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Did you know you’re more likely to get bit by a New Yorker than by a shark? Wow your friends with these interesting shark facts! You’re more likely to be bitten by another person than by a shark — let alone a great white shark — but that hasn’t stopped us from recounting nightmare stories of the ocean’s most talked about predator. Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week is both a response to and an example of popular interest in one of the world’s most-feared predators....

Source: Blogspot Strange Shrines: Boll Weevil Monument Source: Too Much News At the very heart of Enterprise, Ala., a tiny town whose fringes are lined with cotton fields, stands a Grecian woman reaching her Victorian-appareled arms up to the sky. On top of that is a beetle of sci-fi proportions. The 13 feet tall Boll Weevil Monument has stood over Enterprise for nearly 100 years as a testament to the transformative powers of creative destruction....

King Adolf Frederick sat down for a rather large meal on Shrove Tuesday in 1771. It would be his last. Web Gallery of Art/Wikimedia CommonsAdolf Frederick There are several reasons to fondly remember the Swedish king Adolf Frederick’s reign from 1751 to 1771. His reign was part of the Age of Liberty, during which civil rights of the Swedish people increased and the country witnessed an extended period of peace. In 1766, his reign also saw the Swedish parliament pass the world’s first legislation supporting freedom of the press and freedom of information....

The pace is manic, there are seemingly a billion people crammed into a very small space, and it feels as though you are annoying each and every one of those one billion. Just going to New York is a feat in itself, but luckily Nathan Plye has created an entertaining guide so that getting around New York City is more manageable for you and it’s residents. Enjoy his animated GIF guide to surviving New York (and most other cities on the planet):...

A successful revolution hinges on not just how you wage war, but how you wield words. Fidel Castro — whose rhetoric helped turn the island of Cuba against its democratically-elected government — is a living testament to that. Castro, who held control over Cuba for half a century, is not known for his pithiness. Indeed, over the course of his life he has often given three-hour speeches, and will answer a simple “yes” or “no” question with an entire defense of the impoverished and a searing indictment of capitalism....

Creative energy is really harnessed when shared. Such is the case with legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson and the art of Ralph Steadman. Paul Weedon Creative energy is often really harnessed when shared, and the relationship between Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman is no exception. Virtually anything that Thompson produced during his career featured Steadman’s wonderfully bizarre illustrations, which greatly complemented the out-there, Gonzo brand of journalism that Thompson pioneered in the latter quarter of the 20th century....

Opium dens first sprung up in the Chinatown district of San Francisco in the 19th century. While they were eventually outlawed, these lounge-like establishments flourished across the West for close to a century. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Dangerous WWII-Era Stimulant Found In Modern Weight-Loss Drugs 27 Victorian Death Photos — And The Disturbing History Behind Them...

Before there was the Manson Family, there was Kathleen Maddox – Charles Manson’s actual family. ABC/YouTubeKathleen Maddox in 1971, then remarried as Kathleen Bower. Infamous cult leader Charles Manson’s mom Kathleen Maddox remains a relatively obscure name — especially when considering the enduring notoriety of her son. Unraveling her story is complicated by the fact that her story often hinges conjecture or contradiction. As she retreated even further from the public after Manson’s conviction, the silence left room for the media to write her narrative themselves....

Bartholomew Roberts may have been history’s most polite pirate, but that didn’t stop him from being the ultimate swashbuckling sailor of the high seas. Stringer/Getty ImagesA sketch of Captain Bartholomew Roberts in front of his two ships, The Royal Fortune and The Ranger, off the coast of Africa. Captain Bartholomew Roberts was, in some ways, the archetypal pirate. Coasting under a black sail, he took more than 400 vessels in his career and strutted around in finery that Jack Sparrow would’ve envied....

Though he was a notorious thief and cop killer, Ned Kelly became something of a folk hero to Victoria’s poor in the late 19th century, a controversial image that persists to this day. On June 28, 1880, the police in Glenrowan, Australia, believed they had finally caught a notorious outlaw named Ned Kelly. The criminal had shaken up Australia with a series of armed burglaries and was wanted for murdering three officers in 1878....

The floating museum can’t actually sail on its own and has to be towed wherever it goes. It has been trapped by an international stalemate over its status as a “non-certified floating vessel.” Verhalen Ark/The Ark Museum/FacebookThe ark was built in the 1960s. It took seven years to construct and followed biblical descriptions exactly. A giant replica of Noah’s Ark has been trapped in Ipswich, England for nearly two years — the result of an international bureaucratic nightmare of biblical proportions....

Okunoshima was once used as a top-secret location for chemical weapons testing. All that remains today are thousands of feral rabbits, whose lives may still be in grave danger. Kei Nomiyama / Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesThe long-eared brown wild rabbits enjoy treats on Okunoshima, a.k.a Rabbit Island, Japan. Okunoshima the small island about two miles off the coast of Takehara in Hiroshima Prefecture, allows rabbits to roam freely. Also known as Usagi Jima, or Rabbit Island, Okunoshima attracts animal lovers from all over the world to spend some quality cuddle time with its large population of feral rabbits....

Regina Kay Walters was murdered by Robert Ben Rhoades in 1990 when he strangled her in an Illinois barn — just after taking a terrifying photograph of her cowering in fear. Despite fleeing her home as a teen, Regina Kay Walters had her entire life ahead of her and a loyal boyfriend by her side in February 1990. The 14-year-old Texan and Ricky Lee Jones finally escaped their suburban hell in Pasadena — only to be gruesomely murdered by a prolific serial killer....

Iconic Hairdos: Flock of Seagulls Source: MamaPop Mike Score, lead singer and keyboardist for the English New Wave band Flock of Seagulls, was a hairdresser before belting out such hits like I Ran (So Far Away). His signature ‘do, which has a keen likeness to a bird in flight, became synonymous with the band’s image and was oft emulated through the 80’s. Source: Yeeeah.com Rod Stewart Source: Last.fm Oh, Roddy – why the mullet?...

Glass Beach’s glittering “sands” are testament to the transformational powers of time and nature, explore them with these beautiful photos. Beaches usually conjure up images of roiling waves, vast expanses of sand, and an occasional seagull squawking as it combs the shoreline. Yet traipse over to Glass Beach, one of three beaches in Fort Bragg, California, and that image changes. Here, colorful beds of sea glass blanket the ground, its small, smooth “pebbles” bright as gemstones....

While you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than experience an accident at the theme park, these amusement park disasters show what happens when a day of fun turns into a nightmare. Amusement parks are generally safe — provided you keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and avoid restricted areas. Yet accidents still happen — and these amusement park disasters show the deadly side of these rides....

In the early hours of Sunday, August 13th 1961, hundreds of guards took their positions on the demarcation line at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Ripping apart roads running alongside the border and bisecting East and West Germany with a forbidding barbed wire fence, loyal members of the German Democratic Republic conveyed to the world their iron-fisted, Soviet separatist resolve. But for those who lived through the Berlin Wall’s oppressive existence, the stone barricade represented a damning limit on their right to self-determination and freedom in an increasingly democratizing world....

Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 33 Powerful Photos Of The March On Washington That Changed Civil Rights In America 44 Photos From The Anti-Civil Rights Movement That United Most Of White America In The 1960s The True Story Behind The Most Iconic Image Of The Civil Rights Movement 1 of 56Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school....

Known for his good looks, Paul John Knowles was described as a “cross between Robert Redford and Ryan O’Neal.” YouTube Paul John Knowles, also known as the Casanova Killer. To some women who met him, Paul John Knowles was smooth and charismatic, a “cross between Robert Redford and Ryan O’Neal.” To others, he was their worst nightmare, a cold-blooded killer with no pattern, and no regard for anyone but himself....

The RMS Lusitania had recently departed New York when it was fatally torpedoed by a German U-boat. Unknown to the passengers on board, however, were 173 tons of weaponry bound for war. Just three years following the sinking of the Titanic, there was another tragedy in the Atlantic: the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Of the 1,960 known passengers, 1,196 of them died after the British liner was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the midst of World War I....