In 1534, King Henry VIII did what every Catholic school kid has imagined doing while being ostracized by a nun for chewing gum during mass: he started his own church where nobody was allowed to tell him what to do. Here's why he created the Church of England.
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Some dark and disturbing stuff happened during the Texas Revolution, events that are less "remember the Alamo!" and more "what the heck, Texas?"
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While modern physics and satellite imagery side firmly with the Greeks, you might wonder how they arrived at the not-always-accepted wisdom of modern science.
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Lizzie Borden. Not Elizabeth. Her story is one of the better mostly-unsolved murders in American history. Here's the truth about the house where the Borden murders took place.
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Thankfully, while the first website on Earth wasn't anything pretty, it also wasn't the sparkly mess that would overrun everybody's screens by the mid-'90s.
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Of all the ways humanity could abruptly end, disease is the scariest. It's invisible, can spread quickly, and the only surefire defense is complete isolation. In 2020, fears are riding high about the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but does it compare to the most deadly outbreaks in history?
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When the Kansas City Chiefs were proclaimed the victors of the 2020 Super Bowl, President Trump made a rather embarrassing blunder on Twitter: he congratulated the wrong state, crediting the victory to the "Great state of Kansas." Oops. Here's the real reason why Kansas City is in Missouri.
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Arguably one of America's most famous and revered novelists, Twain didn't start out with a yen for a pen. Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River, what he wanted more than anything was to become a riverboat captain. Here's how much he was worth when he died.
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Dinosaurs were some seriously big mofos. There were also an array of smaller ones, and no, that doesn't just include cute little newborns like the baby T-rex, and those famously small compsognathus critters you remember from Jurassic Park. Here's the truth about the smallest dino in the world.
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Victoria's reign was marked by a period of great economic progress in England, as well as advances in learning and technology. There was still grinding poverty, but it was a start. She made it into the 20th century, however briefly, before her death. Here's what killed her.
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Shakespeare was a poet as well as a storyteller, and when he didn't find a word that suited, he felt well within his capacity to invent one from whole cloth. As a result, he is credited with coining some of the most common words and turns-of-phrase still in use today.
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Everyone knows the pyramids of Egypt are old, but it can be hard to conceptualize just how long ago these ancient wonders were constructed. They're so old that the Egyptians had a different North Star. Here is its story.
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Today, a genuine Rolex sells for a near-sacrilegious amount of money. So much money that, at a certain point, there's no real reason to list actual prices. Why are Rolex watches so expensive?
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Despite this being the age of beards, facial hair remains so absent from the White House.
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William Shakespeare: author, theater nerd, and exception that makes the rule "just shave your head if you're going bald." Here's the truth about his death. We think.
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We all know Henry VIII, the iron-fisted monarch who mastered the art of multiple wives. But what, you may well ask, about his sister Mary Tudor?
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From bad plays to on-stage accidents, the Super Bowl has provided fans with some of the greatest moments in sports history … and some of the most humiliating.
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College was once considered the best time of your life... now it has become a debt sentence. How did higher education become so horribly unaffordable?
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About 30 miles outside of Columbia, South Carolina, there exists a place where, at long last, man and pig may live in harmony. That's because the Cotton Branch Farm Sanctuary is seeking 'piggy cuddlers' to socialize its rescued swine.
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Let's be honest: there are a million perfectly reasonable reasons for putting your little sister to death. Here's why Cleopatra decided to execute hers.
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Wealthy businessmen have been known to run for President, and as a cursory glance at your news feed will no doubt tell you, they have been even known to succeed. So why won't Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest ever, run for president?
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Being Queen Victoria was a pretty sweet deal, but beneath the surface you'll find calamity and controversy. Here's the messed up truth of Queen Victoria.
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Born at Westminster Palace in 1489, Margaret Tudor didn't need a silver spoon in her mouth because, according to biographer Sarah-Beth Watkins, the infant princess was baptized in a silver font "lined with fine linen cloth of Rennes." Here's the truth about King Henry's sister.
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As if Australia hasn't suffered enough, it now has sharks that – wait for it – walk. First Steve Irwin, and then bush fires turning koalas into tiki torches, and let's not even mention Paul Hogan.
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Snow White is a Disney movie that's inspired by a seriously dark story, courtesy of the Brothers Grimm. So if you want the grisly details, here are the messed up origins of the classic Disney film.
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The price of hearing aids, for the record, is a scam. They don't need to be so expensive. Here's why they are, anyway.
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The daughter of a yeoman farmer, Anne Hathaway lived with her family in a farmhouse in Shottery, England, less than a mile and a half away from Shakespeare's birthplace -- just a spear's throw away.
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