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10 The Pop-Tart Gun In March 2013 at Park Elementary School in Maryland, an eight-year-old boy was suspended for the innocent act of biting his Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun. Considering that the Sandy Hook shooting had occurred only recently beforehand, educators were on their guard, but many professionals feel that what they did next went too far: They suspended the boy. The firestorm over the incident caused increased debate about the zero-tolerance rules that must public schools have....

The pyramid scheme business model makes money from recruiting new people into its scheme on an ongoing basis. It’s not about marketing a product. It’s all about dishonest con artists marketing get-rich schemes to unsuspecting individuals, who, if they can be psyched up enough, will be ready and willing to hand over their hard-earned dollars. The money each recruit hands over is known as an “entrance fee” and is paid to the people above them....

10Alexsei Kuliabko Aleksei Kuliabko was a Russian scientist working for the Physiological Laboratory of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg at the turn of the 20th century. By 1902, he had already figured out how to restart the hearts of animals that had been removed up to five days. In 1903, he had moved on to restarting human hearts. Kuliabko’s first subject was a three-month-old baby who had died of natural causes....

Let’s face it, some people are just chronic over-sharers, posting information they should have kept to themselves. Case in point, here are ten instances where a status update has ruined what was an otherwise pretty successful bank robbery. Ten times when criminals should’ve paused before hitting post, or perhaps stuck to posting cute cat videos or pics of the plate of eggs Benedict from the cafe down the street. Then, they might’ve stood a chance of getting away with it....

Crystal gazing or “scrying” is what psychics do when they gaze into a crystal ball or reflective surface and claim to know your future. Mediums have been scrying for thousands of years, and their predictions obviously have mixed results. Sometimes, though, the prophecies are truly eerie. 10 The Ghost Mirror Johann Georg Faust was a German alchemist who inspired the famous Faust legends. He wrote a book of spells, a “grimoire” called the Hollenzwang....

Here are ten strange and surreal examples, and you will not believe that some of them can even make a sound at all! 10 Glaciers Melting As global temperatures rise, scientists need to know how quickly glaciers will melt to help them with tasks such as predicting sea-level rises. Traditionally, photography or satellite imagery has been used for this purpose, but more recently, scientists have been listening to glaciers using hydrophones, which are underwater microphones....

The Baychimo, a 1,322 ton steam ship owned by the Hudson Bay Trading Company, regularly traveled to Alaska and British Columbia transporting goods and passengers, and fur trading with the Inuit who lived along the Beaufort Sea. On October 1, 1931, Baychimo was making a return trip to Vancouver. She’d completed a run to Victoria Island, and her hold was stuffed with furs. Unfortunately for captain John Cornwell and the crew, winter arrived sooner than expected with freezing temperatures, strong winds, and the threat of blizzards....

10United States v. CausbyLandowners Don’t Own Airspace Common law long held that property ownership extends to the space above and below ground. This right grants landowners, among other things, mining rights over their land. It goes back to at least the 13th century, referred to by the Latin phrase Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelumet ad inferos (“whoever owns the soil, it’s theirs, all the way to heaven and hell”)....

10Louise Evans Louise Evans was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her home in July 2012 with a jump rope placed underneath her body. A vacuum cord was also uncoiled at the top of the stairs where she fell, making it look like she not only tripped over the vacuum cord, but that the jump rope she was carrying got tangled in her legs as well. The scene was staged to look like Louise Evans accidentally fell, but her injuries were more consistent with an assault....

Pizza is now a favorite across the planet, though how it’s made varies greatly place to place. As these ten tantalizing facts show, the dish is subject to innovation, research, study, and artistic interpretation. Even animals scrounge for, or steal, the Neapolitan taste sensation. 10 Robot Pizza Employees Zume Pizza employs both humans and robots. Human employees help prepare the food, develop recipes, conduct taste tests, and enhance the product’s quality based on customer input....

Had the forces of Germany not risen up against Europe, Churchill might have become a man we remember a little differently. If you look past his witticisms and the war effort, you’re left with a man with deeply troubling views—who might not be the hero we imagine. 10 He Wanted To Let Gandhi Die When Gandhi called for the independence of India, British soldiers arrested him in Bombay and threw him into prison....

Illegal organ transplantation is more ubiquitous, more lucrative, and more predatory than you might think. Traffickers are rarely brought to justice. On top of all that, this illegal trade can be the only option for people who would otherwise die before receiving an organ legally. 10 Up To Ten Percent Of Organ Transplants Are Performed Illegally The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 100,000 organ transplants are performed across the world every year....

10 DayZ Because of gamer stereotypes, you wouldn’t think the inspiration for a fan to completely reconstruct a game would ever be a near-death experience in a military exercise, but that’s what happened to New Zealander Dean Hall in December 2012. He had to survive in the Brunei jungles for 20 days after only being given two days’ worth of rations. He saw how the desperation robbed him of dignity, resorting to begging for food from his comrades....

Madonna in the eighties and nineties. David Bowie. Lady Gaga. What do these artists have in common? They did what no one else was doing. They stood up and said: “this is me. Like it or lump it.” The success of these people didn’t come from trying to please everyone; it didn’t come from following trends. It came from doing something that was new, astonishing—even genre-changing. While Metallica was busy fighting in the courts against Napster to maintain a stranglehold on consumer dollars, other bands—such as Radiohead (as early as 2007)—were dumping the traditional model and selling direct through their own website....

In particular, unusual cases can change the “facts” and even throw light on difficult questions. The most noteworthy discoveries are often accidental, and then the results can be mind-bending—from enigmatic paintings to entire lost civilizations. 10 Morbid Murals In 2012, Chinese archaeologists made a find that only recently spread to the rest of the scientific community. It was a tomb in the shape of an octagon, topped with a pyramid-shaped roof....

10 Boll Weevil Monument There is nothing out of the ordinary about erecting a statue to commemorate a noble person or a period in history. However, a memorial for an insect is far less common. In Enterprise, Alabama, visitors have the unique opportunity to visit the Boll Weevil Monument, a statue of a woman proudly displaying a large boll weevil above her head. The monument was constructed in 1919 as a symbol of the perseverance of local farmers....

People in the 1800s were endlessly inventive and inquisitive and constantly tried to expand their knowledge and improve their society. And while it’s true that not all of their inventions were thought through particularly well, there are some that were just so good that we’re still using them today. Here are ten of them. 10 Cement Though we may think of cement as a modern building material, it has a long history dating back to the building of the pyramids, where they mixed a rudimentary form of concrete to make mortar....

Viruses are invisible to the naked eye, and they exist almost everywhere on Earth. They can infect fungi, plants, animals, and yes, humans. Some people have even speculated that viruses could pose a grave threat to the future of humanity. However, not all viruses are bad. In fact, as we learn more about them, we are discovering that some viruses are actually quite beneficial. They have helped us in ways that we didn’t realize at first, and others pose interesting but positive possibilities for our future....

10 God Owns An Awesome Spaceship The book of Ezekiel is kind of a big deal in Biblical lore. Not only is it frequently cited by the most badass Christian in history, it’s also home to some breathlessly poetic descriptions of awe-inspiring visions. One in particular, in Ezekiel 1, represents one of the most remarkable moments in the Bible outside of Revelations—a grand passage that overwhelms the reader with the magnificence of God and all his power....

SEE ALSO: 10 Ways American Slavery Continued Long After The Civil War Modern estimates of slavery suggest as many as 40,000,000 people are trapped in one type of forced labor or another. While men and women are often equally forced into slavery, children are often the most victimized. They have had their dreams and their childhood stolen. Because it’s so widespread, the average person benefits from it, whether they like it or not....