gnostek1 / 5Two sancai -glazed Tang dynasty tomb figures , early 8th century, Prague National Gallery
01Emperor Wu sent two separate armies; the first 40,000 men were turned back by desert and siege before a second force of 60,000 succeeded.
02The 'blood-sweating' was likely caused by a parasitic worm, Parafilaria multipapillosa, which causes subcutaneous hemorrhaging.
03The Ferghana horses were called Tianma — Heavenly Horses — and Wu composed a poem in their honor.
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01Jones called the rehearsals 'White Nights'; followers who survived them believed they'd proved their loyalty.
02Congressman Leo Ryan was shot dead on a jungle airstrip hours before the mass suicide began.
03Cyanide was injected by syringe into children's mouths; adults who fled were shot by guards.
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01Titus reportedly wept at dinner if he had performed no act of generosity that day.
02He commanded the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, during which the Second Temple was destroyed.
03He reigned only 26 months before dying of fever at 41; his brother Domitian may have hastened his death.
gnostek1 / 215-year-old Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ giving her testimony to the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, two months after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait . It was later revealed that she was the daughter of Kuwaiti…
01Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ's identity was hidden; she was the Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter, not a random nurse.
02Hill & Knowlton received $10.8 million from the Kuwaiti government to orchestrate the testimony.
03Seven US senators cited the incubator story in floor speeches justifying the declaration of war.
gnostek1 / 3Predjama Castle
01Predjama Castle sits 123 metres up a sheer cliff, with the cave forming its rear wall and natural roof.
02Knight Erasmus of Lueg withstood a year-long siege in 1484 by using a hidden cave passage to receive food from the forest above.
03The castle's current form dates to 1570 and remains one of the largest cave castles in the world.
gnostek
01Nitsch's flagship performance ran six continuous days at Prinzendorf Castle, using actual slaughtered livestock.
02Participants were strapped to wooden crosses and drenched in ox blood as a liturgical act.
03Austrian authorities prosecuted Nitsch for obscenity in 1965; he continued performing for another five decades.
gnostek
01Inventor Maurice Ward was a hairdresser with no scientific training when he created Starlite.
02A Starlite-coated egg survived a direct blowtorch for five minutes with the egg remaining uncooked inside.
03Ward refused every licensing deal — from Boeing to the British Ministry of Defence — until he died in 2011.
gnostek
01Liu Ziye conscripted his own paternal aunts as concubines, publicly parading them through the inner palace.
02He was assassinated at age sixteen in 465 CE, stabbed by a servant acting on minister's orders.
03His brief reign produced a purge of officials who dared complain about his incestuous harem.
gnostek
01The Best Party's platform included free towels at public pools, a polar bear, and a 'Disneyland in the Ravine.'
02They won 34.7% of Reykjavík's 2010 vote — more than any other single party — on an openly absurdist ticket.
03Co-founded by comedian Jón Gnarr, the party governed a capital city of 120,000 for a full four-year term.