Every August, Klepatan says goodbye to his lover Malena, before going to South Africa where he spends the spring and summer. Every March, like clockwork, he flies back to Croatia to be with his partner. Klepatan and the love of his life, Malena, are birds, storks to be more … [Read more...]
Mamoudou Gassama, a migrant from Mali, has become a household name in France. They call him the Spiderman of Paris. Mamoudou never considered himself a hero. He grew up in Mali, an African country riddled with poverty, famine, and war. Mamoudou sought to find a better life … [Read more...]
Life can be hard when you’re different. Just ask 7-year-old Braedon Monthony from New York. Shortly after he was born, the little boy was dealt a bad hand. He lost both of his legs due to a viral infection. His disability hasn’t prevented Braedon from living life to the … [Read more...]
When Max Montgomery met Andi Traynor for a first date, he had high hopes. They went surfing on a California beach early in the morning and had a great time. Exhausted and happy, the couple left the ocean. Then, out of the blue, 56-year-old Max collapsed. He lay on the sand, … [Read more...]
Elizabeth I was Queen of England for 45 years during the late 1500s. Her nickname was the Virgin Queen. The Queen was highly-intelligent and fluent in six different languages. Despite countless marriage offers, Queen Elizabeth never took a husband. She was the equal of any … [Read more...]
Andrew Carnegie arrived in America as a penniless 13-year-old. He was a stranger in a strange land. As an immigrant, the odds were stacked against him. Through hard work and self-belief, Carnegie would become the richest man in the world. He left a mixed legacy as one of the … [Read more...]
Irena Sendler smuggled children in boxes, suitcases and caskets, saving the lives of more than 2,500 Jewish children. During World War II, she watched in horror as the Nazis forced Jewish people to live in a ghetto in Warsaw, Poland where disease ran rampant. Soon, it … [Read more...]
In 1922, archeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tutankhamun, the boy-king, also known as King Tut. In 1907, Lord Carnarvon hired Carter to search the burial tombs of Egypt for dead nobles. For 16 years Carter hunted for archeological mysteries. His long search … [Read more...]
Daniel Tammet was born in London. His mother spoke English and he grew up in an English-speaking environment. Yet to his ears the English language was an alien language. Words and sentences were a puzzle the young boy could not figure out. Daniel was an autistic savant. He was … [Read more...]
Everything goes black. Tricia Kennedy thinks she is dead. It feels peaceful until the pain sets in. Then it is excruciating. The noise is deafening. The light is blinding. She realizes that she has been shot in the head. Kennedy was in a shooting competition when a bullet … [Read more...]
Ryan Said fell in love at first sight with a beautiful woman named Jasmine Merino. But this was not your run of the mill love story. Ryan was born a female and Jasmine was born a male. Said and Merino met on Instagram, and their connection was instant. When they first met, he … [Read more...]
It was a summer day in July 1976 when 26 kids between five and fifteen years of age boarded an elementary school bus to go home. Many of the children were still dripping with water from the water balloon fight they’d just had. Spirits were high as the bus drove along. None of … [Read more...]
Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest composers of all time. Yet by the time he was writing his last few masterpieces he was completely deaf. Beethoven wasn’t born deaf. He gradually lost all his hearing from the age of 30 onwards. He first had an inkling something … [Read more...]
Hypnosis is a form of direct communication with the unconscious mind. It is a valuable tool for raising self-awareness. It can also help people change negative patterns of behavior. It was accidentally invented by a man named Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer belongs to a small … [Read more...]
At the tender age of five, Ryan Hammons told his mother that he remembered being someone else. He recalled traveling the world, marrying five women, dancing on Broadway, and becoming a successful Hollywood agent. He started opening up to his mother, Cyndi, about his previous … [Read more...]
Charles Darwin, sometimes called the father of evolution was actually a co-parent in the groundbreaking theory of evolution. Interestingly, Darwin was influenced by a man called Alfred Russell Wallace, a follower of spiritualism. Spiritualism is defined as “a system of belief … [Read more...]
Liu Hu didn’t realize that he was banned from flying until he tried to book a plane ticket and was denied. He was told that his name had been added to a blacklist of untrustworthy people. This list is part of China’s plan to give each of its 1.4 billion citizens a score based on … [Read more...]
Creatures of all shapes and sizes have played a pivotal role in humanity’s history. Animals such as dogs and horses have transformed the way we live and work. Partially blind Mohammed Salim Patel has a phobia of dogs. Yet he needs help to navigate his way through his daily … [Read more...]
Ziryab is known as the slave who changed the world. His real name was Abul al-Hasan. He was born in Persia in 789 AD. He was nicknamed Ziryab which means Blackbird because of his dark complexion and the sweetness of his voice. Ziryab was born into slavery and served the … [Read more...]
‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ is a common Shakespeare reference from Romeo and Juliet. In the play, Juliet tells Romeo that his family name is not important. Their love is what matters. To many soon-to-be mothers and fathers, names do matter. Young parents … [Read more...]
