Category: history

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The Chainsaw Was Originally Invented to Assist with Difficult Childbirths

If you thought that c-sections were awful and take weeks to recover from, well…you’re right.

But you should also count yourself lucky. In the (not as far back as you’d think) past, your doctor or midwife might have whipped out a chainsaw if an emergency arose during labor.

Basically, the chainsaw is so good at cutting through wood and stuff because it was originally designed to be able to easily slice through flesh and bone.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Chainsaws were invented by two Scottish surgeons, John Aitken and James Jeffray, who were looking for a “more humane” way to widen the birth canal when a baby was breach or became otherwise lodged in the birth canal.

Yeah. Instead of cutting open your abdomen to remove a dangerously stuck infant (like a modern C-section), they used to just stick a knife into your pelvis and start “widening” it so the baby could slip free.

Image Credit: Pixabay

And, as if giving birth wasn’t terrifying and painful enough already, the chainsaw was invented in the 18th century – prior to the development of a little thing called anesthesia.

The chainsaw was supposed to be a faster, less painful (somehow) option for a procedure called a symphysiotomy.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Neither the procedure nor the chainsaw is today used in hospitals – in maternity wards or elsewhere – but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen on an upcoming season of American Horror Story.

Because just thinking about it makes me want to scream.

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Check This Out: People Explained 7 Full Versions of Cliches in This Tumblr Thread

If there’s any possible way to get a point across faster, people are going to figure it out. If that means using a cliche instead of unique and descriptive words, then so be it. If the cliche needs shortening, so we don’t have to say as many words at all…then okay.

But this cool thread found on Tumblr gives us the full version of the cliches we’ve come to rely on when we get lazy. And it’s pretty interesting what we’re cutting without even realizing it.

Check these out.

1. Curiosity killed the cat…but did it?

Photo Credit: Imgur

2. Blood is thicker than…what?

Photo Credit: Imgur

3. Being a jack of all trades is actually a wise philosophy.

Photo Credit: Imgur

4. Conformity is not always “great.”

Photo Credit: Imgur

5. Beware those fair weather birds.

Photo Credit: Imgur

6. I would much rather be the second mouse.

Photo Credit: Imgur

7. This isn’t a saying, but I like this line of thinking.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Next time you want to spit out some platitude, consider what you really are saying. Is it even what you really mean? We should all pay more attention to the words and thoughts we put out there. So when you want to say something, you can strive to make it meaningful.

Stop serving up word salad without meaning and say something we want to think about.

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An Incredible Photo Shows a 65-Foot Hawaiian Lava Dome

This is really something else…

The Mauna Ulu eruption of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii lasted from 1969 to 1974 – a total of 1,774 days. Back then, it was Kilauea’s longest recorded eruption, producing approximately 460 million cubic yards of lava over those 5 years. It was truly a rare natural phenomenon.

Recently, the US Geological Survey posted this photograph from 1969, taken by photographer J.B. Judd. The image was of a rare dome fountain of lava measuring approximately 65 feet high. It was one of 12 dome fountains occurring the first year of the eruption. The flow of lava was so heavy, it reached 7.5 miles out into the ocean.

This particular fountain began on October 10, 1969 and lasted until October 13, and it may have reached the enormous height of ~245 feet. What made this phenomenon so special, aside from its massive size, was its orb shape. Typically, lava fountains look like geysers, spraying molten stone up into the air.

In the tweeted photo, the dome looks like it’s occurring on water. It is, in fact, on the land. The dark grey matter in the foreground that looks like waves are actually flows of lava.

Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Society

Fountains are caused when gas bubbles in molten rock near(ish) to the surface trigger an eruption of lava from a lava lake, fissure or vent. A rapid expansion occurs, which eventually explodes outward in a fountaining event.

Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Society

The Mauna Ulu eruption, though it lasted five years, isn’t even close to the longest running volcanic eruption. That title now goes to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which has been erupting continuously since 1983.

But the images above of Kilauea are an impressive reminder of the destructive power of active  volcanos – and Hawaii’s got a whole bunch of them.

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These History Memes Just Might Teach You Something

For some reason, a lot of kids don’t like history in middle and high school. Personally, I think it has something to do with so many history teachers at those levels being coaches who do the bare minimum in the classroom…but that might just be my own experience talking.

I’m someone who grew to love history in college and beyond, so I love to see the interesting bits finding new, awestruck minds on the internet.

To that end, here are 16 history memes that just might teach you something new today!

16. Here are you still hungry?

Image Credit: Imgur

15. The cleverness. It burns.

Image Credit: Imgur

14. Yes, let’s do that insanity.

Image Credit: Imgur

13. Yes. This is the collective expression on France’s face.

Image Credit: Imgur

12. Until you end up there yourself. Womp womp.

Image Credit: Imgur

11. Spoiler alert…it’s not the army.

Image Credit: Imgur

10. A more accurate depiction I have not seen.

Image Credit: Imgur

9. I need more for my collection.

Image Credit: Imgur

8. It’s always the season.

Image Credit: Imgur

7. This just made me laugh for real. The bread would be a lot more pleasant.

Image Credit: Imgur

6. It’s always the barbarians. Dammit.

Image Credit: Imgur

5. You’d best rethink that strategy.

Image Credit: Imgur

4. Yep, it’s just that creepy.

Image Credit: Imgur

3. At least have the sense to look ashamed.

Image Credit: Imgur

2. With their own stick. Damn.

Image Credit: Imgur

1. This wins best photoshop award.

Image Credit: Imgur

I can’t say for sure that I learned anything new, but these memes definitely never get old.

How about you? Did you learn something? Share it with us in the comments!

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How Did Casper Became a Ghost?

We’ve all heard about the story of the friendly ghost who just wants to make friends – and if you’re anywhere close to my age, you have a strangely romantic relationship with Casper, since we all immediately fell in love with Devon Sawa when this happened:

But where did the story come from in the first place? How did Casper die? Why is he a friendly ghost and not a scary one?

There are a lot of questions if you think about it, and if you want answers, we might have a few.

Since his debut in 1945, Casper the Friendly Ghost has appeared in dozens of animated shorts and specials, hundreds of comic books, as well as the feature film referenced above. The affable ghost always searches among the living for friends instead of people to frighten and encounters problems due to his non-corporeal status.

The character was created by writer Seymour Reit and artist Joe Oriolo back in 1940. But before the duo could pen their children’s book based on the concept, the two were drafted, and while they were gone, the animation studio they worked for was sold to Paramount – a sale that included the intellectual property of all employees (what a racket).

They were given $200 for their then-untested character.

In 1945 he appeared in a short called The Friendly Ghost, but the film made no mention of how Casper came to be a spirit in the first place. It did reference siblings who enjoyed scaring people, but no other personal details.

He appeared in another short in 1948, There’s Good Boos To-Night. In that one, he is shown leaning on a tombstone (presumably his own), while his “neighbors” – the ghosts from the nearby headstones – go on their nightly haunts.

Casper began starring in comic books in 1952, and it was due to Harvey Comics that Casper finally got a ghost family: a mom and three uncles, who were later named Fatso, Fusso, and Lazo. Originally, none of the group had backstories, talked about what their lives were like when they were alive, or made reference to a beginning of their relationship to each other.

Basically, it seems that Casper’s early mythology sort of implied that he and the others like him were “born” ghosts and had never been alive at all.

The 1995 feature film, starring Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, and Devon Sawa, gave Casper a full living backstory. He told Christina Ricci’s character that he had been a boy named Casper McFadden who had died from the flu – perhaps the Spanish flu, based on his dress and the time period – at the age of 12.

In it, we also see Ricci’s mother portrayed as an “angel,” suggesting there’s a more complicated hierarchy and mythology for the dead than the comics had previously envisioned – perhaps something more along the lines of what’s established in It’s a Wonderful Life? But that’s just speculation.

The original creators had to let go of Casper before they could fully flesh out their idea of who he was and how he became a ghost – friendly or otherwise – so perhaps it’s fitting that the truth of his origins seem to be left up to whoever is continuing his story at the moment.

Though, to me, the fact that he seems to get so much comfort from hanging around a particular headstone seems the point to the fact that it is his headstone. That means he was once alive, and he perished before his time.

I know he’s a child’s character, but hey. Life isn’t fair, and sometimes a bittersweet touch is just what a story needs to make it come alive (see: The Fox and the Hound).

Or in this case, dead.

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How Did Casper Became a Ghost?

We’ve all heard about the story of the friendly ghost who just wants to make friends – and if you’re anywhere close to my age, you have a strangely romantic relationship with Casper, since we all immediately fell in love with Devon Sawa when this happened:

But where did the story come from in the first place? How did Casper die? Why is he a friendly ghost and not a scary one?

There are a lot of questions if you think about it, and if you want answers, we might have a few.

Since his debut in 1945, Casper the Friendly Ghost has appeared in dozens of animated shorts and specials, hundreds of comic books, as well as the feature film referenced above. The affable ghost always searches among the living for friends instead of people to frighten and encounters problems due to his non-corporeal status.

The character was created by writer Seymour Reit and artist Joe Oriolo back in 1940. But before the duo could pen their children’s book based on the concept, the two were drafted, and while they were gone, the animation studio they worked for was sold to Paramount – a sale that included the intellectual property of all employees (what a racket).

They were given $200 for their then-untested character.

In 1945 he appeared in a short called The Friendly Ghost, but the film made no mention of how Casper came to be a spirit in the first place. It did reference siblings who enjoyed scaring people, but no other personal details.

He appeared in another short in 1948, There’s Good Boos To-Night. In that one, he is shown leaning on a tombstone (presumably his own), while his “neighbors” – the ghosts from the nearby headstones – go on their nightly haunts.

Casper began starring in comic books in 1952, and it was due to Harvey Comics that Casper finally got a ghost family: a mom and three uncles, who were later named Fatso, Fusso, and Lazo. Originally, none of the group had backstories, talked about what their lives were like when they were alive, or made reference to a beginning of their relationship to each other.

Basically, it seems that Casper’s early mythology sort of implied that he and the others like him were “born” ghosts and had never been alive at all.

The 1995 feature film, starring Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, and Devon Sawa, gave Casper a full living backstory. He told Christina Ricci’s character that he had been a boy named Casper McFadden who had died from the flu – perhaps the Spanish flu, based on his dress and the time period – at the age of 12.

In it, we also see Ricci’s mother portrayed as an “angel,” suggesting there’s a more complicated hierarchy and mythology for the dead than the comics had previously envisioned – perhaps something more along the lines of what’s established in It’s a Wonderful Life? But that’s just speculation.

The original creators had to let go of Casper before they could fully flesh out their idea of who he was and how he became a ghost – friendly or otherwise – so perhaps it’s fitting that the truth of his origins seem to be left up to whoever is continuing his story at the moment.

Though, to me, the fact that he seems to get so much comfort from hanging around a particular headstone seems the point to the fact that it is his headstone. That means he was once alive, and he perished before his time.

I know he’s a child’s character, but hey. Life isn’t fair, and sometimes a bittersweet touch is just what a story needs to make it come alive (see: The Fox and the Hound).

Or in this case, dead.

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Here Are the 5 Presidents With the Highest IQ Scores

This should get a whole lot of people arguing due to the current political climate in this country, but what the heck! Let’s do it anyway!

A researcher and psychologist from the University of California, Davis named Dean Simonton put together a list of what he estimates IQs of the American presidents to be after the age of 18 – although, to be clear, the research was done in 2006 and only extends from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Simonton took into account intellectual brilliance and openness to establish his estimates. Let’s take a look at the results!

1. John Quincy Adams

6 John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was the sixth American president and, according to Dean Simonton’s research, had an IQ of 175. Adams was a Harvard graduate, studied all over the world, and spoke seven languages.

2. Thomas Jefferson

Biography of Thomas Jefferson (Third President 1801-1809)

Jefferson (1743-1826) was a Founding Father and the third president of the United States. Simonton places his IQ at 160 – and, oh right, he helped write a little document called the Declaration of Independence.

3. James Madison

4 James Madison

James Madison (1751-1836) was another brilliant Founding Father, and he had an estimated IQ of 160. Madison, called the “Father of the Constitution,” helped write the Bill of Rights.

4. John F. Kennedy

hrn60-president-john-f-kennedy-396982_1920

JFK (1917-1963) graduated from Harvard in 1940, was a war hero during World War II, and became the second-youngest president in U.S. history. He also had an IQ of 159.8. Not too bad…

5. Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

Say what you want about Bill Clinton (1946- ), he’s a very smart guy. Clinton served two terms as the 42nd American president and he sports an IQ of 159. He studied at Georgetown and Yale.

 

Rounding out the top 10 were:

6. Jimmy Carter

No Known Restrictions: President Jimmy Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Marion S. Trikosko, 1977 (LOC)

7. Woodrow Wilson

 

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8. John Adams

2 John Adams

9. Teddy Roosevelt

TR: гнездование куклы (nesting dolls)

10. James Garfield

james garfield 1

Now, we know you have some opinions about this. Let us know in the comments!

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Was McDonald’s Better When We Were Kids? You Bet It Was!

Back when us olde rfolks were growing up in the 1980s and ’90s, going to McDonald’s was definitely not a twice or more a week sort of event that happened because mom (cough, cough) didn’t plan very well. Not by a long shot.

It was a special occasion that was fun and nutritious!

Well, maybe not nutritious. But definitely fun – at McDonald’s there was stuff to do and clowns to see and gifts to get.

Scroll with me down memory lane and see for yourself.

1. Happy Meal Toys

So many great toys that you couldn’t play with until you ate everything and drank all your soda because they didn’t have milk haha.

Hot Wheels - Happy Meal toys

2. The Employees

They smiled and wore nice smocks and they actually liked kids.

Photo Credit: Flickr

3. Playplaces

Sometimes our moms would take us there just to let us play when the weather was bad and we couldn’t stand to be indoors anymore. And someone would always leave their shoes in the cubby, lol.

McPlayplace

4. Officer Big Mac

Big Mac jail was fun. We would fight to see who would go in.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

5. The Nintendo 64 Kiosk

Times were tough back then. Not everyone had a new N64 with those super awesome graphics.

But McDonald’s had them for us to play with.

Nintendo 64 Kiosk at McDonald’s from gaming

6. Burger Stools

Yes, they were hard to sit on. Yes, they were super cool. Yes, you raced your sister to get your choice of seat.

Photo Credit: Yelp

7. McDonald’s Halloween Buckets

An autumn essential presented to you by your favorite neighborhood McDonald’s.

McDonalds Halloween buckets from the 90s

8. McDonald’s Pizza

It was good. Deal.

McDonald’s Pizza in the early 90’s. It was shockingly good from pics

I don’t know what to tell you children of 2000 and later. You missed the golden years of the golden arches. The food is still decent and you might get a smile from a cashier wearing a logo-ed golf shirt, but it’s not the dreamland of yesteryear.

We just didn’t know what we had.

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10 Interesting Facts About U.S. Presidents

There have been 45 presidents of the United States of America, each with their own challenges, unique personalities, and backgrounds.

It’s been almost 231 years since George Washington first took office, and since then our country has been through many turbulent times – but there was always a president there, guiding us through it.

For good or ill.

Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about American presidents.

1. A close race.

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Whatever works…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

3. Nobody even bothered.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

4. Can’t do two things at once.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

5. What are the odds?

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

6. Forgot something on there.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

7. The ladies like whiskers.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

8. That is an amazing coincidence.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

9. Had some free time on his hands.

Photo Credit: did you know?

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10. Put someone else behind the bar.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

Who are some of the presidents that you most admire?

Tell us your opinions in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!

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15 Creepy Mysteries That Might Never Be Solved

There are so many unsolved mysteries out there that it can be hard to keep up with them. Luckily, we have online forums where people fill us in on the creepy tales and stories we should read up on if we want to scare the sh*t out of each other.

Here are 15 scary unsolved mysteries that might never be solved. Click on the links in the titles to read more about these topics.

These answers come to us from the Buzzfeed Community.

1. The disappearance of Bobby Dunbar.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“I just find it crazy that we’ll never quite know if the kid who was returned to the Dunbars was really their son or the son of another woman who they won against in court. If that wasn’t Bobby, what happened to Bobby? And if it was Bobby, why did he seem so confused about it?”

2. The Somerton Man.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“The dude from Australia! The Somerton Man! He was found on the beach, dead. All signs pointed to poisoning but they didn’t find anything in the tox report. All the tags in his clothes were cut out, there was no way of identifying him. Then they found a line from a book in his pocket or something. They say he could have been a spy but we’ll probably never know.”

3. The Yuba County Five.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“Five young men went missing in California after seemingly being chased up a mountain in their car. Months later, four of their five bodies were found malnourished, but the fifth has never been found. People think since the men were mentally challenged they were targeted or that the 5th man murdered them, but that theory seems unlikely.”

4. The death of Rebecca Zahau.

“She was found bound and hanged naked off the balcony of her boyfriend’s beachside mansion. There was a mysterious message written in black paint on her bedroom door reading, “She saved him. Can you save her?”

5. The death of the Black Dahlia.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“This one is obviously super well known but the fact that no one knows who the killer is is wild and what was done to her was so brutal and creepy.”

6. The disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen.

“Everyone needs to read this case, it is nuts. Amy Fry-Pitzen checked her 6-year-old son out of school and three days later her body was found in a hotel where she had died of apparent suicide. A note was found next to her saying that Timmothy was safe with people who would care for him and he would never be found. They have never been able to find him, or any remains of him.”

7. Australia’s Mr. Cruel.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“Many people have seen the police sketch of the modified balaclava that he wore in one of the kidnappings (the one with white stitches to conceal any potential identifying markers — super creepy!), but his crime spree and its sudden stop is haunting. Its unsolved nature adds more to its overall creepiness.”

8. The 1962 Alcatraz prison break.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“Along with their friend Allen West, they planned to dig a hole using spoons into their cell walls and climb up the walls onto the roof. Using loads of raincoats they also planned to take all their belongings and make a raft and swim away. West never made it as his hole was too small, but the others have still not been found. There are many weird things involved in this story — someone claiming to be Clarence wrote a letter to the police a few years back stating he is alive and that he would tell them where he is if they didn’t arrest him and that the other two have died.”

9. The Lane Bryant murders.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“It happened on a Saturday morning in the southern suburbs of Chicago. A person walked into the store, held people hostage for a short time, and murdered everyone in there. The person got away and was never found. A manager, who wasn’t even scheduled to come in that day, called 911 and just said, ‘Lane Bryant, hurry.’ One person survived the shooting but the person has not been identified. They’re not even sure if the killer was a man or a woman. The 911 call is super chilling.”

10. The disappearance of Susy Tomassi.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

“Susy was 73 years old with slight dementia. She owned a restaurant called The Quilted Giraffe with her husband and was known for walking from the restaurant to other stores. One day, she was seen on camera walking away from her restaurant and literally just vanished. Nobody knows what happened. They recently released a video of a person they believe to be Susy, walking through some store alleys and getting into a white pickup truck the exact time she went missing.”

11. The death of Gareth Williams.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

“The spy in the duffel bag. His naked remains were found in a duffel bag, padlocked from the outside, in the bath of a safe house. No forensic evidence was found that pointed towards it being an accident, and the key to the padlock was found underneath his body. The official cause of death was ‘probably an accident’ but a KGB agent claims he was killed by the Russian SVR.”

12. The fate of the Sodder children.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“The whole case is quite the rabbit hole with so many lies and cover-ups and unanswered questions. Someone out there has answers! It’s been over 70 years, so if the children survived, they’ve probably passed on now. But I’m still so curious about what happened!”

13. The incident at Dyatlov Pass.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“Nine experienced trekkers were found dead. There was no sign of foul play, but most of them were missing clothes, some of them had extreme injuries, and the tents were ripped open from the inside. It happened over 50 years ago and to this day is still unsolved!”

14. The death of JonBenét Ramsey.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“ARE WE EVER GOING TO FIND OUT WHO DID IT?! Did the mom write the ransom? Why was the random note written at the house? Why did JonBenét have pineapple in her stomach? Who gave her the pineapple? How did the DNA on her clothing get there, who does the DNA belong to? Was she being abused? WHY DOES HER BROTHER SOUND SO CREEPY AND WHY DOES HE SMILE SO MUCH?! Someone in that family is guilty of something. Darnit! It still keeps me up at night.”

15. The disappearance of Amy Bradley.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

“She disappeared on a cruise ship and there were rumors that she was trafficked. They found a photo of a really similar looking woman on an escort site!”

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