TopTenz - Daily Top 10s

Who can really say how names are formed? Well, some linguists may know the answer to that question, but not even they know the origins for each and every name in existence today. Nevertheless, we can (to a certain extent) know the origins for some things out there in the world. And the best examples of this are things that are named after people – either those things’ inventors, or named in their honor for one reason or another. Now, with that being said, let’s take a look at 10 of our favorites.

Even though we no longer live in the Dark Ages and life is more easily predictable than ever, things can still go bad at a moment’s notice. And it’s always a great idea to know what to do in those kinds of situations so that you can actually increase your chances of survival. As anyone can tell you, there are countless ways in which one person’s life can be put in danger. Here are just 10 examples, and what to do in case you are faced with one of them.

For the many achievements made by our men and women of science in understanding the world and everything in it, there are still a lot of things we don’t know, or we’re not completely sure about. Other things, while more logical for our level of understanding, are so rare that, when they do happen, they seem out of this world. So, with this in mind, let’s look at 10 such cases of rare or strange anomalies around the world.

Assassination is so ingrained in American culture that it’s practically a national pastime. Every single president since Lyndon Johnson has been the target of an assassination attempt; with plenty more before LBJ also finding themselves on the wrong end of a bullet. That’s before you take into account the lower-ranking politicians attacked, the civil rights figures, the sportsmen, the artists… All we’re saying is that, if assassination was an Olympic sport, team USA would be beating everyone but Russia.

For awhile, it was a cliche to portray screen actors who played tough characters as effete people behind the scenes. That’s not what this list is about. No, we’re going so far in the other direction that we’re going to highlight people who made movies with pulse-pounding, high octane action, and yet it was still nothing compared to the things they did in real life. Truth might not necessarily be stranger than fiction, but it can often be more hardcore. The stories might have been related making a movie, but in the majority of cases they had nothing to do with any film production.

Our world is chock full of amazing places. Seriously, go out your front door, start walking in any random direction, and chances are that you’ll probably hit something interesting within a few hours. It could be a meadow, a groovy street you’ve never visited before, a windswept stretch of coastline, or even just an all you can eat noodle bar offering free drinks to every unshaven customer. Hey, amazing is a relative concept.

When you hear the words “big city”, what pops into your head? For most Americans, New York is the quintessential big city. For most Brits, it’s London. For those living in rural Appalachia, it might be Charleston, West Virginia, a town of about 50,000. But none of these cities are even in the top 20 most populous worldwide. Everyone knows about Beijing and Tokyo, but we bet at least a few of these places you haven’t heard of, let alone realized they were bigger than the Big Apple. And there’s a fair chance there will be a couple you can’t even pronounce.

Dictators sometimes have no choice in their evil schemes but to get violent, start calling in the troops, and use methods that create calls for condemnation all over the world. However, most leaders and their ministers of propaganda would rather find a way to trick you into going along with their way of thinking before going to such extreme lengths. It’s a lot less trouble, a lot less expensive, and gives your enemies less propaganda against you, when you can convince your own people to do your dirty work for you, or get them under your control without firing a shot.

Living in a world that’s so detached from nature, we often forget just how connected to it we really are. Many people living in huge cities around the world have never left their urban environments, and as a result, the natural world seems to them as foreign a concept as outer space is for most of us – we know it’s out there, but we tend to think about it more like something out of the realm of sci-fi. Nevertheless, nature is a part of us whether we feel the connection or not, and the many animals that inhabit this world right alongside us are nothing more than our evolutionary cousins – we’re all part of the same big ‘happy’ family. And like with every family, there are some traits that many of us share. It’s time for a long overdue ‘family reunion’ and see just how ‘related and alike’ we all really are.

Customs around death are one of the most ritualized aspects of human existence. However, the traditions and rituals undertaken by those grieving the loss of a loved one vary wildly; one culture’s “strange” is another culture’s way of remembering Nana. Below are 10 mourning traditions that may seem strange to those who don’t follow them…

When Charles Darwin studied the process of evolution in the 1800s, he realized that animals have a selective breeding process he called “natural selection.” Animals who were born with a predisposition to survive longer in their environment were the ones to survive and mate with one another, passing on their DNA. Because of this process, the species becomes smarter, faster, stronger, and more likely to thrive in their environments in the next generation.

Disney is known for being one of the most family-friendly companies you could imagine, and spends an incredible amount of money to maintain that illusion and appear as one of the most squeaky clean companies in the world. Disney is the company that bought Star Wars, and immediately banned the appearance of smoking in films – villain or otherwise – because of the children.

Sci-fi movies tend to create some of the most ridiculous worlds and scenarios imaginable, but that’s what we love about them. We get to see things that perhaps have some basis in a potential future someday, and stir our imaginations greatly, but are far beyond our current grasp. Unfortunately, since it is science fiction and most writers are more concerned with telling an interesting story, scientific accuracy and other real world concerns often get thrown entirely out the window. While most of your favorite sci-fi flicks have a happy ending, in reality many of these happy endings would have been anything but.

Bugs suck. There can be no doubt about the truth of that statement in the minds of many who get bitten by a small natural enemy, but from a purely scientific perspective, it is simply a fact. Bugs are actually a specific taxonomic category of insects, known properly as the true bugs, whose defining trait is that they suck, whether it be plant juice, the liquified remains of enzymatically digested prey, or animal body fluids that is consumed by a bug. In this account, we profile the most outrageous bugs to crawl the Earth, ones guaranteed to astound or horrify the first-time viewer.

Dictators sometimes have no choice in their evil schemes but to get violent, start calling in the troops, and use methods that create calls for condemnation all over the world. However, most leaders and their ministers of propaganda would rather find a way to trick you into going along with their way of thinking before going to such extreme lengths. It’s a lot less trouble, a lot less expensive, and gives your enemies less propaganda against you, when you can convince your own people to do your dirty work for you, or get them under your control without firing a shot.

Not so long ago, the best way to become president was to join the army and serve your country with distinction. A bit later, it was to work your way up the ranks of elected official, governor, Senator, and then into the White House. These days, the best route seems to be becoming famous and then using your celebrity to get loads of people to vote for you. Gone are the days of your Dwight D. Einsenhowers, your FDRs, your JFKs. Gone, even, are the days of Ronald Reagan, who started as an actor, before switching late to the whole governor-White House trail. Today, it’s reality shows and showmanship that win you elections, and they may be here to stay.

If necessity is the mother of all invention, then the concept of annoyance is probably like its weird second cousin or something. We say this because a surprisingly eclectic range of inventions and media exist today almost purely because the person who came up with the idea first really wanted to annoy someone they didn’t like. For example, did you know that…

In many parts of the world today, a lot of people are living relatively sheltered lives. But that safety and comfort can disappear at a moment’s notice. Compared to what nature can throw at us, the human body is a fragile thing. But in some fortunate cases, where people were faced with some truly grueling odds, they nevertheless managed to survive. Here are 10 such cases where survival was thought to be next to impossible.

In April of 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail on its way to New York City, and it was one of the biggest ocean liners of its time. It hit an iceberg, and unfortunately, there were only 20 lifeboats on its maiden voyage, which was not enough to save everyone on board. More than 1,500 people died, and the survivors witnessed the boat sink. More than 100 years later, people are still fascinated by the tragedy, and it inspired what is now considered to be one of the most tragic romance movies of all-time.

Back in the day, it used to be harder to be a big fan of anything that wasn’t sports, or something similar, as people would make fun of you for being a geek. Today, it is quite accepted to be incredibly obsessive about almost any facet of popular culture, even if liking it or being into it doesn’t actually require any knowledge, practice, or constitute an actual hobby with interactive activities.

The narrative we’re usually fed is that people achieve fame and fortune through passionately pursuing the future of their dreams. That might be true in the majority of cases. But the world of celebrities is filled with eccentrics and oddly-charmed people, so perhaps in some way it makes sense that the people who go farthest in their fields of choice didn’t get there in the predictable way. Still, even allowing for all that, these stories are enough to leave a fan gobsmacked.

inn are basically the bogeymen of the Muslim world, haunting the Middle East, Asia, and parts of Africa today just as they have done for centuries. The term actually derives from an Arabic root meaning “to conceal,” since these are beings that for the most part are said to elude human perception. It may also be related to the Avestic/Old Iranian jaini (a wicked female spirit), but it entered English as “genie,” which—in line with the Latin word genus—refers to a guardian spirit.

One of the most extraordinary things about the internet is that the answer, to virtually any question, is at your fingertips. Knowledge is just one click away. And as the leading search engine in the world (sorry Bing), Google has a unique part to play in a user’s ability to find answers. So we took it upon ourselves to type “is it possible” into Google’s search bar, and let autocomplete do the rest in helping us discover some of the most commonly asked questions (and, hopefully, answers) on the web. Here’s what we found…

Secret police forces have existed since time immemorial, from the Frumentarii of Ancient Rome to the mass digital surveillance of today. And while they’re more commonly associated with some of the most nefarious dictatorships on the planet, these unaccountable, state-funded heavies with a license to snoop have become increasingly and unnervingly banal—perhaps even cynically expected—all over the world.

World War Two was fought on a colossal scale. Battles could last for months and involve millions of combatants. Major gains were rarely made without a vast expenditure of manpower and resources. However, there were rare occasions where a few men accomplished extraordinary things. With the advantage of surprise, preparation, and no small amount of luck, it was possible for a small force to inflict damage out of all proportion to its size.

Police and detectives are bogged down with so many crimes on a daily basis, it’s impossible to solve every case. Thankfully, loads of people on the internet have plenty of time on their hands. Social media can give key evidence in a case that would have been much more difficult to find in the past. Amateur websleuths have come together to solve the following 10 crimes.

In most cases, once someone becomes a celebrity their past endeavors and successes become irrelevant. They just become a celebrity, and are known for the roles they play in the entertainment industry. It turns out, many celebrities were intelligent enough to have chosen other career paths or transitioned to acting after already have successful careers. Here are 10 celebrities who are most definitely smarter than us…

In chaos theory, one small event in the universe can trigger a series of events that changed history forever. This is also called “the butterfly effect.” As you’ll in this list, one single event truly can change the course of humanity. These 10 “what if” questions will leave you pondering alternate histories that very nearly became a reality.

Many people adore their cars, others are transfixed by motorbikes, but for some, they need something way more powerful to love: airplanes. Most of the time, we barely notice them while they fly way above our heads, but if you really stop to learn more about them, you’ll discover they really are things of beauty and grace.

There is a saying that dogs are a man’s best friend. Many pet owners feel like their pups are practically their children, and they would do anything to keep them out of harm’s way. These 10 stories are about people who stepped up to save dogs’ lives from extraordinary circumstances.

Humans hunt and eat animals every single day. Unless you’re a vegetarian, vegan, or animal rights activist, it’s not something that even crosses our minds on a daily basis. However, these 10 stories show what happens when animals choose to strike back against their human oppressors once and for all.

The word “prehistory” refers to the earliest period of human development, up until the start of recorded events. But since the world evolved differently in terms of its humanity, prehistory starts and ends at different times, in different regions. Europe is no exception to this rule.

Shame is a powerful emotion, a fact a number of enterprising businesses and government entities have taken full advantage of over the years in an attempt to curtail obnoxious and inconsiderate behavior. Join us as we chronicle some of the more amusing examples we could find of people weaponizing shame to make the world a marginally better place for the rest of us.

As we’ve mentioned before (several times now), the world is full of people who commit a sizeable percentage of their waking life to achieving goals that would seem unusual or impossible to ordinary folk. Something we absolutely think should be applauded because in this, the darkest timeline, it’s nice to know there are people out there who’d spontaneously develop the ability to fly to headbutt a nuclear missile out of the sky if it prevented them from doing what they loved.

Did you know there are only 19 true democracies on the planet? According to the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) yearly ranking, fewer than 10 percent of all the countries in the world are “full democracies.” That means you’re statistically likely to be reading this from a place which didn’t make the hallowed top 20. Bummer.

By this point, regular readers and viewers of TopTenz have surely been made so wealthy by the knowledge we’ve provided that they have some money to save. But no matter how much cash they have available, what they always seem to have more of is investment options. Lucrative options. Safe options. Options that make investors feel like they’re cleverly gaming the system. And in pursuing these investments, many people are rushing into plans that either will, or may soon, make them lose the shirts off their backs.

When you go out drinking, it’s pretty normal to want to hang out with or try to meet people with your same interests. For people who would much rather go to a comic convention than a sports game, it can be hard to find a drinking hole that makes them feel welcome. But these great geek bars are perfect for anyone who has ever debated Star Wars vs. Star Trek or Marvel vs. DC. And with Comic-Con coming up this week, it feels like the right time to tell you about some of the best places to nerd out in if you can’t make it to San Diego.

Let’s face it. Pretty soon, robots will take over the world, and humanity will become a distant memory. The good news is, by the time technology catches up to The Terminator, we will already be dead.

Tabloid television, or as critics refer to it, “Trash TV,” is made up of abrasive talk shows that set up confrontations and consciously try to be controversial and shocking. Despite being panned for their lowbrow nature and appealing to the lowest common denominator, tabloid talk shows have struck a chord with television audiences and have been popular for the past 50 years.

Reverence for the dead is shared amongst nearly all peoples and cultures. Some groups, like Native Americans, believe that chants and prayers must be said for the dead to reach the afterlife. Other cultures believe that the dead should never viewed, even by their immediate family. Of all the groups and cultures, the Vikings had some of the most striking customs for sending their dead to the afterlife. Valhalla was very much a real place to Vikings, filled with loved ones who had died on the battlefield. In order for warriors to join their forefathers in heaven, particular rites and customs must be carried out. Here are 10 fascinating facts about Viking funerals.

The need to breed and reproduce is hardwired into life’s DNA. Only those species that ensure the birth of the next generation continue on this Earth. Man’s technology has largely negated the need for large families, but some still strive to push the limits of human fertility, as you’ll soon see…

Aside from possibly Greece’s Oracle of Delphi, the Vestal Virgins devoted to the Roman goddess Vesta, ruler of the Hearth, are the most famous ancient cult in European history. Yet most people don’t really know much about this esteemed group, even though they were one of the most enduring organizations in Roman history.

Most people have fond memories of going to the zoo. The experience of waiting, in anticipation, to see a lion or a tiger come out of its cave. Leaning close to the glass as a chimpanzee or orangutan comes closer. However, the animals we witnessed on those visits didn’t feel the same thrill that we did. They were, quite possibly, in great pain. We’ve come to accept that other sentient beings can be used for entertainment or pleasure, but it may be time reevaluate that belief. It turns out that zoos have a dramatically negative effect on the animals they’re supposed to protect. And although zoo advocates would argue that endangered species are protected by zoos, the overwhelming consensus is that it’s just not true.

The Medjay are mostly known only because of the blockbuster Mummy trilogy starring Brendan Fraser, or the most recent addition to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. And despite increasing interest in Ancient Egypt in recent years, the amount of knowledge most people have of them is minimal. In the Mummy trilogy, they still exist in the modern day, an elite band of warriors that has passed down their skill over the generations in order to protect the hidden treasures of the long dead pharaohs. However, while they no longer exist in modern times, their story and their history is much more fascinating than the small tidbits we learn when watching The Mummy.

Is it possible we will ever have a universal way for all humans to communicate? Imagine if you could talk to anyone on Earth in a way they would understand, and you could understand the answer. Some say universal communication will come about through technology. Simultaneous translators are getting faster and better, but still have a way to go. Plus, they’d have to conquer all 7,000-plus extant languages to be considered universal.

In some ways Americans and British people would seem very similar at first glance. We look very similar, wear similar clothes, share the same language, and have some shared historical connections (including one that America is celebrating today). However, beyond just the fact that we use a lot of different words to mean the same things, or all the accents you would have to get used to, there are also many cultural differences and quirks that would instill culture shock in anyone who decided to jump across from one side of the pond to the other without doing their research first.

Imagine the world is a high school. You’ve got the big, jock countries like Australia, South Africa, and the USA. You’ve got the self-consciously old-fashioned intellectuals like Britain and France, and then you’ve got the cool kids everyone wants to hang out with (yeah, Italy, we’re looking at you). But what about the brainboxes? Who in our analogy are the nerds spending their spare time in the science labs while the other countries are learning to smooch and bum smokes?

Nobody really likes dealing with creepy crawlies and pests, but just like family members you don’t like and the looming specter of death that hangs over us all, sometimes you just have to confront them. If, like most people, you harbor no love for things with too many legs or that carry immense amounts of disease, here are 10 stories of horrifying insect and pest infestations to make you feel a little better about that large spider you found in the bath that one time.

The elementary school lyrics were the first exposure most students had to the Italian explorer. The line would prove to be some of the only truth told to students about Christopher Columbus and the nature of his explorations into the New World. Was he out to prove that the world wasn’t flat? Was he, in fact, the first man to discover the New World? And how exactly does one discover a place that has millions of inhabitants? Sit back and let the TopTenz team give you the 10 facts about Christopher Columbus that you may not know…

Her marriage to tyrant, King Henry, led to her tragic demise. He accused her of witchcraft, incest, conspiracy against the King, and adultery. She was beheaded by a French swordsman. Henry felt that he was showing mercy by using the swordsman, rather than subjecting her to the rough blade of a guillotine. Today, we’d like to share 10 fascinating facts about Anne Boleyn, who used sheer grit, intelligence and feminine wiles to win the love of King Henry VIII… and to usurp his lawful wife, Catherine of Aragon.

When we think of France, we tend to first imagine the romantic, the gastronomically exclusive, the luxurious, or the destination for classy European travel. When we imagine the atrocious and the wicked, our minds may initially jump to Henry VIII, Nazi Germany, or North American serial killers. Yet it is France where some of the highest (or should we say, lowest) levels of villain have originated, including the shockingly abusive Marquis de Sade, who’s name is the origin of the word Sadism itself. In this account, we explore these darkest and most surprising histories.