It was in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age that the modern concept of celebrity was born, said George Packer. But if the worship of gaudy wealth and fame began in The Great Gatsby era, we’ve taken it to new, “perverse” heights in 21st-century America. Today, celebrity demigods dominate every field: There are celebrity chefs, bankers, computer engineers, chief executives, hip-hop […]
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Russian orphanages are a scandal, said Jennifer Rankin. State institutions house nearly 400,000 children, a population larger than many cities. But less than one third of these children are actually orphans. Many “fall into the system when their parents, often fighting a losing battle with alcohol or drugs,” lose their parental rights. Even more of them—nearly half the total—have disabilities, […]
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While filming a music video on the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, Jon Bon Jovi stepped into the role of a compassionate hero, heroically saving a woman who was about to jump off the bridge in Nashville, Tennessee. In the surveillance footage released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department below, you can see Bon Jovi approaching a 62-year-old woman on the […]
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Prison officials in Tennessee say an inmate escaped from jail by smearing himself in grease and squeezing between the bars of his cell. Kristopher White, 23, is 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, yet he managed to writhe his way between bars that were only four and a half inches apart. White then scaled a barbed-wire fence and led police on a […]
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Researchers have found that when there is only one parent in the home the children have a tendency to smoke or drink alcohol. The study examined 11,000 children and found that when they were under the age of 7 when the parent left, they were at risk before the teenage years. The children find it difficult to cope with the […]
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Most analysts do not believe the two Iranians who used stolen passports to board the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight were terrorists. So why were they on the plane? The most probable reason being… they were simply hoping to find a better life in the West. Decades of debilitating, punitive sanctions have destroyed Iran’s economy, environment, and health-care system. Sanctions have […]
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Scaphism was a method of torture that caused its victims to be eaten to death by bugs. It’s even more horriffic than it sounds. Scaphism, also called “the boats,” was an ancient Persian method of torture and, inevitably, execution. The victim would be placed in a boat, and then another boat would be placed on top. The victim’s feet, head […]
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For years the Federal Dietary Guidelines have handed out a blueprint to Americans for good nutrition. As it turns out this may not be a good outline for all Americans. People are different in all respects; even identical twins have different ways they respond to food. People have been told to follow the same diet as the next person. Now […]
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Native Americans’ Siberian Roots have been documented in recent research. The skeleton of a girl who died over 12k years ago has provided DNA confirming evidence that Native Americans must have originally migrated from Siberia. Analysis of the DNA showed a genetic marker commonly found in today’s Native American population. Human geneticist Chris Tyler says, “From archaeological, genetic, and […]
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Elephant Poaching – Slaughtered For Their Tusks Warning: This article contains graphic images of elephants being slaughtered. Gaborone, Botswana States where the illegal ivory trade operates agreed to tougher measures to try to stop the slaughter of African elephants for their tusks. The African Elephant Summit in Botswana brought together negotiators from elephant habitat countries Gabon, Kenya, Niger, and Zambia; […]
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