How Philadelphia Became “The First City That Bombed Itself”
In 1985, an armed standoff between Philadelphia police and members of a radical black liberation group, resulted in the deaths of eleven people. No police officers or city officials were ever charged for their role in what’s known as the MOVE bombing.
The Violent Eviction That Transformed San Francisco
In 1968, a group of predominantly Filipino elders in San Francisco launched a battle to protect their home from eviction. Their fight for their neighborhood would evolve into a nearly decade-long protest with thousands of supporters and become a symbol of the campaign for affordable housing for decades to come.
Why Coca-Cola Invented Fanta In Nazi Germany
Fanta is one of the most popular drinks in the world. But the brightly colored drink now known for its bold fruit flavors was actually first made from food scraps in Nazi Germany by The Coca-Cola Company.
Former FBI Agent Explains How To Read Body Language
Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro breaks down the various ways we communicate non-verbally. What does it mean when we fold our arms? Why do we interlace our fingers? Can a poker player actually hide their body language?
Schlitterbahn’s Tragic Slide
In the water park business, Jeff Hendry was considered a genius of sorts. He often said that his goal in life was to make customers of his family’s legendary water parks happy—“to put a smile on their faces, to give them a thrill or two.” It was a beautiful vision. Until it went horribly wrong.
The Age Of Envy: How To Be Happy When Everyone Else’s Life Looks Perfect
We live in the age of envy. Career envy, kitchen envy, children envy, food envy, upper arm envy, holiday envy. You name it, there’s an envy for it. Social media has created a world in which everyone seems ecstatic – apart from us. Is there any way for people to curb their resentment?
“This Land Is Your Land”, The Story Behind America’s Best-Known Protest Song
On its most basic level, “This Land Is Your Land” is a song about inclusion and equality—the American ideal broken down into simple, eloquent language and set to a melody you memorize on first listen. But there’s more to “This Land Is Your Land” than many people realize.
Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark
Anna is a city of a little more than 4,000 people located in the middle of Union County, where soybean fields and flatlands to the north give way to the forests and sandstone canyons of southern Illinois. Most people I met, wish the racist lore behind the city’s name would go away. So why hasn’t it?
Cinematic Street Photography Of Japan By Jack Rangooni
Stunning street shots by Jack Rangooni, a talented self-taught photographer, and urban explorer from Auckland, New Zealand. He recently visited Japan and shared some amazing street scenes on his Instagram.
Use A ‘Fake’ Location To Get Cheaper Plane Tickets
I can’t explain airline pricing but I do know some plane tickets can be cheaper depending on where you buy them or, even better, where you appear to buy them from. This is all about leveraging foreign currencies and points-of-sale to your advantage.
The Bizarre Social History Of Beds
Groucho Marx once joked, “Anything that can’t be done in bed isn’t worth doing at all.” You might think he was referring to sleeping and sex. But humans, at one time or another, have done just about everything in bed. And yet, they’re more of an afterthought.
The Complement System, Tiny Bombs In Your Blood
One of the key players of our immune system is the complement system. An army of millions and trillions of tiny bombs, which work together in a complex and elegant dance to stop intruders in your body.
Is This A Chinese City In Malaysia?
Forest City is being built in the Malaysian state of Johor in the southern part of the country. Here, the Johore Strait acts as a natural border between Malaysia and the independent city-state Singapore. It is one of the most ambitious urban development projects currently underway. An entire new city built from scratch.
What Happened When Oslo Decided To Make Its Downtown Basically Car-Free?
It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people. Several other cities are also working to reduce car use, such as Madrid, which limits access to the city center for anyone other than the people who live there.
Skinny Home In Toronto As Prototype For Parking-Space Homes?
When Cyril Borovsky bought a 16-foot-wide strip of land in Toronto sandwiched between two bungalows, he knew the only way to fit more than one bedroom on the tiny footprint was to think cubically. Using a steel frame and performing much of the work himself- with just a boom lift and makeshift pulley-, he went up four floors.
Human Terrain, Visualizing The World’s Population In 3D
Kinshasa is now bigger than Paris. Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen are forming an epic, 40 million-person super city. Over the past 30 years, the scale of population change is hard to grasp. How do you even visualize 10 million people?
The Long-Forgotten Vigilante Murders Of The San Luis Valley
For more than a century, historians, writers, and artists were guilty of creating a mythologized version of the American West. How history forgot Felipe and Vivián Espinosa, two of the American West’s most brutal killers—and the complicated story behind their murderous rampage.
We’re Getting Closer To The Quantum Internet, But What Is It?
Instead of the bits that today’s network uses, which can only express a value of either 0 or 1, the future quantum internet would utilize qubits of quantum information, which can take on an infinite number of values. A quibit is the unit of information for a quantum computer; it’s like a bit in an ordinary computer.
‘Bizarre As Hell’: The Disappearance Of The Yuba County Five
How five men came to be on an inhospitable mountain road more than 50 miles from their homes in and around Marysville and Yuba City, California, was just one of the mysteries surrounding their disappearance. All five had intellectual disabilities or psychiatric issues to various degrees.
The 30 Year-Old Airline That’s Never Flown
Back in 1989, a guy by the name of Igor Dmitrovsky filed the paperwork to incorporate a small little business in the state of New York. This company would enter the metal cylinder organism transport business under the name Baltia Airlines. The airline was to fly from New York, US to St Petersburg, USSR.
I Fled Yugoslavia In 1941. Then I Returned to Join the Resistance.
After the Germans consolidated in northwestern Yugoslavia, I left New York for London, crushed by the news of what was going on. I told my parents I was returning to Yugoslavia to become a freedom fighter.