gnostek+7‹›1 / 14Idi Amin000%Nuttiest African republic and their leadersIdi Amin awarded himself the Conqueror of the British Empire medal, the Victoria Cross, and a 'Last King of Scotland' title — all self-issued — while between 100,000 and 500,000 Ugandans died under his rule.+ See More01Amin's full self-declared title ran to 43 words, including 'Last King of Scotland' and 'CBE.'02His regime expelled all 60,000 Asians from Uganda in 90 days in 1972, collapsing the economy.03He ruled for eight years before a Tanzanian military invasion removed him in April 1979.
gnostek‹›1 / 7Sicilian Expedition100%Greatest military blunders of all timeAthens voted in 415 BC to conquer Sicily — 38,000 men, 200 ships — based on flawed intelligence and civilian fever. Every ship and every soldier was lost; the expedition ended the Athenian Empire.+ See More01The expedition's chief architect, Alcibiades, defected to Sparta before the fleet even arrived in Sicily.02The entire Athenian force — roughly 38,000 men — was killed or enslaved by 413 BC.03Thucydides called it the greatest single military disaster ever suffered by a Greek city-state.
gnostek+2‹›1 / 9A bile bear in a "crush cage" on Huizhou Farm, Huizhou , ChinaBile bear600%Controversial CulinaryBears on Chinese bile farms live for up to 25 years with permanent steel catheters punched through their abdomens, draining bile used in traditional medicine. Many develop liver cancer from the constant extraction.+ See More01An estimated 20,000 bears are currently held on bile farms in China and Vietnam, many in 'crush cages.'02Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid — a compound now synthesized cheaply in labs, making farming medically redundant.03Moon bears on farms are often declawed and defanged at capture; some have been caged since cubhood.
gnostek‹›1 / 7Tonya Harding900%Worst sports cheating scandalsJeff Gillooly paid $6,500 to have a metal baton driven into Nancy Kerrigan's right knee in a Detroit corridor, weeks before the 1994 Olympics. Harding became the first American woman to land a triple Axel in competition.+ See More01Attacker Shane Stant struck Kerrigan's knee with a collapsible baton on January 6, 1994, then fled through a plexiglass door.02The hit cost $6,500; Gillooly later sold his story to a tabloid for a reported $50,000.03Harding was banned for life from U.S. figure skating but was never formally banned from the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
gnostek+14‹›1 / 21Carthage100%City walls of antiquityCarthage's triple walls sheltered stables for 300 war elephants and 4,000 horses within their mass; Rome's demolition in 146 BCE was so absolute that archaeologists still argue over where the walls stood.+ See More01Carthage's inner wall, the Byrsa circuit, reportedly housed 300 elephant stalls and barracks for 20,000 infantry within its structure.02After the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, Rome demolished every course of the walls and salted the surrounding ground.03The destruction was so thorough that the precise line of Carthage's outer wall remains disputed among archaeologists today.
gnostek‹›1 / 3Andres Serrano900%Critically acclaimed modern artSerrano sank a plastic crucifix in a tank of his own urine, photographed it glowing amber, and received a $15,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. Congress spent months trying to defund the NEA.+ See More01The photograph is called 'Piss Christ' and was printed at 60 × 40 inches.02U.S. senators read the title aloud on the Senate floor in 1989 as evidence of federal depravity.03A print was physically attacked with hammers by protesters in Avignon, France, in 2011.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Dominique Strauss-Kahn8013%Disgraced PoliticiansIMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was hauled off an Air France plane at JFK in his underwear, May 2011, accused by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo of assault — ending the near-certain next presidency of France.+ See More01Port Authority police boarded the departing Air France flight and removed Strauss-Kahn from seat number 1A, first class.02Nafissatou Diallo, a 32-year-old Guinea-born housekeeper, described the assault in a civil suit that settled for an undisclosed sum.03French polls showed Strauss-Kahn leading Nicolas Sarkozy by 10 points in presidential projections the week of his arrest.
gnostek‹›1 / 2WannaCry ransomware attack1910%Malware programsNSA's stolen EternalBlue exploit encrypted 80,000 NHS devices in May 2017, forcing British hospitals to turn away ambulances. The kill switch was found by a 22-year-old researcher who registered a $10.69 domain.+ See More01WannaCry used EternalBlue, an NSA-developed exploit leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacker group.0280,000 NHS devices were hit; surgeries were cancelled and ambulances diverted across England.03A 22-year-old named Marcus Hutchins halted the attack by registering a $10.69 domain name.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Kirby's Epic Yarn200%Wii games that make you miss childhoodEvery single element — Kirby, enemies, clouds, mountains — is stitched from actual yarn, and no matter what hits him, Kirby simply unravels and gets sewn back together. Invincibility never looked so cozy.+ See More01Kirby cannot lose a life in Epic Yarn; being hit just scatters beads across the felt landscape.02The game's art style was inspired by a developer's accidental texture swap during early prototyping.03Entire levels stretch and fold like fabric — a zipper opens a hidden room; a button holds a bridge.