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This isn’t the first time neighbors have gone after Howard Banks’ flags. YouTube/CBSHoward Banks Howard Banks loves his flags. His neighbors, however, appear to feel otherwise. Over the years, the 92-year-old World War II veteran has hung several patriotic patchworks from a pole in his Kaufman, Texas, property — and has seen all of them destroyed. The Marine flag — ripped up a year ago. The American flag — shredded. His latest American flag?...

“Our children and us are breathing it. It’s just a nightmare.” Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 24voilok/Instagram 2 of 24temirtau.city/Instagram 3 of 24SBS News 4 of 24Typical Kemerovo via the Siberian Times 5 of 24Strange Sounds/Twitter 6 of 24greenpartyspb/Instagram 7 of 24Daily Tens/Twitter 8 of 24Siberian TImes 9 of 24Strange Sounds/Twitter 10 of 24xelatich/Instagram 11 of 24Typical Kemerovo/The Siberian Times 12 of 24Strange Sounds/Twitter 13 of 24bakhasalam/Instagram...

Frank Lentini, the “Three-Legged Man,” went on to have a successful career thanks to his parasitic twin. TwitterFrancesco “Frank” Lentini was born with a parasitic twin. The vintage fascination with American “freak shows” has fortunately been left in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Carnival goers marveled at the bizarre results of procreation in bearded-ladies, strong-men, sword-swallowers, and little people like Tom Thumb. But how exactly these performers fared as the morbid fascination for paying customers is hard to understand, particularly when there is so little honest information on them....

The Kray brothers Ronnie and Reggie may have owned dozens of nightclubs and hobnobbed with celebrities, but they also committed some of the most shocking murders gangland London had ever seen. The Kray twins. Ronnie and Reggie Kray, better known as the Kray twins, remain perhaps the most infamous criminals in London’s rogue’s gallery of gangsters throughout history. During the 1960s, they ruled the streets of London’s rough-and-tumble East End....

“We have been neglected, and now we have a voice and will exercise that voting right,” said Jose Gregoria Diaz Mirabal, a leader of the Curripaco peoples of Venezuela. GRID-Arendal/FlickrAn aerial view of deforestation in Brazil. While skeptics and faraway pundits have long waved these warnings away, that change in landscapes will not merely affect South American locals. It will instead have massive ramifications on global climate systems and impact humanity as a whole....

As a successor to the helm of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar began trafficking drugs as a teenager. Now, he has reportedly expanded his father’s empire to include meth and fentanyl. Public DomainIvan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, El Chapo’s son, has a $5 million bounty on his head. In the late 1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico began trafficking marijuana, cocaine, and heroin into the United States. From bribery and blackmail to torture and murder, the cartel’s methods were ruthless — owed in part to its merciless leader, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the father of Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar....

These nocturnal poop collectors of Tudor-era England spent their time knee-deep in cesspits full of human excrement. On moonlit nights during the Tudor period of Wales and England, darkened silhouettes would toil below the castle. They were the “nightmen,” digging and scraping near the walls before shuffling into the distance. By name they were the “gong farmers” — by trade, they were removing human excrement from castle cesspits. Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAn 1849 illustration of two nightmen as published in London’s The Morning Chronicle....

New research suggests that our sense of taste and smell are actually linked through our tongue first and not our brain. PixabayA new study shows that our tongues can both taste and smell. New research suggests that smell and taste are linked in the surface of our tongue and not just in our brain, meaning that the two senses first meet in the mouth. In other words, our tongues can “smell” as well as taste....

“You know, 51 days ago I said this was a struggle between good and evil, well now, goodness has won.” For the past two months, the residents of the Seminole Heights neighborhood in Tampa, Fla. have lived in terror of a serial killer who shot and killed four people in the close-knit community. Now, police believe they have captured a man they believe is the “Seminole Heights Killer,” 24-year-old Howell “Trai” Emanuel Donaldson III, reported the Tampa Bay Times....

The photos were discovered in an album owned by a Jewish-American soldier, but even his family isn’t sure how they came into his possession. Yad VashemThe events of Kristallnacht were designed to look spontaneous but were in fact planned in advance. Starting on November 9, 1938, bands of Nazis roamed the streets of Germany and Austria, destroying and ransacking Jewish businesses, houses, and synagogues and brutally attacking anyone they suspected of being Jewish....

In the early 14th century, Robert the Bruce became the King of Scots and ensured his country’s independence after repulsing several English invasions. Robert the Bruce’s place in history was sealed long before Chris Pine starred in the Outlaw King, but how well does Netflix portray the infamous Scot? The story of the Scottish national hero is far messier — and bloodier — than has been portrayed. Trouble With The Scottish Crown An 19th century engraving of King Robert the Bruce....

Each year we celebrate National Doughnut Day, a holiday erected in 1938 to honor the Salvation Army’s “Doughnut Lassies.” Today, the doughnut holiday means free doughnuts (and other sweet perks) from many local shops. While it can be hard to imagine a world without maple bacon bars and apple pie cheddar doughnuts, this tasty treat hasn’t been around forever. That’s why we’ve compiled a seriously sweet history of doughnuts that is sure to send you scrambling to Krispy Kreme before the day is over....

Taking place thousands of years ago, Aristophanes’ theory on love is more sophisticated and progressive than a lot of modern politicians. A symposium scene on a 5th century BCE Greek cup currently housed in the State Antiquities Collection in Munich, Germany. Source: Wikimedia Written 2,400 years ago, Plato’s philosophical novella, Symposium, includes one of the weirdest – and most charming – explanations of why people fall in love ever invented. Plato gives this trippy exegesis to the playwright Aristophanes, who appears as a character in the book....

Despite what you may think, Mormon history is full of scandal, violence, and lies. GAMMA/Gamma-Keystone/Getty ImagesPolygamy has always been entrenched in Mormon history. Here is Polygamist Tom Green, 52, who, at one point, had five wives and 35 children. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally organized in New York in 1830 with the highest of goals: to teach and promote the Gospel of Jesus, with all the pacifism and general cheek-turning that should go along with that mission....

Some of the most magical things the planet has to offer are the most natural. Case in point? Foxfire bioluminescence. Source: About Take a midnight stroll through the golden foliage-filled woods this fall and you might discover foxfire, a type of fungus that primarily grows in decaying wood. Also called fairy fire, the fungi creates light during a chemical reaction that occurs when the quick-growing, healthy fungal cells consume wood and the oxidative enzyme luciferase reacts with luciferin....

Lost Mayan city accidentally unearthed, stone chest of ancient Egyptian pharaoh found, structure made of mammoth bones baffles experts. Ancient Mayan Capital Discovered By Accident In Cattle Rancher’s Backyard Charles GoldenArchaeologists dig at the ancient city’s ballcourt. Researchers had been looking for the ancient Mayan capital of the Sak Tz’I’ kingdom for some 20 years — before finding it in a Mexican cattle rancher’s backyard. The rancher first uncovered a tablet that eventually tipped researchers off to the entire 3,000-year-old city sitting beneath his land....

Remains of history’s largest child sacrifice uncovered, tale of accused witch who killed herself resurfaced, first space crime in history investigated. Peruvian Archaeologists Unearth The Single Largest Mass Child Sacrifice Site In The World AFPResearchers believe the mass sacrifice was a ritualistic offering to the Chimú’s moon god, in order to ward off El Niño-related weather. Archaeologists in Peru have just discovered what is likely to be the largest mass child sacrifice site in recorded history....

Italy’s festival for ugly people, footwear of the famous, Paris in 1952, rescued from the Holocaust, and surprising vintage restaurant menus. Photos From Italy’s “Ugly People” Festival Pageantry isn’t just for the beautiful — and Piobbico, Italy’s “Ugly Festival” proves it. Taking place once a year, members of the World Association of Ugly People (yes, it actually exists) convene in the tiny Italian town to elect the club’s next president....

Frozen desserts date all the way back to ancient China around 200 B.C.E., but a staggering number of ice cream innovators over the centuries have helped perfect the treat we enjoy today. Transcendental Graphics/Getty ImagesThree young women enjoy ice cream in the 1920s. Throughout much of the world today, ice cream is everywhere. Children chase after ice cream trucks in the summer, the heartbroken dig into a pint after a break-up, and this frozen favorite fills entire aisles at grocery stores....

From 1852 to 1953, the inmates of France’s infamous Devil’s Island penal colony in the Caribbean died en masse from malnutrition, disease, and futile escape attempts. Antoine Hubert/FlickrDevil’s Island, also called Île du Diable, is one of French Guiana’s Îles du Salut, or Salvation Islands. At first glance, Devil’s Island looks like paradise. Dotted with palm trees and surrounded by sparkling waters, its beauty belies a horrific truth — for nearly 100 years, tens of thousands of men perished on its shores while living in a French penal colony....