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From the start of the modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, the Games have had no shortage of bans. Whether it’s the International Olympic Committee (IOC) handing them out or the countries themselves in self-imposed boycotts, nearly every continent on Earth has seen at least one of its nations barred from the contest in its hundred-plus-year history. So, grab hold of those rings because we’re counting down ten times countries were banned from the Olympic Games....

10 Huacachina Peru is a very popular tourist destination because it is the location of Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail, the Sacred Valley, Sillustani and many other stunning attractions. Before the pandemic hit, the country received on average between 3 and 4 million foreign visitors each year. These numbers drop to the low thousands, however, when it comes to the small village of Huacachina that sits surrounded by sand dunes in southwestern Peru....

From 1975 to 1980, someone had been terrorizing England, largely in the Yorkshire area. The murders mostly consisted of prostitutes, and in a move right out of Jack the Ripper’s playbook, the corpses were almost always mutilated. It was the heyday of modern serial killers, and everyone in England is trying to make sense of what just happened. Sutcliffe was a loner who did very poorly in school and was always a little weird....

10 The Char-Man of Ojai, California The story of the Char-Man has been passed down for decades in Ojai, California. In 1948, a large brush fire swept through the Ojai Valley, destroying most of the valley, including the homes. It took several days after the flames died down for anyone to enter the valley and assess the damage. According to legend, a man and his son lived in a small house outside of town....

10 The Hatton Garden SightingLondon, 1809 In 1809, English astronomer John Staveley submitted an account of something strange that he’d witnessed in the night sky above Hatton Garden to The Journal of Natural History And Philosophy And Chemistry. Staveley stated that he saw what looked to be a black cloud that had meteors moving around it as well as lightning flashing through it. At first, he thought he was witnessing a strange meteor shower, until one suddenly “increased size till It became the brilliance and magnitude of Venus....

In most instances, people were left unable to get their hands on the following things unless they had a doctor’s prescription. Some of the following items are still prescription-only today. Here are ten things you might never have guessed were once prescribed by doctors. 10 Sex Toys A doctor’s prescription was once required to buy a sex toy in the city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, in the United States. The ban on sex toys was dictated under a city ordinance outlawing the buying or selling of “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs....

However, for some, there is a whole other type of getaway, one that might see a person on the edge of a warzone or at the scene of a recent disaster. Dark Tourism has been around for a long time and still looks set to continue well in the future. 10 It’s Been Going On for Over a Hundred Years (at Least!) While it might be tempting to think that dark tourism is a recent fad, the fact is it has been going on for over 100 years....

10Disco Demolition Night In the late 1970s, disco had a sizable number of vocal and venomous detractors. One notable critic of the genre was Chicago rock radio DJ Steve Dahl, who became popular for his “Disco Sucks” stance. Knowing that Dahl was popular and people genuinely didn’t like disco, the son of the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Mike Veeck, thought that it would be a good promotional idea to host a Disco Sucks night....

10 Lack Of Competition Drives Up Costs It is a well-known economic principle that competition within an industry tends to drive prices down, so it stands to reason that the fewer providers there are for a product or service, the more prices will stagnate or rise. For an example of this in the telecommunications industry, look no further than Comcast—the nation’s largest cable television provider and also one of the six aforementioned corporations that control most of the output across all media....

Delusions go in and out of style, just like clothing and hairstyles. Delusions can be sold and even exported to us from other cultures. Unfortunately, we can’t always count on our doctors for guidance because they’re often as delusional as we are. 10Cultural Influences Our cultures provide the background material to understand and tell our stories, including the narrative for our delusions. The people who treat us—whether doctors, priests, or shamans—also help to form our delusions by defining the symptoms of mental illness....

But what if someone leaves this world alone? No family, no friends, no one to mourn his passing. He may be gone but possibly not forgotten. Here are 10 ways that the dead can leave their mark on the world after death. 10 Organ Transplantation Every year, thousands of people are added to the waiting lists for organ replacements. A shocking average of 20 people per day die while waiting for a transplant because there are not enough organs to go around....

If there’s one thing you don’t associate with American values, its human experimentation. Yet throughout the 20th century, the government targeted civilians with some of the nastiest stuff imaginable. Chief among these was Operation Midnight Climax, a taxpayer-funded idea that was as porn-filled as it sounds. After setting up brothels in New York City and San Francisco, the CIA hired prostitutes to dose clients with LSD while they watched from behind two-way mirrors....

But there is another way to experience the wild side of our world: getting up close and personal with nature. For those who are not lucky enough to live in a natural setting, there are many wildlife and sea-life experiences to choose from around the world. Here are 10 adventures that will connect you with the wild side of nature! 10 Wolf Watching Wolves are legendary creatures. They are highly intelligent and incredibly loyal and have found a permanent place in both folklore and fiction worldwide....

SEE ALSO: 10 Macabre Tourist Attractions It’s only when you visit these places that you realize you’ve been picturing them a bit wrong—either due to the unreliability of word of mouth or insufficient pretravel research. They’re not all disappointing, and some may even end up surprising you. 10 Taj Mahal Isn’t Pure White Anymore The Taj Mahal is still considered the ultimate monument of love. It’s quite an architectural wonder, too....

10Bill Nye Saved Ballerinas’ Feet Bill Nye is one of the most popular scientists on the planet. He’s popped up in the news lately thanks to a series of public debates, but when he’s not dancing with the stars or posing with Jay-Z, Nye keeps himself busy by, oddly enough, inventing ballet slippers. Nye is very concerned about ballerina feet. After filming an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, he noticed something disturbing....

But past cultures also experienced more obscure problems. From supplemental fungus ingestion to prehistoric lead exposure and even prehistoric bedbug infestations, history is full of fascinating problems. 10 They Had To Eat Fungus The Pueblo in the southwestern US began their agricultural adventure in 400 BC. For the next 800 years, they grew and ate mainly maize, which constituted 80 percent of their calories. With a diet that included little else, maybe a bit of yucca or rarely some rabbit, the Pueblo people should have been malnourished....

Back then, people were also exploring new scientific ideas. As a result, many supposed cures involved things like the elements or other seemingly important objects that didn’t in any way treat the poor person who had been injured or sickened. The stars and planets were a big influence on the medicine of the day until scientific experimentation ultimately prevailed. Here are 10 medical treatments from medieval times that actually had at least a bit of success for suffering patients or that still work today....

Now, you might be thinking, “How is that even possible?” Well, that depends on a whole lot of things. Most of the time, temperature and pressure are major factors. In other cases, strange things happen when water is combined with some other substance. 10 Ice-VII Ice is cold. But not ice-VII (aka hot ice), which is actually hot. Scientists call the regular ice we have here on Earth “ice Ih....

Grieving families could no longer bury their dead and expect them to remain that way. Resurrection men roamed churchyards late at night, looking for freshly dug graves. They would disinter the body, undress the corpse, and toss its clothes back into the grave before carrying it away into the night. After that, the body would be dissected, often in front of an audience, for the betterment of mankind. Obviously, some relatives took exception to this, and they came up with a number of ingenious ways to foil the body snatchers....

It’s a remarkable instrument with 2,000 to 4,000 taste buds that constantly regenerate themselves each week. The average adult tongue is about 8.1 centimeters (3.2 in) when measured from its tip to the epiglottis, which is the flap of cartilage that anchors it in the back of the mouth. The tongue print is as original as a snowflake. Like a fingerprint’s unique stamp, each tongue could theoretically be used as a personal identification tool one day....