The very idea of a dictatorship is objectionable to most people. We recognize this as an affront to our basic humanity. Most of us would argue that humans have a right to freedom and to decide how we want to live our lives. So when a government starts dictating the minutiae of people’s lives, things…
Author: Ian Fortey
McDonald’s used to advertise under the Golden Arches just how many burgers they’d sold. Until the mid-90s, they would update this sign regularly, but they stopped counting around 99 billion. That’s great and all, but do you ever wonder who ate the first McDonald’s burger? We make a big deal out of firsts – first…
With close to 8 billion people in the world and 4.5 billion years of history behind us, it’s never safe to assume many original things are left to see or do. Things are done, then done again, then forgotten and rediscovered all the time. There are a few rare events that are so rare and…
When someone refers to something as the cost of doing business these days, they generally refer to something that sounds out of line or unfair. It’s an indictment of how we view business in general that this has become a turn of phrase that can be used in everyday life. We recognize that business, no…
Forty percent of us will experience some form of memory loss by the time we turn 65. For many people, it’s just something that comes with old age, but there’s more to it than that. Lifestyle choices, medications, chemicals, and more can play havoc with our minds and our ability to create or access memories.…
Have you ever done something that you thought was unique or unusual and wondered if you were the only person in the world doing it right at that moment? With around 8 billion people in the world, it’s doubtful that we are doing something so unique that no one else is doing it, but of…
After Covid-19 hit and we got into the swing of the pandemic, the world economy took us all for a ride. Prices rose dramatically across the board for gas, food, and pretty much everything. And, in many cases, they stayed high even after it made no sense and reports of companies making record profits came…
The word expert carries with it a lot of weight. When you hear that someone is an expert, you expect they have donated much of their life to learning about something specific. They have studied, mastered, and know this thing inside and out, whatever it may be. That’s the idea, anyway. But as it happens,…
It’s not very easy to get through life without a job. Unless you’ve lucked into independent wealth because of family money or tripping over a giant gold nugget at some point, you need to work. The lucky amongst us can get jobs we enjoy that allow us to pay the bills and feel good about…
Everyday people encounter things that can’t be explained. What that statement means can be interpreted in a lot of ways, however. A UFO in the sky is an unexplained phenomenon to most of us. On the other hand, if you’ve never seen a vacuum before, that would be a baffling phenomenon as well. Everything in…
There are over 10,000 hostage situations in America every year. Many of them are resolved peacefully but thousands are not. It’s obviously a serious and potentially deadly issue that can play out in so many unpredictable ways it’s hard for anyone to know how to proceed. While movies and TV shows can make everything look…
Artists can take their inspiration from almost anything. That could include painters, musicians, and actors. They can draw on personal experience, other artistic works that they have found moving, or maybe they just make it all up on the spot and hope for the best. Whatever the case may be, it’s always interesting to learn…
No one wants to get sick with anything whether it be the common cold or some rare genetic condition that most people have never even heard of before. Unfortunately, disease is a part of life that all of us have to deal with at some point in time. We can all hope that whatever we…
For the most part there are not a lot of things a human corpse can do on its own. Aside from being fairly stationary, decomposing, or being used as a hilarious prop in an ’80s movie, there’s not much else going on. But that’s in general, and in some very rare circumstances dead people have…
You can make a convincing argument that the phrase “it’s all in your head” applies to pretty much everything in the world. This is, more or less, a cornerstone of Cartesian philosophy. And while maybe we have advanced beyond that as it relates to reality and our place in it, that’s not to say there…
Colleges and universities will give out honorary degrees to various individuals of note, typically celebrities, politicians, and business people, as a way to establish or maintain a relationship with these people. Sometimes they’re just a matter of gaining a little bit of notoriety or trying to get into the public eye. Most recipients haven’t really…
Science has identified somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million different species on the planet earth. Of all those species, few are as disliked as the rat. While some people really enjoy rats and keep them as pets, and evidence shows they are quite intelligent, most people are not so forgiving. They are considered disease…
There are some actors who have done some amazing things over the years, playing incredible roles, doing their own stunts, or just cranking out a lot of movies over their lifetime. As with anything else in the world, if you can be the only person to have ever done something, that unique status can be…
How good would you say your reflexes are? And how many reflexes do you even have? Strictly speaking, a reflex is an action your body performs in response to some kind of stimulation but without any conscious effort on your part. Most of us will get tested at a doctor when they tap our knee…
It’s been predicted that the global weight loss industry will be worth over $400 billion by the year 2030. With a world population of 8 billion people, that means it’s worth about $50 for every single person out there. It’s safe to say that there’s a lot of money to be made thanks to weight…
If you’ve ever been fired before you know it’s not always the easiest pill to swallow. Most of us would disagree with an employer when it comes to reasons for being fired, though there are of course situations where it’s warranted. If you steal, do your job poorly, leave early and so on, your dismissal…
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,…
Everyone needs a little help now and then. Most of us get through life without anyone knowing about when we need to rely on others or why. If you’ve ever hired a gardener or a masseuse or an entire petting zoo to come entertain you, that’s probably your business. But the higher profile someone gets,…
Fear of spiders is one of the most common fears among humans. Some estimates suggest anywhere between 3% and 15% of the population suffer some form of arachnophobia. Unfortunately for those people there are about 45,000 known species of spider in the world and their density sits at around 570,000 spiders per acre. That would…