10The Priest Who Helped A Hit Man Steal A Strad Everybody knows that gangsters and violins go together like pinstripes and tommy guns, but surely adding a priest to the mix would be a cliche too far? Well that’s precisely what happened in the curious case of the chaplain, the hit man, and the priceless Stradivarius. The whole thing started when mafia goon Frank Calabrese Sr. decided there was no way he was letting the government confiscate a 250-year-old violin that apparently once belonged to Liberace....

Nowadays, the technology is practically ubiquitous, and lasers—or, to give them their full title, light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation—are a cutting-edge tool used in developing all manner of brilliant innovations. With them, we are able to cool atoms to a fraction of a degree, create incredibly advanced systems of data storage, and even detect evasive astronomic phenomena like gravitational waves. Sixty years since their invention, laser technology remains as relevant and exciting as ever....

Today, there are over 1,700 artificial satellites in operation and an additional 2,600 that are no longer working. Most of these satellites have either completed their missions or have succumbed to malfunction. At least 30 of these inoperable objects were nuclear powered at some point. They still contain—and in some cases, leak—nuclear waste to this day. The following list discusses 10 objects in orbit around Earth that are worrisome for different reasons....

The carnage that followed was unprecedented in postwar Japan. Commuters collapsed on platforms, blood foaming from their mouths. The streets outside stations resembled war zones. By the time the fog of confusion cleared, 13 people were dead and thousands were injured. Since then, there have been many rumors of terrorists plotting chemical attacks on other cities. Bioterror has seen anthrax scares in the US and fears of mustard gas in ISIS’s arsenal....

10Assassinations Since the Byzantines always felt that an unpopular ruler could be replaced, a number of emperors died violent deaths. Constans II was clubbed to death with a soap dish while resting in his bath. Michael III lost both his hands trying to block a sword. Nikephoros Phokas was warned of a plot and ordered a search of the palace, but his wife had hidden the assassins in her bedroom, which no guard would dare to search....

Since these death toll estimates are always highly disputed, I have made it a rule to use the highest respectable estimate in every case. I have also chosen to focus this list on “man-made” events—natural disasters have not been included. The Atlantic (or Trans-Atlantic) slave trade began roughly in the 16th century, reaching its peak in the 17th century until finally being all but abolished in the 19th Century. The main driving force behind this trade was the need for European empires to establish themselves in the New World....

10Robert Gene Will II On the morning of December 4, 2000, 22-year-old Robert Gene Will II wasn’t exactly sitting at home minding his own business. Instead, he and his friend Michael Rosario were out stealing car parts in a suburban area near Houston. When two Harris County deputies caught them in the act, Will and Rosario split. Deputy Warren Kelly went after Rosario, while Deputy Barrett Hill chased Will down and subdued him, radioing, “4119, I’ve got one in custody....

The Freemasons are believed to have originated from stonemason guilds during the Middle Ages in England. Most major religions opposed them, but the secret brotherhood has continued to exist and evolve over the past three hundred years. This group is well known for its secrecy. As secretive and mysterious as the Freemasons are, solid facts are known about them. And some of those are disturbing. Let’s explore 10 disturbing truths about the Freemasons....

Amazingly, 35% of earth’s land consists of desert areas meaning they are more comillimeterson than you think. Let’s explore 10 of the driest places on earth. 10 Pelican Point, Namibia If you like sand surfing, chances are you have heard of the picturesque Pelican Point, Namibia. Despite being one of the driest places in the world, Pelican point constantly floods with tourists visiting and looking to surf on its sand dunes that stretch to the Atlantic Ocean....

One analyst even went so far as to compose a formula for the perfect butt: Sadly, it’s calibrated for the female derriere, so men’s butt attractiveness remains an unquantifiable mystery. Granted, no one took the butt formula seriously. But historically, plenty of mass lies have worked because of the distorted math supporting them. 10 Death By Coconut Perhaps you’ve heard the urban legend that 15 times as many people die from coconuts falling on them as from shark attacks....

Strangely enough, many musicians who passed away early left some bone-chilling quotes and lyrics that can be dwelt on. The uncertainty about whether these artists were predicting their own deaths or whether these quotes are only coincidental leaves much to the imagination. Nevertheless, some of the words left by these musicians can lead to eerie sensations about their passing. 10 Janis Joplin Janis Joplin was one of the greatest female rock stars of her time....

Often, one person doesn’t want to say goodbye, and things can quickly turn chaotic and cruel. Sometimes, you get off easy and never hear from the person again. Other times, you’ll be awakened at 4:00 AM by tearful phone calls about how horrible you are and how you guys should totally get back together. While everyone has their own horror stories, all your bad breakups will pale in comparison to the examples below....

10The Five Genders Of Sulawesi, Indonesia Sulawesi is a small island that is part of Indonesia, usually known for paradise beaches and leisurely vacations. It is also a place with radical views on gender and sex in their people. The Bugis (or “Buginese people”) of Sulawesi recognize four genders and an important fifth “metagender.” The first two genders are male and female, but the next two are the calalai and calabai....

10Simon Grandjean On May 12, 1625, Dijon executioner Simon Grandjean and his wife (who served as his assistant), were handed what should have been an easy if not heartbreaking assignment. After a dead child had been found in the woods wrapped in an unfortunately monogrammed blanket, a guilty verdict was passed on the baby’s 21-year-old mother, Helene Gillet. In spite of Helene’s insistence that not only was she innocent of the murder but that the baby had been conceived after the unwanted attentions of the family tutor, the sentence stood....

SEE ALSO: 10 Bizarre Claims Of Alien/Human Hybrids It might sound like something out of science fiction, but combining human and animal DNA isn’t the fantasy of some far-flung future. It’s something that scientists have already done several times—and it’s forcing us to reckon with ethical questions we never thought we’d have to consider. According to the scientists, the part-human animals they’ve created will do nothing but good. They’re a scientific breakthrough that’ll let us run medical experiments and procedures on something they consider less than human....

Nick Mason is the longest running member of Pink Floyd, from the Barrett era to the times of the dehydrated Floyd (i.e. without Roger Waters). In his time with Pink Floyd he rarely ventured out of his comfort zone of percussive instruments, taking failed violin lessons and providing special effects and sounds. But how did the band acquire him as a drummer? According to Mark Blake, author of “Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd,” Nick Mason was looked well upon as a drummer because he could provide the funds and transport to buy instruments and get them to gigs....

10George Orwell Was A Government Informer Although he was officially a socialist, most people probably associate Orwell with antiauthoritarianism. His most famous novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, are dire warnings about state intrusion in our lives, and his terrifying Thought Police satirized government informers in the creepiest way possible. Yet outside his fiction, Orwell wasn’t totally opposed to state interference. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, he even helped the British government spy on its own citizens....

10 Stolen Items One of the biggest risk a pawnbroker takes upon buying or pawning an item is that it is actually stolen property. There’s no way to determine whether a watch or a television is stolen by appearance alone, and that is why a pawnbroker must make a careful record of his purchases, requiring customers to provide identification (and even fingerprints in some cases) to prevent “fencing.” The pawnshop frequently turns in a list of the merchandise and its attendant serial numbers to police, who check it against reports of stolen goods....

10The Loneliest Place On Earth So you want to get away from it all—from everything and everyone. Sure, you could head out into the woods, but what if you wanted to be completely, absolutely alone? What’s the loneliest place on Earth? Point Nemo—if you can get there—is the point on the globe that’s farthest away from any terrestrial organism. It’s in the middle of the South Pacific, between Maher Island off the coast of the Antarctic, Motu Nui near Easter Island, and Ducie Island, an uninhabited island to the north....

Prize: $15,000 Challenge: Launch a satellite weighing between 9.99 and 19.99 grams into Earth orbit, and to track it for a minimum of nine orbits. But most importantly the launch budget must be within £999.99 (about $1500) This is at the number 10 spot not because of the difficulty of the challenge but because of the rather cheap prize money. The N-Prize (N stands for Nanosatellite or Negligible Resources) was launched in 2008 by Cambridge biologist Paul H....