39
POPSThe 10 Weirdest Facts about American Presidents 7. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was reported to be a very interesting character. When not having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfasts in bed or riding his own mechanical bull, he was ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. 8. So far, all American presidents have claimed ancestry limited to one or more of just seven nationalities: Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh. 9. Grover Cleveland was the only president to openly admit that he had fathered an illegitimate child. 10. There were four presidents who were not actual presidents of the United States: Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones were all presidents of the Republic of Texas. Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America.
25
POPSMary Seacole: Black British Heroine Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother a Jamaican. Mary learned her nursing skills from her mother, who kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Although technically 'free', being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil rights - they could not vote, hold public office or enter the professions. In 1836, Mary married Edwin Seacole but the marriage was short-lived as he died in 1844.
20
POPS12 Weirdest Things Ever Insured Whiskey company Cutty Sark was offering a $1.5 million prize for capturing the mythical Scottish lake inhabitant, the Loch Ness Monster, alive. They then took out home insurance against paying this prize, just in case someone actually did capture it alive. During the 1930s, then 13 year old Harvey Lowe insured his hands for $150,000, which was a large sum of money at the time. Harvey was the Yo-Yo World Champion of that era, having been playing since he was 12. He is still yo-yoing and filling up his current account to this day.
15
POPSHow can you spot a Wildcat? I worked in a hospital for a year, and the grounds were full of cats gone wild. They congregated at the incinerator when it cooled down at night looking for cooked body parts. Not sure if these would count as wild. They certainly were not cuddly!
13
POPSGuys, What wouldn't you HUMP? Bots A 33-year-old known only as Zoltan made news in Georgia by marrying the robot he built. Zoltan and his womandroid have a happy relationship, not only because she doesn't have voice capability, but also because she surprisingly has no presidential aspirations. Beer Bottles Straight from the fertile 'tard farm of Yahoo! Answers comes this provocative inquiry: "How do I get my penis out of a beer bottle?" Don't bother replying, folks—moments later, the questioner explained that he freed himself by cracking a hole in the base of the bottle and applying some ice before lubing it all up. Buddy, that's not what they mean by "Tap the Rockies." So, which is the more creative sex? Maybe the females can come up with better.
12
POPSBig step in tiny technology Dr Manfred Buck, of the University¿s School of Chemistry, explained, "One of the central issues in nanotechnology is the development of simple and reliable methods to precisely arrange molecules and other nanoscopic objects. One promising route intensively investigated by scientists around the world involves the ability of molecules to spontaneously assemble onto a surface. What we have done is successfully combined two strategies which are complementary but, so far, have been explored independently, and it is this combination which opens up unprecedented opportunities for accessing the ultrasmall length scale." "The potential of this approach lies in its flexibility on a scale, about 1/10000 of the diameter of a human hair. Using molecules as building units, the features of our structures are less than 5 nanometres in size, which enables us to control structures and materials at dimensions where new properties emerge."
12
POPSWHO: Ireland the safest country in Europe In Estonia, it is 8.85 per 100,000, while Lithuania has 8.9 and Latvia 10.37. A senior lecturer in University College Cork, said the WHO figures proved the Irish justice system had been working effectively without the proposed reforms. "These figures show the due process model of justice we've operated for over 100 years has operated effectively and there is a proper balance," Mr Kilcommins added.
11
POPSAncient Texts Library You can find the Gilgamesh Epic, Enuma Elish, Sephir Yetzirah, Book of Dead, Celtic texts, Plato's dialogues or Rubaiyat of Omar Hayyam here.
11
POPSIrish drunks “I want a wall around England, protecting her, so that no one will get in for all eternity.” Again, with a blink of the Genie’s eye POOF! there was a huge wall around England. The Irishman asks, “I’m very curious. Please tell me more about this wall.” The Genie explains, “well, it’s about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick, protecting England so that nothing can get in or out.” The Irishman says, “Fill it up with water.”
10
POPSThe CELTS by Enya
Antiquarian interest from the 17th century led to the term Celt being extended, and rising nationalism brought Celtic revivals from the 19th century in areas where the use of Celtic languages had continued. Today, "Celtic" is often used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany (see the Modern Celts article), but corresponds more accurately to the Celtic language family - of which six languages are spoken today (Manx and Cornish being recent revivals): Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx (Goidelic languages) and Welsh, Breton and Cornish (Brythonic languages). Only in the last two decades of the twentieth century did multidisciplinary studies come to bear upon the history of the Celts. Disciplines such as ancient history, palaeolinguistics, archaeology, history of art, anthropology, population genetics, history of religion, ethnology, mythology and folklore studies must all be taken into consideration and the
10
POPSEnglish, Irish, Scots: They’re All One, Genes Suggest "The genetic evidence is still under development, however, and because only very rough dates can be derived from it, it is hard to weave evidence from DNA, archaeology, history and linguistics into a coherent picture of British and Irish origins."
9
POPSIt's a Conspiracy! I've been hearing a lot about the "New World Order", the Illuminati, the Freemasons and all that stuff lately and I find it simply fascinating! (but scary!!) If anybody else loves a good mystery and would enjoy a trip down the rabbit hole, this is a good place to start. I've gotten as far as: Why is this guy's statue standing near the foot of Capitol Hill?? Aah, the plot thickens...
13
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update