Every artist is influenced by somebody else, but usually it’s fairly obvious: new metal bands were inspired by other metal bands, a new mob movie takes cues from Scarface, etc. But sometimes, a muse is so far removed from the artist that the connection makes virtually no sense. But great art doesn’t always make sense; who says art’s inspiration has to?

On paper, Zero Tolerance in schools sounds good. Classroom violence and brutality has gone too far, and by gum we won’t let it stand even one more time! However, in practice it fails far too often, as perfectly innocent accidents and misunderstandings get treated like major crimes, ruining lives for little reason other than “we gotta look tough, dang it.”

Some facts just about everybody knows, even if they’re totally useless. Others, however, are a bit more obscure, but likely more important than whatever pop culture nugget dominates your subconscious. Here are ten facts that should get shared at parties way more often.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, says just about everybody who can’t think of their own damn line. But cliched as it may be, it’s usually true, especially in these ten cases. When nobody has the ability to overrule a psychopath with power, everybody loses. Except the psychopaths, who tend to do OK in such cases.

Some animals are so popular and ubiquitous that it’s just assumed they’ve been part of our lives forever. However, it turns out some of these creatures were in hiding longer than we think, and our knowledge of them is restricted to the past 200 years or less. Who knows what else is out there?

1800 did not look one thing like 1899, thanks to incredible advancements in both technology and society. It’s odd to think about it at first, especially since photos from that century are rare, and voice recordings are even rarer. But amazing things happened over those hundred years, just about every day. Here are ten of the most news-worthy stories of the bunch.

If you didn’t commit the crime you were convicted of, a pardon would truly be a gift from Heaven. Unless, of course, you’re already in Heaven when it happens. Post-mortem pardons are almost always a cases, made even worse once you realize even a freakin’ turkey can get pardoned in a timely manner.

If you had to pick a city to bestow the title Serial Killer capital of America onto, you’d probably nominate Detroit, or maybe Miami. Well, Cleveland, Ohio has something to say about that. Over the years, they’ve racked up a impressive number of mass murderers that might well trump every other city in the nation. And none of them were motivated by LeBron leaving.