citationpod

Crazy Patents

A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention.[1] In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights.[2]

Mickey Barreto - An NYC Real Estate Loophole Story

For five years, a New York City man managed to live rent-free in a landmark Manhattan hotel by exploiting an obscure local housing law.

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born 26 March 1941)[3] is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author.[4] He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. His 1976 book The Selfish Gene popularised the gene-centred view of evolution, as well as coining the term meme. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards.[5]

October Bonus: Inside the Dangerous, Secretive World of Extreme Fishing

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/10/extreme-fishing-montauk-wetsuiting-striped-bass/679574/

Siege Weapons and Fortifications

A siege engine is a weapon used to destroy fortifications such as defensive walls, castles, bunkers and fortified gateways.

A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").[1]

Pied Piper and the Children's Crusade

The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicoloured ("pied") clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away[1] with his magic pipe. When the citizens refused to pay for this service as promised, he retaliated by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase "pied piper" has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.[2]

Project 57

Project 57 was an open-air nuclear test conducted by the United States at the Nellis Air Force Range in 1957,[1][2] following Operation Redwing, and preceding Operation Plumbbob. The test area, also known as Area 13, was a 10 miles (16 km) by 16 miles (26 km) block of land abutting the northeast boundary of the Nevada National Security Site.[3]

Sun Wukong the Monkey King

Sun Wukong (Chinese: 孫悟空, Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n ûkʰʊ́ŋ]), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.[1] In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras from India, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell.[2]

Humanists for Harris Livestream - Audio Version

Here it is in case you missed it. If you want to read the chat you can go to Youtube and view it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/R3skyySEOuE?si=d01zRJyFvCnzarhj

You can still donate to add to the total if you missed it:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/humanists

Humanists for Harris Livestream Recording

Here it is in case you missed it. If you want to read the chat you can go to Youtube and view it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/R3skyySEOuE?si=d01zRJyFvCnzarhj

You can still donate to add to the total if you missed it:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/humanists

Hulk Hogan, the Love Sponge, and Peter Thiel

Bollea v. Gawker was a lawsuit filed in 2013 in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County, Florida, delivering a verdict on March 18, 2016. In the suit, Terry Gene Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hogan, sued Gawker Media, publisher of the Gawker website, and several Gawker employees and Gawker-affiliated entities[2] for posting portions of a sex tape of Bollea with Heather Clem, at that time the wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. Bollea's claims included invasion of privacy, infringement of personality rights, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Prior to trial, Bollea's lawyers said the privacy of many Americans was at stake while Gawker's lawyers said that the case could hurt freedom of the press in the United States.[4][5]

Link to the donation page with the embedded liveshow youtube link:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/humanists

Human Greetings and Congratulation Rituals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake

A handshake is a globally widespread, brief greeting or parting tradition in which two people grasp one of each other's hands, and in most cases, it is accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands. Customs surrounding handshakes are specific to cultures. Different cultures may be more or less likely to shake hands, or there may be different customs about how or when to shake hands.[1][2][3]

https://www.youtube.com/live/R3skyySEOuE?si=ryqPaI2LJ0Mgv4HR

The Ice Bowl

The 1967 NFL Championship Game was the 35th NFL championship, played on December 31 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.[1][2]

Because of the adverse conditions in which the game was played, the rivalry between the two teams, and the game's dramatic climax, it has been immortalized as the Ice Bowl and is considered one of the greatest games in NFL history. NFL 100 Greatest Games ranked this game as the 3rd greatest game of all time. It is still the coldest game ever played in NFL history.

Colton Harris Moore - The Barefoot Bandit

Colton Harris Moore (born March 22, 1991)[10] is an American former fugitive. He was charged with the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in property, including several small aircraft, boats, and multiple cars, all committed while still a teenager.

Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Louise Calment (French: [ʒan lwiz kalmɑ̃] ⓘ; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian and, with a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, the oldest person ever whose age has been verified.[1] Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. She is the only person verified to have reached the age of 120 and beyond.

According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and grandson.[2] In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person, and in 1995, at age 120, was declared the oldest verified person to have ever lived.[3]

JBS Haldane and the X-Craft

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS (/ˈhɔːldeɪn/; 5 November 1892 – 1 December 1964[1][2]), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS",[3] was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biology, he was one of the founders of neo-Darwinism. Despite his lack of an academic degree in the field,[1] he taught biology at the University of Cambridge, the Royal Institution, and University College London.[4] Renouncing his British citizenship, he became an Indian citizen in 1961 and worked at the Indian Statistical Institute for the rest of his life.

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and second circumnavigation overall. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.

The Conch Rebellion

The Conch Republic (/ˈkɒŋk/) is a micronation declared as a sarcastic secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982. It has been maintained as a tourism booster for the city. Since then, the term "Conch Republic" has been expanded to refer to "all of the Florida Keys, or, that geographic apportionment of land that falls within the legally defined boundaries of Monroe County, Florida, northward to 'Skeeter's Last Chance Saloon' in Florida City, Dade County, Florida, with Key West as the micronation's capital and all territories north of Key West being referred to as 'The Northern Territories'".[1]

Anthony Comstock

Anthony Comstock (March 7, 1844 – September 21, 1915) was an American anti-vice activist, United States Postal Inspector, and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), who was dedicated to upholding Christian morality. He opposed obscene literature, abortion, contraception, masturbation, gambling, prostitution, and patent medicine. The terms comstockery and comstockism refer to his extensive censorship campaign of materials that he considered obscene, including birth control advertised or sent by mail. He used his positions in the U.S. Postal Service and the NYSSV (in association with the New York police) to make numerous arrests for obscenity and gambling. Besides these pursuits, he was also involved in efforts to suppress fraudulent banking schemes, mail swindles, and medical quackery.[2]

Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro

The United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made numerous unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. There were also attempts by Cuban exiles, sometimes in cooperation with the CIA. The 1975 Church Committee claimed eight proven CIA assassination attempts between 1960 and 1965. In 1976, President Gerald Ford issued an Executive Order banning political assassinations. In 2006, Fabián Escalante, former chief of Cuba's intelligence, stated that there had been 634 assassination schemes or attempts. The last known plot to assassinate Castro was by Cuban exiles in 2000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro

Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar. He was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Late Bronze Age Collapse

The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC associated with environmental change, mass migration, and the destruction of cities. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near East, in particular Egypt, eastern Libya, the Balkans, the Aegean, Anatolia, and, to a lesser degree, the Caucasus. It was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, and it brought a sharp economic decline to regional powers, notably ushering in the Greek Dark Ages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse

Spaceships That Weren't

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canceled_launch_vehicle_designs

Even before the launch of Sputnik 1, there were various types of launch vehicle designs. The launch vehicle designs described below are either canceled or never left the drawing board.

Frank Bourassa - The Greatest Counterfeiter in the World

Counterfeiting of the currency of the United States is widely attempted. According to the United States Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation, or approximately 1 note in counterfeits for every 10,000 in genuine currency, with an upper bound of $200 million counterfeit, or 1 counterfeit per 4,000 genuine notes.[1][2] However, these numbers are based on annual seizure rates on counterfeiting, and the actual stock of counterfeit money is uncertain because some counterfeit notes successfully circulate for a few transaction

Unusual Deaths 4

This list of unusual deaths includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history, noted as being unusual by multiple sources.

The Ark Encounter

Ark Encounter is a Christian theme park that opened in Williamstown, Kentucky, United States, in 2016.[2][3] The centerpiece of the park is a large representation of Noah's Ark, based on the Genesis flood narrative contained in the Bible. It is 510 feet (155.4 m) long, 85 feet (25.9 m) wide, and 51 feet (15.5 m) high.

First Expeditions to Mount Everest

Mount Everest[3] is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point.[4] Its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.[5][6]

May Bonus: Ray Comfort, "Banana Man" Chapter 1-2

What do you do when the world’s most famous atheist mocks and insults you on international television, in universities, and throughout social media?

You look to the Bible and see how Joseph was humiliated before the time came when God opened a big door of opportunity for him. You see how Moses was abased before God opened a big sea for him. You take comfort in the Scriptures—in the knowledge that those who trusted God were often the object of “cruel mockings,” in the principle of humiliation before promotion, of God taking someone low before raising them up for His use.

And that’s precisely what happened when Ray Comfort was christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins and then mocked worldwide by the atheist community.

It was then that something strange and wonderful began to happen. Millions came under the sound of the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man.

So, if you’re afraid of looking foolish as a Christian, not only will this true story fascinate, delight, and encourage you, but it will also help you see God’s hand in your life and bring your own fears into perspective.

“What an appealing story! Banana Man will show how you can bear sweet and lasting fruit in this often hostile world.” —David and Jason Benham

“Last night I received the book I ordered and stayed up past my usual bedtime to finish it. I enjoyed it so much.” —April Hendricks

“I just finished reading Banana Man and loved it!” —Chad Williams, US Navy SEAL

“I can’t eat a banana anymore without thinking of Ray.” —Hemant Mehta, FriendlyAtheist.com

“Stop! Put this book down and back away slowly. My book is better. Read that instead.” —David Silverman, President, American Atheists, Inc.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart (/ˈɛərhɑːrt/ AIR-hart; born July 24, 1897; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, she embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance has become a cultural icon.[2] Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and she set many other records.[3] She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.[4]

Chicxulub Impact

The Chicxulub crater (IPA: [t͡ʃikʃuˈluɓ] ⓘ cheek-shoo-LOOB) is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore, but the crater is named after the onshore community of Chicxulub Pueblo.[3] It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large meteorite, about ten kilometers (six miles) in diameter, struck Earth. The crater is estimated to be 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and 20 kilometers (12 miles) in depth. It is the second largest confirmed impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research.[4]