Author: Ian Fortey

Using available box office numbers, superhero film franchises have generated well over $40 billion to date, which is a fairly decent indicator that people are really into superheroes. But if you’re feeling a little burned out on the whole thing, worry not. Nature itself offers up some unbelievable alternatives to the MCU. In a way,…

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Camouflage is a process or mechanism used to conceal something by making it blend in with its surroundings. It can be natural, as is the case with animals that blend in with their environment or unnatural, as is the case when the military paints vehicles or puts uniforms on soldiers to help them blend in.…

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The global video game market is worth over $85 billion today. We’ve come a long way from the Magnavox Odyssey, the first console ever sold back in 1972. In that time, countless games have been created. One site came up with an estimate of 1,181,019 games but then acknowledges this doesn’t include any old PC…

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As we’ve seen in the past, divorce can be not just an emotional issue, it can be a downright weird one. While case by case, divorce can be the result of strange circumstances, the reasons different places have accepted as grounds for divorce over history have sometimes been remarkably unusual.  10. Thousands of Egyptian Divorces…

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A food health inspector averages around $67,000 per year to help ensure we can enjoy our food safely and securely. From plants where food is processed down through warehousing and storage to the end of the line at stores and restaurants, an inspector has to make sure safety and sanitation guidelines are being met. And…

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In a very rudimentary way, teamwork is the foundation of civilization. People coming together for their mutual benefit is what allowed us to grow beyond simple foragers in the wild and develop cities, economies, agriculture, religion and even language. It’s worked pretty well for us as a species. And sometimes it even works beyond our…

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Self-defense is big business. You could learn boxing, jiu-jitsu, krav maga and dozens of other fighting styles. You can also invest in tools that range from telescoping batons to tasers to high-powered rifles. If you want to defend yourself, the sky’s the limit. Animals, on the other hand, have far less at their disposal. Most…

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YouTube has become the entertainment hub of the modern world. There are 30,000 hours of new video posted to the website every single hour of the day. With all of that content, it’s not hard to imagine you’re getting a mixed bag. Some are really interesting and entertaining stuff. Some are nonsense that isn’t interesting…

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In this day and age, it seems like everyone is getting a side hustle. Making ends meet gets harder every year and a lot of us are looking for part time jobs and gigs that can provide some quick money without a lot of time and effort. They may not be careers, but they can…

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According to quantum physics, everything that is is made up of particles. Matter, light, things seen and unseen. It’s all particles and they control the function of the entire universe. Some are common and well known to most of us, like electrons. Others are a little more unusual, like quarks. But the basic idea of…

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The universe is full of millions of tons of debris of all shapes and sizes. Out in space these are meteoroids. The moment it hits our atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. And if it actually makes it through the atmosphere and hits pay dirt, we call it a meteorite. Literal tons of this stuff hits…

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We spend a lot of time dealing with the history of culture and language, war and art, and for good reason. But one section of history that is often overlooked is food history. The things we eat often have fascinating and unexpected origins. It may not make the food taste any better or worse, but…

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What’s in a name? The question has been asked more than once and more than one person has racked their brain trying to come up with a perfect name for a screenplay, a dog, and even a baby. There’s a Swiss consulting company that’ll charge you upwards of $29,000 to help you name a baby…

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An acronym is what you call a word form from the initial letters of other words. NASA is the acronym we use for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. BOGO means “buy one, get one.” They’re pretty common in everyday life. But less common are backronyms – when you take an already existing word and…

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Playing dead seems like the last ditch effort of someone or something that has given up all hope. When you have no ideas left, just stay very still and hope the world passes you by. It’s not clever and it doesn’t take a lot of skill, but you’d be surprised at how effective it is.…

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These days, most of us don’t consider the intentionality behind the places we live. No one questions why New York is New York and how people come to live there. But there are new communities popping up all the time, intentional communities where like minded people choose to come together with similar goals and beliefs…

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Popularity is a fickle thing. Anything and anyone can become famous for almost any reason. It’s very unpredictable and hard to orchestrate or control. What makes a new kind of cereal popular? Or a particular song? If anyone knew the exact recipe, nothing would ever be unpopular. That said, sometimes things are really not trying…

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One of the most difficult things to deal with in life is realizing you believe something that isn’t true. Having your beliefs challenged and coming up with something that alters your worldview can be either enlightening or devastating. And when you realize something you believe in never existed at all, that can shake you to…

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The world is laden with plastic. It’s estimated that there are about 8.3 billion tons of it out there. The idea that it’s ever going to go away is pretty much a fantasy and even our best efforts to mitigate it can only go so far. The reality is, plastic is probably in far more…

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