPablo Escobar, drug kingpin of the Medellin cartel. On December 2, 1993, Pablo Escobar was shot in the head as he attempted to flee across the rooftops of the barrio Los Olivos in his hometown of Medellín, where he had been hiding out....
What’s more insane: the North Korean Godzilla rip-off Pulgasari or its backstory? Poster for the Japanese release of Pulgasari. In the late 1960s, Kim Jong-il, heir to the North Korean dictatorship at the time, became interested in making propaganda films. Kim was already deeply fascinated by film. He had even established an underground operation to obtain bootleg copies of international films that were banned in North Korea for his viewing pleasure, expressly against the wishes of his father, national leader Kim Il-sung....
The engraving dates to 1820, when John Quincy Adams commissioned parchment copies to be made for workaday use by politicians. It’s one of only eight printed on paper. American Philosophical SocietyDetailed etchings found on this letter “C” clued researchers into the fact that this was no ordinary facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence. After nearly two decades of study and analysis, researchers in Philadelphia have verified a new and extremely rare 19th-century copy of the Declaration of Independence....
Ruth Snyder’s crime and execution were nothing special until a photo of her electric chair in action ended up on the front page of the daily news. Wikimedia CommonsRuth Snyder’s mugshot. Tensions were high as Tom Howard walked into New York’s Sing Sing prison on the afternoon of Jan. 12, 1928. As he made his way through security and into the execution chamber, he stepped carefully as he was carrying contraband that if found, was certain to get him ejected or possibly arrested....
A total of about 30 sex dolls were placed in the stands — some of them holding signs advertising X-rated websites. YouTubeFC Seoul claimed it had received assurances the “premium dolls” they ordered weren’t intended for sexual purposes. The coronavirus pandemic has put all sorts of industries on pause. For South Korea, that has meant no soccer matches since the last season ended in September 2019. Fans were overjoyed at the country’s K-League returning to stadiums this month, then perplexed when they noticed the stands were filled with sex dolls....
The report discovered that a peptide found in spider venom could stimulate a crucial protein in mice with Dravet syndrome. Marc Brethes/Wikimedia CommonsA West African tarantula. The secret to curing a deadly form of childhood epilepsy could come from an unlikely source: tarantulas. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discovered that a peptide found in spider venom, called Hm1a, could be used as a targeted therapy for Dravet syndrome, a genetic form of epilepsy....
How the Angels of Mons legend had the British public believing that actual divine warriors were on their side against the Germans during The Great War. City of MonsDetail from “The Angels of Mons” by Marcel Gillis. In 2001, the British newspaper The Sunday Times reported that Marlon Brando had purchased an antique film reel for £350,000 GBP. Intended to be the basis for Brando’s next movie, the footage had supposedly been found at a Gloucestershire junk shop along with other items and ephemera belonging to World War I veteran William Doidge....
The 1996 film brought the late 20th century heroin epidemic to popular audiences. Here’s what that epidemic looked like — and how it compares to the crisis today. “Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you’re still nowhere near it.” This is how Mark Renton, the character played by Ewan McGregor in the cult classic Trainspotting, describes a heroin high. It’s lines like that one — along with the film’s cast of handsome (in a pale, skinny, sickly kind of way), witty, and free-spirited characters — that provided the foundation for accusations that the film glamorized drug culture....
A writer’s paychecks are often collected from sources completely unrelated to their writing — just ask your local liberal arts grad. Whether they work in the service industry or as desk-jockeys, many writers bide their time until they can get home and do what they really want: make art. But that doesn’t just apply to the next Salinger or Steinbeck. Many of your favorite authors had to put in their menial time, too — and in some cases, you wouldn’t believe what day jobs they held:...
Researchers hope that the mask, which was found alongside 500 other ancient artifacts, can answer questions about the enigmatic Shu civilization. Getty ImagesThe mask is believed to have been worn by priests during some sort of religious ritual. Archaeologists digging at Sanxingdui in China’s Sichuan province struck gold — literally — when they uncovered the fragments of a 3,000-year-old gold mask. The mask weighs a little over half a pound and is 84 percent pure gold....
A timeline and history of the Berlin Wall, one of the most memorable emblems of the Cold War that divided much of the world in half. Erected in the 1960s, the Berlin Wall divided communist East Germany from the non-communist West. For 28 years, the Iron Curtain kept East Germans from fleeing to the West and the momentous occasion of its destruction signified a resounding international celebration for freedom. Here, we take a look a look at the fascinating history of the Berlin Wall:...
Jørgen Brønlund’s final diary entry has baffled experts for more than a century — until now. Wikimedia CommonsMembers of the Denmark Expedition to the Northeast Coast of Greenland around 1902-1904: Jørgen Brønlund, Alfred Bertelsen, Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, Knud Rasmussen, and Harald Moltke. The death of Inuit explorer Jørgen Brønlund was anything but peaceful. The third to perish during a grueling three-man expedition in his native Greenland, Brønlund’s body was found frozen in a cave in 1907....
DNA analysis of the 17 bodies in Norwich, England, suggests that they were Ashkenazi Jews who were likely killed in a pogrom. Giles Emery/NPS ArchaeologyThe bodies were discovered in an odd arrangement, suggesting they had not been buried but thrown in head first. In 2004, the construction of a new shopping mall in Norwich, England, turned up a tangle of bones at the bottom of an 800-year-old medieval well. Based on their positioning, researchers determined that they’d been tossed in head-first....
The revelation that the bonnethead is an omnivore now has scientists wondering if other sharks might also be the same way. Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty ImagesA bonnethead shark at the Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey, England. Sharks are often portrayed as bloodthirsty carnivores always on the hunt for their next meal. But a new study has made a startling revelation that could forever change how at least some of these animals are perceived....
The seventh-century ship held the largest collection of Byzantine and early Islamic pottery ever found in Israel. University of Haifa, Institute for Maritime StudiesThe ship’s method of construction differed greatly from popular approaches of prior centuries, giving experts insight into the transitional period between Byzantine and Islamic rule. In 2015, two members of an Israeli kibbutz near Haifa spotted some intriguing wreckage off the coast. The ship was rapidly retaken by sand until the University of Haifa managed to launch excavations in 2016....
Sol Pais, the young woman who threatened Columbine High School with a shooting before killing herself, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to “Columbiners.” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department via Getty ImagesSurveillance footage of shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the cafeteria at Columbine High School. April 20, 1999. It’s been 20 years since the Columbine High School massacre stunned an entire nation. Much in the same way that many claim that the peace-and-love 1960s died with the Manson Family murders of 1969, the calm and prosperous 1990s may very well have died with Columbine....
