People Pirated Many More Files (And Many Fewer Ships) in 2013

While there were zero Somali pirate hijackings this year - the amount of content that was uploaded to The Pirate Bay this year increased by 50 percent

Border Agents Can Search Laptops “Without Reasonable Suspicion”

A U.S. District Court judge says border agents should be allowed to search travelers’ laptops

World War II Just Took Another Life As Relic Bomb Explodes

An old bomb just killed one and injured eight in Germany

Why So Many Afghanis Celebrate Their Birthdays on January 1

In the war-ravaged nation, many peoples’ birthdays are on January 1st

The World’s Third Oldest Bible, the Codex Washingtonianus, Is Making a Rare Museum Appearance

When the Codex was first published publicly in 1912, it caused a controversy because it contained an extra passage in the Gospel of Mark

A memorial ceremony held in 1974 in Tel Aviv, where a tribute to the victims of the Munich massacre was unveiled.

How Worried Should We Be About Terrorism at the Sochi Olympics?

The 1972 summer games held in Munich, Germany, suffered the worst terrorist attack in history

Futurists Once Dreamed of Submarine Helicopters And Spaceships Powered by Swans

The ships that we’ve dreamed up tell us a lot about just how badly humans have wanted to travel beyond our own world

The Shackleton expedition's scientist, Alexander Stevens, stands on one of the team's ships, the Aurora.

A Century-Old Roll of Undeveloped Film Was Just Found in Antarctica

A century-old set of negatives was found in an Antarctic supply hut

The History of Cone-Shaped Medieval Princess Hats

Known as hennins, the tall headdresses were popular among European noblewomen in the late Middle Ages

In 1949, a Physicist Proposed Using Skyscapers And a Roof to Control NYC’s Climate

No scorching summers, no freezing winters…just a nice pleasant time, all year round

A U.S. destroyer, part of the U.S. 6th Fleet, sits near Syria.

Syria’s Chemical Weapons Are Going on a Convoluted Journey Before They’re Destroyed

Multiple nations and multiple hand-offs will take Syria’s chemical weapons out of the country for disposal

A member of the Texas Camel Corps.

Cool Finds

The United States Army Used Camels Until After the Civil War

When the first American settlers started moving west, their horses and mules weren’t cut out for the long, dry treks

Victorians Made Jewelry Out of Human Hair

Hair work went out of fashion around 1925, but it was popular for hundreds of years before that

How the North American Aerospace Defense Command Got Into the Business of Tracking Santa

It all began in 1955 with Sears, a wrong number and a very confused Colonel

NASA Recreated the Moment When Apollo 8 Astronauts Captured the Iconic Earthrise Photograph

Cockpit recordings and modern mapping are used to show what, exactly, the astronauts were seeing out their windows when Earthrise was photographed

The Gift Card Was Invented by Blockbuster in 1994

So the next time you buy a little piece of plastic with money on it for someone, you can thank Blockbuster

A 900 year-old skull from Peru, whose former owner underwent brain surgery.

1,000 Years Ago, Patients Survived Brain Surgery, But They Had To Live With Huge Holes in Their Heads

The practice finally came to an end when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century and decided to make it illegal

Two Scientists Share Credit for the Theory of Evolution. Darwin Got Famous; This Biologist Didn’t.

When the Linnean Society of London hears the case for natural selection in 1858, Darwin shared credit with biologist A.R. Wallace

Every Year, a Swedish Town Builds a Giant Straw Goat, And People Just Can’t Help Burning It Down

In the 47 years that the town has erected Gävlebocken, it’s been set on fire 26 times

How One Chinese Corporate Spy Dodged the FBI to Steal Inbred Corn Seeds from Iowa

Mo Hailong faces a decade in prison for allegedly trying to steal millions of dollars-worth of corn seeds

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