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Fascinating, amazing

Here I am devoting this whole page to fascinating and amazing stuff. You'll truly enjoy it! It includes bizarre facts and intriguing news all true to the last dot.

Vampire Serial Killer (Richard Chase)

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Richard Chase was born in Santa Clara County, California, on May 23, 1950. Known as the “Vampire of Sacramento”, he killed six people in the span of one month, cannibalizing their remains and drinking their blood. The product of a troubled household, Chase showed signs of psychological problems at an early age and, later, gained himself a reputation as an alcoholic and chronic drug user during his adolescence. He became obsessed with bodily fluids, once being hospitalized for blood poisoning due to injecting himself with rabbit’s blood.

He committed his first murder on December 29, 1977. He would prowl homes and enter if the door was unlocked, believing that a locked door was a sign that he was not wanted but an unlocked door was an invitation to enter. On January 27, he committed his last murder, slaying 38-year-old Evelyn Miroth, her six-year-old son, Jason, and her 22-month-old nephew, David. He engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism with Evelyn’s corpse. He also drank her son’s blood and ate several of his internal organs, including his brain. On May 8, 1979, he was found guilty of six counts of murder in the first degree and was sentence to die in the gas chamber. He was found dead in his prison cell on December 26, 1980, having committed suicide with doctor-prescribed anti-depressants that he had stored up over several weeks.
Source:
Listverse.com


Most Evil Human (Joseph Stalin)

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Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee, from 1922 until his death, in 1953. Under Stalin’s leadership, the Ukraine suffered from a famine (Holodomor) so great it is considered by many to be an act of genocide on the part of Stalin’s government. Estimates of the number of deaths range from 2.5 million to 10 million. The famine was caused by direct political and administrative decisions. In addition to the famine, Stalin ordered purges within the Soviet Union of any person deemed to be an enemy of the state. In total, estimates of the number murdered under Stalins reign, range from 10 million to 60 million.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Fascinating Fact About Christmas (Candy Canes)

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In the late 1800s, a candy maker in Indiana wanted to express the meaning of Christmas through a symbol made of candy. He came up with the idea of bending one of his white candy sticks into the shape of a Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols of Christ’s love and sacrifice through the Candy Cane. First, he used a plain white peppermint stick. The color white symbolizes the purity and sinless nature of Jesus. Next, he added three small stripes to symbolize the pain inflicted upon Jesus before His death on the cross. There are three of them to represent the Holy Trinity. He added a bold stripe to represent the blood Jesus shed for mankind. When looked at with the crook on top, it looks like a shepherd’s staff because Jesus is the shepherd of man. If you turn it upside down, it becomes the letter J symbolizing the first letter in Jesus’ name. The candy maker made these candy canes for Christmas, so everyone would remember what Christmas is all about.
[Source]

Cutest Animal Ever (Silky Anteater)

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These things are amazingly adorable! The only member of the Cyclopedidae family (their scientific name is Cyclopes didactylus); these guys are a lot like the other anteaters, only they’re smaller and live in the trees. They also have a prehensile tail (like an opossum). Obviously, it is extremely cute, but watch out for their sharp claws.



Fun Fact: Why are silky anteaters goldish? It might be because they blend well with the seed pods of the silk cotton trees, where they usually hang around by!
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Worst Sports Moment (Munich Massacre)

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In 1972, West Germany had an opportunity to host the Olympic Games. Israel decided to compete, despite some uneasiness since they were only 27 years removed from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Two weeks into the games terrorists from the organization Black September, which has connections to Yasser Arafat, broke into the apartments of the Israelis and took some of the athletes hostage. After contact with police, their demands were not met and they threw a body out the window. The Germans attempted to negotiate with the terrorists, even offering an “unlimited sum of money”, but the Palestinians would not cooperate. The German police did not have adequate training for this situation and set up an unsuccessful rescue attempt. The terrorists demanded a jet to Egypt, which was promised, as a bluff. They brought the hostages and terrorists into the airport via helicopter, where gunfire began. The terrorists, in fear of their plot failing, began shooting the hostages. In the end, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches had been killed, as well as one German police officer, and five of the eight terrorists. Millions will remember the coverage broadcast by Jim McKay of ABC News reported, “Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms’ yesterday morning; nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Fascinating Mystery (Staged War Photo)

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The image above is known as “The Falling Soldier” and has become universally recognized as one of the greatest war photographs ever taken. The photograph was taken by Robert Capa, in 1936, and was long thought to depict the death of a Spanish soldier during the Spanish Civil War. After years of suspicion and debate, almost all experts now agree that the photo was staged by Capa. Several other photos taken by the war photographer were taken at the same time and location as the famous photograph. One of the best examples of this appeared in a French publication, seen here. The photo at the bottom clearly shows a different soldier falling at the same time and location. Capa also claimed that the picture was taken at Cerro Muriano (where the fighting was), but detailed analysis of the falling soldier photo has proven that the action took place near Espejo.

Interesting Fact: I think most would agree that this shouldn’t take away from the outstanding work and bravery that Capa demonstrated during his great career. He was just 22 years old when he took the, now-controversial, falling soldier photo. After the Spanish Civil War, he covered and photographed the Second Sino-Japanese War. He also covered World War II, throughout Europe, including the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach. In 1948, Capa photographed the Arab-Israeli War. On May 25, 1954, Capa was on an assignment in Southeast Asia, where the French had been fighting for eight years in the First Indochina War. There, Capa stepped on a landmine. He was alive when help arrived, but his left leg had been blown to pieces and he had a serious wound in his chest. Capa was taken to a field hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He died with his camera in his hand.
Source:
Listverse.com


Most Bizzare Soup (Tiet Cahn a.k.a Vietnamese Blood Soup)

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Finally, we have a soup so bizarre it can hardly be called a soup at all. It is a traditional soup in Vietnamese cuisine made from simple ingredients, raw blood (usually duck), cooked gizzards, and topped with peanuts and herbs. The soup is refrigerated so the blood coagulates and can then be eaten chilled before the blood loses its jello like consistency. Supposedly, the soup gives both the person making and eating it strength. Its popularity has declined since the bird flu spread through Asia. Although many still eat it, there is concern for the public’s health in consuming raw blood from ducks. Did I really have to tell you that though?
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Animal With Incredible Eyes (Mantis Shrimp)

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And finally, we get to the animal with the weirdest and most amazing eyes in the world. The mantis shrimp is not actually a shrimp, but a different kind of crustacean from the Stomatopoda order. Known for its aggressiveness and formidable weaponry (they have an extremely sharp and powerful claw and can split a human finger in two or even break a glass aquarium with one single strike), mantis shrimp are voracious predators found mostly in tropical waters.

Their eyes are compound, like those of the dragonfly, although they have a far smaller number of ommatidia (about 10.000 per eye); however, in the mantis shrimp each ommatidia row has a particular function. For example, some of them are used to detect light, others to detect color, etc.

Mantis shrimp have much better color vision than humans (their eyes having 12 types of color receptors, whereas humans have only three), as well as ultraviolet, infrared and polarized light vision, thus having the most complex eyesight of any animal known. The eyes are located at the end of stalks, and can be moved independently from each other, rotating up to 70 degrees. Interestingly, the visual information is processed by the eyes themselves, not the brain.

Even more bizarre; each of the mantis shrimp’s eyes is divided in three sections allowing the creature to see objects with three different parts of the same eye. In other words, each eye has “trinocular vision” and complete depth perception, meaning that if a mantis shrimp lost an eye, its remaining eye would still be able to judge depth and distance as well as a human with his two eyes. Scientists are only starting to understand the mysteries of Stomatopod vision; for the moment, we can only imagine what the world really looks like to a mantis shrimp.

Source:
Listverse.com


Top Rare Dog Breed (Chinook)

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This rare dog is the direct descendent of one famous sled dog, named Chinook. After the breed founder’s death in 1963, this breed went into rapid decline and looked as if it would be lost forever. A dedicated group of dog lovers found the remaining 11 breedable dogs in 1981 and worked diligently to restore this breed. Today’s Chinook is primarily a house dog, although a few enjoy being used as sled dogs.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Footballer Of All Time (Zindine, Zidane-OMF, CMF)

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Popularly nicknamed Zizou, he is a French former football midfielder. His career accomplishments include winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000, in addition to the 2002 UEFA Champions League. He is also one of only two three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winners. Zidane won the Golden Ball as the MVP in the World Cups of 1998 and 2006. Zidane played his first professional First Division game for Cannes and quickly rose through the professional ranks. He sealed his reputation by scoring two goals in the World Cup finals of 1998, helping France defeat Brazil to claim its first-ever World Cup championship. Extremely passionate and a leader by example, he came first in an online poll conducted by UEFA.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Delight You Must Try Before Dying (Spaghetti Bolognese-Bologna, Italy)

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For good and all, now and forever, the greatest spaghetti in the world is in Italy, and the finest restaurants are in Bologna. Its nickname is “di Grassa,” “Bologna the Fat.”

Sure, the Chinese invented the noodles, but tomato sauces are expressly Italian. New York City ain’t got nothin’ on Bologna.

I’ve been there, I’ve had several spaghetti recipes, but the best by far, you will find at Clorofilla, Strada Maggiore, 64, 40125 Bologna, Bologne. It’s almost as good as my recipe.

Bologna is a magnificently beautiful city, and not far north of some good mountain vistas. Or you could take a leisurely drive over the Appennines to Firenze (Florence) and see the original Statue of David, among other works of art.

While you’re in Bologna or Florence, be sure to catch Verdi’s Requiem Mass. When you leave, you’ll go to confession, I ain’t kiddin’ ya.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Guy Tattoos (Nautical Star)

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What is it? The five-pointed Nautical Star of mariner’s charts is found on the compass rose, straight up, at the North position. Somewhere back in the salty mists of time it represented the North Star, also known as Polaris, which was so crucial to navigation. Today it is a tattoo symbol that harkens back to finding one’s way home and the luck that it sometimes takes to get there. The Nautical Star tattoo can be big, small, two colors, one color–pretty versatile really.

Who gets it? This is a tattoo symbol that is absolutely raging in popularity right now, especially among young hipsters who dig the nautical/retro feel.

Who has it? Mark McGrath (lead singer of Sugar Ray) has a blue one on his left elbow.

Where should you get it? The elbow is a classic placement of the Nautical Star, like Mark McGrath, but they also tend to occur in pairs, on either side of the chest or the insides of the forearms. Because it’s a essentially a bunch of straight lines though, it lies and looks best on relatively flat areas.

Why should you get it? You’ll never have to pull over and ask for directions again.

Although you might not have found your perfect tattoo in the list above, you are no doubt starting to visualize one. As you continue on your journey to that final result, make your own top ten list of the greatest tattoos and keep revising it. In time, you may find that you’ll have a tattoo, one that’s just right for you, instead of just thinking about it for another decade.
Source:
Listverse.com


GREATEST MATHEMATICIAN ON EARTH! (Leonhard Euler)

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If Gauss is the Prince, Euler is the King. Living from 1707 to 1783, he is regarded as the greatest mathematician to have ever walked this planet. It is said that all mathematical formulas are named after the next person after Euler to discover them. In his day he was ground breaking and on par with Einstein in genius. His primary (if that’s possible) contribution to the field is with the introduction of mathematical notation including the concept of a function (and how it is written as f(x)), shorthand trigonometric functions, the ‘e’ for the base of the natural logarithm (The Euler Constant), the Greek letter Sigma for summation and the letter ‘/i’ for imaginary units, as well as the symbol pi for the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter. All of which play a huge bearing on modern mathematics, from the every day to the incredibly complex.

As well as this, he also solved the Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg problem in graph theory, found the Euler Characteristic for connecting the number of vertices, edges and faces of an object, and (dis)proved many well known theories, too many to list. Furthermore, he continued to develop calculus, topology, number theory, analysis and graph theory as well as much, much more – and ultimately he paved the way for modern mathematics and all its revelations. It is probably no coincidence that industry and technological developments rapidly increased around this time.
Source:
Listverse.com


Hidden Chambers And Passageway (Chamber of horrors)

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He is known as America’s first serial killer. Born Herman Webster Mudgett, H.H. Holmes was an abject degenerate of a human being. Using dirty money he attained from unscrupulous activities, such as insurance fraud and the occasional murder-for-hire, he constructed a large building in Chicago and ran it as a hotel/hostel, in 1893. In addition, he ran a drug store on the same street which helped him become a respected member of the community. However, his ostensible integrity hid a sinister monster. It turns out that, for years, his building was the site of grisly and gruesome murders carried out at his hands. After his ultimate arrest, it was discovered that “The Murder Castle”, as it became known, contained many architectural oddities such as hidden staircases and trap doors, allowing Holmes to enter guests’ rooms. The most macabre hidden area, however, was the dissection room and crematorium, located in the basement into which victims’ bodies were thrown via a chute from upper floors. This room was a “laboratory” of torture devices, tombs and surgical devices and became publicly known as the “Chamber of Horrors”. It is believed that no fewer than 50 women were slaughtered in unimaginable ways there.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Digital Camera (FujiFilm Finepix F50fd)

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As the replacement for the Fujifilm F30/F31fd, a camera that has reached an almost legendary status since its launch back in 2006, the Fujifilm F50fd has some big shoes to fill. If anything deserves to be called a ‘classic’ camera in the shortlived world of digital compact cameras it would have to be the Fujifilm F30/F31fd. It wasn’t very pretty, it wasn’t very feature packed and it wasn’t even very cheap. But the F30/F31fd produced some of the best results we’ve ever seen in a compact camera, and was leaps and bounds ahead of all its competitors when it came to low light / high ISO performance, proving that just because a camera has a small sensor it doesn’t have to be completely useless at anything over ISO 400. The F30/F31fd’s outstanding performance in low light was the result of some clever technology (Super CCD sensor and Real Photo Processor) on the one hand and Fujifilm’s admirable refusal to succumb to the pressure to compete in the ‘megapixel race’. In an almost unique attempt to optimize image quality (rather than marketing potential) they limited the F30/F31fd’s resolution to 6 megapixels, on a sensor that is slightly bigger than the competition’s.
Source:
Listverse.com

Most Irresistible Lyrics of 2010:

Most Irresistible Lyrics:
  1. “Baby,” Justin Bieber
  2. “Love the Way You Lie,” Eminem
  3. “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga
  4. “Pyramid,” Charice
  5. “Just the Way You Are,” Bruno Mars
  6. “Tik Tok,” Ke$ha
  7. “Solo,” Iyaz
  8. “Two Is Better Than One,” Boys Like Girls
  9. “Hey Soul Sister,” Train
  10. “Fireflies,” Owl City
Source:
Yahoo.com

Silly Website Names!

1. Whorepresents

A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com.

2. Expertsexchange

Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com.

3. Penisland

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net.

4. Therapistfinder

Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com.

5. Powergenitalia

Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company… www.powergenitalia.com.

6. Molestationnursery

And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com.

7. Ipanywhere

If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com.

8. cummingfirst

Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is www.cummingfirst.com.

9. speedofart

Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: www.speedofart.com.

10. gotahoe

Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at www.gotahoe.com.

Source:
Listverse.com

Top Haunted US College (Ohio University-Athens,Ohio)

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This should not be a surprise. It is well known and documented that Ohio University is perhaps one of the most haunted places in the world. From ghost teachers that talk to students, sounds and voices heard in sealed rooms, to an entire ghost basketball team, this campus is truly full of haunts. Nearly every single building on campus has at least one ghost associated with it. In a place literally full of ghosts, one manages to stand out among the rest. Wilson Hall is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the United States, and was featured in the TV series “Scariest Places on Earth”. A female student practicing satanic rituals supposedly died violently in room 428. While this story has no real backing, what is true is that school officials have closed and sealed the room because no student could live in it peacefully. Voices are heard throughout the halls, doors lock and unlock, open and close on their own, and ghostly figures wander the building. The building is also dead center of a pentagram formed by five cemeteries which surround the campus. Rumor has it that this building itself was built on top of an old mental hospital cemetery, however this was proven to be untrue.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Mysterious Island in Fiction (Aeaea - The Odyssey)

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The Odyssey is one of the founding texts of Western, if not world, literature, and is thus so important to our heritage that it is one work of fiction worthy of earning both the number 1 and 2 spots. In the epic, Odysseus stays on the island home of sorceress Circe (played by Bernadette Peters in the 1997 mini-series) for a year. While there, she turns his men into pigs and provides the hero with crucial advice for the rest of his “odyssey”. The island may be based on, or inspired by, an actual Mediterranean island due to the conflicting literal versus mythic nature of Homer’s work. Aeaea, as with any number of locations from Homer’s poem, transcends many other fictional islands in terms of importance. The Odyssey is a staple of high school English courses, at least in America, and has influenced and been adapted in many subsequent literary and cinematic works of fiction. Moreover, The Odyssey predates Plato’s first references to Atlantis by centuries. While some might take issue with two islands from the same work of fiction appearing in succession on the same list, no one can seriously deny the importance of Circe and Calypso’s islands for subsequent Western, if not world, culture.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Genre Defying Cover (The Star Spangled Banner)

Original: Francis Scott Key (Words); John Stafford Smith (Music)
Cover: Jimi Hendrix

The Star Spangled Banner, as it is known today, is the first stanza of a longer poem written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, and it is accompanied by Smith’s “The Anacreontic Song.” It was adopted as the official anthem of the United States in 1931. When one considers the true origins of the song, Jimi Hendrix’s sui generis (well put, Wikipedia) performance of the US anthem at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, in 1969, instantly becomes even more memorable. There isn’t much that can be said on this performance that the performance itself doesn’t do a better job of showing.
Source:
Listverse.com

Top Tragic Human Stampede (The Hajj)

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Large crowds and bridges, as we have seen, do not mix. Once again, the two combined lead to tragedy. On August 31, 2005, around one million pilgrims had gathered around, or were marching toward, the Al Kadhimiya Mosque, which is the shrine of the Imam Musa al-Kazim, one of the twelve Shi’a Imams. To reach the shrine, pilgrims had to cross the Al-Aaimmah bridge over the Tigris river, located in Baghdad Iraq.

Tensions in the crowd ran high as earlier in the day a terrorist mortar attack on the crowd had killed several people. Many suspected another attack was imminent, possibly a suicide attack. One report stated a man pointed a finger at another, claiming he was wearing explosives, and this triggered the panic.

The resulting panic caused people to rush towards the bridge, which had been closed. A gate at the end of the bridge was opened and people rushed onto the bridge, trampling and crushing those who fell. At the other end of the bridge was a locked gate which could not be opened, and even if it could, it opened inward, towards the crowd pushing against it. Even more people were crushed against the fence by the force of the crowd pushing from behind. Railings on the sides of the bridge collapsed, sending more people hurtling 9 meters (30 feet) to the Tigris river below. Many could not swim and drowned, others drowned in heroic attempts to save them. At least 953 people were crushed to death or drowned.
Source:
Listverse.com


Top Example of Human Laterality (Limb Dominance)

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Laterality is also known as limb dominance, especially when it comes to animals. There are many claims of limb dominance in animals, such as parrots tending to favor one foot when grasping an object, and frogs and rabbits showing limb dominance in their forelimbs and hind limbs through bone weight and stress. Even the fossil remains of mastodons have differing tusk lengths, indicating laterality.

Source:
Listverse.com

Top White Collar Criminal in Cinema (Big Tobacco The Insider 1999)

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White collar crimes that bring down presidents, make hundreds of millions or require the implied consent of the world’s governments may seem big, but the crime at the heart of The Insider is bigger. Over a thousand million people worldwide smoke cigarettes. The Insider tells the true story of reporter Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and tobacco company employee Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe). Wigan knows that the CEOs of the seven main tobacco companies that make up the grouping known as ‘Big Tobacco’ have committed perjury in denying any knowledge of nicotine’s addictiveness before the United States Congress. Bergman eventually convinces Wigand to go public and appear on 60 Minutes. The power of Big Tobacco becomes apparent as the interview is initially only allowed to be shown in massively edited form. Bergman himself turns whistleblower, and exposes the television network’s censorship to the press. The crime at the core of The Insider simply has to top this list due to the staggering percentage of the world’s population that can be considered Big Tobacco’s victims.

Source:
Listverse.com

Top Shocking Historical Belief And Practice (Female Hysteria)

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Female hysteria was a once-common medical diagnosis, made exclusively in women, which is today no longer recognized as a disorder. The diagnosis and treatment of female hysteria was routine for hundreds of years in Western Europe and America. The disorder was widely discussed in the medical literature of the Victorian era (1837-1901). In 1859, a physician was noted for claiming that a quarter of all women suffered from hysteria. One American doctor cataloged 75 pages of possible symptoms of the condition and called the list incomplete. According to the document, almost any ailment could fit the diagnosis for female hysteria. Physicians thought that the stresses associated with modern life caused civilized women to be more susceptible to nervous disorders and to develop faulty reproductive tracts.

Women considered to be suffering from hysteria exhibited a wide array of symptoms, including faintness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and “a tendency to cause trouble”. The history of this diagnosis is obviously controversial because of the wide range of bizarre symptoms and causes, but the case gets more shocking when you look at the treatment. During this time, female hysteria was widely associated with sexual dissatisfaction. For this reason, the patients would undergo weekly “pelvic massages.” During these sessions, a doctor would manually stimulate the female’s genitals, until the patient experienced repeated “hysterical paroxysm” (orgasms). It is interesting to note that this diagnosis was quite profitable for physicians, since the patients were at no risk of death, but needed constant care. Pelvic massages were used as a medical treatment on women into the 1900s.

Around 1870, doctors around the world realized that a new electrical invention could help the vaginal massage technique. You see, in many cases physicians found it hard to reach hysterical paroxysm. I think you can imagine why this would be the case. In 1873, the first electromechanical vibrator was developed and used at an asylum in France for the treatment of female hysteria. For decades, these mechanical devices were only available to doctors for the use in pelvic massages. By the turn of the century, the spread of home electricity brought the vibrator to the consumer market. Over the course of the early 1900s, the number of diagnoses of female hysteria sharply declined, and today it is no longer a recognized illness.

Source:
Listverse.com


Top Thing To Do When Unemployed

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Don’t beat yourself up about your situation. It probably happened for a good reason. You know you didn’t like that old job anyway! Now it’s time to move on to the next phase of your life. Go to church, mosque or synagogue and pray on it. If you are not religious then just meditate and focus on the positive and don’t feel like you are worthless or a loser. This is a time in your life to build your character up and show the world what you are really made of!

Source:
Listverse.com

Most Dangerous Terrorist Threat

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Trains are easier targets to strike than airplanes or boats because of the vast and unsecured tracks they run on. The terrorists could attack the train from the outside, instead of having to be on the train itself. A land mine could be placed virtually anywhere alongside a track and detonate it when the train passes by.

In 2001, a passenger train was attacked in Angola, when terrorists placed an anti-tank mine on the track . When the train derailed the terrorists shot and killed 250 people before escaping.

Terrorists could also use land mines to derail trains transporting dangerous or explosive materials as they pass through residential neighborhoods.

Source:
Listverse.com


Fascinating Thing Associated With the Night

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On the Doomsday Clock, which is a symbolic representation of the world’s proximity to global disaster, the end of the world is represented by midnight. The clock currently stands at 6 minutes until midnight, and has changed 19 times since its creation in 1947. Though the setting is somewhat arbitrary, the closest it has been to its death knell has been 2 minutes until midnight, which happened in 1953, when the US and the USSR both tested nuclear weapons within 9 months of each other.

Source:
Listverse.com

Most Bizarre Modern Job

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As we all know from experience, traveling on sideshow attractions can make us a little queasy. More often than not at least one person on the more exciting rides will have a little spew. Unfortunately, this produces quite a lot of vomit every day, and some very unlucky people get the job of cleaning it up. Next time you hate your job think of the poor vomit collector working at your local fair ground.

Source:
Listverse.com


Most Terrifying Creature

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Described as a hybrid beast that bears a horrific mélange of both human and goat-like characteristics, this horned, hoofed, goat featured horror would seem to be a modern re-interpretation of the ancient satyrs found in Greek myths, yet eyewitnesses claim that this fiend is not a figment from beyond mythology, but a living, breathing, flesh and blood creature that is not to be trifled with. The first official report of this brute hails from 1957, when eyewitnesses reported seeing a hairy, horned monster in the areas of Forestville and Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County. Following that wave of sightings, the beast apparently decided to lay low until the summer of 1962, when the Goatman was accused of killing no less than fourteen people — twelve children and two accompanying adults — who were apparently hiking too close to its lair. The survivors, who, of course, remain unidentified, claimed that the Goatman violently hacked it’s victims to pieces with an axe, all the while emitting ghastly sounds only the “devil himself” would make.

[Source]

Food Prepared TableSide

I have added this as an item as it is only available in one restaurant, but it needed mentioning as it is a good example of how ultra-modern fancy restaurants are putting the concept of tableside food preparation into their menus. Freezing has long been a staple in kitchens and cooking, but it is only recently that it is really coming to the fore – particularly extreme temperature and fast freezing. Liquid Nitrogen is especially useful in making ice cream as the rapid freezing prevents ice crystals from forming – and it is the ice crystals in ice cream that makes for an inferior product. Liquid Nitrogen frozen ice cream is the smoothest silkiest ice cream you will ever eat and it takes only a few minutes to freeze. You can also use this technique to freeze pure fruit juices into sorbets. In the video clip above, one of the waiters from the Fat Duck prepares bacon and egg ice cream at the table. Having eaten at the Fat Duck and eaten this ice-cream, I can assure you it is absolutely delicious. (J.Frater)

Source:
LISTVERSE.COM

Eeriest Recording EVER!

This is a phone call to 911 from the 105th floor of the World Trade Center building 2. I will let the audio clip speak for itself. The last few seconds of the call are extremely disturbing.

Source:
Listverse.com

Most Unusual and Unique Flag!

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The Nazi flag is probably the most controversial flag in man’s history. It is even banned in a number of countries today. The flag was designed by Hitler himself, who thought it was necessary to use the same colors as Imperial Germany, because, in his opinion, they were “revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation.” The most important requirement was that “the new flag… should prove effective as a large poster” because “in hundreds of thousands of cases a really striking emblem may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement.”
Source:
Listverse.com

Greatest Speech in History! (Women's Right To the Suffrage - Susan B. Anthony)

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Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for casting an illegal ballot in the 1872 presidential election. Seething from the injustice, she embarked on a speaking tour in support of female voting rights, during which she gave this speech. The 19th Amendment enfranchised women in 1920. Anthony never paid the fine.

Notable Excerpt: “It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men.”

Source:
Listverse.com


Animal You Wouldn't Believe People Eat!

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The thought of eating spiders probably makes most of us queasy, to say the least. But, in various parts of the world, spiders are a delicacy. You can buy them at road-side stalls in Cambodia, where people developed a taste for them when they were being starved to death by Pol Pot.

Source:
Listverse.com


Most Disturbed Person's Tale

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Let me tell you the story of Oliver the Chimp. In 1960, Oliver was acquired as a young animal by trainers Frank and Janet Berger. Supposedly, the chimp was caught in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sold on the exotic animal black market. In appearance, Oliver clearly stands out in a group of male chimpanzees, as he has many human-like features. He looks nothing like a normal Common Chimpanzee and holds a flatter face. Oliver is a habitually bipedal animal. He has always walked upright and never moved on his knuckles like other chimps. He holds a bizarre pointed ear shape, freckles and a bald head. The Berger’s raised Oliver until 1977 when he was sold to Ralph Helfer and put on public display in a sideshow. In a 2006 interview with the Discovery Channel, Janet Berger claimed that she sold Oliver after he started tying to mate with her.

This had led to the speculation that Oliver prefers human females over chimpanzees. In fact, other chimpanzees that have been placed in the same cage with Oliver avoid him at all cost. After spending seventeen years with the creature, Janet Berger believes that his physical and behavioral tendencies point to a different origin, perhaps a human-chimp hybrid. In the early 1980s, the Los Angeles Times did an extensive article on Oliver, marking him as a possible missing link or new sub-species of chimp. In 1989, Oliver was purchased by the Buckshire Corporation, a Pennsylvanian laboratory leasing out animals for scientific and cosmetic testing. During this time in his life, Oliver lived in a tiny cage and experienced rough handling. This eventually caused an extreme case of arthritis and muscular atrophy, so severe that Oliver’s limbs routinely tremble. The testing of his DNA has been an intense and controversial subject.

Supposedly, a test performed in the 1980s proved that Oliver contained only forty-seven chromosomes, instead of the normal forty-eight. However, this claim has not supported by scientific evidence and has been refuted by a geneticist from the University of Chicago, who tested Oliver’s blood and found that he had the normal forty-eight chromosomes. Since that time, Oliver’s DNA has not been tested. He will not be made available for any DNA style inquiries again. In 1998, Oliver was given a spacious, open-air cage at the Primarily Primates sanctuary in the US state of Texas. He was put under the temporary care of wildlife rehabilitator Lee Theisen-Watt, who was fired in 2007 for wrong doings. During the history of the Primarily Primates facility, they have undergone a series of legal battles, with a majority of the cases concerning PETA. Today, Oliver is still alive and living at Primarily Primates. Many pictures and videos of him exist on the Internet.

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No.1 Person Who Faked His Death

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Richard Bingham, the seventh Earl of Lucan, on the night of November 7, 1974, killed the family nanny, Sandra Rivett, and tried to kill his wife. She fled for safety and Lord Lucan fled to several friends before arriving at a friend’s house 42 miles away. Friends and relatives believed he was innocent and jumped to help him while police were being slow on the uptake. The car he was driving was found on the coast of Newhaven and there was no sign of Lord Lucan. Some friends believe he committed suicide due to his grief over murdering the nanny by mistake, instead of his wife. Others believe he disappeared and is innocent and alive to this day. Sightings have been reported in South Africa and New Zealand.

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Extreme Case Of Game Addiction

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This is the most controversial entry, and it is the subject of numerous debates. That is why it ranks so huge. On Thanksgiving, Shawn Woolley committed suicide, and his mother claimed that it was over Everquest, a popular MMORPG. Sony Online, the game’s developer, says that Everquest had nothing to do with the death. Liz Woolley, however, disagrees. She suspects that something in the game had pushed him over the edge, either a rejection or a betrayal.

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Best Novel of the Last 20 Years

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First Sentence: “I am seated in an office surrounded by heads and bodies.”

So here we are. While it was very difficult indeed to rank the other nine books on this list, deciding where to put this book on the list was as involuntary as breathing. This is by far the best, the longest, the most difficult, the most frustrating, the most entertaining, the most rewarding book on this list.

The term Infinite Jest is an allusion to Hamlet, as well as the title of a film by auteur Jim Incandenza, that circulates throughout the book causing anyone who’s unlucky enough to watch it, to want to do absolutely nothing else but watch it again and again and again, even if that means starving to death, or going to the bathroom on themselves, or not taking their insulin and going into epileptic shock. Ultimately, this book is about addiction in every form you could possibly imagine: Heroin, alcohol, cannabis, crack, cocaine, Diludiad, Percocet, sex, sports, cleaning, and on and on and on.

With a cast of hundreds, and almost 400 footnotes, coming in at a whopping 3 lbs, Jest focuses mainly on a halfway house in the Boston suburbs, and the adjacent Enfield Tennis Academy. Wallace spent hundreds of hours going to AA meetings, and this book is considered by many to be the most realistic account of drug addiction and the Alcoholics Anonymous program in either fiction or non-fiction.

Wallace created his own world in Infinite Jest. This is not just a big novel with big ideas. It’s not just a grand achievement by a writer with the greatest voice of his generation. This is not something you finish and then say, “Well that was a really great book,” and then move on with your life. This book deserves its own cannon. It cannot be categorized. This book genuinely redefines the boundaries of what a novel can do.

Wallace hung himself in late 2008. Infinite Jest is his second, and last, finished novel.
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Most Unusual Hotel

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Hang Nga Hotel (or “crazy house,” as it’s been dubbed by the locals) is hidden away in the mountain town of Da Lat. The house is considered one of the most unusual pieces of architecture in Vietnam, where they tend not to have too much unconventional architecture. A random assortment of cubbyholes and rooms that twist and turn are pieced together with bridges to form a maze-type place. The house also contains caged birds, spiderweb creations, enormous animals and other curiosities that create a fairytale like atmosphere.

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Most Famous Real Ghost

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Second Wife of Henry VIII and mother of a future Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn had three years as queen consort before Henry tired of her. Accused (most historians agree falsely) of adultery, incest and witchcraft, she faced an executioner’s sword with her head held high on May 19th, 1536. The executioner was reported to have said “Where is my sword?” before striking the single blow necessary, apparently in an effort to ease Anne’s anticipation by making her think she had a few moments more.

Her ghost has been spotted by several different people in several different locations: Hever Castle, Blickling Hall, Salle Church, Marwell Hall, and perhaps most famously the Tower of London. Though she is most often seen just as she was alive- a beautiful woman in a beautiful gown- some sightings are a bit more upsetting. More unlucky individuals will see her as she was just after death- headless, often with the head tucked under one arm. It has become such an iconic image it is often parodied in movies and television, and more elaborate Halloween costumes. One must not forget, however, what you would think if such a vision approached you in some dark corridor one night.
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Most Terrifying Man Eater in History

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In the African, conflict-ridden country of Burundi lives the greatest man-eater of our times, a male Nile crocodile measuring six meters long and weighing around one ton. He is the largest Nile crocodile alive, as well as the largest individual predator in the entire African continent, and according to the natives and to Patrice Faye (a French naturalist who has spent years trying to capture the man-eater), he has killed over 300 people by now! Although still alive and active, the crocodile (nicknamed “Gustave” by Faye) has already become a legend. (There’s even a movie loosely based on his story, although it is quite bad).

Natives say he kills for fun, not just for food; that he kills several people in every attack, and then disappears for months, or even years, only to reappear later in another, different location to kill again. No one can predict when or where he will appear next. He is also said to have a monstrous appetite, and rumor has it that he killed and devoured an adult male hippopotamus (an extremely dangerous and powerful animal that most crocodiles avoid). Gustave’s body armor carries countless scars made by knives, spears and even firearms. A dark spot on the top of his head is the only remaining trace of a bullet wound that was supposed to put and end to his reign. But all hunters (and even, once, a group of armed soldiers) have failed to kill him.

Faye himself tried to capture Gustave by building a huge underwater trap, but, although the crocodile did show up, he never approached the cage. He just swam around it, “as if mocking his would-be captors”. Said to be over 60 years old, Gustave is probably too experienced and smart to be fooled, so it seems likely that he will continue with his depredations and perhaps, soon, claim the title of the most prolific man eater for himself. Things have changed a lot since the times of the Champawat tigress; Patrice Faye no longer wants to kill Gustave. He wants to protect him from human retaliation; by capturing Gustave alive and keeping him in a safe enclosure, Faye hopes to save human lives as well as the man eater himself, and perhaps use him as breeding stock to help the conservation of the Nile crocodile as well. The enclosure has already been built in the Ruzizi National Park of Burundi, waiting for the capture of the greatest man eater of our times.

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MOST Terrifying Place On Earth

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We have all heard stories about ghostly hitchhikers. But have you heard of the most famous one? I’m speaking about Resurrection Mary. In 1934, sixteen-year-old Mary was a regular at the O’Henry Ballroom, which still stands today (although it is now the Willow-brook). She got into an argument with her boyfriend on the dance floor, and left the ballroom. She was walking home along Archer Avenue, and right about the time she was passing Resurrection Cemetery, a car swerved out of control, and struck and killed her. Her family was heartbroken and had her buried in the cemetery she lost her life in front of, still in her dancing gown and shoes. And that is how this story ends. Until five years later, at least….

It was now 1939, and Jerry Palus was yet another regular at the O’Henry. He spotted a beautiful blonde girl across the room, and asked her to dance. They danced the entire night, with the young lady barely uttering a word. He offered her a ride home when the night was through, and she accepted. When they were passing Resurrection Cemetery, she quickly told him to stop and let her out there, instead of taking her to the address she had given him. She disappeared at the gates. The next night, Jerry went to the address that was supposed to be her final destination. The woman said there was no girl that lived there, and he was mistaken. He spotted a picture on the mantlepiece of the young lady he had danced with the entire night. The woman explained that she was her daughter, and that she had been dead for five years. To this day, people see the girl walking along the road. They give her rides, only for her to disappear from the vehicle. Some say they have danced with her, others claim to have even kissed her. On one memorable event, in 1977, somebody even claims to have seen a girl behind the cemetery gate, grasping the bars in what can only be described as a death grip, and screaming in pure terror. The man who witnessed this traveled to a police station. When the authorities arrived, there was no sign of anybody. But the two metal bars she had appeared to be gripping were bent and twisted, with what seemed to be finger marks embedded in them. The bars were removed, and it was determined that such distortion could only be achieved through extreme heat and pressure. They eventually reformed and replaced the bars, but they consistently revert back to the charred and mangled state.

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Famous Stutterers

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There are some notable famous people in history who were well known to stutter. They include many but I am listing here the most well known.

1. The Prophet Moses was a stutterer, and the placing a burning coal in his mouth had caused him to be “slow and hesitant of speech” (Exodus 4, v.10). The Koran also has a reference to how Moses called upon God to free him of his speech impediment. (Sura Ta Ha 20:25.) Moses was born in tough times, and the leading of the masses was no easy task even for someone who suffered from no speech impediment. Yet, through his amazing oratory, he proved to be an overwhelmingly inspirational leader.

2. Then there was Winston Churchill, although The Churchill Centre flatly refuses the claim that Churchill stuttered, a large number of 1920s–1940s printed materials by various authors mention the stutter in terms implying that it was a well-known Churchill characteristic. Churchill himself described himself as having a speech impediment which he consistently worked to overcome. But, in spite of having a speech disorder, he made one of the finest orators of all time. The Stuttering Foundation of America uses him, pictured on its home page, as one of it role models of successful stutterers.



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3. Now who knew that Lewis Caroll was a stutterer too?? Lewis Carroll suffered from a stammer, a condition shared by his siblings, that plagued him throughout his life. At a time when people commonly devised their own amusements, and when singing and recitation were required social skills, the young Carroll was well-equipped to be an engaging entertainer. He could sing tolerably well and was not afraid to do so before an audience. His zeal and enthusiasm did not end here, and he stepped on to write down one of the greatest children’s classics of all time – Alice in Wonderland.

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Listverse.com
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