If Driving and Shooting Real Tanks is Your Idea of a Great Vacation, We Got You

If you’ve always been itching to drive, shoot, and handle real war tanks, a south Texas ranch might just be the ideal destination for your next vacation.

Around 100 miles west of San Antonio, a post on an 18,000 acre ranch allows holiday-makers to handle tanks through courses or over old vehicles. Other activities at DriveTanks, include shooting mortars and firing machine guns.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Former active duty Green Beret and Houston police officer Todd Digidio conceived the idea of providing tanks and guns for the unique experience of operating them as they were originally designed.

His collection includes American, Russian and German tanks, anti-tank guns, mortars and machine guns from every period and country.

Photo Credit: Instagram

After a little training, participants are set to satisfy all their adrenaline-junkie desires – perhaps a drive and shoot on the 1944 Sherman tank, the same model featured in the Brad Pitt film Fury. The one at DriveTanks is the only fully operational Sherman E8 left in the world.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Fun this powerful comes with a price tag. Set-up and shoot one of the big guns, like a U.S. 105 mm Howitzer from WWII, for a few hundred dollars. Fire some rounds on the machine gun of your choice for about the same. Or go whole hog with a tank and track package that will set you back about $3000. All-inclusive lodging is available on site too.

Guests have said having access to all this incredible firepower is better than any roller coaster. So, if you’re burned out on crowded amusement parks and boring beaches, get in touch with these guys about a day crushing cars on a Chieftan MK6 tank. All ages welcome.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Because the best RNR is smoke in the air and dirt in your hair.

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This is Everything You Need to Know About Boba Tea

Are you familiar with boba tea? It’s something that’s been trending quite a lot over the past few years, with boba shops popping up on just about every corner. I personally love to do a rose tea with grapefruit boba. Trust me on that combo. You want it. You want it now.

But for those who may not have encountered this refreshing, textured beverage of Asian origins, it might need a little demystifying. What’s the story behind this delicious drink? What are those bubbles, anyway? Here’s the inside scoop on boba, aka bubble tea.

The History of Bubble Tea

Boba started in Taiwan, possibly in Taipei. Milk tea was already a popular drink, and shaved ice and tapioca balls were popular desserts. Although there are several more specific origin stories (which may or may not be true), at some point someone had the genius idea to combine the two, and boba was born.

Photo Credit: Flickr

What is Boba?

The bubbles in boba are tapioca pearls, which are made from cassava starch balls. The term “boba” can refer to the entire drink or to the tapioca balls. The tea base can be made from black or green tea. Next, they add milk, which makes it creamy (or a milk alternative, if you’re lactose intolerant).

Once you’ve chosen your tea and milk base, you can choose from a wide variety of toppings, including:

  • Boba: They’re chewy, delicious, and the classic choice for bubble tea.
  • Pudding: This has more of a custard-like texture.
  • Aloe vera: You already know aloe vera is good for you, now enjoy it in your drink!
  • Taro balls: These are made from taro and are sweetly delicious.

You can play around with different flavor combinations until you find the perfect drink.

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15 Baffling Unsolved Mysteries That Simply Defy Explanation

I’m the type of person who NEEDS answers to things. I absolutely hate leaving questions unanswered. I actually have to keep myself away from mystery documentaries, because I will start yelling at the TV. I just love a good mystery (possibly too much).

These AskReddit users feel the same way I do and they shared mysteries that are so confounding that they have no possible explanation.

What are some of your favorite true unsolved mysteries? Share them in the comments.

#1. A strange situation

“When I was 7 or 8, we had this neighbor who was a super nice old lady that would give us snacks and talk to us through her window. She was agoraphobic and never, ever, ever left the house. Her kids would come by every other day or so to check up on her and everyone in the neighborhood knew them. One day me and my friends were outside playing like always, when her son comes to bring her groceries like always.

He comes out and asks if we’ve talked to his mom and we say we havent seen her in a day or 2. That sweet little old lady vanished from her house. Apparently no trace of her. Family was around alot after that was obviously was freaking out. I moved away a few years later but they never found out what happened. It wasn’t till I was an adult that I realized how f*cked that whole situation was.”

#2. The stranger

“Kind of personal, and I’m a bit late, but here goes:

While visiting Rome a few years back, the group I was with decided to tour the Vatican. One of our friends had a friend who was a brother studying to be a Priest. He was going to get us past the tourist barriers for a closer look at everything while we participated in a small mass at one of the numerous altars.

When we met up with this fellow, he immediately struck me as someone that I had met before. Almost someone that I had a good friendship with, but couldn’t explain where or why I had known him. I didn’t mention anything, as I was too busy hiding the pocket knife that I’d accidentally left in by bag before trying to get into the basilica.

The tour was interesting and the mass was a unique experience, but the whole time this feeling like I knew the man was haunting me. He invited us out to a coffee shop afterwards, and I took the time to retrieve the pocketknife I hid under a trash can.

When I returned, there was a seat for me right in front of the brother. I sat down, apologized, and started to listen to the conversations. Yet as soon as this guy has the chance to talk to me directly, he says, “Have I met you before? I have this strange feeling that we know each other but I can’t place it.”

I was blown away. We both were. This was the first conversation we had, and we both believed we had know each other personally. But when he explained his life over back in America, I couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation as to where we met. And even if we did, the feeling was that of close friends, not of a “I shook hands with you once.”

#3. Utterly confused

“I have a personal mystery. When I got home from uni and before I found a job I had a period of time where I stayed at my family home. Due to being home alone often during this time I tended to be the one who collected the mail and did odd home jobs. One day we had a particularly large amount of letters and parcel (for my brother’s birthday) and because two trips are for weak people I struggled and carried them all into the house. I managed to throw the letters onto the table but about half slipped onto the floor (this is important).

Thinking screw it, I carry the box upstairs to the office and come back down to pick the letters up. Yet, when I come back into the kitchen there are no letters anywhere. Confused, I check every downstairs table and eventually the mail box. Nothing at all. Finally I go back into the kitchen and notice one of the kitchen chairs is slightly pulled out from under the table. I pull it all the way out and under the cushion on the seat is a neat pile of the letters. There was no one but me at home for a few hours before this. Utterly confused till this day.”

#4. Wizardry

“I once did a magic trick in front of 20 people as a teenager. We had orchestrated it, so there were 2 of us.

So the trick is, I ask someone from the audience to pick a card, hold it above their head in front of the crowd, but card back facing me, so the entire crowd sees the card. Now someone on the other side of the window behind the crowd also sees the card, and with the crowd facing forwards, they don’t see him. So he plasters the card from another deck, on the window, and when he’s done doing that, I throw the entire deck at the window, and lo and behold, their card is now stuck on the other side of the window.

What happened surprised not only the crowd, but myself and my co-magician as well.

I throw the deck and the EXACT card is not only plastered on the other side of the window, it is also stuck on OUR side of the window, right next to it. My mind was blown and I still can’t explain it to this day. We played it as a part of the trick, so nobody in that crowd knows what sort of black wizardry went down that day.”

#5. A personal mystery

“Personal mystery: 20+ years ago I had a very brief job selling gas services door to door (side note, I’m not good at selling things, especially those I don’t truly believe in). Anyway, as dusk just started to arrive, near 5 pm, I knocked on a door and an old woman answers. I gave her my standard “ we can save you $$ by switching to xxx gas, my we look over your latest bills and our offerings to compare?” She tells me “I’m sorry, honey, I don’t live here, this is my son’s house, let me get him for you” and I politely accept.

After maybe 5-7 10 of waiting, I think maybe they’d forgotten me or were trying to blow me off so I have one last knock and this time a younger man, mid-40’s I’d guess, answers and asks if he can help me. I give him the same sales speech and he stops me midway and says “now is not a good time, we just buried my mother today”. I’m apologized and quickly backed away. I tell myself it was a nice way to mess with the door to door guy but I really don’t know to this day.”

#6. That is strange

“Two days before the space shuttle Challenger blew up I dreamt I was at the launch. The shuttle took off and caught the gantry. It started to veer off and I could hear the occupants screaming. Two days later I was having s home haircut and my daughter came in to tell me the news on the tv. It sent shivers down my spine. Of course it was coincidence but very creepy.

The strangest thing was that I wouldn’t have attended the launch – I live in UK and such a visit was unthinkable.”

#7. No idea how that happened…

“When I was in high school, my aunt gave me a t-shirt for my birthday. It was kind of sparkly and not something I ever would buy for myself, but I sometimes wore it. One day I realized I had two of this shirt in my closet. No idea how that happened. I could never think of a good explanation, although there must be one… Still seems strange.”

#8. A true mystery

“I was late for an appointment one day and was speeding up a hill with a big curve to the right, the direction I was going. Almost as soon as I got around the curve I saw there was an accident in front of me, blocking both lanes on my side. (Since there were only one or two other cars stuck behind it it must’ve just happened, because there were no emergency vehicles there yet.)

To the right of me was a sidewalk where people were standing gawking, and to my left was oncoming traffic in the other two lanes, so I couldn’t go around it, and I was going too fast to be able to stop in time. I knew if I relaxed I was less likely to be as severely injured, so I quickly shut my eyes and relaxed as much as I could.

And absolutely nothing happened.

When I opened my eyes, I could see the crash behind me in my rear view mirror and I was continuing along an empty (on my side) road.

This happened about 35 years ago, and to this day I have no idea how that happened.”

#9. Never figured it out

“When I still lived at home and came back from a night out my mother would often be up reading & if I wasn’t too tired I’d sit with her a bit and chat before going to bed. This was regular occurrence for years.

A couple years after I moved out I get a text from my mom one Sunday morning asking where I’d gone.

Was a little surprised as I was just in my apartment.

She tells me that last night I came home late and we chatted for a bit and she was surprised that I had left the house so early in the morning.

Now occasionally, I would still stop by my parents place to crash for the night depending on where I was in the city but I’d always let them know first.

Figured my mom has just dreamt this. So I call her and explain that I wasn’t there & ask what we talked about.

She summarizes the conversation and gives me details about things she shouldn’t have known about my night out eg. What was going on in the lives of the friends I had seen that night.

Never figured it out but now my mom teases and says she knows what I’m up to all the time.”

#10. They never turned up

“We lived in a bi-level house with a chest freezer in the basement and the kitchen on the second floor.

When I was younger I was a teenager I was asked to bring tatertots upstairs so my mom could make a casserole. I went and grabbed them and came upstairs.

When I got upstairs the tater-tots were no longer in my hands, and my mom asked where they were, I thought I had just spaced out and forgot them. So I went back downstairs and they weren’t in the freezer anymore. Searched literally every square inch/nook and cranny between the chest freezer and the kitchen and they were not anywhere.

They never ever turned up. To this day my mom thinks I was playing a dumb prank on her. My most plausible explanation is that we live in a computer simulation and they got accidentally glitched out of it.”

#11. The watch

“I bought my husband a watch for his 30th birthday engraved with his name. Not long after he lost it somewhere in the house. We searched everywhere for it but it couldn’t be found. Fast forward 13 years and my husband has a heart attack and dies instantly.

Two weeks later our 2 yo son walks out of the bathroom holding his watch. There are no cupboards in there- just a shower and bath. He’s very excited to have it and to this day, I have no idea where he got it from.”

#12. The ring

“Lost my class ring when I was 20. About 8-10 months later I move 1000 miles away. Only brought a few clothes and my car. Someone hit me and totaled my car while there…twice, be careful driving in Florida. Bought a new car (twice). Lived there for a year. Then moved about 200 miles away. A month after moving to the new town I receive a call from a church. They received a donation of clothes. While sorting them out they found a class ring with my name etched inside the band. My new home number came up when they searched my name. The church was about two miles from where we just moved.

My wife didn’t get rid or donate any clothes. I thought it must be a mistake, but decided to go take a look. Sure enough, it was mine. I looked through the clothes they found it in and they weren’t mine or my wife’s. Still no idea how it could have ended up 1,100 miles from where I lost it.”

#13. No glass…anywhere

“A little late but this story still makes me sleep with the lights on whenever I think of it. My sister and I were upstairs at my grandparents house where we lived. We were playing some Disney princess game on our TV. All of a sudden we hear a loud piece off glass shatter. It seriously sounded like someone dropped a chandelier.

My uncle who was visiting at the time came sprinting up the stairs because he thought we were being assaulted. He checked in the next room that the sound came from and nothing had fallen. There were no glass shards anywhere. Kinda creeped him out as well.”

#14. That is creepy

“Personal story and a something that still bothers me till this day.
I’m a soccer/football coach of kids (great way to earn money when you’re a student) and each year we have a couple of ‘open’ practices where parents bring their kids to see if they like soccer etc. After one of these practices a kid walks up to me and says ‘I’m sorry that you lost your grandma’. I was a bit confused and I said ‘Ooh no, you must think of someone else’ and I just shrugged it of.

The next day I woke up for school and my parents told me my grandma died in her sleep and that her nurse found her in bed that morning.

The kid might have mistaken me for someone else but it still bugs me. Also; he never showed up at practice again.”

#15. We thought so

“I was in NYC near Grand Central Station, and a pair of Hasidic Jews came up to my wife and me and pointedly asked me whether my last name was “Igor”. I said uh, yeah? They said “we thought so.” and walked away. I still have no idea what the context was nor how they knew my last name among a busy commuting crowd.”

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Here’s How 3 U.S. Soldiers Fooled 15,000 Nazis into Surrendering During WWII

There were some truly awesome war stories that came out of World War II, but the story of a  U.S. soldier named Moffatt Burriss might be one of the absolute best.

In April 1945, Burriss was in Berlin as the war was winding down. He received orders from none other than General Dwight D. Eisenhower himself that he needed to stand down and let Russian troops take control of the city.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

By this point, Burriss had seen heavy combat in the Battle of the Bulge and in battles in Italy and the Netherlands, and he didn’t want to let the Russians take all the credit in Berlin.

Burriss recalled, “I said: ‘I can’t stand this any longer.’ I got in my Jeep with the lieutenant and sergeant and said, ‘Let’s go across the river and see what we can see, see if there are some [krauts] still over there…’”

That’s just the beginning of the tale. Watch the video of Burriss telling the rest of the amazing story in the video below.

After World War II, Burriss went on to become a successful businessman and a politician. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1977 to 1992. Burriss died in January 2019 at the age of 99.

A true American hero!

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10+ Little-Known Facts About Hollywood Actors from the Golden Age

Back in the Golden Era of Hollywood, actors weren’t under nearly as much scrutiny as they are today. Sure, there were some tabloids and paparazzi around, but not to the degree they are today and certainly without nearly the surveillance capabilities that today’s snoops have.

That means that actors back then actually had secrets they could keep… until now.

#1. Lana Turner’s daughter Cheryl was a murderer.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She stabbed Turner’s abusive boyfriend to death when she was just 14.

#2. Katharine Hepburn did accept second billing once.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She agreed to be the maid of honor at Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier’s wedding.

#3. Greta Garbo was Hitler’s favorite actress.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

He used to invite her to visit Germany, but the feeling wasn’t mutual – she used to tell people that if she had met him, she would have killed him and gotten away with it.

#4. There were rumors that Shirley Temple was a dwarf.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

People believed there was no way a child could be that talented, and the Vatican even sent someone to investigate.

#5. Lucille Ball was told to give up acting.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Her coaches said she wasn’t talented enough to make it.

#6. Rock Hudson had affairs with both of his Giant co-stars.

The rumor was that Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson had a bet to see who could sleep with James Dean first, and apparently Rock won. —bravetyper

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

The bi-sexual actor had flings with both Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.

#7. Elizabeth Taylor once saved someone’s life.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

You already knew she was a badass, but she saved Montgomery Clift’s life after he smashed his face during a car accident. He was choking on his teeth and she pulled them out while they waited for the ambulance.

#8. The boy who voiced Peter Pan died penniless and alone.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Bobby Driscoll died unclaimed and unidentified in an abandoned apartment building at the age of 31.

#9. Hedy Lamarr invented the precursor to Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She helped develop a radio guidance system for torpedoes at the beginning of WWII.

#10. Rita Moreno knew how to make Marlon Brando jealous.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She dated Elvis. As one does.

#11. Joan Crawford became a recluse at the end of her life.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Why? She was afraid of unflattering photos surfacing like they had once before.

#12. James Dean did a PSA urging young people not to drive recklessly.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

A month later, he died in a car accident.

#13. Audrey Hepburn lived through the German invasion of Holland during WII.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She survived by eating tulip bulbs.

I’ll never look at their pictures the same!

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Corn Flakes Were Made to Get You to Stop Masturbating (+7 More Weird Facts About Cereal)

We all know that Frosted Flakes are “Grrrrrreat” and that Lucky Charms are “Magically delicious,” but I’m willing to bet that a lot of you have no idea what the real story behind some of your favorite cereals.

#1. Alpha-Bits were a concentrated effort to market cereal to children.

Image Credit: Post Cereals

Post Cereals worker Thomas Quigley, a father of seven, rose to a challenge to design a new cereal to market to kids – that combining fun, education, and sugar would be just the ticket.

He was right, of course, and the tradition of selling sugar to kids and calling it a healthy breakfast was born!

#2. Wheaties were the result of an accident.

Image Credit: Wheaties.com

In 1921, a clinician at a sanitarium accidentally spilled wheat gruel onto a hot stovetop. It dried into flakes and, inspired by the preparation of Corn Flakes, a miller and his employees tried 14 times and 36 varieties of wheat to find the perfect combination of wheat, salt, sugar, and malt syrup.

They became popular due to the first radio commercial jingle.

#3. Cap’n Crunch is designed to make you want more.

Image Credit: Quaker Oats

By the 1960s, some of the best-selling cereals marketed to kids had lots of sugar, and research showed that kids preferred cereal that floated and stayed crunchy (duh), so Quaker came up with a combination of corn and oat cereal that fit the bill.

Flavorist Pamela Low brought the key ingredient to the table, though, with a favorite combination from her childhood: brown sugar and butter sauce over rice. She called it a “want-more-ishness” and people couldn’t get enough – especially kids after the introduction of their seafaring mascot.

#4. The history of Chex is…not very nice.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Chex came from a pet food company called Ralston Purina that was led by one William Danforth and self-help author Webster Edgerly (who was looking to promote whole grains as people food). Edgerly was the founder of a cult-like movement that, in addition to promoting a healthy diet, was into mind control and racial supremacy (he advocated for non-whites to be castrated and believed watermelons were toxic to Caucasians?), but the diet piece made Edgerly interested in creating yummy sources of whole grains to his followers.

Together, the two first came up with Shredded Ralston, which was bite-sized squares of shredded wheat, changing it to “Chex” in 1950 to honor the brand’s checkerboard logo. Danforth continued to make pet food under the name Purina while Chex was sold off to General Mills.

#5. Your Corn Flakes were meant to curb sexual desire.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, who worked as a physician in a Michigan sanitarium, believed (along with the rest of the Seventh-Day-Adentists) that irritating foods (like too much meat at breakfast) led to an increase in sexual desire, and that masturbation could lead to worsening illness.

He experimented until he came up with bland, grain-based breakfast flakes after he left boiled wheat out for too long and then decided what the heck, I’ll toast them and feed them to my patients anyway. Luckily, it worked out for all involved!

#6. Cheerios are the perfect result of over 500 test products.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Puffed cereals made from rice and wheat were all the rage in the 1930s and 1940s, and General Mills wanted to see if it worked with oats. Food science innovator Lester Borchardt and his team tested the oat-based recipe (and a variety of shapes) – over 500 formulas in all – before the winning donut shape won out.

It was originally called CheeriOats but the name was shortened after Quaker Oats filed a lawsuit over the use of the word ‘oats.” It was rebranded in 1945 and has been a top-selling cereal ever since.

#7. Honey Bunches of Oats combines the trifecta of popular cereal ingredients.

Image Credit: Post Cereals

In 1989, long-serving Post employee and cereal lover Vernon J. Herzing took his three favorite cereals – Toasties, Grape-Nuts Flakes, and Sugar Sparkle Flakes – and tried combining the three. Together with his daughter, Kimberly, they combined products until they landed on the perfect mix.

Its success has led to other flake-and-cluster cereals and myriad spinoffs.

#8. Rice Krispies are the product of an experiment and a gun.

Image Credit: Quaker Oats

In 1901, botanist Alexander Pierre Anderson wanted to know what might happen if he heated starch granules – he thought the water inside the granules would turn to steam and result in small puffing explosions (and of course, he was right). He then used a gas pipe and a sledgehammer to form a gun-like device that simplified the process.

He debuted his cool little trick at the 1904 World’s Fair and Quaker Oats snapped it up, marketing it as “food shot from guns.”

Interesting, right? You just never know what you’ll find online!

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6 Incredible Ancient Finds Discovered by Workers Expanding the London Underground

The funny thing about people is that we’re kind of lazy. Instead of making entirely new cities out of scratch, we’re just like “Hey, why not just build right on top of this existing city? Way easier, amirite guys?”

As a result, digging around in cities can reveal all kinds of interesting things from the past. That’s what happened during the 2009-2018 expansion of the London Underground. Here are six totally neat things that came out of England’s latest modernization.

#1. A rare Roman medallion

Image Credit: Crossrail

Archaeologists who excavated Crossrail’s Liverpool Street uncovered more than 100 copper Roman coins and a bit of silver currency that ranged from 43 CE to 348 CE.

There was also a rare bronze medallion issued to mark the new year 245 CE. It was presented by Emperor Phillip I to a high-ranking government official and is the only one of its kind to date.

#2. A 55-million-year-old piece of amber

Image Credit: Crossrail

Engineers found the piece of amber from 50 feet below the dock bed beneath Canary Wharf before construction officially began – it’s the oldest amber ever to be found in London.

Don’t worry, no one has reported a mosquito containing dinosaur blood (yet). It did contain bubbles of trapped gasses that could yield new scientific insights about climate change.

#3. Victims of the Black Death

Image Credit: Crossrail Site

Archaeologists unearthed dozens of Black Death-related skeletons beneath London’s Charterhouse Square back in 2013 – the remains indicated that the people died during 14th and 15th century pandemics. Their teeth contained DNA traces of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that caused the bubonic plague, and carbon dating indicated the burial ground had been used from 1348-1350 and again during the 1430s.

Not all of the skeletons were plague victims, however, suggesting the burial ground was for dead in general.

#4. A humorous Victorian chamber pot

Image Credit: Crossrail

When you’re poo-ing in something that has to be dumped manually, a sense of humor seems to be a no-brainer – and this chamber pot found during Stepney Green Station in East London verifies my assumption. It was found in a 19th-century cesspit filled with tobacco pipes and fragments of pots like this chamber pot that contains a cartoon of a grimacing man and the phrase “Oh what I see/I will not tell. …when you in it want to p*ss/remember they who gave you this.”

Ha!

#5. A cluster of Roman skulls

Image Credit: Crossrail

In 2013, workers at the Liverpool Street station site dug up Roman pottery and around 20 Roman skulls. Similar skulls have been found in the area, and some archaeologists suspect they belonged to rebels led by the Iceni warrior-queen Boudicca, who revolted against the Empire during the 1st Century CE.

These skulls, however, appear to date after the uprising, and likely washed out of a Roman cemetery long ago.

#6. An 8,000-year-old tool

Image Credit: Crossrail Site

At North Woolrich, in southeast London, scientists discovered a Mesolithic-era site near the Thames where early humans crafted tools 8500-6000 years ago. There were traces of campfires, flint pieces, and an 8,000-year-old stone tool.

The find is only one of a handful that confirms humans lived in the Thames valley after an Ice Age hiatus.

I’m all for progress if it means finding more delightful things like these!

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Tumblr User Blows Everyone’s Mind with Post About a Horse’s Ass

What do a horse’s ass and a spaceship have in common? It’s definitely a question I’ve never once considered until today, because you wouldn’t tend to think they have anything in common.

But, it turns out I couldn’t be more wrong. Just follow along now.

It starts out simple enough…

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Indeed. Why WAS that gauge used? You’re about to find out…

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Get ready! You’re about to learn the wonders of wheel ruts!

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Of course the Romans were involved. Because they ran things back in the day.

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Now, the horses come in and it’s glorious…

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Trains and tunnels and rockets! Oh my!

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Well, my ass is officially astounded!

Photo Credit: themattbusbyway

Boom! Mind blown! 🤯

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So, Apparently Charles Dickens Tried to Have His Totally Sane Wife Committed to a Mental Institution

Maybe you didn’t know this, but back in the olden days, it didn’t take a whole lot of effort for a man to get out of a marriage. Basically, if your wife was getting all annoying and wanting to be treated like an equal human being and stuff, you could just say she went crazy and get her locked up in a mental institution. That’s a lesson that Catherine Hogarth Dickens, wife of illustrated author Charles Dickens, almost learned the hard way.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The Smithsonian reports that after 1o children and 22 years of marriage, the Dickens couple had a not-so-cordial separation that was probably Catherine’s idea. But although Dickens wrote to his agent that Hogarth wanted out of the marriage because of her “mental disorder” and that “she felt herself unfit for the life she had to lead as my wife, and that she would be better far away,” he made no mention of his affair with a much younger actress.

Not only that, but University of York professor John Bowen recently dug into a treasure trove of never-before-seen letters sent by Edward Dutton Cook – Catherine’s neighbor after the separation – that he found in the Theatre Collection at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

They don’t paint a pretty picture of Dickens – though of course, it’s a he-said, she-said situation.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Cook wrote in one letter that “He [Charles] discovered at last that she had outgrown his liking. She had borne 10 children and had lost many of her good looks, was growing old, in fact. He even tried to shut her up in a lunatic asylum, poor thing! But bad as the law is in regard to proof of insanity he could not quite wrest it to his purpose.”

The letters made Professor Bowen uncomfortable – rightly so. “Biographers and scholars have known for years how badly Dickens behaved at this time, but it now seems that he even tried to bend the law to place his wife and the mother of his children in a lunatic asylum, despite her evident sanity. What I discovered was detailed and shocking…”

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Detailed and shocking, perhaps, but in the longstanding tradition of men with power and the way they treat the women in their lives, it can hardly be called surprising.

If Catherine Hogarth Dickens were alive today, she might have tweeted her story with #metoo attached.

The post So, Apparently Charles Dickens Tried to Have His Totally Sane Wife Committed to a Mental Institution appeared first on UberFacts.

10 of the Most Badass Names for Street Gang Names of the 19th Century

You may not know it, but street gangs have been around for a long, long time. They were even the central theme of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

While the main gang featured in that film was called The Dead Rabbits (which is an awesome name), they were hardly the only ones running the streets at the time. As a matter of fact, there were plenty of 19th-century gangs with colorful names, many of whom operated in New York’s notorious Five Points neighborhood.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Here are 10 that roamed the streets many years ago.

1. Crazy Butch Gang

A gang of teen pickpockets.

2. Molasses Gang

These boys used to bet a shopkeeper he wouldn’t fill up a hat with molasses. When the poor fool did, they’d slap the hat on his head and take all his money.

3. Tub of Blood Bunch

Photo Credit: Public Domain

This gang made the Tub of Blood bar their headquarters and they worked the East River waterfront.

4. Yakey Yakes

The leader was called him “Yake” (mistaken for “Jake”) by a German immigrant and the name stuck.

5. Plug Uglies

Photo Credit: Public Domain

The Plug Uglies were active in New York City and Baltimore and played a prominent role in the 1863 Draft Riots in New York.

6. Kerryonians

Made up of Irishmen from County Kerry.

7. Boodle Gang

They were known to hijack wagons and raid food stores.

8. Corcoran’s Roosters

This crew was known to rob cargo ships. Also known as the Charlton Street Gang.

9. Daybreak Boys

Possibly the coolest name ever for a gang. Like many other gangs of this time period, they worked the waterfront in New York.

10. Baxter Street Dudes

Photo Credit: Public Domain

This gang of thieves consisted of teenagers who formerly worked as newsboys or shoe shiners. They also ran a theater where they performed. You could say they were multi-talented.

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