Whether you call them  con artists, grifters, flim flam men, thieves or scammers, these charismatic crooks have been working their games since man invented currency. They are part actor, part cheater, and the schemes they run are all designed to part their victims from their hard earned cash. There are dozens of tricks and schemes that … Read more

Any day of the week you can find people talking about the weather. Temperature, humidity, rain or sun, it’s one of our favourite topics of conversation. Sometimes though, the weather does a little more than make plants grow and give us something to talk about with our fellows.  Sometimes it does something very unexpected.

Spain:  

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Megacryometeors

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Valentine’s Day. Named for a martyr and dedicated to lovers, this holiday has evolved throughout history to become one of the most romantic days of the year. Originally celebrated in the western world, other cultures and countries have embraced the traditions over the years, and added some of their own.

Japan

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In Japan … Read more

Nursery rhymes appear all over the globe and are sung by generations of children, the simple rhymes and easy verses tripping off youthful tongues without any understanding as to what they really mean or the often dark images they conjure up.

Three Blind Mice

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^{Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how} … Read more

Public speaking, spiders and heights are some of our most common fears. They can be embarrassing, occasionally make us squeal like a little girl in public, and potentially give your friends something to tease you about for years to come. Phobias though, are a completely different matter. A phobia is a fear so strong and … Read more

Explanations on how the world came to be can be found in almost every culture and faith and vary from the traditional to the truly unusual.  From giant eggs to homicide, these tales of the world’s beginning are more than a little strange.

Norse

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In the beginning there was nothing but the ice of … Read more

- “From goulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night
Good Lord, deliver us!” -   An old Cornish Prayer Monsters are the manifestations of our greatest fears; they are the darkest thoughts and collective terrors of humankind. Throughout our history certain themes appear time and … Read more

According to Webster’s Dictionary romance is the art of trying “to influence or curry favor, especially by lavishing personal attention, gifts, or flattery.” According to most women, it’s a lost art normally only practiced by men on Valentine’s Day and usually involves a box of chocolates and flowers bought at extortionist prices at the very … Read more

For some people keeping an ordinary pet is unthinkable. They would no more settle for a kitten as a pet than some people would chose to drive a mini-van. It’s all about finding a companion that is as unique as they are, and in this quest many chose exotic critters that are as dangerous as … Read more

A moral panic occurs when an event or group emerges that rocks society’s boat the way that iceberg rocked the Titanic, threatening to capsize the values of the day and causing a panic that is utterly bewildering to those not caught up in the insanity. _{It is a strange and new idea, thus} … Read more

At one time or another, most of us come to see the daily grind of commuting, coffee and cubicles to be mind numbingly dull. If you yearn for something that brings home the bacon with a side order of adrenaline, you could always try one of these careers. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. … Read more

A pandemic is what happens when an epidemic gets a really good travel agent and starts to spread over a large region. The disease becomes as trendy and prevalent as the Macarena dance, affecting more of the population than was expected and spreading faster than experts expected. Throughout history mankind has been … Read more

Folklore is full of tales of curses, afflicting victims who run afoul of magical incantations that inflict suffering and adversity on the foolish or unwary. From the mutterings of the abused gypsy to the warnings over King Tut’s tomb, curses can be found everywhere. Whether or not you believe in the power of the supernatural, … Read more

Since Adam first bumped into Eve in that long ago garden, men and women have been on a quest to make the act of love happen bigger, better and more often.  If we think it might help, we’ll grind up, boil down or dry out anything and consume it with a quick prayer that it … Read more

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so they say. If that is true, then these contests indicate that some peoples’ eye for beauty is nearsighted and cross-eyed. Be warned, some of these may cause an overwhelming desire to pluck out your eyes and run them through the sanitize cycle on your dishwasher. … Read more

Religion is like politics, one of those topics that should generally be left out of polite conversation; unless of course you’re hoping to incite a brawl at your next family gathering. If that’s your goal, then these might just help you get the ball rolling and the fists flying.

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The

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At some point in our lives most of us have experienced the special joy that comes with discovering a patch of stinging nettles or poison ivy the hard way. Bathing in baking soda and polka-dotted in pink calamine lotion, we curse Mother Nature and her cunning self-defense systems between doses of antihistamines.

There … Read more

Every year millions of us bemoan our allergies. We sniffle and wheeze through Hay Fever season, flee every cat we see and keep an EpiPen handy in case of accidental peanut consumption.




Most of the allergies we suffer are as common as pollen in the Spring, but there are … Read more