gnostek‹›1 / 7Superconducting Super Collider600%Most expensive scientific research projectsCongress approved a supercollider larger than the LHC, dug 23 km of tunnel under Waxahachie, Texas, then cancelled it in 1993 mid-bore — $2 billion already spent, hole still in the ground.+ See More01The SSC's ring would have been 87 km in circumference — three times the size of the LHC.022,000 workers were laid off the day the Senate voted to cut funding, October 1993.03The abandoned tunnels under Ellis County, Texas were briefly considered as a data center in 2021.
gnostek‹›1 / 31995 Tour de France5020%Tour de France crashesFabio Casartelli died on Stage 15; the peloton rolled neutralized through Stage 16 the next morning, completing the course where he was killed — the race did not stop.+ See More01The 1995 Tour continued racing the day after Casartelli's death, with Stage 16 treated as a tribute ride.02Motorola teammates finished Stage 16 holding Casartelli's bike upright across the finish line together.03Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc faced immediate criticism for not cancelling the stage entirely.
gnostek‹›1 / 3Battle of Adrianople500%Battles that were a turning point in a warGothic cavalry obliterated two-thirds of the Eastern Roman army in a single afternoon, killing Emperor Valens — whose body was never recovered. The battle proved infantry alone could not hold the empire. Rome began its long unraveling.+ See More01Emperor Valens died in the rout on August 9, 378 AD; his corpse was never found or identified.02Roughly 20,000 Roman soldiers died in a few hours — two-thirds of a field army, irreplaceable.03Edward Gibbon called Adrianople the beginning of Rome's fall; it forced mass Gothic settlement inside the empire.
gnostekBosco Ramos400%Most absurd political campaignsBosco, a black Labrador–rottweiler mix, was elected mayor of Sunol, California in 1981 over two human candidates — and held the role until his death in 1994, becoming the town's most beloved public figure.+ See More01Bosco beat two human candidates in Sunol's 1981 election and served as honorary mayor for 13 years.02A statue of Bosco was erected in Sunol after his death in 1994, commemorating his service to the 900-person town.03Chinese state media once used Bosco's election as anti-democracy propaganda, arguing it proved American elections were meaningless.
gnostek‹›1 / 3Siege of Masada300%The History of RomeRome's Tenth Legion built a siege ramp 100 meters high against a cliff-top fortress; when they breached it in 73 CE, they found 960 bodies — the defenders had drawn lots and killed each other.+ See More01Eleazar ben Ya'ir's final speech persuaded 960 Sicarii to die rather than become Roman slaves.02Ten men were chosen by lot to kill the rest; one then killed the nine before dying himself.03Two women and five children hid in a cistern and survived to tell Josephus the story.
gnostek‹›1 / 4Night Trap1000%Stories about legendary video game developmentIn December 1993, Night Trap was held up in a US Senate hearing alongside Mortal Kombat; Senator Joe Lieberman called it filth, and within a year the ESRB existed, rating every game sold in America.+ See More01Senator Joseph Lieberman named Night Trap by title in a 1993 Senate subcommittee hearing on video game violence.02The game was originally developed for the unreleased NEMO console in 1987 — six years before its Senate debut.03Sega pulled Night Trap from shelves voluntarily during the hearings; it was later re-released on Steam in 2017.
gnostek+10‹›1 / 17Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo100%Nuttiest African republic and their leadersTeodoro Obiang seized power in 1979 by having his uncle Francisco Macías Nguema shot on a football pitch, then ruled Equatorial Guinea for over 40 years while amassing a personal fortune from oil.+ See More01Obiang publicly broadcast his uncle's execution on national television in August 1979.02Equatorial Guinea struck oil in 1995; Obiang's family controls an estimated $600 million in offshore accounts.03His son Teodorin bought a $38 million Malibu mansion and a $120 million private jet on a minister's salary.
gnostek‹›1 / 4Amiriyah shelter bombing400%The First Gulf WarA US GBU-27 penetrator cooked 408 civilians alive inside a reinforced bunker on February 13, 1991. Charred handprints remain on the walls today. The US still insists it was a military target.+ See More01408 civilians died — mostly women and children sheltering from airstrikes in Baghdad's Amiriyah district.02The bunker was built by a Finnish firm to NATO specifications; the US knew its layout.03Charred silhouettes of bodies are still visible on the interior walls, preserved as a memorial.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Eddie Gaedel300%Sports gaffesOn August 19, 1951, Eddie Gaedel — 3 feet 7 inches tall — batted for the St. Louis Browns in a real AL game, wearing number 1/8. He drew a four-pitch walk and was pulled immediately.+ See More01Owner Bill Veeck hid Gaedel inside a papier-mâché birthday cake before wheeling him onto the field.02The American League president voided Gaedel's contract the very next morning.03Gaedel's strike zone was measured at 1.5 inches; pitcher Bob Cain laughed so hard he could barely throw.