The podcast where we choose a subject, read a single Wikipedia article about it, and pretend we're experts. Because this is the internet, and that's how it works now.
A shark repellent is any method of driving sharks away from an area. Shark repellents are a category of animal repellents . Shark repellents are of interest to the commercial fishing industry as well as to swimmers, surfers, and other people in the ocean. Shark repellent technologies include magnetic shark repellent , electropositive shark repellents , electric repellents , and semiochemicals .…
The expedition aimed to find if there was a connection between the Congo and Niger basins of western and central Africa . Tuckey sailed up the river from its mouth but found that the lower river is not navigable due to rapids (later called the Yellala Falls ) above Matadi. He only found ruins of the Portuguese colony and moribund Catholic missions . He suggested sending Protestant missionaries to…
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition among the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930 , with the exception of 1942 and 1946 during and shortly after World War II . The reigning…
Vivos (also known as The Vivos Group ) is a California -based company that built underground shelters designed to withstand future disasters and life-extinction catastrophes. [ 1 ] Robert Vicino founded the company. Shelters 10,000-square-foot (0.093 ha) have been completed in Indiana, 575 bunkers each 2,150 square feet across a former military base in [ 2 ] South Dakota, and others are in the…
A non-fungible token ( NFT ) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. They typically contain references to digital files such as artworks, photos, videos, and audio. Because NFTs are uniquely identifiable, they differ from cryptocurrencies (which are fungible , hence the name non-fungible token), and as a result they cannot…
Pixelon was an American dot-com company founded in 1998 that promised better distribution of high-quality video over the Internet . It was based in San Juan Capistrano, California . [1] It gained fame for its extravagant Las Vegas launch party , followed by its sudden and violent decline less than a year later as it became evident it was using technologies that were, in fact, fake or…
Assata Olugbala Shakur ( / ə ˈ s ɑː t ə ʃ ə ˈ k ʊər / ə-SAH-tə shə-KOOR ; born JoAnne Deborah Byron , July 16, 1947 [ a ] – September 25, 2025) was an American political activist, revolutionary, and fugitive who was a member of the Black Panther Party , and later the Black Liberation Army . [ 3 ] In 1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster…
James R. McClintock, with Horace Lawson Hunley and Baxter Watson, built the submarine Pioneer at New Orleans in 1861 to defend the city against Federal forces. The three men later constructed two submarines at Mobile, Alabama, the second of which was named H.L. Hunley. This vessel was taken to Charleston, South Carolina, in August 1863. On 17 February 1864, after two fatal accidents, the…
Byford Dolphin was a semi-submersible , column-stabilised drilling rig operated by Dolphin Drilling , a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Energy . Byford Dolphin was registered in Hamilton, Bermuda , [3] and drilled seasonally for various companies in the British, Danish, and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea . In 2019, Dolphin scrapped the rig. [5] The rig was the site of several serious incidents, most…
AOC's Billionaire Bull Session, Did Steven Spielberg earn his wealth? What about Oprah? Jay-Z? By Matthew Hennessey, Wall Street Journal You can earn a billion dollars, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a low opinion of human potential., Editorial Board - Washington Post I don't resent Bezos. I'm rooting for billionaires like him. | Opinion, Nicole Russell- USA TODAY Billionaires Rock, We ought to…
The News of the World was a weekly national " red top " tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations. [ 4 ] It was established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the…
Rinca [ a ] is a small island near Komodo and Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara , Indonesia , within the West Manggarai Regency . It is one of the three largest islands included in Komodo National Park . The island is famous for Komodo dragons , giant lizards that can measure up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. Rinca is also populated with many other species such as wild pigs , buffalos and many birds.
Jasper Maskelyne (29 September 1902 – 15 March 1973) was a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne . He is most remembered for his accounts of his work for the British military during the Second World War , in which he claimed to have created large-scale ruses,…
A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks , beverages , cigarettes , and lottery tickets to consumers after cash , a credit card , or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise made. [1] The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards . Vending machines exist in many…
Production problems—among them bad weather, actors' poor health, and other issues—delayed the filming of Apocalypse Now , increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of its director, Francis Ford Coppola .
The Salt Path is a 2018 memoir, nature, and travel book by Raynor Winn . It details the long-distance walk along the South West Coast Path , in South West England , by Winn and her husband, Moth, after they lost their home, and Moth was diagnosed with fatal corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It deals with the theme of homelessness and the nature of home in the face of the unpredictability of life.…
Nzinga or Njinga Ana de Sousa Mbande ( / n ə ˈ z ɪ ŋ ɡ ə / ; c. 1583 – 17 December 1663) was a southwest African paramount ruler who ruled as a queen of the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo (1624–1663) and Matamba (1631–1663), located in present-day northern Angola . [ 1 ] Born into the ruling family of Ndongo , her grandfather Ngola Kilombo Kia Kasenda was the king of Ndongo, succeeded by her father.
Looksmaxxing is a 21st century Internet neologism referring to the process of maximizing one's own physical attractiveness . The term originated on male incel (meaning: "involuntarily celibate") [1] message boards in the 2010s. [2] [3] [4] Previously, the phrase's usage had been limited to obscure internet forums, but in the 2020s became popularized on TikTok by men. [3] Currently, the term refers…
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day [1] ) is an annual custom in many Western countries on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes , hoaxes , and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool[s]!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a…
A placebo ( / p l ə ˈ s iː b oʊ / pluh-SEE-boh ) is a medicine or treatment intended to appear genuine to its recipient, but which has no pharmaceutical effect. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline ), sham surgery , [ 3 ] and other procedures. [ 4 ]
Guy Fawkes ( / f ɔː k s / ; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), [ a ] also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated in York ; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes converted to Catholicism…
Enshit*ification , also known as crapification and platform decay , is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term profits…
Sputnik 1 ( / ˈ s p ʌ t n ɪ k , ˈ s p ʊ t n ɪ k / , Russian : Спутник-1 , Satellite 1 ), often referred to as simply Sputnik , was the first artificial Earth satellite . It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program . It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became…
Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Founded in 1967 to serve the predominantly Black Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , it was staffed entirely by African Americans. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Freedom House Ambulance Service broke medical ground by training its…
The Super Bowl is the annual league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 , replacing the NFL Championship Game . Since 2022, the game has been played on the second Sunday in February. Prior Super Bowls were played on Sundays in early to mid-January from 1967 to 1978, late January from 1979 to…
A feral child (also called wild child ) is a young individual who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, with little or no experience of human care, social behavior, or language. Such children lack the basics of primary and secondary socialization . [1] The term is used to refer to children who have suffered severe abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. They…
Hundreds of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution are introduced during each session of the United States Congress . From 1789 through January 3, 2025, approximately 11,985 measures have been proposed to amend the United States Constitution. [1] Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress . [2] Most,…
Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), more popularly known as Captain Tom , was a British Army officer and fundraiser . He made international headlines in April 2020 when he raised money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic . He served in India and the Burma campaign during the Second World War , and later became an instructor in…
" The Fir-Tree " ( Danish : Grantræet ) is a literary fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). The tale is about a fir tree so anxious to grow up, so anxious for greater things, that he cannot appreciate living in the moment. The tale was first published 21 December 1844 with " The Snow Queen ", in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection , in…
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries , it was erroneously believed that there were " canals " on the planet Mars . These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude on Mars, observed by astronomers using early telescopes without photography. They were first described by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli during the…
The Field of the Cloth of Gold ( French : Camp du Drap d'Or , pronounced [kɑ̃ dy dʁa d‿ɔʁ] ) was a summit meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France from 7 to 24 June 1520. Held at Balinghem , between Ardres in France and Guînes in the English Pale of Calais , it was an opulent display of wealth by both kings. [1]
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch ; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor and politician. [1] [2] Of Jewish descent , he escaped the Nazi occupation of his native Czechoslovakia and joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile during World War II . He was decorated after active service in the British Army . In subsequent years he worked in…
On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells robbed a PNC Bank near his hometown of Erie , Pennsylvania , United States. Upon being apprehended by police, Wells died when an explosive collar locked to his neck detonated. The FBI investigation into his death uncovered a complex plot described as "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI". [1]…
Koro is a culture-bound delusional disorder in which individuals have an overpowering belief that their sex organs are retracting and will disappear, despite the lack of any true longstanding changes to the genitals. [1] [2] Koro is also known as shrinking penis , and was listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders .
Balloonfest '86 was a fundraising event in Cleveland , Ohio , United States, held on September 27, 1986, in which the local chapter of United Way set a world record by releasing almost 1.5 million balloons . [2] The event was intended to be a harmless publicity stunt . However, the released balloons drifted back over the city and Lake Erie and landed in the surrounding area, causing problems for…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel_claims_and_urban_legends Multiple accounts of people who allegedly travelled through time have been reported by the press or circulated online. These reports have turned out to be either hoaxes or else based on incorrect assumptions, incomplete information, or interpretation of fiction as fact . Many are now recognized as urban legends .
A broadcast signal intrusion is the hijacking of broadcast signals of radio , television stations , cable television broadcast feeds or satellite signals without permission or licence . Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.
George Edward " Rube " Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander , he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels , Pittsburgh Pirates , and Chicago Orphans in the National League , as well as the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League . Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania , and raised in Prospect,…
The 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire , [1] officially known as the 2,500-year celebration of the Empire of Iran ( Persian : جشنهای ۲۵۰۰ ساله شاهنشاهی ایران, romanized : Jašn-hây-e 2500 sale' šâhanšâhi Irân ), was hosted by the Pahlavi dynasty in the Imperial State of Iran in October 1971. Concentrated at Persepolis , it consisted of an elaborate set of grand festivities that sought to…
Over 21 days of talking with ChatGPT, an otherwise perfectly sane man became convinced that he was a real-life superhero. We analyzed the conversation. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html
Mummia , mumia , or originally mummy referred to several different preparations in the history of medicine , from "mineral pitch " to "powdered human mummies ". It originated from Arabic mūmiyā "a type of resinous bitumen found in Western Asia and used curatively" in traditional Islamic medicine , which was translated as pissasphaltus (from "pitch" and "asphalt") in ancient Greek medicine . In…