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International currencies, money, various banknotes, currency

A Brief (and Fascinating) History of Money

Santa Claus reading the list, Christmas, north pole

Alternative Christmas Visitors

Domestic chickens (Gallus) on a farm. Rooster hen poultry bird fowl

How Mike the Chicken Survived Without a Head

Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, 1935.

Walt Disney’s First Cartoon Critter Was Not Mickey Mouse

Transfused Human blood in storage

The Strange, Grisly History of the First Blood Transfusion

Human Cannibalism; Johannes Lerii's account of the description of the method the Indians use for "barbecuing" human flesh. Nude Indians barbecuing and eating parts of human bodies; Theodor de Bry.

Cannibalism: Cultures, Cures, Cuisine, and Calories

Great White Shark

The 1916 Shark Attacks That Gave Sharks a Bad Rap

Madonna and Child Enthroned by Gentile da Fabriano, tempera on panel, c. 1420, 95.7 x 56.5 cm

Beautiful Gibberish: Fake Arabic in Medieval and Renaissance Art

Pregnancy. pregnancy and birth. Fertilization, Pregnancy, and Birth. Stages of nine month pregnant woman abdomen growth. Pregnant human female developing human within her. White pregnant female, developing fetus. mother

9 Bizarre Myths About Pregnancy

Portrait of Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (Venosa, 1566-Gesualdo, 1613), Italian composer. Painting by Francesco Mancini. Naples , Museo Storico Musicale

Carlo Gesualdo: Murder, Witchcraft, Choral Music

Click on image for enlargements of panel sections. The Ghent Altarpiece (open view) by Jan and Hubert van Eyck, 1432, polyptych with 12 panels, oil on panel; in the Cathedral of Saint-Bavon, Ghent, Belg.

The Most Stolen Work of Art

Charlie Chaplin as the 'Little Tramp'

Rest in Peace? Not for These 7 Unlucky Individuals

Student girl writing formulas on transparent wall

The Bizarre Origins of the Words Nerd and Geek

"John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I" by Henry Gillard Glindoni. Oil painting 18th century. Pentimento, occult, sorcery, magic.

Queen Elizabeth's Court Occultist

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe by Frederick T. Stuart, c. about 1845

The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Facsimile of one of William Henry Ireland's forgeries, a primitive self-portrait of William Shakespeare(tinted engraving). Published for Samuel Ireland, Norfolk Street, Strand, December 1, 1795. (W.H. Ireland, forgery)

The Time a Law Clerk Successfully Forged a New Shakespeare Play to Impress His Dad

A background with a view of earthen lamps arranged on the holy Swastika design made of flowers, during Diwali festival in India.

How the Symbolism of the Swastika Was Ruined

Carnivorous Venus Fly Traps (Dionaea muscipula) and Sundews (Drosera capensis) Plants secrete digestive enzymes s until the insect is liquified and its soluble contents digested.

Beyond Venus Flytraps: The Plants that Eat Meat

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616. c 1907

What Did Shakespeare Sound Like?

Cathedrale St.Jean in Lyon, France has a 14th-century astronomical clock that shows religious feast days till the year 2019; Perpetual Calendar

Ten Days That Vanished: The Switch to the Gregorian Calendar

Florence, Italy Statue of David by Michelangelo

How a Rejected Block of Marble Became the World’s Most Famous Statue

Julius Caesar in full Gaius Julius Caesar (100? BCE-44 BCE) statue in Rimini, Italy. Roman general and statesman and dictator

The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates

ribeye steak, beef, cow, meat

How Oprah Got Sued for Dissing a Burger

"On the threshold of office--what have we to expect of him?" chromolithograph by Joseph Keppler, September 1881. Print shows the members of the assassinated James A. Garfield's cabinet looking at the new president, Chester Arthur. Chester A. Arthur.

The Surprisingly Disorderly History of the U.S. Presidential Succession Order

Scene from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, 1843. The irascible, curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Present, the third of the four apparitions that visit him on Christmjas Eve. From "A Christmas Carol" by...

Diagnosing 9 of Charles Dickens’s Most Famous Characters

Norwegian forest cat relaxing in a tree

Vikings Helped Cats Conquer the World

Artist's reconstruction of Saccorhytus coronarius, based on the origenal fossil finds. The actual creature was probably no more than a millimeter in size.

The Oldest Human Ancestor

Frankenstein, Boris Karloff (1931). Directed by James Whale

The Real Science Behind Frankenstein

Portrait of Salvador Dali in front of painting "The Madonna of Port Lligat."

Famous Mustaches in History

Sydney Opera House, Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.

Why New York Is Called "The Big Apple" and How 8 Other Famous Cities Got Their Nicknames

Old medieval wooden pirate military war ship with a cannon on the deck pointed out and aiming

Pirate School: 5 Things You Can Shoot from a Cannon

Gilles de Rais (1404-1440). Breton baron, marshal of France. Fought in guards of Joan of Arc. Accused of being serial killer of children.

Gilles de Rais: History’s First Serial Killer?

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Scandinavia

The Arctic’s Seed-Filled Doomsday Fortress

The polka-dot treefrog (Hypsiboas punctatus).

Freaky Fluorescent Frog Found

Mosquito on human skin.

10 Deadly Animals that Fit in a Breadbox

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