It takes a lot of time and money to be this petty, but that’s no problem for the people who build “spite houses”. “A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. Because long-term occupation is not the primary purpose […]
The world was a grim place before the advent of the flush toilet. “On 26 July 1184, in the German city of Erfurt, approximately sixty local nobles died when the floor of a building collapsed through the ground floor and into the latrine cesspit below. They were attending a Hoftag […]
This is a book even the library doesn’t want you reading – because it’s bad for your health. “Shadows from the Walls of Death: Facts and Inferences Prefacing a Book of Specimens of Arsenical Wall Papers is an 1874 book by Dr. Robert C. Kedzie (1823–1902) of Michigan. The book […]
If you’re having a scan done on your brain, you might already be in a scary situation, but it doesn’t get much scarier than the scan showing a massive hole in your grey matter. “Hydrocephalus is a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up within and/or around the brain, […]
Rather paradoxically, this coffin was designed to save your life. So why aren’t they popular anymore? “A safety coffin or security coffin is a coffin fitted with a mechanism to prevent premature burial or allow the occupant to signal that they have been buried alive. A large number of designs […]
Back when men were rarely bareheaded, making sure you had not just a hat, but the *right* hat could be of crucial importance. “The Straw Hat Riot of 1922 was a riot that occurred in New York City at the end of summer as a result of unwritten rules in […]
For hundreds of years, animals were seen as valid defendants in court trials, leading to some hilarious documented cases. “In legal history, an animal trial is a trial of a non-human animal. These trials were conducted in both secular and ecclesiastic courts. Records of such trials show that they took […]
The Brits are invading (typical)! Plainly Difficult has ousted Qxir as the host of ‘Tales From the Bottle’ in an episode detailing Peter the Great’s beard tax. Qxir has mounted a counter-attack on Plainly Difficult’s channel by similarly taking over a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-6H_FWFi3A Thanks to Plainly Difficult for collaborating with […]
Taking a look at some legislature from Ireland concerning offensive weapons. Some very bizarre stuff on here.
An often requested topic, today we look into the timeline of Pepsi’s (yes, the cola company) naval fleet during the Cold War, which is popularly cited as having been the 6th largest military force in the world. “In 1959, the USSR held an exhibition of Soviet technology and culture in […]
