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The Linguistic Turf Wars Over the Singular 'They'
The use of the word "they" has been debated by linguists and copy editors alike. (Photo: zebicho/shutterstock.com)A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that...
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The Original Assassins Were a Feared Cult That Ordered Hits All Over the...
Alamut Castle, home of the Assassins, can be seen perched atop this massive rock. (All Photos: Sherwin Shams)If you were a member of a secretive, banned religious sect in the 11th century, chances are...
View ArticleNASA Refuses To Return Apollo 11 Bag They Accidentally Auctioned Off
#Apollo11 lunar sample bag lands at center of lawsuits: https://t.co/AJ96N1yEaTpic.twitter.com/yyX06cKO2O— collectSPACE (@collectSPACE) August 6, 2016Houston, we have a problem—with that astronaut’s...
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Found: A Lot of Planets, Minerals, and Strange Creatures in 'No Man's Sky'
Planets and creatures. (Photo: No Man's Sky)At midnight of this past night, after a whole lot of anticipation, the game No Man's Sky was released. It is a game about exploration: you find yourself on a...
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When Ancient Romans Had Their Clothes Stolen, They Responded With Curse Tablets
A Roman curse tablet from Bath. (Photo: Mike Peel/CC BY-SA 4.0)Famed for its healing waters and once home to Jane Austen, the southwestern British city of Bath also boasts a history rich in Roman...
View ArticleThis Bridge Has a Cool, New Feature: A Bike Path to Nowhere
Montreal's Mercier Bridge features bike path to nowhere https://t.co/okvNxAZkiZ— Montreal Gazette (@mtlgazette) August 7, 2016Later this week, Montreal's Mercier Bridge will reopen after two months of...
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How to Tell an Australian From a New Zealander
Australia and New Zealand, mostly affectionate southern siblings. (Image: Public Domain)To Australians and New Zealanders, the differences between the two countries’ cultures, accents, and national...
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During the Nazi Occupation of Norway, Humor Was the Secret Weapon
Anti-Nazi graffiti on the streets of Oslo, reading "Live" above the monogram for the Norwegian king, who had fled when the Germans invaded in 1940. (Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images)One cold morning in...
View ArticleWatch Women Face Off in an Intense 1927 Tug of War Competition
Two teams of seven to eight mighty women line up along the length of the rope, ready to demonstrate their strength. In this 1927 clip, the Sudbury, England tug of war team known as the “Nippies” pull...
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A Wawa Fan's Confession: I Think I Might Like Sheetz
A Sheetz. (Photo: Ildar Sagdejev/CC BY-SA 4.0)It’s hard to say quite when it started, or where, other than in an anonymous cluster of fast-food options along a Pennsylvania highway, but in recent years...
View ArticleThe World's Largest Aircraft Has Just Left Its Hangar
The world's largest aircraft—some 302 feet long, 143 feet wide, and 83 feet wide, and weighing over 22 tons—is the hybrid of an airplane and airship.Capable of taking off vertically and horizontally, a...
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8 Roadside Attractions Vying to be the World's Biggest
The world's largest lobster? (Photo: Dennis Jarvis/CC BY-SA 2.0)Roadside attractions are all about the showmanship, and few things draw a crowd like claiming that something is the biggest in the...
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See NASA Test the World's Most Powerful Rocket With a Special Camera
By 2018, NASA's Space Launch System, which is replacing the Space Shuttle program, might have finally reached space, if things remain on schedule. Until then, there's a lot of work to be done,...
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Mark Twain Had a Lifelong Feud with the United States Postal Service
Mark Twain, pictured in 1907. (Photo: Library of Congress/LC-DIG-ds-05448)When it came to speaking his mind, Mark Twain was rarely one to pull punches. Twain was often critical of others, whether it...
View ArticleA Massive Blue Ox in Minnesota Was Felled By A Thunderstorm
Babe the Blue Ox okay after being blown over in Tuesday storm https://t.co/q1pizslBYPpic.twitter.com/qGUOkFgUur— MPR News (@MPRnews) August 7, 2016Paul Bunyan’s best pal, Babe the Blue Ox recently got...
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The Microsoft Office World Championships Feature Blood, Tears, and Very...
Athletic regalia at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships. (All photos: Copyright Certiport)Ryan Catalfu's hard work is finally paying off. Over the past year, he has put in hundreds of...
View ArticleFound: An Underground Meth Lab in a Walmart Parking Lot
Scene cleared up here, this is the manhole CCSERT used to bring up evidence @news4buffalopic.twitter.com/rjzltuIiCs— Callan Gray (@CallanGray4) August 8, 2016It’s not at all uncommon for police to find...
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A Visual History of the Human Pyramid
Sportsmen in France form a human pyramid, 1919. (Photo: M. Rol/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images)In the 16th century, Franco-Italian artist Juste de Juste sketched a series of prints showing men defying the...
View ArticleThe Olympic Diving Pool Turned Green For Some Reason
Ermmm...what happened?! pic.twitter.com/pdta7EpP2k— Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) August 9, 2016Most Olympic attention goes, deservedly, to the athletes. No matter how strange or dramatic a stadium design,...
View ArticleWatch a Mongolian Throat Singer Perform on a Mountain
Sitting in the foreground of an enormous mountain vista, a solitary man named Batzorig Vaanchig does some soothing Mongolian throat singing. Throat singing has been a part of Mongolian culture for...
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