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Most of these monuments have become part of the scenery; we walk past them and barely even notice them. However, there are some monuments that can never fade into the background, either because they are too big, too striking, or because they are just plain weird. Here, we take a look at just a few of them. 10 The Child-Eater Fountain At Bern In 1545, the town council in the Swiss city of Bern commissioned Hans Gieng to create a statue to replace a 100-year-old one that had fallen into disrepair....

10 Moonquakes Despite being a dead hunk of rock with very little geological activity, the Moon is prone to shaking fits. These earthquake-like tremors are called moonquakes, and there are four different kinds of them. The first three types—deep quakes, vibrations from meteorite impacts, and thermal quakes caused by the Sun’s heat—are relatively harmless. The fourth one, however, can be quite unpleasant. These “shallow” moonquakes can register up to 5.5 on the Richter scale—enough to move large furniture around—and last for a remarkably long 10 minutes....

10Houris In the Quran, the houris are female beings who will accompany the faithful in heaven. They are often associated with the 72 virgins referenced in the Hadiths. Houris are described in Hadiths as being young, doe-eyed girls with round, perky breasts. They do not spit, menstruate, urinate, or defecate. After a Muslim believer has sex with a houri companion, she immediately regains her virginity. Houris also have transparent skin. You can see through to the marrow of their bones, “like red wine in a clear glass....

For some people, tattoos may be symbolic, a form of rebellion, or even a channel of artistic impression. Whatever the reason, tattoos are not going anywhere anytime soon. Marking one’s body is neither a fad nor a new phenomenon as humans have been drawing on their bodies, willingly or not, since before they were writing words. 10 ‘Otzi The Iceman’ In 1991, two Germans were hiking across the Alps when they found a body in the ice and snow....

Even though they were born 96 years apart, there are some striking similarities between these two Barrymore actresses. 10 Born into an Acting Dynasty It is no secret that Drew Barrymore was born into a very prestigious acting dynasty, sometimes referred to as “The Royal Family.” Her grandfather John Barrymore Sr. was a legendary actor who delivered remarkable performances in Hamlet and Richard III on stage and starred in many prominent films, including the classic Grand Hotel....

Society has moved from tepidly prodding psychology with a long stick to an almost cult-like fascination and macabre fetishization of the concept. Comic books, TV shows, and movies almost always generate a buzz with the strategic use of the word “crazy.” Were that not the case, how much differently would Heath Ledger’s Joker performance have been received? Buzzwords like “psychopath,” “insane,” and “sociopath” are top contenders for words that are most frequently used despite a general misunderstanding of their meanings, right up there with “ironic” and “rhetorical....

Today, we have very sanitized images of striking workers—folks walking in circles with picket signs while chanting catchy slogans about unfair labor practices. Perhaps after a few days of interrupted business, workers and their bosses will sit down and work out some compromises. For most of American history, going on strike meant something far more radical. It was an indictment not only of individual work sites but also of a social order in which few were rich and most were desperately poor....

On paper, anyway. Everyday life, though, was less glamorous than the few shining moments that made their way into history. Real life in ancient Greece was difficult, dirty, and often truly disgusting. 10 Your Doctor Would Taste Your Earwax When you visited a doctor in ancient Greece, you could pretty much count on him reaching into your ear and taking a little nibble of your earwax. That was how your doctor got a diagnosis: He’d taste your bodily fluids....

10LandskatingHaisu Tian If you find it hard to paint a picture with a brush, imagine how difficult it would be to create landscapes using rollerblades. But that’s exactly what’s done by Haisu Tian, a talented young artist from Fremont, California. She calls her technique “landskating.” Pots of ink are attached to the toes of her modified skates. When she moves, the ink flows over the front wheels onto xuan paper (also known as “rice paper”) to paint huge traditional Chinese ink paintings, which in this case are black-and-white landscapes....

The Crying Boy series gained fame in the UK, and other parts of the world, with thousands of prints purchased and displayed in homes and businesses. However, when terrifying events accompanied the paintings, many began to question if there was something sinister attached to them. Rumors spread of a curse that was so evil it destroyed its subject and creator and damaged the homes and lives of anyone who purchased one of the prints....

A lot of animals are featured in this week’s list. There is the cat who is the King of Ruddington, the North Pacific right whale that sings for the first time, and Scamp the Tramp who claimed top honors at the World’s Ugliest Dog contest. 10 All Hail The King Of Ruddington An entire English village in Nottinghamshire got together to plan the 10th birthday celebration of its most beloved resident, Wilbur the cat....

The St. James’s area of London soon became known as Clubland, with dozens of clubs springing up for the benefit of gentlemen with nothing much to do with their time. Behind closed doors, however, many of these organizations were and continue to be very ungentlemanly indeed. 10 White’s White’s is one of the oldest gentlemen’s clubs in London, dating from the early 18th century. It is said to have been the inspiration for the gaming house in The Rake’s Progress....

It’s a silly idea, but it does bring up an interesting question. What if they were right? What if we really did live on a flat planet? As it turns out, people have thought about that question before. Scientists actually have a pretty good idea of how things would change. If the world was flat, it would be a wildly different place. 10 Gravity Would Constantly Pull You North Gravity doesn’t pull people down; it pulls them toward the center of the Earth....

10The Hedgehog Comet-Hopper As the Philae lander recently proved, landing on a comet is exceptionally tricky. Navigating across the surface of a comet? That’s a whole new problem. On a cosmic scale, comets are pebbles at best, and their paltry gravity doesn’t usually allow for terrestrial activities like moving around. Watch this video on YouTube A hearty sneeze could push one into orbit, and even wheels are rendered useless, making rovers unfeasible for comet exploration....

10Plennie Wingo In 1931, Plennie Wingo was hanging out with some teenagers in his restaurant and talking about possible publicity stunts when he came up with a simple but stupid idea: He decided to walk backward around the world. After some initial practice, he realized that he would need reflective glasses to walk steadily. With a sign pinned to his jacket announcing his intentions, he set off. He made it about 13,000 kilometers (8,000 mi) before a passport dispute in Istanbul sent him back, but by then, the novel act had made him a household name....

The first self-balancing, electric-powered transportation machine invented by Dean Kamen, known as the Segway Human Transporter was invented in 2000. Launched in the year 2001, the Segway human transporter uses dynamic stabilization to enable the transporter to balance itself with the help of tilt sensors, gyroscopes and a built-in computer. The transporter adjusts to the body movement at a rate of 100 movements per second. The first model did not consist of any brakes and traveled at a speed of 12 miles per hour, and the speed and direction could be controlled by manual mechanisms....

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“Where there’s life, there’s hope.” “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” “My refutation would be framed in considerably more forcible terms if I did not feel inhibited by the fact that the woman’s husband- sorry, I mean brother, I always make that slip- is my personal enemy.” Note: This quote is from Cicero’s defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who was charged by his former lover Clodia of trying to poison her, and murdering an Egyptian envoy....

Amazing accomplishments aside, they probably aren’t how you know Lawrence. You know him as Yogi, a nickname given to him by a friend who likened his cross-legged sitting to a yogi. Yogi is famous for his fractured English, malapropisms and sometimes nonsensical quotes. He’s closing in on 86, and there seems to be no end to his fan’s love for him. In honor of the beginning of the US baseball season, here are 25 Yogi Berra quotes that will make you shake your head and smile....

Tigers have eyes with round pupils, unlike domestic cats, which have slitted pupils. This is because domestic cats are nocturnal whereas tigers are crepuscular – they hunt primarily in the morning and evening. Despite not being strongly adapted to the dark, tigers’ night vision is about six times better than humans’. Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue eyes, due to the gene for blue eyes being linked to the gene for white fur....