Pumpkin Nuts

11 Primeval Crocodilians from Around the Globe

This list is going to cover a number of species from the crocodile, alligator, caiman and gharial families, a group informally known as the crocodilians. This group of semi-aquatic reptilian predators has proved their staying power time and again, weathering multiple extinction events during their over 65 million years on the planet. Ranging from massive generalized killers to smaller…

6 Religious Movements of the Modern Era

New religious movements have never had it easy. Historically, they have been met with skepticism, anger and scorn by those of more mainstream faiths, but have none the less continued to arise at a steady clip for as long as the concept of religion has existed. While all of the major religious movements began at this stage at one time, the reality is that most budding religions die out (or are…

9 Intriguing Pre-Socratic Philosophers

Socrates is such a monumental figure in Western philosophy that all of the great thinkers of ancient Greece that came before him have been lumped into a group known as the Pre-Socratics or, the guys before Socrates. This use of Socrates as benchmark for when Western philosophy really took off makes it easy to assume that all of the men that came before him were some how less interesting or…

8 Provocative Thought Experiments

Maybe the most common way most of us have engaged with philosophic ideas is through some sort of thought experiment. Two of the most well known and common examples are the Ship of Theseus and what has come to be known as the ‘Trolley Problem’. The first asks you to consider whether a ship, replaced plank by plank overtime, is actually the same ship once the transition has been completed while…

7 Modern Forensic Methodologies

Investigating a crime has gotten far more complex than it was prior to the 1960’s thanks to a slew of new technologies that have allowed investigators to analyze every inch and aspect of a crime scene. While these techniques are undeniably valuable to local and federal law enforcement, over-the-top television procedurals like CSI have made them seem nearly infallible which is far from the case.…

7 Deadly Traps to Help You Get a Meal in the Wild

You’ve found yourself in a survival situation and need food. As much as most of us would like to think hunting and foraging wouldn’t be impossible, the reality is that, for most of us, they probably would be. Hunting, especially without fire arms or professional made equipment, is simply not going to get the job done and foraging runs the risk of Into the Wild-ing yourself. This leave trapping…

7 Essential Power Tools

Home renovations and projects are serious business and can require some serious tools to get the job done. Power tools provide users with increased power and precision while lightening the workload on most jobs considerably. That being said, these are dangerous machines that, if handled incorrectly, can maim or kill a careless or inexperienced user. A healthy respect for these machines and their…

8 Cooking Methods to Try at Home

Everybody’s got to eat and most dietary experts agree that cooking at home is the best way to do that. Eating out is expensive, potentially filthy and, eventually, boring. Cooking at home may seem daunting to some, but instead of trying to accumulate a mound of tried and true recipes, it may help to focus on the various cooking methods available to you in your pursuit of a good meal. These…

The sentiment has been expressed many ways by many people, but there is at least some truth to the idea that the one thing all life has in common are the processes of birth and death. For humans, these momentous occasions in the life of an individual, their family and social network have, have, in almost every culture known to us in the modern day, been ritualized and ceremonialized to some…

8 Unfinished Works by Famous Authors

Unfinished works of literature may seem uncommon, but most writers are life-long creators and more often then not they die without finishing numerous projects. These may exist in the form of a half finished manuscript, but more common are just a few chapters , pages or even just notes. How and why some of these incomplete bits and pieces make it to the public, but they seem to share similar…

7 Lesser-Known United States Military Conflicts

Military history can be a hard topic to cover appropriately. On the one hand you can take the tact of ‘war is bad, end of story’ and discuss the carnage and atrocities committed by both sides and leave it at that. There is also the ‘war is glory’ route where you can discuss the winners and their military accomplishments while skirting the nasty and disturbing parts. I will try to take a path…

7 Culture Heroes from Around the World

Before organized religions and written history, a people’s collective past consisted of stories, passed down by word of mouth, that kept the new generations linked to former generations and reinforced the worldview and values of that given society with each telling. One of the characters found in many of these tales holds a special importance and can be seen as the ideal member of the group or…

6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: South America & the Caribbean Edition

Time for round two of the UNESCO World Heritage lists. For those of you who haven’t read 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: North America Edition, I’ll provide a brief refresher on UNESCO and it’s mission. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is United Nations’ Agency whose mission is to “contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable…

8 National Dishes from Around the World

National dishes, the meals or recipes that are supposed to most represent the culinary culture of a given country, are far more contentious than they may first appear. Food is important to people and to choose one ethnic group’s favorite dish over another’s can cause problems in ethnically diverse countries like China, India or Mexico. In some places though, the national dish is obvious, beloved…

6 Real-Life Outlaws of the American West

The mythos of the Old West may not be as powerful today as it once was, but I think every American at one time or another has seen a Western film. These films usually pit the hero against either native ‘savages’ or against law breaking bandits. This latter group, the outlaws, are an interesting footnote in our nations history. While their personal stories and exploits are fascinating to read, it…

9 Strange Yokai from Japanese Folklore

In Japanese folklore there exists a subset of supernatural beings known as the Yokai. Yokai is Japanese for ghost or phantom, though the Western connotations of these terms do not really do the creatures true nature justice. Yokai can be evil demons, hell bent on killing and damning their victims, or mischievous-personified household objects who want nothing more than to annoy, shock or scare…

8 Examples of Social Predators

Of the many species of carnivore that hunts on the earth today, most hunt alone. With low success rates as well as nimble, and sometimes scare, prey, few animals can afford to give up even an ounce of caught meat. However, there are some species on earth that have found it advantageous to hunt in groups. Some, like sharks and bats, travel in large swarms or groups and feed at the same time.…