Drew Wood

A felony conviction is a mark on a person’s record that can follow them for life, often preventing them from building a successful career and a respectable life. That’s not always the case, though. If you’re rich and famous, you might just be able to bounce back from a felony conviction to become more successful than ever.

The United States was dragged unwillingly into World War II by the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbo r on December 7, 1941. It was part of Japan’s wider plan to dominate the entire Asia-Pacific arena. Some of the countries that bore the brunt of the Japanese occupation have long memories and still hold grudges today for the abuses they suffered. However, for many of the smaller countries of the region, China is today the bigger threat and Japanese investment is valued.

Between the 15th and 20th centuries, just 10 European countries colonized nearly the whole world. Colonization brought technological advancement, infrastructure, education, and medical care even to the most distant places. Unfortunately, along with that came the massive theft of natural resources, death by unintentionally introduced diseases or deliberate genocidal practices, and a lasting legacy of economic inequality and resentment. But what if that had never happened? What would the world be like today if Europeans had just... stayed home?

The history of the settlement of the New World focuses on the big dogs: Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. But a handful of smaller countries tried to get in on the deal, too, before getting shut out. What might America be like today if they had persisted?

The legendary Roman empire took in every country around the Mediterranean Sea (which the Romans called “Mare Nostrum”—”Our Sea.”) It was so powerful, that it managed to last for 500 years in the West and another 1,000 in the East. Yet despite this overwhelming juggernaut, the empire’s expansion was stopped dead in its tracks by three civilizations that still have strong traditions of fierce independence today.

UFOs are now known as UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) to make their serious reporting and study more palatable to the American government and scientific community. But whatever they’re called, there’s no doubt that people have been seeing things in the sky

Enzo Nguyen@Tercer Ojo Photography / iStock via Getty Images

Some of the world’s borders are just... weird. You know this very well if you’re a traveler, a student of history, or gaming enthusiast. We’ve selected some of the most bizarre for your bewilderment and will give you a little background to understand why the heck they got like that. And we’ll point out some little anomalies too small to see on the world map that show just how weird things can get. We’re looking only at international borders in this article, but you might also want to check out: These Are the Weirdest Borders Between US States

The current United States national debt is $35.8 trillion and increasing by another trillion dollars every 100 days from spending and interest, no matter who is president. To make those numbers even more shocking: this means the debt increases by nearly $100,000 a second. It’s enough to pay off the mortgages of 86,000 families a day. These statistics are profoundly disturbing, yet many countries are doing quite a bit worse off, even if the total amount they owe is not as large as the United States.

It’s been 33 years now since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 into 15 separate countries. And what a ride it’s been. The West has reaped the fruits of the USSR’s loss, expanding NATO to take in all of Scandinavia and most of Eastern Europe. However, the economic and political situation in the former Soviet republics themselves remains fraught, in large part because Russia still considers these countries to be its own sphere of influence. Read on for stats on each of them to get up to date.