William Harley and Arthur Davidson, 1914
Ponniyin Selvan Family Tree
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Ashoka's Hell
Ashoka's Hell was, according to legend, an elaborate torture chamber disguised as a beautiful and attractive palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and decorated with flowers, fruit trees and ornaments. It was built by King Ashoka (304–232 BCE) in Patliputra (modern Patna, India), the capital city of the Maurya Empire. The legend of the torture palace is detailed in the Ashokavadana, the text that describes King Ashoka's life through both legendary and historical accounts. According to legend, the palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make its exterior visually pleasing and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". Beneath the veneer of beauty, however, deep inside the exclusive mansion, torture chambers were constructed which were full of sadistic and cruel instruments of torture including furnaces producing molten metal for pouring on prisoners. The narrative mentions that the architect of the chamber was inspired by descriptions...
The Russians Didn't Just Use Pencils in Space
IMAGE CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES A longstanding urban legend goes like this: During the space race of the 1960s, NASA spent millions developing a fancy "space pen" that could be used in zero gravity ... but the Soviets just used a pencil. This story resonates with us because NASA did actually spend piles of money on writing utensils in space—in 1965 they paid $128 per mechanical pencil, according to NASA historians (for the record, the pencils had high-strength outer casings, but the writing guts were just regular mechanical pencils). It just seems logical that the thrifty Soviets would use a simpler, smarter solution. But the story about the government-funded space pen and Soviets using pencils instead is just plain wrong—both space programs used the Fisher Space Pen, and neither paid anything to develop it. Let's dig into the real history here. WHY DON'T REGULAR BALLPOINT PENS WORK IN SPACE? The traditional ballpoint pen relies partially on gravi...
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