Author: Ian Fortey

Most people don’t remember much from the movie Wild, Wild West starring Will Smith except for the fact there was a giant steam-powered tarantula in it. That’s the kind of thing that makes an impression. When villains choose to express their villainy with some technological know how, it makes an impression. Not just in movies,…

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For all the marvels of the modern world there’s something to be said for things that were created in the distant past that still astound us to this date. With the technology we have today we often smugly think of ourselves as far more advanced than our ancestors. But then we come across something truly…

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Some criminals are meticulous in their planning. They will stalk a victim and commit their nefarious deeds with a mind to how they will escape authorities and never be tied to the scene of the crime. There have been killers that actually shaved their bodies and wore clean suits ahead of time just so they…

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There’s a saying that goes “fake it till you make it” which basically means if you can’t do something or don’t know something, you can still have success by at least lying about it convincingly. It’s oddly optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. And there are real world examples of it apparently working out.…

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It’s hard to find uniqueness in the world sometimes. A million people probably have the same haircut as you, or love the same movies, or have the same favorite food. The animal kingdom is no different. But for every feature or trait there will always be one thing, one creature, that was first to display…

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No one likes to feel embarrassed for any reason. It’s one of the more unpleasant sensations you can deal with that doesn’t include any physical pain and in the worst instances it can really harm someone emotionally or psychologically.  There are ways to deal with embarrassment to make sure it doesn’t affect you but not…

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Pop culture has really exploded into a monster since the emergence of streaming technology and a million cable channels. There are video games, books, shows and films coming out constantly telling old stories, reimagined stories, rebooted stories and brand new stories. It’s all content, as some people say, and there is a lot of it.…

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At a certain point numbers begin to lose meaning. The human mind isn’t good with large numbers and the vastness of large numbers and what they represent becomes too diffuse and too vague for us to conceptualize. That’s part of the reason why guessing how many jellybeans are in a jar is such a reliable…

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It’s not every day that you run across a shrine in the Western or secular worlds but there are plenty of them out there. Many people in the modern world use the word in a joking fashion, like if someone is a fan of a certain celebrity or athlete they may have a shrine in…

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There’s an old joke about how Twinkies and cockroaches will be the only things to survive a nuclear holocaust because they last forever. That’s obviously not true, but do you know how long a Twinkie does last? We’ll actually get to that shortly, but it brings to mind a curious question about the shelf lives…

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There’s something to be said for being humble and keeping your accomplishments and blessings to yourself. If you’re living well and doing good things, you don’t technically need to tell anyone in the world about it. But sometimes it’s hard to resist the urge to show off. Throughout history there have been people who said…

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Of all the places in all the world you could hang out, the morgue has to be at the bottom of most peoples’ lists. Maybe as a visitor you’d be willing to breeze through but as a resident, well, that’s no fun at all.  In general, the morgue is a grim place, but it turns…

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It’s never easy to prove a negative, and it’s hard to pay attention to things you never notice. That’s kind of the point. But there’s a whole secret world around us that works because we don’t know it works. Things that happen in the background, under the cover of night, or well out of the…

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Every day, each one of us has to negotiate through a world that could kill us a thousand ways. From household chemicals that could poison you to bacteria in your food, accidents in the home, accidents on the street, diseases, violent attacks and unexpected acts of God, every day is a cornucopia of potential chaos.…

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