Weight Loss Wonders: Tips and Tricks

Visiting abandoned towns can be hazardous for a number of reasons, including crumbling structures and guards who will shoot trespassers on sight. But some ghost towns have toxic legacies due to chemicals, radiation, or even biological weapons. Fortunately, some of these toxic ghost towns have been cleaned up, and while they may have caused health hazards for residents, some are relatively safe for visitors. But it's also important to remember that plenty of toxic towns aren't abandoned; many of these sites were abandoned because residents were financially compensated for their homes or otherwise enticed to leave (which is why so many of these are in the US, which has the Superfund act). For example, Pacific Gas & Electric has bought out many of the homes in Hinkley, California—the town made famous by the Erin Brockovich case—causing the town to trend toward a ghost town. There are some towns on this list, however, that you may want to think twice about visiting...

Be careful what you touch, and what you eat. Some vegetation can snuff out your life as surely as a venomous snake. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of poisonous plants in the world, and some of them are deadly. Here are 10 of the world's deadliest plants. We run down the chemicals, toxins, and microscopic needle-shaped crystals they contain, and how they can spell doom for anyone unfortunate enough to ingest or come in contact with them. 10) Conium (aka Hemlock) Let's start with something you're likely to have heard of. If we're going to talk about poisonous plants, then right at the top of the list should be hemlock, don't you think? Widely known for its uses in ancient Greece as a means of execution, hemlock's most famous victim was the philosopher Socrates, who suffered the effects of the plant's most potent toxin, coniine. Ingestion of even small amounts of coniine (6—8 leaves, or an even smaller dose of the seeds or roots, usually d...

The Football Observatory at the International Centre for Sports Studies released its annual review for the 2014 season, and it contains estimated market values for the most valuable players in the five big European leagues. The player valuations were made by a model that takes into account "age, length of contract remaining, position, player performance at club level for last and previous seasons (matches, minutes, goals, assists, passes, tackles, interceptions, etc.), results of the clubs to which players belong, as well as players' international experience and results of association represented at national A-team level." When a player switches teams in soccer, the club buying him pays the selling team a transfer fee. This Football Observatory study estimates that transfer fee for each player. Some observations: Lionel Messi, who's the most valuable player in the world as well as the highest-paid player in the world, is nearly twice as expensive as the 2...