Who can really say how names are formed? Well, some linguists may know the answer to that question, but not even they know the origins for each and every name in existence today. Nevertheless, we can (to a certain extent) know the origins for some things out there in the world. And the best examples of this are things that are named after people – either those things’ inventors, or named in their honor for one reason or another. Now, with that being said, let’s take a look at 10 of our favorites.

Even though we no longer live in the Dark Ages and life is more easily predictable than ever, things can still go bad at a moment’s notice. And it’s always a great idea to know what to do in those kinds of situations so that you can actually increase your chances of survival. As anyone can tell you, there are countless ways in which one person’s life can be put in danger. Here are just 10 examples, and what to do in case you are faced with one of them.

For the many achievements made by our men and women of science in understanding the world and everything in it, there are still a lot of things we don’t know, or we’re not completely sure about. Other things, while more logical for our level of understanding, are so rare that, when they do happen, they seem out of this world. So, with this in mind, let’s look at 10 such cases of rare or strange anomalies around the world.

Assassination is so ingrained in American culture that it’s practically a national pastime. Every single president since Lyndon Johnson has been the target of an assassination attempt; with plenty more before LBJ also finding themselves on the wrong end of a bullet. That’s before you take into account the lower-ranking politicians attacked, the civil rights figures, the sportsmen, the artists… All we’re saying is that, if assassination was an Olympic sport, team USA would be beating everyone but Russia.

For awhile, it was a cliche to portray screen actors who played tough characters as effete people behind the scenes. That’s not what this list is about. No, we’re going so far in the other direction that we’re going to highlight people who made movies with pulse-pounding, high octane action, and yet it was still nothing compared to the things they did in real life. Truth might not necessarily be stranger than fiction, but it can often be more hardcore. The stories might have been related making a movie, but in the majority of cases they had nothing to do with any film production.

Our world is chock full of amazing places. Seriously, go out your front door, start walking in any random direction, and chances are that you’ll probably hit something interesting within a few hours. It could be a meadow, a groovy street you’ve never visited before, a windswept stretch of coastline, or even just an all you can eat noodle bar offering free drinks to every unshaven customer. Hey, amazing is a relative concept.

When you hear the words “big city”, what pops into your head? For most Americans, New York is the quintessential big city. For most Brits, it’s London. For those living in rural Appalachia, it might be Charleston, West Virginia, a town of about 50,000. But none of these cities are even in the top 20 most populous worldwide. Everyone knows about Beijing and Tokyo, but we bet at least a few of these places you haven’t heard of, let alone realized they were bigger than the Big Apple. And there’s a fair chance there will be a couple you can’t even pronounce.

Dictators sometimes have no choice in their evil schemes but to get violent, start calling in the troops, and use methods that create calls for condemnation all over the world. However, most leaders and their ministers of propaganda would rather find a way to trick you into going along with their way of thinking before going to such extreme lengths. It’s a lot less trouble, a lot less expensive, and gives your enemies less propaganda against you, when you can convince your own people to do your dirty work for you, or get them under your control without firing a shot.

Living in a world that’s so detached from nature, we often forget just how connected to it we really are. Many people living in huge cities around the world have never left their urban environments, and as a result, the natural world seems to them as foreign a concept as outer space is for most of us – we know it’s out there, but we tend to think about it more like something out of the realm of sci-fi. Nevertheless, nature is a part of us whether we feel the connection or not, and the many animals that inhabit this world right alongside us are nothing more than our evolutionary cousins – we’re all part of the same big ‘happy’ family. And like with every family, there are some traits that many of us share. It’s time for a long overdue ‘family reunion’ and see just how ‘related and alike’ we all really are.

Customs around death are one of the most ritualized aspects of human existence. However, the traditions and rituals undertaken by those grieving the loss of a loved one vary wildly; one culture’s “strange” is another culture’s way of remembering Nana. Below are 10 mourning traditions that may seem strange to those who don’t follow them…