John Cockcroft, the man who insisted that the windscale nuclear power plant chimney stacks be fitted with high performance filters that saved much of norther England from becoming a nuclear wasteland after the reactor caught fire was mocked for his caution before the accident.

Energy & Utilities, Sensitive Subjects /

Windscale fire The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom’s history, and one of the worst in the world, ranked in severity at level 5 out of a possible 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire took place in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale […]

John Cockcroft, the man who insisted that the windscale nuclear power plant chimney stacks be fitted with high performance filters that saved much of norther England from becoming a nuclear wasteland after the reactor caught fire was mocked for his caution before the accident. Read More »

Joseph Bazalgette, the man who designed London’s sewers in the 1860’s, said ‘Well, we’re only going to do this once and there’s always the unforeseen’ and doubled the pipe diameter. If he had not done this, it would have overflowed in the 1960’s (its still in use today).

Arts & Entertainment /

Joseph Bazalgette Joseph Bazalgette in the 1870s Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB (/ˈbæzəldʒɛt/; 28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was a 19th-century English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London’s Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1858) of a sewer network for central

Joseph Bazalgette, the man who designed London’s sewers in the 1860’s, said ‘Well, we’re only going to do this once and there’s always the unforeseen’ and doubled the pipe diameter. If he had not done this, it would have overflowed in the 1960’s (its still in use today). Read More »

Meet a brawl involving 50 congressmen on the US House floor in 1858. It ended when someone knocked off a man’s wig and the man accidentally put it back on backwards, causing both sides to laugh and stop fighting.

Politics /

Laurence M. Keitt On February 5, 1858, Keitt started a massive brawl on the House floor during a tense late-night debate. Keitt, offended by Pennsylvania Congressman (and later Speaker of the House) Galusha A. Grow, a Republican, having stepped over to the Democratic side of the House chamber, dismissively demanded that Grow sit down, calling

Meet a brawl involving 50 congressmen on the US House floor in 1858. It ended when someone knocked off a man’s wig and the man accidentally put it back on backwards, causing both sides to laugh and stop fighting. Read More »

Dry counties (counties where the sale of alcohol is banned) have a drunk driving fatality rate about 3.6 times higher than wet counties.

Alcoholic Beverages /

Dry county A study in Kentucky suggested that residents of dry counties have to drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, thus increasing impaired driving exposure, although it found that a similar proportion of crashes in wet and dry counties are alcohol-related. Other researchers have pointed to the same phenomenon. Winn and Giacopassi observed

Dry counties (counties where the sale of alcohol is banned) have a drunk driving fatality rate about 3.6 times higher than wet counties. Read More »

Lithuania withdrew from the 1992 Olympics due to the lack of money after the fall of the USSR. The Grateful Dead agreed to fund transportation costs for the basketball team along with Grateful Dead designs for the team’s jerseys and shorts. They went on to win the Bronze.

Sports /

Grateful Dead New York artist Greg Speirs wearing the “Skully” tie-dyed T-shirt which he designed and became a symbol of Lithuanian basketball After Lithuania gained its independence from the USSR, the country announced its withdrawal from the 1992 Olympics due to the lack of any money to sponsor participants. But NBA star Šarūnas Marčiulionis, a

Lithuania withdrew from the 1992 Olympics due to the lack of money after the fall of the USSR. The Grateful Dead agreed to fund transportation costs for the basketball team along with Grateful Dead designs for the team’s jerseys and shorts. They went on to win the Bronze. Read More »

Mother Teresa Quote - Psychic Numbing

Meet a psychological phenomenon known as psychic numbing, the idea that “the more people die, the less we care”. We not only become numb to the significance of increasing numbers, but our compassion can actually fade as numbers increase.

Religion & Belief /

What makes people stop caring? The death of an individual can have a powerful effect on our emotions, but as numbers rise so does our indifference. Why? “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” These are the words of a woman whose acts of

Meet a psychological phenomenon known as psychic numbing, the idea that “the more people die, the less we care”. We not only become numb to the significance of increasing numbers, but our compassion can actually fade as numbers increase. Read More »

Majel Barrett, the voice of the Starfleet computer on Star Trek, recorded an entire library of phonetic sounds before she died which allowed her voice to be used as the computer for future generations.

TV Shows & Programs /

The late Majel Barrett might still voice the computer on Star Trek: Discovery When Majel Barrett died in 2008, she took with her the distinction of being the only person to appear in every Star Trek TV series, either on-screen as characters like Nurse Christine Chapel or feisty ambassador Lwaxana Troi, or as the soothing

Majel Barrett, the voice of the Starfleet computer on Star Trek, recorded an entire library of phonetic sounds before she died which allowed her voice to be used as the computer for future generations. Read More »

Playing action video games can train the mind to make the right decisions faster. Video game players can develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, such as everyday activities like driving, reading small print, or navigating around town.

Computer & Video Games /

The Mind’s Eye Departments Features How do we transform an ever-changing jumble of visual stimuli into the rich and coherent three-dimensional perception we know as sight? Rochester vision scientists are helping reshape our understanding of how the brain ‘sees.’ By the time James Risen arrived at the Napa Valley hotel his wife had booked in

Playing action video games can train the mind to make the right decisions faster. Video game players can develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, such as everyday activities like driving, reading small print, or navigating around town. Read More »

Female gladiators or “gladiatrices” existed in ancient Rome, but were rare because it was considered unwomanly. One gladiatrix of note was a woman who fought wild boars with a spear while topless, and who would squat to urinate in front of a stunned crowd.

History /

Gladiatrix This article is about female Roman gladiators. For other uses, see Gladiatrix (disambiguation). The gladiatrix (plural gladiatrices) is the female equivalent of the gladiator of ancient Rome. Like their male counterparts, female gladiators fought each other, or wild animals, to entertain audiences at various games and festivals. Very little is known about them. They

Female gladiators or “gladiatrices” existed in ancient Rome, but were rare because it was considered unwomanly. One gladiatrix of note was a woman who fought wild boars with a spear while topless, and who would squat to urinate in front of a stunned crowd. Read More »

A man in horse-drawn carriage was kicked out of KFC drive-through. He then went to a McDonalds and was served a Big Mac without anyone questioning his method of transport.

Fast Food /

Man in horse-drawn carriage kicked out of KFC drive-thru Fox News Flash top headlines for February 21 00:00 00:0003:47GO LIVE Facebook Twitter Email Embed SpeedNormal Autoplay Technically, a horse-drawn carriage is being driven, so it shouldn’t be out of place in a drive-thru. A traveler in England says he was denied service at a KFC

A man in horse-drawn carriage was kicked out of KFC drive-through. He then went to a McDonalds and was served a Big Mac without anyone questioning his method of transport. Read More »

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