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  You may have heard the news about a 63 year-old woman who was mauled to death by four dogs in Palmdale, California, when she was jogging. While most such incidents don’t end as tragically, joggers, runners, bicyclists and others know all too well the problem of suddenly being pursued, snapped at, or bitten by a loose, aggressive dog.…

A reading of 100 percent relative humidity means that the air is totally saturated with water vapor and cannot hold any more, creating the possibility of rain. JOSE LUIS RAOTA/GETTY IMAGES If you’ve ever been to southern Arkansas on a hot July day, you’re familiar with incredible mugginess, a borderline hallucinatory experience where you feel like…

It’s official: the 2016 Summer Olympics are over in Rio. America took away the most medals with a total of 121 (46 gold). Britain followed with a total of 67 medals (27 gold), and China a respectable third with 70 total medals (26 gold). A lot has happened over the past two weeks, but amid…

All Judy Reed wanted to do was wash some clothes. On June 18, 2019, the Pennsylvania woman descended the basement stairs of her house at around 8 a.m. to do the laundry. Suddenly, a copperhead snake, which had been curled up on a shelf near the washing machine, bit her. Copperheads, like rattlesnakes, are venomous, although…

The garter is among the world’s most benign snakes; it’s not harmful and it eats the pests that eats your garden. If you live anywhere in North America, chances are you’ve seen a garter snake slithering past. For many, such a sight might cause a flinch or scream or, for a die hard and curious…

Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is a scheme made famous by Charles Ponzi. Who was this crook whose name graces this scam? John Kenneth Galbraith once observed that “the man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud.” Although the details may vary, all…

Slavery was so profitable, it sprouted more millionaires per capita in the Mississippi River valley than anywhere in the nation. With cash crops of tobacco, cotton and sugar cane, America’s southern states became the economic engine of the burgeoning nation. Their fuel of choice? Human slavery. If the Confederacy had been a separate nation, it would…

In theory, yes. In practice, your journey through the planet might be hampered by the planet’s molten core. There’s also the matter of finding a spot for all you’re digging through to make your tunnel. Let’s not rule out the possibility of mole people, dinosaurs and graboids living down there, either. Keep in mind, too,…

  It’s hard to imagine daily life with an annual inflation rate of 1,000,000%. At that rate, the price of a cup of coffee doubles between your weekly paychecks. That is what the citizens of Venezuela are facing, according to a recent report from the IMF. The story of how the country went from relative…

While environmentally conscious consumers — and automakers — put a lot of emphasis on cars that operate efficiently, just as important is what happens to those cars when they’re done operating. After all, more than 12 million vehicles were scrapped last year alone. If you consider that each vehicle weighs thousands of pounds, you can…

Named after the legendary conman, Charles Ponzi, the Ponzi scheme is a staple in financial scams. The scammer promises high return rates to investors and uses other investors to return that money. People nowadays know it as the “pyramid scheme,” with older investors getting paid by newer ones. Believe it or not, this scam is…

  We’ve all been caught unawares by our digestive tract at one time or another. It happened to the Nash family several months ago. We were nearing the end of an extended road trip, driving down a secondary highway through a sparsely populated area of Colorado at night,when one of my 9-year-old twin sons had…

Alexander the Great was one of the most talented generals who ever existed, but he was helped a great deal by his exceptional army. While we tend to think of Alexander’s whole army, including his Phalangite phalanx, as an elite force, Alexander had his own core of hand-picked expert troops. These men were a type…

Horrific workplace accidents claimed a string of lives and left its designer dead and his son crippled. Fourteen tons of fireworks illuminated the New York night on May 24, 1883, to celebrate the completion of one of the greatest engineering feats of the Gilded Age—the Brooklyn Bridge. Billed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the longest suspension bridge…

On a typical day, men spend a third as much time cleaning as women. Does that make women beacons of cleanliness, while men are genetically unable to see the messiness in their midst? This myth is a common explanation for why men don’t do as much housework as women. Men walk into a room and apparently can’t see the dust bunnies…

A new study suggests the ‘grassy knoll’ JFK assassination theory is bogus. When dressmaker Abraham Zapruder brought his camera to see President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade pass through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on November 22, 1963, he could never have suspected that he’d witness anassassination—or that his home movie would become one of the most…

  Security guard on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which ranked as the most dangerous place in the world to live. (Photo courtesy of Getty) Have you ever thought of moving to another country, but worried about your safety? It might be safer to live outside the United States, according to InterNations, which…

How Vitamin D Works All human beings need Vitamin D in order for their bodies to grow and function properly. Vitamin D helps the body metabolize calcium. When children lack vitamin D, their bodies cannot use calcium properly and they develop rickets. Rickets is marked by “soft bones” and things like bowleggedness and knock-knees.Cod liver…

we’re sure that more than one student has wished that he could travel back in time and prevent someone from inventing math. Of course, that same wish probably has been made with regard to all subjects that result in homework and difficult tests from time to time. But would that really be possible…even if time travel existed? Probably not! Why? Unlike a light bulb…

A Brief Account   Years after his wife’s death, Thomas Jefferson fathered at least six of Sally Hemings’s children. Four survived to adulthood and are mentioned in Jefferson’s plantation records:  Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston Hemings.  Sally Hemings worked for two and a half years (1787-89) in Paris as a domestic servant and maid in Jefferson’s…

Your Home Plumbing System Being mostly out of sight your home plumbing system tends to remain out of mind until something goes wrong. While it may appear to be a complex maze of pipes, fittings and valves, your home plumbing system is actually rather simple and straightforward. A home plumbing system is made up of…