• The Real Reason Dogs Tilt Their Heads

    Just about any dog owner has wondered why their pooch does that cute weird thing. But we should probably narrow that down. We're talking specifically about dogs' tendency to tilt their heads to the side, especially as a reaction to being spoken to by their master. It's an iconic gesture.

    By Daniel Leonard October 1st, 2020 Read More
  • How The J.R.R. Tolkien Movie Lied About His Time At Oxford

    The truth, according to The Tolkien Society, is a little less dramatic. Tolkien studied the Classics, Old English, the Germanic languages, Welsh, and Finnish for the first part of his college career, earning a second-class degree in 1913 at the halfway point of a four-year Oxford Classics course.

    By Sandra Mardenfeld October 1st, 2020 Read More
  • William Tell May Never Have Existed. Here's Why.

    Having lionized Tell for centuries, the Swiss had a hard time swallowing the bitter pill of their misguided history. According to Curious Historian, de Haller's book William Tell: A Danish Fable "caused such an outcry that people publicly burned the book." De Haller had to publicly apologize.

    By Cody Copeland October 1st, 2020 Read More
  • The Truth About Abraham Lincoln's Inventions

    Lincoln is not just a good politician; he was also something of an inventor, dabbling in mechanical creativity. And he even managed a patent for one of his inventions, said Time Magazine, the first (and so far, only) president to hold a patent.

    By Emilia David October 1st, 2020 Read More
  • The Mysterious Death Of Ronni Chasen

    Chasen left the party and picked up her car from the valet. At about 12:28 a.m., "four shots were fired through the vehicle's front passenger window as it likely slowed or stopped in the left-hand turn lane heading west on Sunset to make the turn south on to Whittier Drive."

    By Karen Corday October 1st, 2020 Read More
  • This Is The Only Living Person Who Knows The Recipe For Campari

    The unusual liqueur has been around since 1860, when Milan-based café owner Gaspare Campari bottled some of the stuff in his basement, as recounted by Saveur. Its candied vermilion hue, spiced yet bitter taste retains a refined, unique quality that beckons the drinker to challenge their senses.

    By Richard Milner September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Real Reason Your Cat Sleeps So Much

    Cats also tend to sleep all day, luxuriating in the knowledge that someone will be around to care for them anyway. Or so it seems. In truth, your cats aren't being lazy or acting like they own your house. Their sleeping patterns are a holdover from their previous life as hunters.

    By Emilia David September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Truth About The Exorcist Curse

    Some crazy things happened during the film's production. For instance, the set burned down. Everyone was home for the night when the film's production manager called director William Friedkin and told him not to bother coming into work the next day.

    By Nick Vrchoticky September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Untold Truth Of Lisa Lopes

    When TLC burst into the scene in the 1990s, people stood up and took notice. These were three women confident in themselves and singing about female empowerment. Most memorably, TLC incorporated rap breaks, courtesy of the firecracker Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes. It was Lopes who crafted the TLC image.

    By Emilia David September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • Why Gin Genie Was One Of The Most Bizarre Comic Characters

    Enter Gin Genie, a short-lived "superhero" in X-Force, and later X-Statix (no, not Static-X), whose superpower is connected to debilitating alcoholism. Namely, the more she drinks, the stronger her seismic blasts become. So it's basically always in her best interests to be an ornery drunk

    By Richard Milner September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Strange Prediction Made About 21st Century Women

    "The woman of the year 2000 will be an outsize Diana, anthropologists and beauty experts predict. She will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver." According to Roe, women would have "Amazonian" proportions.

    By Daniel Leonard September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Curse Of The Pharaohs Explained

    The curse of the pharaohs is a long-held belief that archaeologists and others who come into contact with Egyptian artifacts will be caused by the spirits of pharaohs. The curse of the pharaohs originated after the death of Lord Carnarvon, who helped open the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922.

    By Benito Cereno September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Incredible True Story Of The Texas Rangers

    While a "day in the life of" may not be as glamorous as Chuck Norris delivering roundhouse kicks to the jaws of '90s TV ruffians, the small cadre of elite Texan police plays an actual, prominent role in the state's law enforcement and criminal investigation, kind of like a Texas-only FBI.

    By Richard Milner September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • The Reason Why Pythagoras Might Not Have Been Real

    The majority of people who've never taken a philosophy class have a hard time naming -- or caring about, for that matter -- more than a handful of philosophers, but any middle school student could tell you who Pythagoras was. He was the guy with the triangles. All of the "a²+b²=c²" nonsense.

    By Nick Vrchoticky September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • Why A Controversial Mister Rogers Episode Was Banned

    Let's face it: Fred Rogers had a lot of good points to make. He's arguably one of the best portrayals of non-toxic masculinity ever to grace TV screens. Mister Rogers had no problem pushing the boundaries of social thought during the less tolerant times of the 20th century

    By Nick Vrchoticky September 30th, 2020 Read More
  • What It Was Really Like On New Year's, 1000 AD

    The beginning of a new year has always been cause for celebration, introspection, and superstition, but as we saw in 1999 when Y2K was a thing, it's also a time for fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It wasn't so different 1,000 years ago. Here's what it was really like on New Year's, 1000 AD.

    By Jeff Somers September 30th, 2020 Read More