The ancient civilization of Atlantis was a utopia. It was lush and full of food and wildlife. And the people of Atlantis were wise and just. They were a knowledgeable society capable of amazing feats of architecture and engineering. Most people believe that the story of Atlantis is just a legend, but some say it was a real place that was destroyed by a flood and earthquakes.
Healing With A Whisper
Babka Vanda’s grandmother claimed to be able to heal people with just a whisper. The local priest forbade her from treating people until one day a snake bit the priest. Vanda’s grandmother whispered words into the wind, and just like that, the priest was cured and she was allowed to heal people again.
Did Plant Poisoning Lead to Famous Witch Hunt?
The date is September 22nd. The year is 1692. On Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, a mob gathers. They are there to witness eight of their friends and families sentenced to death. The crime? Witchcraft! The bloodthirsty crowd is immune to the tears of the condemned. In their eyes, they have committed the most unforgivable of sins. They have sold their souls to Satan and must pay the price.
Formula For Happiness
In 1922, Albert Einstein was staying in a hotel in Tokyo. Without any money to tip a hotel deliveryman, he instead gave him a couple of notes on hotel stationery about happiness and success. While the man was probably unable to read the advice, he recognized their value and held on to them. In October of this year, the deliveryman’s nephew sold the notes for 1.3 million dollars.
Princess Spy
Noor Inayat Khan was born a princess but died living the life of a spy while fighting the Nazis. She was born in Moscow in 1914 to an American mother and an aristocratic Indian father, which made her a princess. Khan and her family soon moved to London and then Paris where she went to school. After completing her education, she began writing children’s stories and may have gone on to lead the quiet life of a writer. But this was not her path.
Typos Can Be Life Or Death
Typos are careless spelling or punctuation mistakes. They are usually minor, but not always. Sometimes these small mistakes can cost millions of dollars. NASA, the US space agency, made a little mistake in 1962 that had a big impact. Their spacecraft, called “Mariner 1”, was launched in 1962 with the goal of flying by the planet Venus. The spacecraft was robotic, so there were no people onboard. Because of this, its navigation was controlled by software. Unfortunately, the person in charge of writing the software forgot one character – a hyphen. This missing hyphen caused the software to malfunction. The spacecraft exploded after takeoff, costing NASA $80 million!
Shakespeare Idioms For Everyday Conversation
Shakespeare died over 400 years ago, but his words live on in everyday English conversations. Even native English speakers who don’t know his plays, use idioms the famous playwright coined over 400 years ago.
Sloppy Scientist Saves A Hundred Million Lives
Mold is all around us. In the air and on our food, it can make us sick and gross us out, but not all molds are bad. Some can make delicious food and others can save lives. One famous mold, discovered by accident by a sloppy scientist, became the first antibiotic medicine: penicillin.
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