There are many thousands of videos online that begin with the line “hold my beer.” In fact, people often deliberately do dangerous things and pull truly mind-numbingly ill-conceived pranks just to get those all important “clicks” and become internet famous. But if you think that is all a trend of the digital age, well, no it isn’t. In fact, perhaps one of the most ambitious stunts held just to get attention occurred all the way back in 1896, and, as is often the case, it didn’t exactly go as planned.
In 1906, a famed explorer saw something on the horizon that would lead an expedition of men to search for a magnificent land they hoped would be full of new and undiscovered treasures for science.
One famous dolphin lived near the shores of New Zealand in the late 1800s, and swam alongside hundreds of ships, becoming a beloved figure to locals and foreigners alike, and described as ”the best known fish in the world.”
It was relatively common in the middle ages for Kings, royals, and various other titled men to die in combat, and they were at least usually expected to fight personally. Despite the dangers of medieval combat and the expectations of nobility, however, many at the highest levels of aristocracy died in less than noble mundane accidents, and even in embarrassing circumstances.
While the Bulge was one of the final offensive operations, it was not the last one - and not even the last one on the Western Front. While the Battle of the Bulge was being fought, German planners launched another operation further south into France in the much less remembered Operation Nordwind.
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On July 12, 2025, the lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was burned down in the Dragon Bravo fire, along with dozens of other structures including the North Rim visitor center and numerous guest cabins. The lodge was a storied structure that had stood for nearly 100 years, but it wasn’t the first time that a lodge on the North Rim burned down.
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