Thanks to Hollywood, modern people think being a medieval knight would be cool. But we are wrong, oh so very wrong. You may want to hold off on teleporting back through time to claim your title as Sir Whatever until after you've read about what it was really like to be a medieval knight.
Read More1997's Titanic, starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, was a phenomenon upon release. But nothing is perfect, except perhaps Leo's hair. Despite Cameron's eye for detail, there are still a few things wrong with the film. Here are things Titanic got wrong about the real-life disaster.
Read MoreThe Dead Sea -- at 413 meters (1,414 feet) below sea level, already the lowest point on the Earth's surface, according to CNN -- has been consistently sinking further into the ground over the last 50 years. Its water level fell six meters in each of the first two decades after 1976.
Read MoreAccording to National Geographic, the tombs of Ancient Egyptian pharaohs typically were stocked with "everything they might need or want in the afterlife" -- and that included preserved food.
Read MoreHis time as a rapper was quite short-lived -- only one album, 2003's Be A Man -- but that effort was packed with enough of his classic swagger to fill a lesser man's entire career. The title track addresses his rivalry with Hulk Hogan, "one of the most well-built matches in WWE history."
Read MoreAs Limp Bizkit accepted the Best Rock Video at the MTV Music Awards, RATM bassist Tim Commerford crashed the stage, climbed a 20-foot fake palm tree, and refused to come down.
Read MoreTesla is believed to have been the first man to receive a signal from what is now known as the Black Knight satellite.
Read MoreOf all the stories about the Grateful Dead, perhaps is none more completely wholesome than the one about how they saved a little yogurt company and brought into the mainstream the food that supplies us with both calcium and healthy bacteria.
Read MoreNotably, Bowie himself doesn't appear on the album art -- a career first for the stylish artist, according to The Guardian. But anyone familiar with Bowie's wit would not be surprised to discover that Blackstar's art was full of symbolism -- as well as a number of Easter Eggs for fans to discover.
Read MoreBefore they were the ZZ Top hitmakers of "Sharp Dressed Man" and "La Grange," they were passing themselves off as The Zombies, bassist Dusty Hill recalled in 2016.
Read MoreAM NY recently reported that West Nile virus claimed the life of one New Yorker, and five others were diagnosed with the disease. Cases were also confirmed in Massachusetts, California, and Ontario, Canada, in September 2020, and authorities in Texas identified the virus in mosquito pools.
Read MoreThompson found national attention in 1967 for his book Hell's Angels, an account of his time riding and living with the motorcycle gang. The book also launched his unique reporting style, "[taking] readers deep inside a subculture largely inaccessible to the outside world," said Rolling Stone.
Read MoreWhen Wells was 16, she met an assistant to Berry Gordy Jr. of Motown Records, who brought her in to present a song she'd written for Jackie Wilson. Motown signed her and she recorded the song, "Bye Bye Baby," herself. She paired up with Smokey Robinson, and the result was a string of hits.
Read MorePies today come in every shape and size and have transformed in every culture they've come into contact with. This is the long history of pie explained.
Read MoreWhen bands break up, it's usually because the members got into a fight or there were creative differences between the group and their management. But there are those few instances when bands fragment because they thought they weren't successful. The Zombies believed that when they broke up in 1967.
Read MoreEdison's predictions a century ago about air travel, mass production, electric trains, and smartphones (kinda) were more or less on the mark. His forecast about the role that steel would play in our lives, however, ended up a cold, lifeless heap in the slush pile of attempted augury.
Read MoreMusic and television changed forever in 1981, when MTV began broadcasting over America's nascent cable television systems. The very first music video played on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. This is what it was really like to be the first music video on MTV.
Read MoreYou would think that somewhere on the internet someone would have already divulged the special ingredients in KFC, but no one has ... yet.
Read MoreCredited with writing The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer rightfully holds a rarefied place in literary history. But, much like the fictional events in those epic poems, Homer might not have existed.
Read MoreActress and humorist Carrie Fisher had an incredibly unusual life story. As the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher earned an iconic role in the original Star Wars trilogy. But behind Princess Leia was the tragic story of drug addiction, bipolar disorder, and sour marriages.
Read MoreYes, it's probably exactly what you suspect: Indy 500 racers pee in their suits. But you would too if you were as short on time as they are during a race. A pit crew is forced to change all the car's tires in a little as six seconds, so where do you expect the driver to find time to get to a toilet?
Read MoreFew of us really understand why these beautiful arcs appear in the sky. Sure, it has something to do with sunlight and water droplets -- but what, exactly?
Read MoreFannie Lou Townsend Hamer started her life as the 20th child of Mississippi sharecroppers and ended it as a leader and a hero for civil and voting rights. She started picking cotton alongside her family at the age of six, and was forced to leave school when she was 12 in order to work full time.
Read MorePlague doctors were scary guys in dark robes and long, beaked masks under hats ... right? Here's what it was really like being a plague doctor.
Read MoreThe 1970s defined themselves slowly. Here are some of the things people get wrong about the 1970s-even people who lived through them.
Read MoreThey married on March 5, 1876, when Wild Bill was 39 and Lake was 50. The not-so-young couple didn't get to spend much time together.
Read MoreIn reality, Revere didn't complete the whole ride, wrote Smithsonian Magazine. Nor was he the only rider. He was, however, a real person. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, he was a silversmith and engraver, as well as an American revolutionary.
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