In 2016, $80 billion was spent on lottery tickets in the United States alone. For comparison, that same year the US spent roughly $30 billion on video games. It’s very revealing how much people hold on to that dream even though their odds of winning big from a video game and a lottery ticket aren’t…
Author: Dustin Koski
Dustin Koski
Dustin Koski is the proud co-writer and producer of the anthology podcast The Vanishing Point with his brother Adam. He still hopes to escape from Wisconsin someday.
Think of how long ago it was that the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th Century AD. That’s nearly 1,600 years, more than 50 generations as understood by historians. Few nations from that time are still around today, major religions didn’t exist yet, and so on. Now consider that it’s roughly the same amount…
A clash of the greatest generals of their age. The end of the Napoleonic Era. The last stand for the gravedigger of the revolution. The greatest triumph of the Duke of Wellington. There are many ways to summarize the Battle of Waterloo that play up its epic scope and seemingly decisive place in history. However,…
We all know that the Amazons are supposed to be an ancient race of warrior women. Most of us are aware of their connection to Greek mythology, but we don’t have a much more detailed mental image. We have no idea where they were supposed to be, for example. We don’t know their battles, exploits,…
Movies, books, paintings, and other forms can portray war with all the pomp and pageantry their creators want. The truth remains that you get a more honest look at the nature of war by studying these battles. War does not create nobility and courage for the majority of participants. It’s a process by which empathy…
Most history classes on America cover the discovery of the continent, the founding of early colonies likes like Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, then seem to skip to immediate lead-up to the American Revolution. That’s a pity, because the colonial centuries were some of the most fascinating in the history of the United States of America.…
Imagine you’ve been through Hell. You’ve put your life on the line, and you’ve potentially seen your friends die, all because of a lie. If you’re enlisted in the military, that’s probably not too hard to imagine. For many members of the US military throughout the nation’s history no imagination is required at all. The…
For the past few years the media has wanted to portray the American government as divided into Democrats and Republicans, a supposedly black and white dichotomy. The two parties supposedly can never be expected to cooperate, even though many will insist that the parties are functionally the same. This has predated the election of President…
Every film fan has fallen into the trap of buying that a venerated classic must be a mentally stimulating, if not highly entertaining experience. Then, a couple very long hours or so later, they found just how wrong the tastemakers of cinema can be. Let’s consider this list 10 dire warnings to the well-meaning, open-minded…
There’s a joke about a degree in philosophy where the people majoring in it get asked, “would you like fries with that?” Getting a degree in philosophy is supposed to be such a waste of time and money because philosophy ostensibly does not provide a utilitarian skill set. This claim was compellingly countered by Atlantic…
Even though it’s been going on two centuries since Robert Cornelius took both the first photographic portrait and first selfie in 1839, the practically obsolete art of capturing likenesses through other mediums has not died out. Plenty of people continue to have portraits painted of themselves even though it’s common for that to cost $15,000.…
How clean, composed, and trustworthy politicians like for us to think they are. It’s no wonder We The People lap up every juicy scandal and obsess over every slip up. Sometimes we hope a faux paus by the opposition will be a key to victory for our party, and reveal what scum the their leader…
Although the word “Zulu” means “Heaven,” for generations Zulu warriors gave their enemies hell. From a small tribe as late as the 1816, they were organized and invigorated by the legendary Shaka Zulu to become the dominant kingdom in South Africa. Even when the British armies arrived with their advanced weapons, the Zulu soldiers were…
It was with great pride — and only mild nausea — that we shared with our readers 10 examples of historically significant people who committed incest through marriage. It left us curious, though: What about the offspring? Which people who were prominent in the course of human events had that blemish on their origins? Did it…
The United States of America has a befuddling relationship with the largest oil exporter in the world. They are allied to the US and its largest client for weapons, even though the Joint Congressional Inquiry report from 2002 reported (in pages that were censored until 2016) that terrorists that took part in the 9/11 attacks…
The first workers that built them were told they were making water carriers for Mesopotamia. It made sense since the company that made the first working model in 1915, William Foster & Co., worked in agriculture. That 18-ton model housed a crew of six and was nicknamed “Little Willie.” It was never used in combat.…
Chris Hadfield said that on launch day, no astronaut takes to the skies with their fingers crossed. The way they’ve dealt with the stress induced by the risk is to picture the launch failing a thousand times before the moment of truth arrives. If the imagined failure comes true, the result can reverberate in the…
It is unquestionably the most famous, the most slavishly observed royal family in the world. The 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle garnered more than 29 million viewers in the United States of America alone, and the USA is not a nation you’d expect to be particularly friendly to the idea of royalty…
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Norse Mythology has heard of Valkyrie. Readers, artists, and audiences have imagined them as noble warrior women and maybe symbolic of a proudly militaristic past when Scandinavians raided much of the rest of the world to their heart’s content. If nothing else, there’s a good chance a reader is…
Posthumous monolith of science fiction Philip K. Dick said that he wrote in that genre because there was “more latitude for the expression of truer ideas.” The focus on exploring ideas that serves as much of the appeal of science fiction means that, often, writers can get themselves into trouble. They can litter their stories…
To the unsuspecting person on Earth, the sun seems as permanent and unchanging as the land beneath our feet. It provides the light and warmth that makes life on this planet possible so steadily. It’s even been said that every hour, enough energy from the sun reaches the Earth to provide electrical power to all…
Many of us at Top Tenz have dealt with the modern problem of being overweight. We’ve counted calories by the thousands. We’ve endured a parade of diets and cleanses with only a few cheats for solace. Most of all, we’ve turned ourselves into sweat sprinklers at the gym. So we have some firsthand perspective on…
We tend to associate act of marrying a family member with either the poorest of the poor, or particularly decadent royals. Throughout history it’s been taboo, meaning the only ones we associate with it are either in social classes beneath respect or so powerful they’re above social disapproval. After all, we’ve long known that the…
For most of our audience, the last time the French Foreign Legion came up was likely in a context related to old movies or stories from the ’30s or ’40s. Movies like Beau Geste, based on a 1924 novel by P.C. Wren, parodies on Looney Toons, Disney cartoons, Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello…