The world is full of impenetrable fortresses and marvels of security that are just waiting for you to try and fail to visit them. We’ve told you before about some of the most heavily guarded places on Earth … and now it’s time for a brand new batch. 10. The 1960s Bar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCyvY91U4qg Bars, pubs…
Author: Pauli Poisuo
Heavily guarded buildings are awesome, and what buildings are better guarded than bunkers? These man-made cave complexes are custom designed to keep out everything that’s not invited in, and they’re often equipped with fantastic defenses and luxurious amenities that are a far cry from the brutal underground concrete boxes you probably imagine when you think…
The easiest way to get the citizenship of a country is to be born within its borders. Other than that, attaining one is usually a long and cumbersome process. For example, in order to become a U.S. citizen you must first acquire a permanent resident green card (which is a process and a half in…
When a product malfunctions, its buyer complains. When enough products malfunction and customers complain, the manufacturer may be prompted to issue a recall. Product recalls are rarely good news, but there’s a world of difference between your average “there were 0.2% more bugs in this sausage than FDA regulations allow” recall and the ones we’re…
There are many ways to build a nice house. Some go for pure looks, opting to hire the flashiest architect available. Others go for comfort, and stuff the place full of luxuries and finest modern amenities. And then there are the other structures — the ones designed solely to be as secure as modern technology,…
The military invents a lot of things, and not all of them are new types of guns. They’re all about making things as efficient as possible, and every once in a while they come up with a product so good, it ends up bleeding into civilian life and becomes entwined with our daily lives. As…
Human behavior has fascinated science for a long time, and researchers have conducted many studies to figure out the intricacies of the ways we conduct ourselves. Many of these experiments have been well-organized, moral and informative. However, as we have told you before, a few have been pretty much anything but that. For one reason…
When you can’t avoid a war but your enemy is outnumbering you with ridiculous numbers, it’s time to go guerrilla. Multiple military leaders have employed guerrilla tactics to fight seemingly unwinnable battles, and as a result, there have been many ragtag guerrilla forces engaging their enemies in unconventional ways. Let’s take a look at some…
The world is full of important world leaders, or at least world leaders who think they’re important. Almost any major world leader worth his or her salt knows which car of the giant motorcade to sit in, and has at least some idea about how huge their security detail is. But which famous leader has…
For some people, a house is four walls and a roof. Others see it as a more elaborate structure, with balconies, his-and-her bathrooms and maybe a swimming pool, if the budget allows. And then there are the homeowners who, for one reason or another, want to make their homes so ridiculously impregnable that they stop…
Humanity likes nothing more than building insanely large and complicated structures, except maybe reading about large and complicated structures built by other people. Today, we’re going to do the latter. While the ancient people had some amazing engineering achievements, we’ve all seen an article or six about the pyramids and the Great Wall of China.…
Flying might be statistically safer than driving, but there’s still an inherent level of wrongness about traveling thousands of feet above the ground that makes you long for some extra assurance that your plane will land safely (and, preferably, in one piece). Unfortunately, just like every other trade, the flying business features both good operators…
Weapons of mass destruction come in many shapes and forms, but for the poor souls who stand on their way, they all usually spell the same thing: The end. In their defense strategies against such large-scale facilitators of mayhem, NATO classifies WMDs in four categories: Biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological. Militaries and other uncomfortably interested…
Mao Zedong, who you may also know as Chairman Mao, is one of those rare people whose actions have affected the lives of countless millions. He ushered his own brand of communism in China, and held the massive country in an iron grip for decades. But what was life like under this initially benevolent-seeming leader…
Have you ever had a memory that turns out to be wrong, only to meet someone else who has the exact same false memory? How can that be possible? Did someone change reality when you were not looking, or did you accidentally jump into an alternate universe with small, but noticeable differences? Unfortunately, no (as…
There are many countries with the view that some crimes can only be atoned for with death. Some of them are fond of dealing out death sentences, but don’t actually get around to executing too many people. Others practice what they preach, and rake in terrifying numbers of executions every year. Others still don’t even…
Behavioral experiments are not evil by default. They’re just science doing what science does best: To better understand how we behave, researchers sometimes have to conduct a test or two. However, every once in a while, those tests go so badly wrong that the end result seems more like a horror movie than a well…
There are many terrifying places in the world, but few of the horrors that they contain are as scary as radiation. When a site becomes thoroughly nuclear, you can’t fight it, you can’t outrun it, and you’re pretty hard-pressed to contain it. No matter how well the location is cleaned and taken care of, the…
You might not always like your home country, but at least it is yours. Citizenship to new countries is something that may be hard to acquire, but at least no one can ever take away the one you already have … right? Wrong. People can and absolutely do lose and renounce their citizenships all the…
Few people have held an entire country hostage as brutally and efficiently as Pablo Escobar, the terrifying (and terroristic) drug kingpin who ruled Colombia’s cocaine trade throughout the 1980s and early 1980s. He was a ruthless, yet multifaceted crime lord who is hated by many, and loved by … also surprisingly many, as it turns…
Kim Jong-un’s North Korea continues to be a cruel oddity, as countries go. Although some progress has been made towards turning the People’s Republic into something its people can actually live in, by all accounts it’s still a pretty ruthless place for the average citizen. Here’s a look at some brutal realities of life in…
Diplomats are supposed to be tactful peacemakers. As emissaries of their home country in a foreign nation, they act as dignified officials who preserve the countries’ relationships in the best possible way. This role means that when they’re posted in a country, they have certain legal powers normal people can only dream about. The most…
What’s worse than a criminal? Two criminals, of course. Especially if those two know each other better than anyone else in the world, and can work together at a level most people can only dream about. As you may have guessed, we’re talking about twins who commit crimes together. This may seem like a pretty…
There are many places that are famous for being so secretive and well-protected that you can never visit them. This list is not about them. This is about the really well-guarded places — ones that are so secret that you may not have even heard about them. Let’s take a look at 10 of our…