ty.rannosaur.us

Some of history’s biggest figures weren’t content simply making history so they attempted to live forever through their offspring. The following 7 men managed to make their mark in history in the most fecund of manners. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not exactly a startling, ground-breaking revelation to suggest that the Vikings were pretty much the most face-rockingly hardcore bastards to ever beat a bunch of monks to death with their own iron church bells, throw them through a stained-glass window onto some pointy rocks, and carry off all of their valuable artifacts. We all know that these psychotic, axe-wielding Norsemen are more or less the epitome of everything it means to be tough as hell, what with their looting and pillaging and huge beards and all, but it never really hurts to drive home the point every once in a while that these guys totally kicked ass.

So, in order to promote the release of my new book BADASS: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live, I’ve been given the opportunity to write a list of badass Vikings for my friends here at ty.rannosaur.us. As the exceedingly-lengthy title of the book would imply, there are a couple of Vikings described within the pages. I discuss King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the anonymous Viking at Stamford Bridge, but there are so many other great stories of sea-raiding warlords that qualify as righteous, jugular-rending badasses. Here are some of their stories. Read the rest of this entry »

Slate has an interesting article about the multibillion dollar cigarette black market. It is centered in Yunxiao, which until very recently was just another Chinese backwater. It currently supplies almost 400 billion cigarettes a year, which are produced by 200+ cigarette factors which are creatively hidden:

“Most factories are underground,” a Yunxiao cigarette broker confided in hushed tones. “They’re under buildings, unimaginably well-hidden, with secret doors from the basements.” Even the village temple—topped with an arched red roof and twisting, frescoed spires—conceals a factory below, she said.

Cigarette companies and the Chinese government are also finding it extremely hard to root out the counterfeiters. In many ways, it echoes the stories you read about the drug war in Mexico:

Villagers wary of strangers act as sentries along Yunxiao’s narrow side streets and in its hotels, and outsiders are frequently tailed. Factory raids carried out by Chinese police have yielded semiautomatic rifles and met with machete-armed resistance. Every year, several state and private investigators are murdered in retaliation killings. Though Chinese authorities offer rewards of thousands of dollars for information, few residents dare to take them. “Even if you get the money,” one villager said, “you won’t have any life left to enjoy it in afterward.”

Link.

Pop culture positions pirates as daring swashbucklers who fight injustice while seeking fame and fortune. But, characters like Captain Jack Sparrow and Long John Silver don’t really present the truth about piracy. Most pirates lived short, dirty, and unpleasant lives. They rarely–if ever!–captured a ship or uncovered treasure, and most ended life at the end of the hangman’s noose, a great publicity stunt for an unpopular governor or mayor. The following is a list of eight popular pirates who were actually huge losers. Read the rest of this entry »

What have you accomplished so far in your life?  Graduated college, working a nice 9-5 job, and hanging out at the poshest clubs, bars, and lounges around town?  Fancy yourself to be a bit of a badass, right?  Well, you aren’t.  This is a list of 10 individuals that were so amazing at what they did that calling them anything less than a badass is an insult. Read the rest of this entry »