Pizza Hut Once Delivered to the International Space Station

Josh H. | Thursday, Feb 12, 2015

What do you do if you’re stuck in outer space and get a crazing for a pizza? Well, if you happen to be Yuri Usachov, you simply call and place an order to Pizza Hut because they apparentl...

James Jameson Bought a Slave to Watch Her Be Eaten by Cannibals

Josh H. | Monday, Feb 9, 2015

James Jameson, heir to the Jameson Irish Whiskey company, once bought a 10-year-old slave girl for six handkerchiefs because he wanted to sketch the event as cannibals killed, mutilated,...

The Time Saddam Hussein Was Awarded the Key to Detroit

Josh H. | Monday, Feb 9, 2015

Saddam Hussein, the ex-President of Iraq who was responsible for killing a reported 250,000-plus people during his reign, was once awarded the key of Detroit for donating to a local schoo...

Why Marlon Brando Refused His 1973 Best Actor Oscar

Brooke K. | Friday, Feb 6, 2015

He may be the man who “made them an offer they couldn’t refuse,” but Marlon Brando was no stranger to turning down prestigious honors. In perhaps one of the most controversial moments in...

When February Had 30 Days

Gilead A. | Thursday, Feb 5, 2015

On a snowy day at the end of February 1712, a young couple named Svven and Elena Hall got married in the Swedish town of Ystad. The wedding, though completely unremarkable in all other as...

Romantics Byron and Keats Had Nothing But Hate for Each Other

Erin B. | Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015

Hemingway versus Faulkner. McCarthy versus Hellman. Gore Vidal versus everyone. History is full of sore losers and literary rivals. But no rivalry was quite as poetic—or as petty—as that...

How Harper Lee's "Recovered" Book Became 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Erin B. | Tuesday, Feb 3, 2015

In 1949, she was 23 years old, and her prospects were iffy. Her lawyer father had encouraged her to practice law, but her heart just wasn’t in it. It had been difficult to break the news...

The Time Thomas Harvey Stole Einstein's Brain

Josh H. | Friday, Jan 30, 2015

When Einstein died on April 18, 1955 in Princeton Hospital, there was one question on the scientific community's mind: does he have a special brain? Even though this question is an intere...

The Historical Origins of Suicide Bombings

Mark H. | Thursday, Jan 29, 2015

In 2013, a Marxist-leftist group claimed responsibility for bombing the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey and Americans were confused. This (and subsequent lack of substantial news coverage) d...

How NASA and a Famous Female Pilot Kept Women From Space

Erin B. | Thursday, Jan 29, 2015

The crowd leaned in as the world’s most famous female pilot took the stand at a special hearing of the House of Representative’s Committee on Science and Aeronautics. It was July 17, 1962...

The Badass Georgian Golden Age Queen Who Was King

Kristen M. | Monday, Jan 26, 2015

Picture this: your dad is a respected ruler of his kingdom and on the brink of ushering in some of the most prosperous times his people have ever seen, which you can take a little credit...

Duels, Love Affairs and Opera: The Crazy Story of Mademoiselle Maupin

Josh H. | Friday, Jan 23, 2015

Julie d’Aubigny, better known as Mademoiselle Maupin, was the daughter of Gaston d’Aubigny, a French nobleman and fencing master. Maupin, born in 1673, quickly followed in her father’s fo...