Articles

The United States is a melting pot for other cultures. Immigrants from across the world have long traveled to America for a new beginning. Many struck it rich, raised families, and contributed to American society. Along the way, they brought customs and traditions from their old homes. For millions, that meant sharing old recipes and

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or that is what Andy Williams merrily proclaims in his hit song that crashes face-first into all stores at the beginning of the festive season (and in some cases even before that). What is never mentioned in all the joyous writings of the jovial holidays and endless

Throughout history, people have been fascinated by the Robin Hood-type character that robs the rich and gives to the poor. An outlaw helping ordinary people by doing things an average man only dreams of and sacrificing themself for a greater purpose is the stuff of legends. While this type of hero is usually a fictional

The recent release of Brittney Griner from a Russian penal colony on the morning of December 8, 2022, was hailed by some and criticized by others. The same day, Sarah Krivanek, a U.S. citizen ordered deported by a Russian court due to a domestic dispute, left Russia too. Unlike Griner, though, Krivanek was not a

By the 1960s, America’s television industry had matured as its technology rapidly advanced in visual quality. Dingy black and white shows produced in the 1950s as kinescopes (by filming the screen of a television monitor) transitioned to vivid “in living color” shows by the mid-1960s. The sheer number of shows exploded. Inventive concepts and storylines

Doorbell cameras like Ring and Nest are one of the newest developments in the ever-growing world of smart devices. Tiny recording devices face out of people’s doorways, constantly monitoring. Motion sensors scan to see if anyone comes near the home, logging every time someone pushes the buzzer. Of course, the companies that sell these devices

Approximately 71% of the Earth consists of water which is great because we all need water to survive. However, some places receive less than 0.09 inches (2 millimeters) of rainfall on average per year, qualifying them to be referred to as hyper-arid deserts. Even worse, some areas go without rain for years, making them relatively

Medieval Christianity was very fond of holy relics. The body parts of saints, things they owned, and substances produced by their corpses were thought to be powerful aids to those in need of divine help. If a church had a particularly important relic, then it could attract large numbers of pilgrims. The best relics of

A list of ten peppers can only scratch the surface. There are over 50,000 different varieties available, and pepper enthusiasts are breeding new ones all the time. Peppers are spicy because they contain capsaicin; the higher the concentration of capsaicin, the hotter your pepper is. In 1912, an American pharmacist, Wilbur Scoville, came up with

It’s terribly unsettling when someone goes missing. Loved ones must deal with uncertainty and terror as they struggle to find out what happened. Police officers and detectives work around the clock to find answers. All the while, the missing person is just… gone. In the best case scenarios, that person is miraculously found and returned

Over the years, many filmmakers have tried to break the mold and do something new. Only the best have created something that has left its mark on the entertainment industry and society. Here, we’ll focus on movies with a human cast, so, unfortunately, there is no room for animation. We’ve chosen the listed movies because

If Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Macbeth, is any indicator, tales of witches always leave a splash in folklore and literature. These sorcerous figures have earned quite the reputation across every corner of the world. And while there is an ample amount of stories regarding women tragically victimized in various witch hunts in Europe and North America,

Our minds are trained to accept changes to our favorite franchises. This is a welcome development because the gaming world is ever-changing. As games evolve in graphics, we gladly accept the refined versions—after all, we asked for them. What, however, takes us by surprise is when video game characters get a complete makeover that alters

As we approach the holiday season, many people find themselves engaging in yearly practices to celebrate Christmas. One of the most common Christmas traditions frequently ranked up there with nutcrackers and decorating Christmas trees are Nativity scenes. After all, Nativity scenes help people to continue telling the age-old story of Mary, Joseph, and the baby

Eight mummified children, probable victims of human sacrifice; the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, lost for over a century in Antarctic waters; the remains of woolly rhinos that once roamed southern England. Those are just a taster of some of the amazing finds that researchers have uncovered in the last 12 months. Read on

There are few jobs more demanding than the presidency of a nation. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say there are no jobs more demanding than the presidency. The commander-in-chief is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for an entire four-year term. If he succeeds, voters reward him with a second four-year

Seduction of the Innocent was the title psychologist Fredric Wertham chose for his 1954 book. No, it wasn’t a romance or an erotic thriller. It was an exposé of a product dangerous to the mental health of adolescents everywhere—or so he insisted. His target: comic books that he regarded as violent and risqué. These scandalous

One of the most interesting tools for solving crimes is the police sketch: an artistic recreation of a subject based on the memory of a witness or the remains of a victim. These sketches tend to be pretty unsuccessful for various reasons, including the unreliability of the witness’s memory and the artist’s ability. Due to

Almost everyone has looked into the night sky and marveled at the vastness of space, pondering the mysteries of that final frontier. But movies, TV shows, and books have led to some warped assumptions about the universe around us. So let’s use science to clarify that erroneous thinking and address ten of the more common

There are some strange creatures on Earth, and the tiny pumpkin toadlets (also known as the Brachycephalus species of frogs) who live in Brazil are very strange indeed. So far, scientists have described approximately 36 species within the genus; however, there is some debate about that number. Some scientists disagree about the distinction between certain