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Even in the age of credit cards and online payments, most of us still handle legal tender every single day without ever stopping to look more closely at how money is designed. You probably hadn’t noticed, for example, that most notes boast tiny words scattered about the larger images. Here are 15 of those hidden microprints. A word of warning if you’re a hands-on type who’s pulling out his or her wallet right about now: you’re going to need a microscope. THE $5 BILL 1. Along the left and right borders are the words “FIVE DOLLARS“. Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain 2. … Continue reading →

Stories about plummeting stock markets, a sputtering Chinese economy, and the yuan versus the dollar have dominated financial news over the past few weeks. Lost in the din: the economic disaster continuing to unfold in Venezuela. Venezuelans face crippling shortages of basic staples as their currency, the bolivar, continues to inflate at breakneck speed. Hyperinflation has rendered the bolivar practically worthless. A photo uploaded to Reddit of a man using a 2 bolivar note as a napkin went viral last week. Business Insider reported that based on the official exchange rate, the makeshift napkin was worth about 32 cents. But … Continue reading →

Supporters of toll roads insist that the gas tax can no longer be relied upon to fund roads because hybrid and electric automobiles are improving gas mileage so much that gas tax receipts are down. A study released last week by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute shows that, contrary to this assertion, the gas mileage of the US car and truck fleet has changed very little over the past two decades. Researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle pulled together data estimating the miles driven per gallon of fuel from 1923 to 2013. They divided the results into several … Continue reading →

Age is just a number – so goes the old adage. But, it may not be a very telling one, scientists investigating heart age have warned. For while millions of us may feel young at heart, the reality is likely to be quite different. A new study has found almost three in four people have a heart that is older than their chronological age. The average American man’s heart age is nearly eight years higher than his actual age, while the average U.S. woman’s heart is five-and-a-half years old, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and … Continue reading →

An assistant professor in the law department of the US Military Academy at West Point has argued that legal scholars critical of the war on terrorism represent a “treasonous” fifth column that should be attacked as enemy combatants. In a lengthy academic paper, the professor, William C Bradford, proposes to threaten “Islamic holy sites” as part of a war against undifferentiated Islamic radicalism. That war ought to be prosecuted vigorously, he wrote, “even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage”. Other “lawful targets” for the US military in its war on terrorism, Bradford argues, include … Continue reading →

Napping: something you either swear by, or swear against. However, a new study may put an end to the debate by suggesting that nap advocates, and Spaniards, have been right all along. According to research presented to the European Society of Cardiology annual conference in London, a midday nap is “associated with reduced blood pressure” and could reduce the risk of a heart attack. The study assessed the effect of naps on blood pressure levels in 386 hypertensive patients (those with typically higher blood pressure) who had an average age of 61.4 years. Researchers found that midday sleepers had a … Continue reading →

Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story–indeed, one that media historians are reluctant to examine. When seriously practiced, the journalistic profession involves gathering information concerning individuals, locales, events, and issues. In theory such information informs people about their world, thereby strengthening “democracy.” This is … Continue reading →

When someone reads the right book at the right time in their life, it can have a profound effect. Such is the case for the people on this list, who come from all walks of life. These people have singled out a book that they read which had a life-changing effect on them. They, in turn, affected the worlds of popular culture, science, technology, and politics. 10 Competing Against Time – Tim Cook After graduating from college, Tim Cook got into computers when he landed his first job with IBM in 1982. In 1996, he started to work for Apple when they … Continue reading →

In 2008, Greg Thomas, a cardiologist from California, was in Cairo for work. While there, he visited the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities with another cardiologist, Adel Allam of Al Azhar University in Cairo. They came across the mummy of King Merneptah, a pharaoh who lived 3,200 years ago. The description on Merneptah’s case said he had suffered from atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque on artery walls. Both men were sure this must be wrong. How could an ancient Egyptian have had heart disease, when most of the risk factors for the disease – obesity, unhealthy diet, smoking and lack of … Continue reading →

Chrissie Hynde has committed the ultimate sin for a former feminist icon: she has offended the Sisterhood. The Pretenders singer, whose sultry looks graced a million teenagers’ bedroom walls in the 1980s, has perpetrated the terrible crime of speaking her mind about rape and sexual assualt. For that she must now pay the price and be cast out of the Sisterhood. The exact details of her transgression have been angrily spelt out by professional feministas who lined up to attack Miss Hynde for daring to talk about her own personal experience of sexual violence. So what did the 63-year-old say … Continue reading →

Innocuous phrases Alison Parker used every day to describe her job may have led to her death, simply because Vester Lee Flanagan thought they were racist. The 24-year-old TV reporter who was shot and killed by the disgruntled ex-employee on Wednesday somehow angered him by using terms like ‘swinging’ by an address or going out into the ‘field’ while she was an intern at WDBJ. It sheds further light on the murderer’s erratic behavior, details of which have emerged since he callously gunned down Parker and cameraman Adam Ward live on breakfast TV. Flanagan, 41, clashed repeatedly with photojournalists, belittling … Continue reading →

Wheels can be hot in more than ways than one. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has released its annual report detailing the most stolen vehicles for the past year in the U.S. It also offers some tips to keep your car out of the hot wheels lot. The vehicle at the top of the top ten used hot wheels list is the Honda Accord with 51,290 Accords stolen in 2014. The Accord is closely followed by its little sibling the Honda Civic with 43,936 stolen last year. The Accord and Civic are not only the hottest nation wide models, … Continue reading →

It’s impossible to please everyone. Even the finest institutions struggle to make every guest happy—just look at the reviews complaining of long lines, large crowds, and curt security guards on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. But the toughest customers to leave reviews seem to have missed the point of the places they’ve visited entirely. 1. “I HATE ART, I HATE TOUR GUIDES, AND I HATE THEM FOR TAKIN DOWN THE ROCKY STATUE.” Dali. Degas. Manet. Monet. All of these artists are present at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But the best piece of art at the museum, according to this … Continue reading →

A stunning wooden statue pulled from a Russian peat bog 125 years ago has been dated as being 11,000 years old after ‘sensational’ new analysis. This means the remarkable Shigir Idol, which is covered in ‘encrypted code’ and may be a message from ancient man, is by far the oldest wooden sculpture in the world. Previous dating attempts claimed it was made 9,500 years ago. By comparison, Stonehenge dates back 4,614 years, while the haunting Russian wooden sculpture is also more than twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids. Earlier attempts to date the Shigir Idol put as having been … Continue reading →

Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and other mass-murdering 20th-century dictators are considered to be some of the worst human beings who ever lived. Any supporters they have today are members of a fringe, dismissed by the rest of society as idiots or blind fanatics. Mao Tse-tung, however, is still respected in many quarters and even revered in his home country. His brutal rule over China from 1949–76 led to the deaths of an estimated 50–75 million people, making his reign the bloodiest in human history. Mao was ruthless and tolerated no opposition, so few members of his government questioned his disastrous … Continue reading →