I mentioned in a comment in 15 Bogeymen from Around the World that a list could easily be made of just Filipino monsters and mythological creatures. Time to put my money where my mouth is (or rather put my fingers where my keyboard is) and submit this list! Here are, ten of the most scary and unusual monsters in Filipino mythology.

The aswang is probably the most common of Filipino monsters since there are so many different kinds. In general, they are shape shifters who are human by day and then at night turn into a dog, a pig, a bat, cat, snake… the type of animal depends on the regional lore. They break into funeral homes and steal recent corpses. They are also known to enter homes to drink human blood and can turn people into aswang by tricking the human to bite them in return. The aswang are especially hungry for human fetus so some of the more superstitious stories include neighborhoods patrols set up in front of the home of a pregnant woman to protect her from wandering stray animals in case they are the aswang in disguise.

The Matruculan is one of many Filipino creatures who attack pregnant women. This particular creature first impregnates a virgin before coming back later to kill the woman and eat the fetus (although some stories say that both mom and baby are eaten). Some stories claim that the woman is not a virgin but rather married and already pregnant. To protect the mother and child, the husband must swing a balisong (pictured above), or butterfly knife, above the woman’s belly while she is in labor. This leads one to wonder: which is scarier, an invisible mythological creature, or the father of your unborn child brandishing a knife above your abdomen?

These are hairy giants with glowing eyes and a cigar that never burns out. They can usually be found sitting atop of trees waiting for nightfall to scare naughty children who are outside of their homes late at night. The Kapre is a unique Filipino monster because he doesn’t steal fetuses, eat people or cut them up. The Kapre simply enjoys scaring children… and I suppose laughing at them for being scared. Some stories claim they are actually very friendly beings who can grant wishes if you find their magical white stone. One can assume a Kapre is nearby when trees sway while there is no breeze or you see faint smoke from high above, probably from the Kapre‘s cigar..

These are tiny human-like creatures that live underground. There are two main types of Duwende: the duwende puti who are supposedly kind creatures who bring about good luck, or the duwende itim who are mean folk that like to play pranks on humans. They generally keep to themselves and only interact with humans when their homes are disturbed. For example, a kindly farmer who takes care of his plot may be rewarded by the duwende puti with a greater abundance of crops than usual. However, someone who kicks an anthill on or near the home of a duwendi itim will be punished with a myriad of ailments from twisted mouth to swollen testicles. The best way to avoid Duwende of any kind is to say “Tabi-tabi po” aloud before entering what might be their space.

The tiyanak is similar to the Greek mythological siren in that it lures its prey with its voice. A person hears a baby cry from deep in the woods and then follows the sound to rescue the baby. Some stories say the person wanders aimlessly in search for the baby and becomes hopelessly lost. Other stories claim that the person eventually finds a baby in the middle of the woods. When it is picked up, the baby then shape-shifts into a monster with large, sharp teeth. It then eats the person and transforms back to a baby to await its next victim. With either version, the story ends with “… and he was never found again.”

Depending on region and storyteller, the sigbin resembles either a hornless goat, a reptilian crow, or something vaguely along the lines of the Chupacabra. What is most common with all accounts is that its head hangs between its forelegs which are much shorter than its hindlegs. Whether because of physiology or because it makes the sigbin seem scarier, it is also known to crabwalk backwards. The sigbin also has a long whip-like tail that emit’s a foul stench and two grasshopper-like legs on its neck that enable it to jump far distances. They wander around at night in search of children to devour but they keep the hearts to make amulets. Most stories and sightings originate from the Cebu region. However, although it is some distance away, in 2005 scientists in Borneo discovered a “cat-fox-like carnivore” with hind legs longer than forelegs giving it an awkward gait and physical appearance that somewhat fits many of the descriptions of the sigbin (e.g. long tail, short forearms, can jump far distances, carnivorous). No conclusive evidence has been found yet to link the two together. [Image Source]

The tikbalang is described as having the head of a horse, the body of a man and the hooves of a horse where human feet would be. In northern regions, the tikbalang is considered a nuisance but generally harmless. They enjoy disorienting weary travelers and making them imagine things that don’t exist. Travelers can easily stop the pranks by turning their own shirt inside out and asking the tikbalang to stop bothering them. The stories of tikbalang from southern regions paint the creature as a much more sinister monster. He has glowing red eyes, a large cigar and smells of the stench of burning hair. When angered (and he angers easily), the tikbalang will stamp you to death. To tame the beast, the person must pluck the one of three unusually long hairs found in its mane. After that, the tikbalang is your slave. Folklore states that when the sun shines through the clouds while it is raining, a pair of Tikbalang are getting married.

In the middle of the night, a knock will sound at the door and outside are three hooded figures, one a pretty, young woman and two elderly men. There are no stories of how the group was formed or where they originated but tales about them have popped up all over the Philippines and with more frequency around the time of outbreaks. Legend has it that a visit from them is an omen that someone in the family will soon die. There are no paintings or hangings that can keep them at bay. Leaving the door unanswered does not help either. They simply knock and leave and then someone would still die shortly thereafter.

The White Lady is a specific kind of Multo, or ghost. Most multo tend to be family members who come back to certain relatives to take care of unfinished business but the White Lady is unique in that she doesn’t appear to only her relatives or even to specific people she knew when alive. Many sightings have reported her in empty buildings, near forests and on cliffs. However, she is most commonly reported seen along Balete Drive in Quezon City. She was a young lady who was raped and killed by two Japanese soldiers during WWII. While there haven’t been stories of the White Lady being a purposefully malicious being, she has been the reported as the cause of more than a few car accidents by drivers who look in their rearview mirror and see a young lady in the backseat wearing a white dress. Sure, some strange, unknown lady sitting in your backseat is bad enough but the White Lady is also said to have no face or a face covered in blood.

The Manananggal is sometimes considered to be a special breed of the aswangs. They are sometimes referred to as “Tik-tik” because of the sound it makes while in flight. To confuse its victims, the tik-tik sound becomes fainter as she nears. These creatures generally take on the form of a beautiful woman with large, leathery bat wings. The lower half of her body takes root to the ground while the upper part detaches as she flies in search of food. The manananggal has a taste for human blood and a particular craving for the hearts of human fetuses which it retrieves with its long, proboscis-like tongue. Like the Western culture’s vampire, the manananggals hate garlic and salt so hanging garlic or placing a bowl of salt near the window is the best way to keep them away. To kill a manananggal, one must find the lower body and spread salt or ashes on the open wound. That prevents the two halves from joining and transforming back to human form when daylight breaks.

The late comedian George Carlin made a good living on his famous “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue. In the monologue, he details seven particular words that one could never use on television (or radio either) regardless of intent or context. Use of any of those seven words would (and will) get you bleeped out. Use of enough of them at one sitting and the FCC (in America) will have you up on fines or worse.

Well, Mr. Carlin’s seven dirty words won’t usually cause an eye blink on the Internet; however, some topics are tacitly taboo regardless of the site one is surfing or the point one is trying to make. The introduction of any of these verboten topics into a comment stream, blog post, or general web discussion will invariably result in the immediate cessation of whatever was being discussed and the explosion of a full fledged flame war. These particular topics are so incendiary because they have little or no perceivable middle ground. One must chose a side and any refusal to chose a side will usually result in taking fire from BOTH sides.

Pretty much all of these topics have been around for years, but none of them show the slightest sign of becoming any less inflammatory. If anything, the rapidity of communication available via the web has polarized these issues even more. They are all grenades and a wise man once said, “when the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.” So, without further ado and with apologies to the late Mr. Carlin, Ten Topics You Cannot Discuss on the Internet (without serious drama following shortly thereafter).

Everyone has an opinion about the Middle East. It may be about the Palestinian State; it may be about oil; it may be about Israel; but that little area of land is blood-soaked for a reason. Trying to talk about the Middle East will almost always end up in a fight because no one has been able to come up with a win-win solution to the area’s problems in a few thousand years. Any solution requires one side or the other to give ground and so far, no one has decided to. This mentality carries over into the supporters of the different positions. Israel is evil. The Palestinians are evil. The Jews are evil. The Arabs are evil. Round and round it goes. Again, no middle ground.

Can’t be discussed rationally. No way, no how. To some it’s a perfectly acceptable lifestyle. To others, it is anathema. It is genetic. It is a choice. It can be “cured”. Once a homosexual, always a homosexual. Nature – or nurture. What’s really upsetting is no middle ground is usually available. If one happens to be a live and let live type of person, he or she is still in some danger of being painted negatively by the other side. One thing that makes this particular topic so explosive is homosexuality is much more mainstream now than it used to be. To some, that is a positive and sought after development. For others, it is a sign that the apocalypse is at hand.

Arguably the most discussed man in all of history. His life traditionally splits the dating system of the Western World into BC and AD. He is also probably the single most divisive person in all history. He was a good man and a great teacher but nothing else. He was God in the flesh. He never existed. Strangely, many people of all stripes who can rationally and calmly discuss the existence of God devolve into name calling and mudslinging once Jesus is brought up. Jesus is another guaranteed firestorm starter.

“Can’t we all just get along?” isn’t really an option. Things are better than in the past in some instances, but in others, not so much. Regardless, trying to talk about it reasonably is nearly impossible. Moderate voices are usually shouted down. Even in the 21st century some people still believe in the superiority of one race over another, despite the fact that, organically, race is a myth. We have ethnicities, yes, but race is an artificial construct based almost solely on the amount of melanin in a person’s skin and the size and layout of the facial bones and musculature. We’ve come a long way, but a long way remains and to discuss it reasonably is difficult. Cries of discrimination start coming in from all sides and before anyone knows it, the “discussion” is in the crapper.

Pro-Choice. Pro-Life. Anti-choice. Baby. Fetus. When does birth begin? I have read more than once that civil debate on abortion is difficult in person and absolutely impossible online. The reasons are plain. It’s a topic that is naturally polarizing. It pits men against women, one religion against another, freedom against bondage, and for some it is literally a matter of life and death. The most divisive facet of the abortion debate, however, is the tendency for both sides to apply black and white thinking to a subject with way too many gray questions to fit into those pigeonholes. The result in “real life” can be crazy mad protests all the way up to clinic bombings. Online isn’t much better as otherwise nice, civil, rational people go from zero to pissed off in less than a second. Too visceral. Avoid at all costs.

This is mostly an issue for Americans and there is a certain amount of politics involved, but even those who live in countries with very strict gun control, or no gun control (and little concern about it) are sure to weigh in on this controversial topic. It is, of course, all the more controversial for Americans because it goes to the very core of the nation – the constitution and the right (or not) to bear arms. We have already had at least one incident of comment war over this topic.

The Holocaust is ALWAYS a fire starter. It never happened. It happened but the numbers are inflated. It happened but why is it so important. The Holocaust is about the Jews. The Holocaust is about all the targeted populations of the Nazis. The Holocaust didn’t get the job done. One reason this topic is so toxic is enough people are around who were eyewitnesses to make a strong case one way, but enough people are around who must rely on second hand information to be subject to influence by deniers. Either way, almost NOTHING elicits the strong feelings that the Holocaust does, and if one makes the mistake of saying one doesn’t care either way, well, god help you.

Of all the topics on this list, politics is the one that seems to have shown the most recent increase in rancor (though not on Listverse – item 6 takes the cake there). In the US we have the Republicans and Democrats, and in many other countries (such as the UK and most of the Commonwealth there is a similar variation of partisan political parties. For the diehard political pundit, his party is his team. It’s his family. It’s a mountain he’s ready to die on. I’ve seen people get physically sick upon learning “their” candidate had lost an election. The saddest part of this polarization is the gridlock it creates in governments. After all, the politicians know about the splits and they’ll pull out all the stops to add to their camp so they can stay in office.

Evolution or Creation? The books that have been written on this subject for either position could probably fill a modest library. Each side has reams of data and boatloads of facts to back up its position and each side roundly thinks the other side’s data and facts are so much excrement. The worst part is, again, no middle ground. If one tries to adopt a position that incorporates both sides, each side will rip him or her to shreds. When the origins of man come up, the gloves come off.

More people have died in the name of God, whatever name that may be, than pretty much all other causes combined. Christian. Muslim. Buddhist. Atheist. Scientologist. No matter the stripe, a surefire way to get EVERYONE mad is to disparage another’s religion or lack thereof. It’s simple, really. Religion or, spirituality if you will, is probably the most intensely personal part of anyone’s being and that includes those who reject religion and spirituality altogether. Also, religion is a family affair. When someone feels his religion is under attack, that attack immediately becomes personal and familial. One push leads to a counter push and the atomic explosion goes off. To make matters worse, some religions have as an integral part a command to proselytize. Also, some people, not from a sense of command, but of desire, will want to proselytize. When that happens, your intensely personal experience collides with another person’s intensely personal experience and the result is a perfect storm of firestorm.

So, there it is. The ten topics you cannot discuss online (without serious drama following shortly thereafter). A word for the wise: it might pay to discuss the reasons behind this inability to discuss certain topics without a war, rather than discussing the merits of the items mentioned specifically. Let’s keep this more civil than the last list that mentioned one of the topics here.

Just as the parties from Christmas begin to dwindle, preparations are started for the celebration of New Year. It is a time when even the least-likely party-goer will ready himself for a night of booze, singing, and food. This list looks at 10 of the most common and interesting traditions of New Year from around the world.

First-footing is an ancient European New Year’s custom that continues into the present in many areas. The first person to enter a home after midnight on the first day of the year should be a male, preferably with dark hair. Blondes may have been associated with Vikings – visitors who never brought good luck. The first-footer should carry a gift, such as a coin for prosperity, bread for food, salt for flavor, or whiskey to represent good cheer. The first-footer can be a resident of the house, but must not be inside during the hour leading up to midnight. No fair stepping outside and coming back in again!

There is an Irish tradition of predicting the political future of the country by checking which way the wind blows at midnight on New Year’s Eve. If the wind is from the west, there is a chance that good fortune will reign that year. If the wind is from the east, however, the British will prevail. Mistletoe was handed out to ward off bad luck, and single women put a sprig of mistletoe under their pillows in hopes of catching a dream about their future husbands. Another tradition peculiar to Ireland is pounding on the doors and windows of the house with bread. This practice was to chase out evil spirits and ensure bread for the upcoming year.

Madeira, a Portugese island, holds a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the most lavish New Year’s party. In 2007, 8,000 fireworks per minute made up the display in Funchal, the capital city, for a total of 600,000 fireworks. Visitors from around the world fill the tiny harbor, where the dazzle is reflected. In 2009, the government is spending 12,000,000 Euros to ensure the most spectacular celebration anywhere in the world. Other famous fireworks displays take place in Rio de Janeiro, Sydney harbor, and, of course, New York City, were visitors watch the descent of the giant six-foot crystal ball marking the last moments of the old year.

New Year’s is the oldest holiday still being celebrated. The Babylonians celebrated the new year as early as 4000 B.C. At that time, the new year began on the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox. The celebration continued for eleven days, with each day having a different purpose and activity. Then, as now, resolutions were made. A common Babylonian resolution is to return borrowed farm equipment. At this time each year, the king was stripped of all power to undergo a ritual of humiliation, in which he was hit by the priest and separated from everyone for three days to pray. When he reappeared, ceremonies of restoration were performed to ensure that nature would support him during the coming year.

Austria has one of the most glamorous of New Year’s celebrations. At the Imperial Ball, a tradition of the Hapsburg dynasty that has continued for hundreds of years, dancers wear white gowns and black jackets. At midnight, “The Blue Danube,”is played. The Strauss operetta, “Die Fledermaus, is performed each New Year’s Day. Celebrants dine on suckling pig – considered good luck. The tables are often decorated with candy pigs. Children pour molten lead into a tub of water. A soothsayer then reads the shape of the lead. It is considered bad luck to find that your lead resembles an old woman.

By the Chinese calendar, the year 2009 is actually 4706, a year of the ox. Chinese New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice. In 2010, it will fall on February 14. Firecrackers and noisemakers will chase away evil spirits. The fabulous dragon and lion will dance in the streets. People will wear red, the most auspicious of colors, and red envelopes with lucky money will be given to children. Tangerines are often given for good luck, but odd numbers are unlucky, so the tangerines are given in pairs. The third day of the new year is the day the mice marry off their daughters, so people go to bed early, so they don’t disturb the mice.

It is traditional in Japan to spend a full week preparing for the new year to arrive. The house must be thoroughly cleaned, so that no evil spirits can linger. All debts must be paid. And most importantly, all disagreements must be resolved and forgiven. Before midnight, 108 bells ring, to symbolize the elimination of 108 troubles. With no troubles, disagreements, debts, or disorder to contend with, all are free to welcome in the new year with every expectation of peace and prosperity. The day after New Year’s is First Writing Day, when people write their hopes and dreams for the new year.

For African Americans, New Year’s Day has a special significance, and is often called Emancipation Day or Jubilee Day. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves from bondage, was read in Boston. Today, many African-American families hold “watch services” on January 1. Traditional foods include black-eyed peas, collard greens, ham hocks, and macaroni and cheese. The uniquely African-American celebration, Kwanzaa, continues over seven days starting December 26, so the New Year’s celebration is often part of Kwanzaa’s way of reconnecting people with their African roots. Kwanzaa began in the United States in the 1960s, and is not celebrated in Africa.

“Auld Lang Syne” has been called the most familiar song to which nobody knows the words. But this year, you will! Written by Robert Burns and first published after his death in 1796, the song became an instant standard in 1929 when Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played it on New Year’s Eve, broadcasting from the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The title literally means, “Old Long Time.” Roughly translated, here are the words:

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne.
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for days of auld lang syne.

We two have run around the hills
And pulled the daisies fine.
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot
Since the days of auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream
From morn till the sun was down.
But seas between us two have roared
Since days of auld lang syne.

So here’s a hand my trusty friend.
Give us a hand of thine.
We’ll take a good-will drink again
For auld lang syne.

Using a baby to symbolize the new year has been controversial from the beginning. Many cities watch for the first baby of the new year, to shower him or her with gifts from local merchants and lots of media attention. But parading a living baby through the streets brought disapproval from Greek mothers as early as 600 B.C. Egyptians also used a live human baby to symbolize the birth of a new year. Early Christians disapproved of the practice, but its popularity eventually overcame all objections, and the symbol remains one of the most popular. Today’s baby is traditionally a diapered boy with a sash labeled with the number of the upcoming year he represents.

Man is a fortunate species. The marvelous (and still largely mysterious) complexity of the human brain has gifted him with speech, language, and the power of creative, abstract thought. Over thousands of years our intelligence has given us tools and technology, art and science, society and civilization. We now possess a treasure house of intellectual achievements in which all of us can take a pride. I present here ten works of superlative genius, in no particular order.

There are those who believe the Immortal Bard did not write the 39 plays which bear his name, citing lack of education and unfamiliarity with the source material. However, the evidence for this is scant, and the world generally acknowledges Shakespeare to be the greatest playwright who ever lived. More than mere stories, Shakespeare’s greatest plays analyse life and death, love and hate, revenge and forgiveness, good and evil. Centuries before Freud and Jung, Shakespeare picked apart human psychology, presenting it as comedy, tragedy, and historical drama, expressed in language of sublime power and poetry. If the list were longer we would also have to consider that Miguel de Cervantes would be equal in position 10 for his contribution to literature.

Along with William Shakespeare, John Milton stands as one of the twin giants of English literature. However, his reputation rests almost entirely on his most famous work, one which has spawned a branch of academic study all to itself, the great epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’. Drawing on his vast and intimate knowledge of language, the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, and literature from the Ancient world, Milton created one of the most enduring poems in English. Based on the Book of Genesis, ‘Paradise Lost’ concerns itself with Lucifer’s rebellion and subsequent expulsion from heaven, the creation of the world, and the Fall of Man. Lofty, noble, darkly majestic in tone, ‘Paradise Lost’ takes the reader on an awe-inspiring journey through heaven, hell, and the newly-created earth with its Garden of Eden, the paradise Adam and Eve lost. Though written in English, the grammatical structure is based on that of Latin (the reason some people find it a difficult read). However, once the reader has grown accustomed to the style they are rewarded with a unique literary vision. What makes Milton’s achievement even more remarkable is that he was totally blind, composing the entire work in his head (over 10,000 lines) between 1658 – 1664, and dictating it to his daughters.

Aristotle was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He was a scientist beyond compare, doing more than all before him to synthesize all the scattered truths of the earlier philosophers. He devised the four causes (formal, material, efficient, and final) – two of which are still essential in the modern scientific method, formulated the notions of act and potency, and was the first to systematize the acts of the intellect and deduce the rules for proper thinking and reasoning. His influence spread not just to Christendom through St Thomas Aquinas, but the Islamic lands through Averroes.

The second oldest item on this list (written 300 years before the birth of Christ), Euclid’s ‘Elements’ was the first rigorous account of geometry (drawing on earlier, less rigorous works). Starting with a mere ten axioms (statements which cannot be reduced to simpler ones), Euclid defines points, lines, two- and three-dimensional spaces, and the mathematical objects which inhabit them. The lucidity of Euclid’s style and the tight logic of his proofs meant that ‘Elements’ remained one of the standard texts on geometry right up to the nineteenth century, until more rigorous definitions of geometry emerged, along with the discovery of non-Euclidean geometries. Over two-thousand years after being written, such diverse people as Abraham Lincoln, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Albert Einstein drew inspiration from Euclid’s mathematical masterpiece.

Differential and integral calculus were developed separately by two men who could not have been more different: Isaac Newton was secretive, obsessive, and generally shunned company; personal grooming and even eating took second place to his work. Gottfried Leibniz was charming, well-dressed, had a wide circle of friends, and was the toast of German intellectual circles. Trouble between Newton and Leibniz began over the matter of who discovered calculus first. In 1675 Leibniz used integral calculus for the first time, but did not publish his results until 1684. Newton had already worked out both differential and integral methods in 1666 (which he had employed in his work on gravitation), but did not publish until 1693. Leibniz’s publication and the urging of colleagues prompted Newton to hastily publish his own results. Initially they were more or less cordial on the subject of their mutual discovery, but quickly became enemies, a situation made worse by the interference of supporters. Today both men are credited with the discovery of something without which advanced engineering and physics would be impossible, the messy details of their dispute being left for the historians to mull over.

Though he had to share the development of calculus with Leibniz, Newton can claim the theory of gravity for himself, and it is in the ‘Principia’ (published in 1687) that Newton presents the law of universal gravitation. Using classical geometry and the method of ‘fluxions’ and ‘fluents’ (what we today call differential and integral calculus), Newton could account not just for the fall of an apple, but ballistic trajectories, the orbits of moons and planets, and the motions of stars. With ‘Principia’, physics took a mighty leap forward. As the poet Alexander Pope put it ‘Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said “Let Newton be” and all was light.’

Whereas relativity theory (entry 2) was the product of a single mind, the contributors to quantum mechanics read like a physics hall of fame: Rutherford, Bohr, Planck, Schroedinger, Pauli, Heisenberg, Dirac, Feynman, Gell-Mann, to name a few (Einstein also made important early contributions, but grew to dislike quantum mechanic’s bizarre, counter-intuitive nature). Also, it took several decades and many arguments to bring quantum mechanics to fruition. The frontiers of quantum mechanics are still expanding as ever-deeper levels of matter are probed by powerful particle accelerators and powerful minds alike.

Probably the most controversial entry on this list, evolution inspires more heated debate and animosity between its adherents and detractors than any other scientific theory, but let’s get a couple of points out of the way. Darwin never stated that humans evolved from apes; they both have a common ancestor. Also, ‘On the Origin of Species’ (published in 1859) only mentions human evolution in passing, for two reasons: Darwin was wary of the response (‘Vestiges of Creation’ in 1844 had met with controversy), and there wasn’t enough evidence available at the time to make a detailed analysis of human evolution. That said, Darwin’s book brought about a classic paradigm shift; never again could man look at the natural world around him the same way (or himself, for that matter). As for Darwin, over the years his religious beliefs had eroded. By 1859, Darwin considered all religions equally valid, and was critical of the Biblical account of creation. The death of his daughter Anne in 1851 at age 10 had also contributed to his loss of faith, and he stopped attending church entirely (though he never quite became a total atheist). Doing for biology what Einstein would later do for physics, Charles Darwin gained both immortality and notoriety.

Like Newton before him, Albert Einstein was an outsider. Often bemused and frequently saddened by the human world, he considered the secrets of nature the deepest problems anyone could face. Mostly unconcerned with worldly affairs, Einstein’s genius took science to unparalleled heights. Any one of the three papers he produced in his ‘miracle year’ of 1905 would have won him the Nobel Prize; it turned out to be his work on the photoelectric effect which did so, but it was special relativity (and in 1915 general relativity) which would seal his reputation as the greatest physicist since Newton, and one of the greatest thinkers in history. In order to redefine the nature of matter, gravity, mass, and energy, Einstein had to draw together mathematical subjects such as differential geometry, tensor analysis, and electromagnetic theory (tales of Einstein’s poor skills in mathematics are entirely myth). Once when asked by a reporter where his laboratory was, Einstein simply replied “here”, and held up his fountain pen.

Richard Wagner was a man of fearsome genius, dubious character, revolutionary fervor, blustering nationalism, and racist vitriol. Though his output was small in numerical terms, his artistic influence has been seismic, to put it mildly. Without Wagner opera and its close cousin cinema would not have developed into the forms we recognize today. Innumerable composers, writers, and artists have been influenced by Wagner, especially his masterpiece, the gigantic Ring Cycle, a tetralogy of operas comprising a single story. Drawing on medieval Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic mythology, Wagner laboriously brought the Ring Cycle into existence over a 25-year period, much of that time spent criss-crossing Europe conducting, proselytizing about his work and artistic theories, running from creditors, involved in various intrigues and scandals, and composing other operas. By 1876 the entire Ring Cycle was ready for its world premiere (though ‘Das Rheingold’ and ‘Die Walkure’ had already been performed for King Ludwig II of Bavaria, to Wagner’s fury). Wagner had erected his own theatre in Bayreuth, mostly paid for by King Ludwig II. In August 1876 the crown heads of Europe and several other nations beyond (including Pedro II, emperor of Brazil), composers, and intellectuals attended the premiere. A total of fifteen hours of music of colossal grandeur and unequalled technical complexity washed over the audience during the four-day performance. To this day staging the entire Ring Cycle remains the ultimate operatic challenge, demanding the highest standards from singers, orchestras, conductors, designers, and producers. Above is probably the most well known piece of music from the Ring Cycle.

What is urban exploration, you ask? Urban exploration is the act of delving into the darker side of one’s local history, the unknown tidbits that have been obscured by fear, rumors, and time. As civilization encroaches upon nature, there is less and less to explore. Or so we assume.

As society creeps further and further into the dark corners of the woods, the untouchable expanses of desert, and uninhabitable heights of the mountains and the freezing wastelands north and south of us, society also leaves something behind. As we see trees being cut down to make way for a housing development, we also see entire city blocks abandoned, left to the vagrants and the rats. As we see freeways and bypasses carving straight lines from A to B, we leave behind those dark, winding roads, only to be traversed by the inhabitants, the explorers, and lost.

I have spent many nights with my high-beams on, rounding curves and corners only to find things I could never have expected. When you blow off the thin layer of dust, even the dullest towns have dark, twisted tales to tell. But, just as any machete-swinging Livingston wannabe needs to be prepared, so do you. Finding yourself stranded down a forgotten, uninhabited back road can be as frightening as spending the night in a jungle. You may not have to worry about jaguars, but let’s be honest: Where do you think the serial killers dump the bodies?

For those who wish to explore, I have compiled these 10 tips, to make sure you don’t end up in the river with moths in your throat (or in jail for the night. Mom ain’t gonna bail you out forever). And also: Urban exploration and paranormal investigating are not the same thing. However, they often go hand-in-hand. But paranormal investigation is done with the intention of discovering or debunking ghosts, urban exploration is done with the attempt to uncover unknown, and usually unsavory history.

Stop at a gas station, first and foremost. However much gas you have, it isn’t enough. A full tank should do it, just to be on the safe side. Unless you have been to the area before and know exactly how much you will need, assume the worst will happen. Would you rather make it back home with 3/4 of a tank, or sputter to stop in front of the abandoned farmhouse with no streetlights or neighbors nearby?

Make a drive-thru run to your favorite fast food restaurant. Having something to eat will do wonders. Not only will it make you more relaxed and content, but vanishing your hunger will take care of a major distraction. When you are sitting in your car thinking Dang, I could really go for a cheeseburger, it is very easy to miss that side road to your destination. And that is a great way to take the exit ramp to the straight shot to nowhere.

The vast majority of urban exploration takes place after dark, when we are off work and free to roam in search of history’s lost enigmas. Let’s pretend you ignored 9 and 10. You didn’t fill up, but that is ok because- Damn, you are hungry, you could really use a cheeseburger- you know exactly where you’re going. Cut to an hour later, and you haven’t seen hide nor hair of Turnhere Rd. Oh well, why don’t you just turn around? Hmm, the car seems to be sighing at the tardiness of this suggestion. Wait a minute… it wasn’t sighing, it sputtered and died. But, you brought a flashlight with extra batteries so you aren’t completely screwed. At least you will SEE the serial killer.

This person will be your navigator. You will most likely be driving down windy lanes or derelict neighborhoods, and need to concentrate on where you are going and what is on the road ahead. You never know when a deer or hobo is going to sprint in front of your car. Plus, the extra set of eyes can keep an eye out for turns and hazards, and if one of you gets sleepy, the other can take over driving. Teamwork is awesome.

But isn’t the point of urban exploration to go where you haven’t been before and discover new things? Yes. BUT, a good sense of direction is key. I am very familiar with my county and those surrounding it. If I got lost, I would be able to very easily find a road or town from which I can find my way home. But if I were to drive to another state, I wouldn’t be able to navigate my way to something familiar, as there is nothing familiar. Situations like these are the worst. It is one thing when you can’t find your destination, a whole other thing when you can’t even give up and go home.

Not exactly easy, but it would be wise to steer clear of private property and condemned buildings. Getting carted off to jail would be a major damper on the night. Also, condemned buildings are condemned for a reason. That hole in second story’s floor isn’t an invisible floor for viewing what lies below, it’s a frigging hole. And if you fall through it, going to the hospital followed by jail would be a much bigger damper on the night. Alas, many of the most interesting places are off limits. If not going simply isn’t an option, try to get the owner’s permission. If you must sneak in, go knowing that you do so at your own risk. I personally avoid trespassing, and do not condone it in anyway.

Or at least have a good sense of direction. Maps are good too, but may be outdated and won’t list a lot of smaller or unmarked back roads. A GPS navigation system is a useful product to have, and will alleviate much of your stress for item 3.

Hopefully when you set out, you are very confident in your ability to get to where you want to go. Confidence is good. But, don’t stake all your claims in confidence. Prepare to get lost. This brings us full circle back to item 10. More than enough gas leaves room for error. Eat beforehand, it may be awhile before that opportunity arises again. Look at road names and addresses as you go. Maybe later, you will recognize a road and remember where it leads. Country roads are windy, and will curve in ridiculous ways. When you are lost, you may recognize the road name you saw on the county highway, and can follow it back. Road signs are your bread crumbs. And in city neighborhoods, pay attention to one-way streets and ‘no outlet signs’. This will prevent hassle when trying to navigate the tight corridors, and will make it easier to give that nosy cop the slip.

Many things can go wrong, but at least you can call for help if you need to. Not if your phone dies, sucker. Keep it on the charger long enough to charge it to full battery. Use it sparingly during the trip. Not only is talking and texting while driving dangerous (doubled by it being night time and by being on unfamiliar turf), but this will wear down the battery. You can sacrifice a couple lol’s for that 911 call later.

And keep them on your person, in a tight or deep pocket that they won’t fall out of. The feeling of you stomach dropping out your backside when you realize that you locked your keys in your car is almost as bad as locking your keys in your car. Or if you trip or run, and one set gets lost, you have the other. Come back tomorrow in the daylight, when you actually have a shot at finding them. And remember: On a dark, lonely night, when you are stranded and waiting on help from forever away, the only thing worse than having to wait in your car alone is having to wait outside your car alone.

Document your findings, maybe you have really found something! Urban exploration can be a very fun experience, and documenting the night’s events keep the memories alive for a long time. Then maybe your kids can pile into a car and take off to find their own mysteries.

Although it has nothing to do with the list, I consider this fact very interesting: Leonardo da Vinci invented the sniper firearm. It was not a rifle, as its barrel was smoothbore, but he greatly improved its accuracy by bolting one of his refracting telescopes onto it, aligning it precisely, and used it, in the company of his employer, the Duke of Milan, to shoot enemy soldiers off castle walls from 1,000 yards. He claims the equivalent of 1,000 yards in his notes, but I doubt the distance was this great. He provides no explanation as to why this weapon never became popular. So now, after that moment of randomness, here is the list:

President Washington never owned a set of wooden teeth. He did however own a set of hippopotamus ivory teeth, a set of horse teeth, donkey teeth, and human teeth (from various sources), a set of 18kt gold teeth (he tried 24kt but they were too malleable), and a set of lead teeth, which were not particularly good for him. These four sets of dentures (the human and animal teeth were mixed) are in the National Museum of Dentistry. No other dentures of Washington have been discovered.

Amazingly, many Christians believe that Satan is sitting on a throne in Hell, laughing at all the agony of the poor damned souls, while his imps and demons run around with pitchforks. None of this is Biblical. Satan is quite frequently described as living on Earth, and doing what he does best, corrupting mankind.

The tradition of a ruler in Hell comes from the Greek god Hades, at least, and perhaps even earlier with the Egyptians. Hades sits on the throne of the Underworld, just as Zeus, his brother, sits on the throne of Olympus.

The Biblical description of Hell is clearly anarchic. No one is in charge. Everyone is screaming and writhing, etc., in a lake of fire. Satan has never been there, and will not go until the end when he loses his fight against God.

The Christian tradition of Satan ruling Hell comes largely from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n,” Satan says, in Book I.

There is a very common myth about psychology in which people believe they will alleviate their anger by “letting it out”. This is such a popular concept that many therapies have grown up around it – things like punchbags, squeeze balls, etc. In fact, the opposite is found to be true. When a person expresses their anger regularly, it becomes habit forming. While there may appear to be a temporary relief from the anger when you smash a plate against the wall, ultimately your fits of anger will become an addiction and you will begin to seek out more reasons to become angry – in order to achieve that nice feeling. So ultimate, the best thing to do: bottle it up!

Don Knotts, who played the lovable Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show, is said to have been a Marine Corps drill instructor during WWI, on Parris Island, SC, of the savage caliber of R. Lee Ermey. Not true. Knotts enlisted in the Army, not the marines, and served as a traveling comedian, entertaining troops overseas, during WWII, but never trained anyone, and never fired a rifle at anyone.

Caffeine will do a lot of negative things to you, but it will not stunt your growth. It has nothing to do with growth. Experiments have shown that children who consume caffeine do not grow any slower or less than children who are not allowed caffeine, over a period of years.

The myth was probably dreamed up by some clever parent who didn’t want his or her child drinking so much Pepsi.

Absinthe was never any more poisonous than whiskey. The myth goes back at least to the 1800s, and claims that it causes hallucinations, as potently as LSD, and fries the brain. Not true. Absinthe is manufactured from Artemisia absinthium, a plant which has no poisons in it. It is very bitter, like the Greek Ouzo, and the distillation process routinely results in absinthe proofs of 100 to 180 (50% to 90% alcohol by volume). This is significantly stronger than the average whiskey, but will not affect the drinker in any way other than drunkenness.

The truth, though, is that during the Moulin Rouge days of Toulouse-Lautrec and van Gogh, starving artists liked getting drunk, and couldn’t afford the good stuff. So they bought absinthe from cheap street vendors, who did not care to sell uncontaminated products. Cyanide and strychnine were found in this absinthe, and caused hallucinations.

Today, it is legal in the U. S., and perfectly safe to drink if bought commercially.

Opening windows will not spare your house, or any other building, from a tornado’s destructive power. The strongest on record measured 318 mph, which is more than sufficient to blast any building into pieces, except steel-reinforced concrete, and even then, the building must be short, or the wind will blow it over.

Do not hide under overpasses. The confined eaves in these places only increase the force of the wind, which has been reported as strong enough to drag F-250 pickup trucks out from under overpasses and throw them through barns 1000 yards away.

Tornadoes can, in fact, form in winter, and cause just as severe damage as during any other season. They have been seen traveling over snowfield, almost utterly white, and slamming into residential areas.

They can storm through large cities without any problem, as opposed to the belief that they will never damage Oklahoma City. Fort Worth suffered one in 2000, which killed 2 people, and destroyed 8 skyscrapers. 17 others were severely damaged. 60+, in all, had their windows blown out.

The myth has gone on for years now that Shakespeare invented about 1,700 words still common in English. Not true. He Anglicized many Latin and Greek words, among other languages, thus coining new English words. But to be invented, a word must have no etymology before a single person imagines it.

He is said to have invented “assassination,” but what he did was derive it from the Medieval Latin “assassinare,” which means “to kill an important person.”

All of the words he is reputed to have invented can be explained this way. He did, however, devise first name uses for quite a few words, including Viola, Jessica, and Adrian. The first is Latin, the second Hebrew, the third Greek.

Sidenote: Sir Isaac Newton Anglicized “gravitas,” which is Latin for “weight,” into “gravity.” As he was the first to discover the mechanism and its properties, how they work, he had to come up with a word for it. No one else had ever called gravity anything.

Debaters on both sides are grossly misinformed. Darwin never states in his book On the Origin of Species that humans evolved from apes. He states, quite differently, that apes and humans both evolved from a common ancestor. This seems somewhat less offensive to fundamentalists, and if both sides were to consider it, it might smooth the relationship between fundamentalists and science.

This story of how the kangaroo got its name is unfortunately not true. It states that Captain James Cook first landed on Australia, near modern day Sydney, and met the Gweagal tribe of Aborigines on the beach. At this moment, a kangaroo hopped out of the forest with its joey in its pouch and the Europeans, having never seen such a strange animal, asked the Aborigines, “What in the world is that?!”

The Aborigines turned to each other, then shrugged, and one of them said, “Kangaroo!” which is Gweagal for, “I don’t understand what you’re saying!”

Well, the truth is much more banal. “Kangaroo” is derived from the Guugu Yimidhirr (another Aborigine tribe) word “gangurru,” which means…”kangaroo.”

We all love a good ghost story, right? What could be better than sitting around a fire, flashlight aimed upward, casting creepy shadows across your face and illuminating all those boogers that nobody has the heart to tell you about? What is more exhilarating than piling into a much-too-small car with a few larger-than-desirable friends and driving to that bridge that your parents told you about? You know, the one where your usually uptight dad spent many an uncharacteristically-adventurous night. What is better than constantly ragging on the little wuss in the back seat who is channeling the “guys-turn-around-we’re-gonna-arrested” spirit, even though he is clearly afraid of what everybody else is desperately hoping will happen? What is better than getting pulled over by the cop whose night was just a little too long, who is currently writing you a ticket for having too many people in the car, half of whom didn’t buckle their seat belts? Inhale deeply and say it with me: “Awww, memories!

But for every original, spooky ghost story you hear, there are 10 more that you hear that sound pretty identical. Like, “we-have-a-story-like-that-in-our-town-except…” kind of identical. Every story has it’s kernel of truth, but sometimes it feels like that kernel was genetically cloned from a kernel in another state, creating clone-corn ghost stories. Here are 10 of the most common elements in the world of ghost stories.

That headless railroad employee that roams the tunnels looking for his lost head is simply not allowed to go by his name in life. After his demise, his spirit must adopt a nickname, one that will scare the bejeezus out of the teenagers looking for him. I mean, nobody likes a boring ghost, am I right? Allen must now go to court to have his name legally changed. Allen has got to go. Besides, you look more like a Headless Hank, or Decapitated Dale, anyway.

Most of those idiot skeptics out there will argue that the whole weather issue only exists so that believers and legend-mongers will have a scapegoat when you show up, and the ghost doesn’t. Silly skeptics, logic is for kids! No, it is clear that ghosts prefer certain weather. I mean, might as well make a show of it, right? Or, some ghosts manifest easier early in the foggy morning, or during a full moon with plenty of shadows, or a NEW moon with no light at all. Trust your peripheral vision, that ambiguous shadow or odd shape in the fog that you barely caught out of the corner of your eye is the ghost coming out to enjoy the weather!

After talking to Satan, Joe Axe-Murderer took off in his 20-year-old pickup truck, found a school bus full of homeless orphans, and hacked them all into tiny pieces. They were all so petrified, that none of the 30-odd children thought to take off and call for help. They all just watched Joe hack up their brethren, and waited their turn. Such a tragic incident would leave an imprint on the fabric of reality, right? Of course! So when you are driving down the road, try to keep and ear open for the screams of the victims or the ghost of a raggedy old man leering at you from the bushes.

Linda X was a depressed gal, living in the 18th century when apparently young girls killing themselves were more tragic (don’t ask how, I don’t know), when she was walking down the road. She had a length of rope, and was making towards the town’s covered bridge. Conveniently, nobody noticed her leaving her home or walking towards the bridge, rope in hand. Up went the rope, down went Linda, and now you can see it all with the residual-haunting flashback! All you need is a covered bridge and complete emotional disregard for some ancient girl’s self-inflicted demise.

Back off this one, skeptics, because it is legit. Some spirits are busy, and can only perform at certain times. You can buy tickets, because an event like this is guaranteed to attract more curious teenagers than I’ve got run-on sentences in my introduction. And if you don’t see it, that is because the ghost got scared off by such a big audience, not because it doesn’t exist.

The ideal wedding night doesn’t involve dying, usually. But, if you want to become a ghost/local legend, this is your best shot. And sorry fellas, this only goes for the brides. A woman in a white dress is far creepier than a dude in a tux. And women dying on their wedding night are more tragic than men, because women actually want it. And most men would tell you, that they die in a much less literal sense on their wedding day anyway. You don’t see us weeping by the road for teenagers to gawk at. It is worth pointing out that regardless of your marital status or the date pertaining to Labor Day, female ghosts ALL wear the same dress to prom.

Children have to touch EVERYTHING, even after they’ve died. You put a little powder on your car, visit the burned-down orphanage, and when you’re back from snapping pictures, the little turds have gotten their stinking handprints all over your car! It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s like these little touchy-feely kids have never seen a car before, and apparently the texture is simply amazing after you’ve bit the dust. Kids have no consideration sometimes.

I have my suspicions that this one was thought up by a really slow, down-on-his-luck serial killer who couldn’t run up and knife people before they took off, tires screeching. BUT, I could be wrong. Maybe it is just so hard to make ghostly whispers over the sound of a car engine. Maybe it is annoying to have to be blinded by the headlights. Maybe you have a lot to say, but you know as soon as you start trying to talk to them, they’ll peel out. So, you reserve your ghostly efforts until they turn off their car. Or, you are just a tricky rat bastard who is preparing the victims for item 2:

Ok, so first, the ghosts refuse to show up unless you turn off your car. Then, they won’t even let you leave. Ghosts can be pricks, sometimes. They won’t pose for a picture, but they’ll fuck with your engine something awful. ANd didn’t the vast majority of ghosts die in the 1700’s or 1800’s? How the hell do they know how to dismantle a car? Doesn’t matter, I guess. They just wait until you are seconds away from having an aneurism, and then BAM! Your car is working again.

Who knows why these dead people constantly need rides, but they don’t thank you or anything. You see them with their thumb out, and you’re like, “Hey, looks like that girl in the white dress with her mascara running could use a ride!” She won’t talk to you the entire time, except to tell you where to go, and for some reason, this won’t freak you out. The bitch will just stare straight ahead, won’t strike up a conversation, won’t say thanks, won’t offer to pay gas, nothing. Then, when you are almost there, she just bales on you. You look over, and *poof* she’s gone. You somehow convince yourself that she had to gone jumped out, or that you were just hallucinating. But there isn’t a body splattered on the pavement, and you haven’t dropped acid since that concert 20 years ago…. Something smells fishy. So you go to her house, tell her parents you were giving her a ride, and they tell you she’s been dead for 6 years! Geesh, would’ve been nice for her to tell you that!

Halloween is now over for another year and people have had sufficient time to scour through their bags of candy. Here is a list of the worst Halloween Treats that I remember from my childhood. There may be worse additions present day, in fact, I’d be surprised if there weren’t as companies seem to be pulling out all the stops to top their competition year after year with strange flavor combinations, color concoctions, etc. But, going back to my era of trick or treating, the mid 70s – mid 80s, these were the worst of the worst to discover in your trick or treat bag. I welcome feedback from everyone as to your worst Halloween Trick or Treat memories, and hope everyone got great treats this year!

Okay, there are some people who like black licorice, but for many others, and for many kids who haven’t grown into the taste yet, it is nasty as hell. Not to mention that Good n’ Plenty’s are a tease – colorful pink and white candy shells, anise-flavored hell underneath. Licorice Allsorts also fall into this category. And I won’t even mention how easy it would be to slip a few quaaludes into the mix!

They looked scrumptious and were usually given to you by the sweet little old lady who lived down the lane. But, if you were born after 1970, you weren’t allowed to eat them, and your folks just threw them out, for fear that those gooey rice krispie squares, homemade fudge, candy or caramel apples, etc., were filled with razor blades and poison.

The bastard stepchild of the Hershey Miniatures pack. Now whether or not you like nuts and chocolate combined, these yellow goofballs just never quite worked. They always tasted like two separate taste treats thrown together, unlike better chocolate/peanut combinations– Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, Snickers, etc. I always came away wishing I had gotten the Krackle, the regular Hershey Chocolate, or even the Hershey Dark.

Now you might think this falls under the same category as razor blades & poison, but I’m not even gonna go there. Apples as a treat stink! As a kid, I probably ate an apple every day in my lunch. It’s Halloween, gimme some candy!

OK, at first money seems pretty cool, even if you figured you could pool it and buy candy from the candy counter at your local corner store. But, you never got more than a couple of stray nickels, or even pennies from the really cheap people! Never enough to do real candy damage – usually just enough to get a few watermelon jolly ranchers. And on that note…

They stuck your teeth together until you thought you would have to go to the dentist to pry them apart! Much too much work for way too little a candy thrill. And, the grape ones just tasted strange. Not quite cough medicine, not quite candy – just weird.

I don’t even know where to start. These were like eating pastel colored dust formed into little round discs. Not nearly sweet enough, and flavorless, these cheap, powder pellets were weak at best, tasteless at worst, and just cluttered the bottom of the treat bag. Although they were fun if you were Catholic and played “Communion” with them.

A tootsie pop or equivalent could be a somewhat plausible treat – at least you’re working toward getting either a tootsie roll or bubble gum on the inside after all your efforts, but these crappy little teeny lollipops were just the worst. They tasted like old shoes.

It was just off-putting, getting jellybeans (Easter), hard ribbon candies (Christmas), or other strange candies that just didn’t fit with Halloween. And of course you wondered, “How long have they been saving these to hand out?!!!”

What exactly were these? Toffee? Peanut chews?? Sawdust?? To the best of my recollection, they were some kind of molasses concoction, but for anyone born after the days of Little House on the Prairie, where the big treat was taking hot molasses out and throwing it down in the snow to cool it in order to make candy, these were a huge disappointment.

Did anyone’s parents actually let them use these? OK, my folks weren’t fast food nazis, but even if the intention to let me use them was there, no one ever remembered to do so, and they were found months later, after they expired.

Notable Mentions: Circus Peanuts, Generic Peanut Chews, Candy Corn (hard for me to list here because I always loved it, but so many people hate it, I had to include it), Candy necklaces/Candy dots on paper (which were made by the Necco company!)

The Nobel prize for peace. It is a controversial award having been granted to many who seemingly don’t deserve it, and not granted to those who do. This list looks at ten people who were robbed of the prize.

Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic who died in 2008. From 1939 to 1945, she personally saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. She forged identification papers, passports, sheltered them in children’s homes throughout Warsaw.

The Gestapo caught her in 1943 and severely tortured her for the location of the Jews she had extricated from the Ghetto. She refused to give them up. She was sentenced to death and saved by a bribe to the Nazi officer in charge, who simply left her in deep in a forest with all four limbs broken.

She recovered and went right back to work saving Jews from the Ghetto. She was nominated in 2007, but was passed over in favor of Al Gore. She was 98 when she died.

Mohandas Gandhi was murdered in 1948. He began his work for Indian independence from Britain in 1916 and finally succeeded in 1947, when Louis Mountbatten relinquished India from Britain to the Indians. One man, by himself, Gandhi has been credited with defeating the British Empire singlehandedly, without raising one finger in violence.

He was nominated in 5 years, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and 1948. 19 people nominated him in those years, especially Ole Colbjornsen, member of the Norwegian Parliament, who nominated him the first 3 times. In the years between 1939 and 1947, he was either not nominated by anyone, or the Swedish Academy refused to consider nominations during the War. Likewise, in the years preceding 1937, not one person on Earth nominated him.

A rule stipulates that death before being awarded the Prize renders one ineligible for it, nominated or not. But I think the Academy could have given it to him posthumously, and no one would have complained. In which case, they could still award it to him for the year 1948. He could certainly replace Cordell Hull, for 1945. Hull is mentioned on another Listverse list.

It is possible that his “experiments” with under-aged children (item 8) reduced his chances of receiving the prize, but as earlier stated, most people would probably not object to his having been awarded the prize despite them.

The head of the Edhi Foundation, based in Pakistan, he is a philanthropist, who in 1951 opened a small medical shop in Karachi, using his own meager funds, with the sole intention of helping anyone who came in. He had learned little about medicine, but wanted to help people. He claims that he does so because he enjoys it, in the same way that an evil man enjoys hurting people.

He has been treating everyone in the Karachi area, and all areas where his branches are located, over the whole world. He treats people at extremely low cost. He began the Edhi Foundation with donations from friends and supporters around Karachi, and the Foundation is a free maternity clinic and nursing school. Students may enroll at absolutely no cost. Tuition, books, and other equipment are free.

Karachi suffered a flu outbreak in 1957, and Edhi immediately set up tents in which he and his faculty treated everyone for free. He bought an ambulance with donations, which he personally drove to accidents, and to his own clinic, or to hospitals. The Edhi Foundation has a $10 million budget, but Edhi refuses to take any of the money for himself. As he is still alive, it is not entirely fair that he should be on this list, as he may win in the future. But I thought it fitting, given the recent 2009 Peace Prize, and the fact that he was considered for it also.

Jose Figueres Ferrer was the President of Costa Rica 3 times, and during his first term, he granted women the right to vote, stating that while men may be stronger, there is no difference between male and female mental faculties. He abolished his country’s army, arguing that only a police force is necessary for domestic law enforcement, and that an army only exists for the promise of invading another country; he did not believe any country around him wanted to invade Costa Rica.

After nationalizing Costa Rica’s banking and creating a welfare state, he outlawed Communism. Ferrer oversaw the writing of a new constitution, guaranteed state managed public education for every citizen, gave citizenship to the children of black immigrants, and established a civil service bureaucracy.

He graduated from Munich University in 1932, and was appointed as a diplomatic secretary in Turkey, then in Vienna in 1937. The next year, Hitler annexed Austria, and Ho was promoted to Consul-General of the Chinese Embassy in Vienna.

After Kristallnacht, everyone in Austria knew full well the predicament facing the 200,000 Jews throughout the country. Their only hope was to escape from Europe, and this was possible only with exit visas. The Evian Conference of 1938 caused 38 countries to refuse Jews immigration, and Ho was ordered by Chen Jie, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin, not to provide visas for Jews.

Ho endangered himself for all six years of the War by refusing to obey this order. He issued 1906 visas by 27 October 1938, some for Jews, some not. How many Jews he saved will never be ascertained, but given that he issued almost 2,000 in only his first 6 months, he may have saved thousands of lives. Whoever saves one life saves the world entire. He was 96 when he died. He has been nicknamed “China’s Schindler.”

He has been called “the Mexican Martin Luther King.” He found working conditions appalling for common Latino laborers in California, and co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which is now called United Farm Workers. He organized civil rights activism, and became the Community Service Organization’s national director in 1958. His efforts to gain higher wages and better working conditions for farm laborers finally succeeded in 1966.

After that, he fought to restrict illegal immigrants from entering the U. S. and taking jobs from legal Mexican citizens. His birthday is a state holiday in California. He died in 1993, and the next year was awarded the Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton.

After Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964, Steve Biko became the primary authority of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. He founded the Black Consciousness Movement and advocated a worldwide “brotherhood of man.”

He was the primary architect of the protests that reached a head at the Soweto Uprising in June, 1976. He preached non-violence, which was not entirely heeded, and the uprising resulted in Apartheid police slaughtering school children at random in the crowds.

They then targeted Biko and finally caught him, and beat him to death, from 11 September to 12 September, 1977.

Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, distributist, and devout Catholic convert. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker movement, a nonviolent, pacifist, movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. A revered figure within segments of the U.S. Catholic community, Day is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. Day has been the recipient of numerous posthumous honors and awards. Among them: in 1992, she received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey, and in 2001, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Oskar Schindler was the most famous member of the Avenue of the Righteous. He saved 1,200 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his munitions factories from 1943 to the end of the War. He therefore placed himself in extreme mortal peril constantly during that time, as the Nazis knew full well that his workers were Jewish.

He was very persuasive, having paid millions to the Nazi Party up to that time, and insisted that his workers were more useful to the Wehrmacht by manufacturing pots, pans, and ammunition. But secretly, he had his workers sabotage the ammunition so it would not function.

On April 28, 1935, four years before the War even started, Eugenio Pacelli (soon to become Pope Pius XII) gave a speech that aroused the attention of the world press. Speaking to an audience of 250,000 pilgrims in Lourdes, France, the future Pius XII stated that the Nazis “are in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult.” During the war (when Pacelli had become Pope) he spoke out strongly in defense of the Jews with the first mass arrests in 1943, and L’Osservatore Romano carried an article protesting the internment of Jews and the confiscation of their property. The Fascist press came to call the Vatican paper ‘a mouthpiece of the Jews.’

Prior to the Nazi invasion, the Pope had been working hard to get Jews out of Italy by emigration; he now was forced to turn his attention to finding them hiding places: “[t]he Pope sent out the order that religious buildings were to give refuge to Jews, even at the price of great personal sacrifice on the part of their occupants; he released monasteries and convents from the cloister rule forbidding entry into these religious houses to all but a few specified outsiders, so that they could be used as hiding places. Thousands of Jews — the figures run from 4,000 to 7,000 — were hidden, fed, clothed, and bedded in the 180 known places of refuge in Vatican City, churches and basilicas, Church administrative buildings, and parish houses. Unknown numbers of Jews were sheltered in Castel Gandolfo, the site of the Pope’s summer residence, private homes, hospitals, and nursing institutions; and the Pope took personal responsibility for the care of the children of Jews deported from Italy.”

The consequences of the actions of Venerable Pope Pius XII in defense of the Jews were such that the Chief Rabbi of Rome (Rabbi Zolli) during WWII converted to Catholicism and changed his name to Eugenio (out of reverence for the Pope). [Source]

It is certainly not a secret that I love all things obscure and unusual. Looking over the list of lists today I realized that we haven’t got a list of just completely random fascinating obscure facts – thus was born this list. Be sure to tell us your own favorites in the comments below as they may appear in a future list.

1. In the game of Chess, the word “checkmate” comes from the Persian phrase “shah mat” and it means “the King is dead”.

2. In 1835, John Batman settled in what was to eventually become Melbourne, Australia. He named it “Batmania”. Two years later it was renamed Melbourne in honor of the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.

3. A cannulated cow, also referred to as a cow with a window, is a cow that has been surgically fitted with a cannula, a porthole-like device which allows access to its rumen. Cows undergo this procedure so that their nutritional needs and digestive processes can be more easily studied. [Picture above]

4. The rabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927 by Bernhard Zondek and Selmar Aschheim. The test consisted of injecting the tested woman’s urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit’s ovaries a few days later, which would change in response to a hormone only secreted by pregnant women. Modern pregnancy tests use the same principle but no longer require an animal to discover the presence of the pregnancy hormone.

5. While most male birds do not have “external genitalia”, some ducks have penises up to 14 inches long!!!! They commonly rape the females who have adapted by developing a vagina with three paths, two of which are “dead ends”. They have the ability to close off the true vaginal canal and send a rapist’s sperm into a dead end at will. If the rapists sperm does make it into the true vaginal canal, it is shaped like a coil and can be compressed to turn away unwanted insemination.

6. A flatulist is a performer who receives payment for farting in an amusing and/or musical manner. Saint Augustine in City of God (14.24) mentions some performers who did have “such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.”

7. The six-hour clock is a traditional timekeeping system used in Thailand alongside the official twenty-four-hour clock. Like the other common systems, it counts twenty-four hours in a day, but divides the day into four quarters, counting six hours in each

8. Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) is a musical piece composed by John Cage and is the subject of one of longest-lasting musical performances yet undertaken. The current organ performance of the piece at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, ending in 2640.

9. A pyrophone, also known as a “fire/explosion organ” or “fire/explosion calliope” is a musical instrument in which notes are sounded by explosions, or similar forms of rapid combustion, rapid heating, or the like. The instrument is extremely unusual and makes music which is quite spooky. You can see one in action in the clip above.

10. Mistakes (due to mishearing) in songs are called mondegreens. Most people have at one time or another inadvertently made a mondegreen when singing songs without knowing the correct lyrics. Here is an example: ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy (from a lyric in the song “Purple Haze”, by Jimi Hendrix: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”).

11. Ferret legging is a sport that seems to have been popular among coal miners in Yorkshire, England. The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English defines it as “an endurance test or stunt in which ferrets are trapped in pants worn by a participant”. The male-only contestants put live ferrets inside their trousers; the winner is the one who is the last to release the animals. Reg Mellor, a retired miner from Barnsley, holds the world record at five hours and twenty-six minutes, a feat he achieved in 1981 at the age of 66.

12. In Japan, Street names are seldom used in postal addresses (except in Kyoto and some Hokkaidō cities such as Sapporo), and most Japanese streets do not have names. Addresses are written from largest area to smallest (the opposite of the Western method) and each district, block, and house is numbered. These numbers are what determine a specific residence. [Picture above]

13. The glass delusion was an external manifestation of a psychiatric disorder recorded in Europe in the late middle ages (15th to 17th centuries). People feared that they were made of glass “and therefore likely to shatter into pieces”. One famous early sufferer was King Charles VI of France who refused to allow people to touch him, and wore reinforced clothing to protect himself from accidental “shattering”.

14. The miracle fruit, or miracle berry plant (Synsepalum dulcificum), produces berries that, when eaten, cause sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet. Needless to say this gives rise to some great party tricks.

15. The Forer effect is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. This is the effect which makes fortune telling and horoscopes appear so accurate when they are, in fact, entirely fabricated.