Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 303
December 4, 2018
Libyan Desert Glass Forged By Extra-Terrestrial Forces
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Forty-million years after the fall of the dinosaurs—but twenty-six million years before the rise of humanity—a meteorite exploded over the Sahara. The explosion was so fierce and hot that it turned sand to glass in an area stretching for nearly 150 square miles. In the ensuing eons, harsh winds turned much of the glass to dust, but a few remnants of this cosmically-forged glass remain in the world today. They are known simply as Libyan Desert glass.
Impactites—minerals formed by the impact of extra-terrestrial impacts—aren’t uncommon on Earth, or on other planets, but are usually accompanied by a fairly obvious crater. These events are common in the context of millions of years, but humankind’s experience observing these events is incredibly rare. It’s believed the Tunguska Event was also the result of a meteorite exploding mid-air, but scientists still only have theories as to the precise nature of these celestial explosions.
The nature of Libyan Desert Glass has both impressed and baffled humankind for millennia. Tutankhamun, popularly referred to as King Tut, ruled as Pharaoh over four millennia ago. With access to all the gold and jewels he could ever want, the rarity of a piece of space glass was incredibly tempting. A tradesman eventually appeared in the kingdom with a piece of glass born of the desert. Artisans used a process called knapping to shape the glass into a scarab—an ornament Tut used on his pectoral ornament until death.
When British explorers opened the tomb in 1922, the scarab remained a mysterious piece of Tut’s treasure. They easily identified it as glass but were baffled to learn it predated the Egyptians by so many millennia. The true origin, of course, was eventually theorized to be an exploding meteorite.
Source: Libyan Desert Glass Forged By Extra-Terrestrial Forces
December 3, 2018
These Pups Know How To Sit, Stay, And Conga!
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A true family circus act, the Pompeyo family of Sarasota, Florida, has even trained their dogs to perform feats of acrobatics and entertainment.
Jorge Pompeyo is a fourth-generation performer, making his debut in the circus at just five years old in Colombia. He spent years working as an acrobat, trapeze artist, tightrope walker, and animal trainer. Natalya, the mother of the group, similarly spent her childhood performing. She was a gymnast in the Soviet Union before joining a circus troupe to tour the world. These two veteran performers teamed up with their daughters Katerina and Isabella—and many furry friends—to make the Pompeyo Family Dog Show!
Now they travel the country performing choreographed shows with their talented dogs. The act began when Jorge was given two dogs in lieu of payment and has continued using more dogs rescued from various shelters. The family trains each dog based on their innate abilities and individual talents. Some of the tricks these clever canines can perform include skipping rope, leaping over hurdles, walking on their hind or front legs, pushing a toy car, jumping from great heights, and even dancing in a conga line!
From conga-dancing dogs and bicycling ballerinas, to hair-raising feats of strength and death-defying motorcycle stunts, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! is sure to delight readers of all ages. With over 1,200 weird-but-true stories from around the world and 256 pages of wild and wonderful photography, this year’s collection of all things odd is not-to-be-missed.
Don’t miss out on being an ODDthority on everything strange, get your copy on Amazon today!
December 2, 2018
December 1, 2018
November 30, 2018
Six Doctors Swallow LEGO Pieces For Science
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[November 25-December 1st, 2018] An ATM bonus, abandoned storage unit fortune, ingesting LEGO pieces to keep kids safe, and the rest of the week’s weird new from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Jaywalking Buses
In China, police take jaywalking seriously. Cameras equipped with facial-recognition software can detect offenders and issue tickets automatically. Dong Mingzhu of Ningbo in South China received one of these citations, but insisted she hadn’t jaywalked, when police reviewed the footage, they discovered the camera had seen a picture of her face on the side of a bus advertisement. The camera had been tracking the promo she appeared in to advertise her appliance business.
Rolf/Shutterstock
Winning Bidder
Everyone hopes to strike it rich at a storage unit auction, but one of the stars of A&E’s “Storage Wars” has learned to look even closer at people’s abandoned valuables. The television star auctioned off a unit for $500, and the buyer found a safe inside containing $7.5 million! The original owners have since offered $1.2 million to return their lost fortune, still making the purchase a worthy investment.
Add An Extra Zero
Some lucky Houston residents may be finding some extra cash in their pockets for holiday shopping. A Bank of America ATM malfunctioned, offering users $100 bill sin lieu of $10 bills. The malfunction was shared on social media, and people rushed to take advantage, but the bank eventually noticed and shut it down. As for anyone who managed to grab a few extra Benjamins before the mistake was corrected, the bank says they can keep the money.
Puck Crime
The American Association of University Professors has distributed 800 hockey pucks to Oakland University Professors and is training them to use the pucks to potentially thwart shooters. University Police Chief Mark Gordon says that heavy thrown objects can disrupt a shooter and that the pucks are ideal because they can be easily carried in briefcases and backpacks. In addition to faculty, the teacher’s union is also trying to distribute additional pucks to students.
Swallowing LEGO Parts For Science
A group of doctors with the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health decided to swallow LEGO pieces in order to study the health effects the building blocks could have on children. Six participants each swallowed a LEGO minifigure head and monitored their digestive health. None reported any problems and passed the heads in an average of 1.7 days. While they say LEGO are good to just wait and see if swallowed, they do tell parents to make sure nothing is caught in their child’s throat and to seek medical attention if the object is sharp.
Ekaterina Minaeva/Shutterstock
GIANT SLOTHS OF DOOM: Ground Sloths and Their Tunnels
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Besides being adorably cute, present-day sloths come in two and three-toed varieties and are closely related to anteaters and armadillos. They lead solitary, peaceful lives hiding from predators in treetops only coming down to find food, a mate or relieve themselves. Believe it or not, only descending ONCE A WEEK to do so. It takes a sloth about 6 hours to go to the bathroom and back, a month to digest a leaf and about a minute to move 15 feet. These quirky cuties, however, are very different from their ancestors, the prehistoric giant ground sloth. These beasts were as intimidating as they sound!
Paleontologists have identified fossils of at least 23 types and sizes of prehistoric sloths with the largest, the Megatherium—“giant beast” in Latin—measuring 20 feet in length and weighing in at a whopping 7 tons. They also had the capability of walking on two feet.
Early on, it was believed that this behemoth used its large claws for climbing trees, but really, what treetop could have held such a beast? Later, scientists realized giant ground sloths led a subterranean lifestyle, using their large, powerful claws to dig. Tunnels excavated by giant sloths in ancient South America still exist today.
Some are simple shafts while others are complicated works of underground engineering, with branching passages that twist and turn to form networks—the longest stretching 130 feet from end to end. Giant claw marks can be found on the walls thanks to their great strength, which is another contrast to their cuddly cousins.
While today’s sloths may seem like they have superman strength and limbs of steel, clinging on to trees with their death grips, they are actually only 25% muscle. This lack of muscles mass means they can’t even shiver when they are cold!
Source: GIANT SLOTHS OF DOOM: Ground Sloths and Their Tunnels
November 29, 2018
Meet The Woman Who Can Juggle Anything With Her Feet
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Emma Phillips of Whangarei, New Zealand, is the only performer in the world that can juggle both umbrellas and tables with her feet!
After seeing a Cirque du Soleil show at 16 years old, she knew that was the world in which she belonged. Four years later, she began training at prestigious performance schools in China. She was discouraged from trying to juggle both tables and umbrellas, as they use opposing muscles and techniques. However, her hard work and perseverance paid off, and she now travels the world performing her one‑of‑a‑kind juggling act.
Impressed with her feats of balance, Ripley’s sat down with Emma to ask some questions about her act for our newest book, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange!
Q: How heavy are the tables you juggle?
A: The table I juggle is 30 lb with metal reinforced edges that can really do some damage if you drop it!
Q: What’s harder to juggle—tables or umbrellas?
A: Juggling umbrellas takes the smallest adjustments of balance, so small that even when it looks like I’m holding it still you can see up close that there are still tiny adjustments happening to keep it balanced. Table juggling takes extreme focus, determination, and power. And a very high pain threshold! It took me months to adjust my balance with umbrellas after I began using the table.
Q: What else can you juggle with your feet?
A: I also studied carpet spinning contortion in China, so I would twist my body and balance, all while spinning a small carpet on my feet. It’s also fun sometimes to just play with random objects with my feet to test out my balance and challenge myself!
From conga-dancing dogs and bicycling ballerinas, to hair-raising feats of strength and death-defying motorcycle stunts, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! is sure to delight readers of all ages. With over 1,200 weird-but-true stories from around the world and 256 pages of wild and wonderful photography, this year’s collection of all things odd is not-to-be-missed.
Don’t miss out on being an ODDthority on everything strange, get your copy on Amazon today!
Source: Meet The Woman Who Can Juggle Anything With Her Feet
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