History: Breaking Out Boyd
President Abraham Lincoln was loved and admired by many when he was alive. His popularity was likely the reason why a group of men tried to kidnap him. They believed that people would be willing to pay a lot of money to see the 16th president alive or dead.
Read full storyHistory: Was ABSCAM Legitimate OR Entrapment?
Here is a riddle for you... What do a convicted con artist, fake Arab Sheiks, U.S. politicians, and the FBI have in common?. Answer? They were all part of a 1970s and 1980s sting operation called ABSCAM.
Read full storyHistory: 9 Political Freudian Slips
Simple Psychology describes it this way: "A Freudian slip (parapraxis) is a verbal or memory mistake (a "slip of the tongue") that is considered to be linked to the unconscious mind. These slips apparently reveal private thoughts and feelings that the individual hold."
Read full storyHistory: the Oldest Work of Art in the World
I've been researching ancient DNA (aDNA) for over a decade. As an abstract grunge artist, even I have wondered about the Neanderthal civilization and if they ever created any artwork. Although their behavior morphed according to time and place, their art was more abstract than the stereotypical "cave drawings" we are inundated with whenever researching this topic.
Read full storyHistory: Cases of 7 Psychic Detectives
Today when someone is suspiciously missing, many law enforcement agencies call the Find Me Group. However, historically, when the corpse couldn't be found, the villain was on the loose, the weapon was stashed, or criminal investigations hit a wall, many agencies tapped into a secret weapon called "psychics". Some outcomes may be phenomenal while others unremarkable.
Read full storyHistory's Most Notorious Female Pirates
"Lady buccaneer" may not sound like a job description our great-great-grandmothers would have gone for, but according to historians, many women did pursue lives of plunder on the high seas.
Read full storyHistory: 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Telephone
According to Elon Education (not Elon Musk), today's generation thinks nothing about picking up their phone wherever they are. The older generations can recall the impossible consideration of ever having a mobile phone, one not connected to a wall in the home.
Read full storyHistory: Head Roller Derby
Okay, so it wasn't really a derby that Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin created, but it sure appeared that way. Like a twisted version of the bowling alley game, more than 10,000 people lost their heads during the Reign of Terror between January 1793 and July 1794.
Read full storyHistory: Biblical Beasts May Still Be Alive Today
Per Bob Burridge at the Genevan Institute through the Biblical reference of Job 40:15-24, there is mention of what many scholars believe to be a dinosaur. In the Bible, it is called a “behemoth.” Many experts have speculated that a behemoth was anything from a dinosaur to an elephant.
Read full storyHistory: My Parent's Nightmare Experience Renting to Migrants
OPINION: this article is based on the author's personal experience; it is not intended to imply legal advice. I watched this video with Felipe Rodriguez about how border-crossers of late have been living in a $500-per-night hotel in New York. They are apparently wasting thousands of dollars of food(because they don't like it - a sense of entitlement? no gratitude?), and destroying the place... all at the taxpayer's expense. I just knew I had to write this article to share my experience. Although this article is about migrants, not immigrants, I believe the messaging appears to be consistent with both. Sorry, Felipe, you haven't seen anything yet.
Read full storyHistory: Taphophobia & Living Burials
No matter how diverse our backgrounds are, I bet most of us would agree that death is one of the most natural things in the world. Yet, that begs the question... As a history buff, this seems like a great time to quote poet Dylan Thomas... "those wise men at their end... they do not go gentle into that good night"... and... "good men... rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Read full storyHistory: Scientific Evidence of Sodom & Gomorrah
One of the greatest mass destructions is the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, but was it really caused by God, or was it a freak act of nature?. For those unfamiliar, here is a brief recap of the story:
Read full storyHistory: the Truth About Cleopatra
Cleopatra has been one of the most prominent and flippantly mentioned women in history, at least since I was a child. Yet, in real life, the true story of Cleopatra (69 - 30 BC) is much more mysterious than historical stories led me to believe. That’s why I decided to look into the real Cleopatra a bit more assertively. Perhaps you feel the same way.
Read full storyHistory: 11 Famous People Who Perished in the Restroom
To the best of my research, there are at least 8 famous people who died in the bathroom:. (1) Elvis Presley: The King of Rick 'n Roll was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in January 1935. He was discovered in Memphis by Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Sam was looking for a caucasian singer with an African-American style and sound. Elvis captured his attention and hurled to fame after appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and 1957. Although Elvis was pushed off the charts by "The British Invasion" in the early 1960s, he still sold more than a billion records in his lifetime, and, as of 2011, that was more than any other recording artist in history. His movie career kept him in the public eye until his comeback album in 1968. By the 1970s, Elvis sold out shows in Las Vegas. Elvis's addiction to prescription drugs was common knowledge and, in August 1977, he was found dead on the bathroom floor in his Graceland Mansion. A vomit stain on the carpet revealed he was sick while pooping. The cause of death was listed as cardiac arrhythmia. However, there are also reports that he had an intestinal blow-up as he pushed for that final floater. Either way, I'm sure many have heard the conspiracy theory regarding Elvis still being alive. However, I know someone personally whose father was there with him when he was found in the restroom without a heartbeat.
Read full storyHistory: Science Through the Ages
This is the final article in the mini-series of the Origins of Science. The Romans conquered Greece around 2200 years ago. They used science to solve practical tasks in medicine and engineering. After the fall of the Roman Empires in the 400s A.D., the writings of Aristotle and other ancient Greeks were preserved and copied by monks in Christian monasteries.
Read full storyHistory: The Great Failure of the Panama Canal
I've written about the success of the Suez Canal and Clinton's Big Ditch, but when it came to the Panama Canal, it was considered a failure. Even for French diplomat Ferdinand De Lesseps, who considered the Suez Canal project a cakewalk, the Panama Canal project proved to be a life-and-death challenge.
Read full storyThis Document is Older Than the Dead Sea Scrolls
Reading my article History: 900 Documents Recovered from 11 Caves, you are already familiar with the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, you may not know that they are not the oldest documents.
Read full storyHistory: Science & Ancient Greeks
At the height of the ancient Greek civilization, around 2700 years ago, people started trying to give reasons and explanations for the way the world around them worked. One could argue we are still trying to figure it out.
Read full storyHistory: Origins of Science
Perhaps a simple way to describe it is knowledge about the world that people obtain by studying and testing ideas. Of course, I'm sure that online dictionaries and encyclopedias would elaborate on that simplistic definition.
Read full storyHistory: 900 Documents Recovered from 11 Caves
In 1947, while rounding up a stray animal in Israel, Mohammed el-Hamed discovered several pottery jars. Mohammed was a Bedouin shepherd. The jars contained scrolls with messages written in Hebrew.
Read full story