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The theory of evolution is largely accepted as fact by those within the scientific community. But those who came before Darwin struggled to explain why life is as it is, and many who came after still refute or refine the theory. 10 ‘Paradisical Mountain’Carolus Linnaeus Pre-Darwin (1707–1778)—Carolus Linnaeus was one of the most important contributors in the field of modern biogeography. Linnaeus was responsible for creating the Latin binomial nomenclature—for example, Homo sapiens—still in use today....

10 Digging A Tunnel To Spy On The East Germans In 1951, the CIA was losing out on valuable intelligence because the Soviets were switching to landlines to send messages to the East Germans. Landline messages could not be intercepted unless they were physically tapped, unlike the radio communications previously used by the Soviets. To fix the problem, the CIA decided to dig a tunnel under the border to East Berlin to physically tap into a cable that carried messages from Moscow to East Berlin....

SEE ALSO: 10 Signs That Aliens Are Contributing To Our World The popular idea, known as “The Grays,” are often short and always skinny, with gray skin, big heads, huge bug-like black eyes, and just a slit of a mouth. Creatures like these appear in movies and on book and magazine covers worldwide as the generally accepted appearance of “real” aliens from outer space. More generally speaking though, actual reports of alien encounters have displayed a real variety of weird creatures; some are amazing; some are scary; and some are just plain odd!...

10Leutard And The Bees Around the year 1000, a French peasant named Leutard was tilling a field when he decided to take a nap. He dreamed that that a swarm of bees flew into his body through the tip of his penis. After buzzing around inside him for a while, the bees emerged from his mouth and began stinging him relentlessly, “ordering him to do things impossible for humans.” Leutard awoke believing that the dream was a message from God....

10 William Friedkin Following up his success with 1971’s The French Connection, William Friedkin made the terrifying film classic The Exorcist in 1973. The film proved to be even more successful than his previous work, being nominated for ten Academy Awards and winning two. Most of the performances seen in the final product weren’t achieved without help from Friedkin. Taking after D.W. Griffith’s directing style, Friedkin would do various things to influence actors’ emotions for a particular scene....

We all want to be Mulder, uncovering conspiracies, enlightening the masses…but we, for the most part, know that 90% of conspiracy theories are bunk (and the remaining 10% are usually proven whenever classified documents are unclassified every few years – MKULTRA, for example). Celebrities, however, seem to have fallen into that too common trap of taking the least believable conspiracy theories and saying “This is what I will stake my entire reputation on” and going full throttle into the deep end with it....

Likewise, celebrity can be local, regional, national, or international. The former rock star Pussy is well-known in Russia, but he is less familiar elsewhere. In other cases, celebrity may be both international in scope and timeless in duration. Many people the world over are familiar with Marquis de Sade, Frances Farmer, Ezra Pound, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Mary Todd Lincoln. Whether their fame endures or was relatively fleeting, whether they were known only in their own countries or were celebrated internationally, all the celebrities on this list share the unenviable status of having been declared insane, and each, in his or her own way, is, or was, an intriguing public figure....

In a positive twist, the list shows that these celebrities are still heroes who choose to wear their flaws proudly. Whether on-screen or off, these stars don’t let their deformities define them, and most importantly, they don’t hide them from the world. These are the 10 celebrities you didn’t know had deformities. 10 Denzel Washington’s Magic Finger Denzel Washington is one of the most prolific performers of all time, and his portfolio as actor and director is one of the most impressive in Hollywood....

10 Patience Wright And The US Founding Fathers Patience Wright was born in New York in 1725, and she had a rather unusual talent. She was an artist, but she worked in wax and had the rather impressive skill of being able to fashion incredibly lifelike figures. She did it all without looking, as well. Because wax had to be kept warm and pliable, her normal method was to shape the heads beneath her skirts before revealing the final product....

10Cosme And New AustraliaAustralian Socialists In Paraguay After the failure of widespread strikes triggered by meager wages and poor conditions, many Australian bush workers gave up on their dreams for an egalitarian, workers’ Australia. They seized on a scheme proposed by English journalist William Lane to found a socialist “New Australia” in Paraguay (which was open to settlers because up to 70 percent of its population had died in the War of the Triple Alliance)....

10Curiosity Killed The Cat Actually: Care killed the cat. The phrase “curiosity killed the cat” serves as a warning to those who are too curious for their own good. However, the proverb we know today actually originated from “care killed the cat,” with the word “care” meaning “worry” or “sorrow.” The proverb was first recorded in Ben Johnson’s play Every Man in His Humour in 1598. It is believed that the play was performed by a troupe of actors that included William Shakespeare....

10 Julius Caesar Committed Suicide Although we know that Julius Caesar was assassinated in the senate by those who feared he would become a dictator, there are some people who believe that Caesar passively allowed the assassination to take place. In a 2003 article for The Sunday Times Magazine, historian Richard Girling supported that theory. He suggested that Caesar was suffering from depression because he had terrible seizures caused by temporal lobe epilepsy....

10 Krokodil And Flesh Rot By now, you have probably already heard of a new drug called krokodil that is taking off in the Russian drug scene as a cheap replacement for heroin. According to reports, this drug is much more addictive than heroin and causes your flesh to literally rot off your skin, leading to your untimely demise. Some US news outlets have even claimed that this drug has shown up in the United States and the hysteria machine is now at full horsepower....

10 Anders Klarström Anyone that gushed over boybands in the 1990s probably did not check out the Nazi punk band Commit Suicide. Ulf Ekberg is likely the only fan in that Venn Diagram. Along with Anders Klarström—the future head of the Swedish Democrats—Ekberg used Commit Suicide to promote far-right ideology. The radical outfit was hardly poised to top the hit parade with lyrics like “Men in white hoods march down the road, we enjoy ourselves when we’re sawing off n—rs’ heads/ Immigrant, we hate you!...

In 1900, Maria Salome (20 years old) made her grand debut as the first female bullfighter. Over the years she became incredibly popular and gained great acclaim for her achievements. Because of her popularity, the Spanish government deemed it immoral for a woman to be a bullfighter so they outlawed it. This did not concern Maria (also known as La Reverte) – in public she pulled off her wig and announced to the world that she was, in fact, a man....

Their spread is due to many factors: globalization, technology, and the anti-vaccine movement. These outbreaks are not just found in remote jungle corners. Deadly diseases are also popping up in developed countries—even the United States. These outbreaks indicate that no one is safe from disease. 10 Leptospirosis In 2009, the Philippines were ravaged twice: once by tropical storm Ketsana and again by “rat fever.” Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease spread through contact with animal urine....

10A Mountaineering Film Made Climbing Everest Impossible The 1924 British Everest Expedition is one of the most infamous summit attempts of all time, thanks to the tragic disappearance of climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. Really, though, it should be known for something much stupider. As a direct result of the official decision to film the expedition, mountaineers were banned from entering Tibet for years. As part of the publicity surrounding the attempt, the publicly funded Mount Everest Committee commissioned Captain John Noel to make a stirringly patriotic film....

To a synesthete who can never recall a life without their synesthesia, descriptions of colored voices or angry numbers are all too natural. To non-synesthetes, however, this can seem extremely strange or overwhelming. Due to this, when someone first learns that they have synesthesia and are eager to share their perceptions with others they can be met with confusion and even disbelief from the people closest to them. Synesthetes who do not have the support of their friends and family can be left feeling alienated or even a little bit crazy, assuming that their perceptions of the world are invalid....

10CatalhoyukTurkey Possibly the first city in the world circa 7400–6000 B.C., Catalhoyuk was an unusual farming settlement of about 8,000 people who lived in rectangular mud-brick buildings built against one another like row houses. But there were no roads or alleys around any of them. People entered their homes through holes in the roof. “A lot of activity would have taken place at the roof level,” said project director Shahina Farid....

10 A Mad World And Its Inhabitants 1872 Bloomingdale Asylum was a private hospital for the mentally ill in New York where Columbia University now stands. An exclusive institution for patients from well-to-do families, the peaceful, well-kept grounds belied the horrors going on inside. As rumors of patient abuse circulated, Julius Chambers, one of the world’s first investigative journalists, determined to discover the truth by going undercover as a patient in Bloomingdale Asylum....