The Desperado - The Atavist Magazine
In April 2018, a blind man with one foot robbed a bank in Austin, Texas. This is a heist story—but unlike any you’ve ever read.
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(29) Harry Patch: The Last Tommy - YouTube
This truly wonderful film, first broadcast in 2009, examines the life and times of a truly wonderful old gentleman, Britain's last fighting survivor of the Great War, Harry Patch. Harry died in 2009 at the age of 111 years, one month, one week and one day. See the excellent…
https://curiosity.com/topics/anatoli-bugorski-the-man-who-put-his-head-inside-a-particle-accelerator-and-survived-curiosity/
How an Olympic Hopeful Robbed 26 Banks on His Bike
Tom Justice was once a cyclist chasing gold. Then he began using his wheels for a much different purpose: stickups.
The Secret Sushi Bar on the 10th Floor
A controversial chef has created a sort of sushi speakeasy in a hotel room. It’s not easy to get a reservation. For one thing, there are only four seats at the bar.
The Plot to Kill George Washington
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In The First Conspiracy, thriller writer Brad Meltzer uncovers a real-life story too good to turn into fiction
The Tech Revolt
A conversation with the engineers, designers, and research scientists pushing for a more ethical Silicon Valley.
The Mysterious Life (and Death) of Africa’s Oldest Trees
On the plight of the baobab tree.
The Ministry of Mr. Rogers
On the choices Fred Rogers made.
How a Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old Into a Rap Legend
The story of Dr. Sherman Hershfield, who became Dr. Rapp.
Well, That Was One Hell of a Ride | By Richard Jefferson
Any idiot can get married. Any idiot can be a father. An NBA title? That’s work. That’s worth crying over.
Arborists Are Bringing the 'Dinosaur of Trees' Back To Life
Arborists are cloning saplings from the stumps of the world's largest, strongest, and longest-lived trees -- felled for timber more than a century ago -- to create redwood "super groves" that can help fight climate change. "Using saplings made from the basal sprouts of these…
Science’s pirate queen
Alexandra Elbakyan runs Sci-Hub, a website with over 64 million academic papers available for free to anybody in the world.
Underrated | By Stephen Curry
You didn’t think this was one of those fairytales where the kid gets some pep talk, and everything changes right? It REALLY isn’t that.
"Leave No Soldier Behind"
The unsolved mystery of the soldier who died in the watchtower.
The Strange and Mysterious Death of Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis – Rolling Stone
Was Jerry Lee Lewis' fourth wife murdered, and did the man known as "the Killer" do it?
Beautiful But Deadly: The Creepiest Devices From Medicine’s Grisly, Leech-F
[caption id="attachment_78739" align="aligncenter" width="483"] Close-up of an Auzoux anatomic male manikin, made of hand-painted papier mâché, circa 18...
The castaway tribal woman who spent 18 years alone on an island…
Image credit: Babbage CC BY-SA 3.0If you are fond of castaway tales, the story of a Juana Maria may not only fascinate you immensely but might also break your heart.The tribal woman was part of Nicoleño, an Aborigines tribe who used to inhabit the Channel Islands, 61…
Pickup™ turns romance into a commodity for male consumption | Aeon Essays
The pickup industry mates market logic with the arts of seduction – turning human intimacy into hard labour
On the Trail of the World's Most Daring Egg Smuggler
For decades Jeffrey Lendrum helicoptered up and rappelled down to aeries on cliff faces from Patagonia to Quebec, snatching unhatched raptors and selling them, investigators believe, to wealthy Middle Eastern falconers. This week in London, one of the most bizarre criminals in…
The blind spot of science is the neglect of lived experience | Aeon Essays
It’s tempting to think science gives a God’s-eye view of reality. But we forget the place of human experience at our peril
Brannock Device History: A Machine That Measures Feet
How the Brannock Device, a measuring tool you’ve definitely seen but don’t know the name of, made it a lot easier to figure out our shoe size.
How a soccer agent and Chinese billionaire aimed to trade in players
The Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes joined forces with investors from Shanghai and planned to cash in on buying and selling athletes, documents show.
The Story of Dyngo, a War Dog Brought Home From Combat
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I brought a seasoned veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan into my home—and then things got wild
The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation’s Biggest Art Heist
A profile of the climber and thief Vjeran Tomic, dubbed Spider-Man by the French press, who describes robbery as an act of imagination.
The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation’s Biggest Art Heist
The skilled climber and thief Vjeran Tomic, whom the French press referred to as Spider-Man, has described robbery as an act of imagination.
The King of Adventure Stares Down Death
A rodeo cowboy, skydiver, firefighter, ultramarathoner and motorcycle racer, Coach Stroud is a 71-year-old badass. And he’s determined to die on his own terms.
Deal-Master Debbane: Meet The Secretive Lebanese Immigrant Behind Oprah’s W
With eye-popping gains in everything from gourmet dog food to graham crackers and diet plans, Invus’ Raymond Debbane is rewriting the rules of private equity.
How a Real-Estate Scuffle Turned into a True Tale of Miami Vice
They’re known as the Jills. They’re two of America’s top realtors, selling the glitziest mansions in Miami. Then a place went missing—and everyday greed blossomed into full-blown extortion.
The unbelievable tale of a fake hitman, a kill list, a darknet vigilante...
Hitman-for-hire darknet sites are all scams. But some people turn up dead nonetheless
The game of their lives was 25 years ago. They’re still replaying it in the
The exploits of a high school football team can become small-town legend. For the Prestonsburg Blackcats of Eastern Kentucky, the 1993 season “was like something out of a movie, if you’ve ever seen ‘Hoosiers,’ ” one coach said. Reality, however, left more complicated memories.
Max Cooper - Emergence
Emergence is the story of natural laws and processes, their inherent beauty, and their action to yield the universe, us and the world we live in.
Was History Fair to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Owners? | At the Smiths
Charged with manslaughter, the owners were acquitted in December 1911. A Smithsonian curator reexamines the labor and business practices of the era
An Elephant Crackup? - The New York Times
Attacks by elephants on villages, people and other animals are on the rise. Some researchers are pointing to a species-wide trauma and the fraying of the fabric of pachyderm society.
Make Peace with Your Unlived Life
We all contain multitudes.
The Secret Baby Catchers of Alabama
They work in hotel rooms, Airbnbs and used RVs just over the state line, so women can give birth on their own terms.
The Yoda of Silicon Valley (Published 2018)
Donald Knuth, master of algorithms, reflects on 50 years of his opus-in-progress, “The Art of Computer Programming.”
My Dad's Friendship With Charles Barkley
How a cat litter scientist from Iowa ended up in an NBA star’s inner circle.
The Bleeding Edge: a terrifying, enraging look at the corrupt, deadly world
Prior to 1976, the FDA did not regulate medical implants, and so shoddy and even deadly devices proliferated, inserted into Americans' body. When the FDA finally decided to regulate implants,…
A Professional Safecracker Reveals His Craft - The Atlantic
Charlie Santore sees Los Angeles from the inside, by breaking into safes whose owners can no longer unlock them.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the power of ‘difficult women’
The Notorious R.B.G.'s influence on American politics and modern culture has been an inspiration for women in the United States and throughout the world.
Tarrare: The Medical Marvel Who Could Eat Anything — And Did
"The dogs and cats fled in terror at his aspect, as if they had anticipated the kind of fate he was preparing for them."
In praise of parasites
They worm into snails and infect the brains of fish. They’ve also found their way into Kevin Lafferty’s heart. He sees them as beautiful examples of sophisticated evolution, and as keys to ecosystem balance.
“Looking for Elvis”: An Oral History of Saddam Hussein's Capture
In early 2003, long on confidence and short on foresight, the United States invaded Iraq and sent its despot into hiding. Fifteen years ago this month, we found him. (And that’s when our real challenges began.) Here, the harrowing story of Saddam Hussein’s capture, as told by…
The Unlikely New Generation of Unabomber Acolytes
Ted Kaczynski’s letters from jail.
Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi opted to play in Russia both for money an
Unlikely comrades Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner play overseas for the money. As it turns out, they also simplify their lives.
An Archive of 800 Imaginative Propaganda Maps Designed to Shape Opinions &
We tend to take a very special interest in archives and maps on this site—and especially in archives of maps. Yet it is rare, if not unheard of, to discover a map archive in which every single entry repays attention.
Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom
Amid the brutal civil war, a town fought off the regime and the fundamentalists—and dared to hold an election. Can its experiment in democracy survive?
https://www.rbth.com/longreads/jackals/
Mr Wu
‘A middle-aged woman in teddy bear-spangled pajamas came hurtling down on a flatbed tricycle.’ Pallavi Aiyar returns to China.