What is the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea?

Wales has had a massive influence on fantasy music, movies and books

Many of "The Lord of the Rings" settings and languages are rooted in the country's landscape and dialect. Studio Ghibli icon Hayao Miyazaki was inspired by Wales' countryside. Rock band Fleetwood Mac used Welsh myths as a basis for songs.

The Beatles' song 'Taxman' was inspired by Britain's tax structure.

Null Island is located at a latitude and longitude of 0°

A buoy denotes the fictional island where the Prime Meridian intersects with the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Nations had disagreed on where the "origin" of world maps should be located until the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time were established in 1884.

More than 15 states have estate or inheritance taxes—but Maryland is the only state with both

Eighteen states, and Washington, DC, have estate or inheritance taxes in place. Tax rates and thresholds vary per state, but most are less than the federal estate tax rate and threshold. This means an estate doesn't have to be as lucrative to be subjected to the taxes.

Null Island: the most real fictional island you can almost visit

This article explores Null Island, which can be found on most maps at exactly 0° latitude and 0° longitude. If someone were to paddle out to those coordinates, they'd find themselves in front of a buoy named Soul off the west coast of Africa. User...

The history of deep-sea mining and its governance by the International Seabed Authority

The British HMS Challenger research vessel identified metal-rich seafloor rocks between Hawaii and Mexico in the 1870s, but rules governing which nations control which parts of the ocean were not established until 1958 by the UN. It later established the ISA to oversee mineral-related operations in international waters.

A small island nation built the largest empire in history

See how Britain grew from a small kingdom into a global empire ruling nearly a third of the world, then unraveled through war, nationalist movements, and declining power—leaving just 14 overseas territories as remnants of its once-vast domain.

How the British Empire transformed into today’s voluntary Commonwealth of Nations

This video explains how former British colonies—now independent states—evolved into the modern Commonwealth, a loose association representing nearly one-third of the world’s population. It traces the shift from imperial rule to a cooperative forum with no legal obligations to Britain or its monarch.

A 1993 deal with the government exempts British Royals from paying inheritance taxes

When Queen Elizabeth II died, King Charles didn't have to pay any inheritance taxes on the money he received from his mother. That's because of a unique deal the royals made with the UK government in the 1990s, in an effort to preserve the assets of the royal family that are synonymous with the institution.

In the UK, foreign sovereign wealth funds can claim diplomatic immunity

In 2025, a court in London found that sovereign wealth funds and their executives can claim diplomatic immunity in legal cases, given the funds' foreign ownership and their role in the private sector. The ruling furthered speculation about the ethics of these funds, particularly from countries accused of human rights violations.

A remote Scottish island is awash in forever chemicals even though there are no obvious industrial sources nearby, and scientists suspect the toxic substances are accumulating via sea spray.

Only 5 states have inheritance taxes

Unlike estate taxes, inheritance taxes paid by the beneficiary of the estate (the person who inherits the deceased person's financial assets). The federal government doesn't levy an inheritance tax, but five states do. They all have varying tax rates and rules.

See how income taxes in the US compare to those of other countries.

See comparisons of different countries' taxation strategies

Taxes are a major revenue source for most countries, and how each government taxes citizens often reflects the country's economy. Developed countries tax at much higher rates than developing ones, and as a country grows its GDP, it also typically grows the proportional percentage of taxes it gains from its citizens.

Pheasant Island is controlled by both the Spanish and the French

The two-acre plot of land is a condominium—a territory shared by two countries. Pheasant Island (which, curiously, is not home to pheasants) is a holdover from the end of the Thirty Years' War between France and Spain, when it was designated as a neutral area dividing the countries.

How much tax you would owe on a $14M inheritance

“Death taxes” refer to estate and inheritance taxes—fees imposed on wealth transfers after someone passes. While the federal estate tax only applies to estates over $13.61 million in 2024, some states, like Washington, have their own taxes.

Indian Creek Village: the exclusive billionaire island

Off the coast of Miami lies an island called Indian Creek Village. Spanning around 300 acres, the island is home to a few dozen homes owned by celebrities, sports stars, and tech founders. Only residents and verified visitors can enter this private space, protected by its own police force. Listen to this podcast episode for more information about the private island and why the wealthy love it.

What America's 1% pays in taxes, by state

In the US, the top 1% of earners contribute 45% of all personal income taxes collected nationwide. But not all states are created equal when it comes to income tax. Some states are more dependent on the 1% than others for tax revenue. SmartAsset recently examined IRS tax return data to determine exactly how much the top 1% of earners in each state paid in taxes. Find your state here.

Rhode Island plans to impose a ‘Taylor Swift tax’ on second homes

Starting in the summer of 2026, the state will impose a new property tax surcharge on second homes valued at, or over, $1M that aren’t used as primary residences. Some are calling it the “Taylor Swift tax,” given that Rhode Island is home to the pop star’s gargantuan historic beach house.

An alternate-history BBC homepage imagines a world where the British Empire endured

An image on Reddit envisions a 2021 BBC homepage from an uncollapsed Empire, featuring hypothetical crises in Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland, and Barbados, alongside upbeat coverage of tourism in “British Palestine”—a snapshot of how imperial news might look today.

Happy hour is banned in Ireland

For a country famous for drinking a lot of alcohol, it might seem surprising that happy hours are banned in Ireland. But that reputation is exactly why the country banned happy hours in the first place—a 2010 report found that alcohol use in Ireland had doubled between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Read this article to learn more.

Estate taxes are paid out of the estate, while inheritance taxes are paid by beneficiaries

When a person dies, any estate taxes owed are paid out of their finances before being transferred to their beneficiaries—unlike inheritance taxes that are paid by the beneficiaries themselves. In addition to a federal estate tax, 12 states and the District of Columbia have a state estate tax with varying rates.

England changed to an organ donation opt-out system in May 2020

A law that went into effect in May 2020 in England changed the country's organ donation regulations, reflecting public support for organ donation. Now, adults are typically presumed to have agreed to donate their own organs upon death unless they declare they're refusing to donate organs (or their family opts them out).

Poems and stories inscribed on the walls of a US immigration island

What Ellis Island was to the East Coast, Angel Island was to the West. Just off the coast of San Francisco, this processing center became a detention center for those targeted by exclusionary immigration laws. Click here to read some of the stories left by the detained.

Grosse Île, the quarantine island of the Port of Quebec

As tens of thousands of Irish emigrated to North America to escape the Great Famine in the mid-19th century, many port cities set up quarantine areas amid an epidemic of cholera. In Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River, one island became a mass graveyard where over 3,000 Irish immigrants died over a decade as they waited in quarantine. Listen to the history here.

Watch the British Empire expand and recede over 5 centuries

This interactive map traces the British Empire from 1450 to today—showing its explosive 19th-century expansion to one-quarter of the world's land and its steady contraction after World War II.

The IMF was created to prevent the currency crises that destabilized the 1930s global economy

Founded in 1945, the IMF monitors exchange rates, promotes financial stability, and provides emergency funding to countries that cannot pay for their imports. It currently has 191 member countries and acts as a lender of last resort for struggling economies.

Read more about how the IRS is organized

The Internal Revenue Service is led by a commissioner, who leads the IRS for a five-year term after being selected by the president of the United States. Under the commissioner, the IRS has multiple subdivisions that work on different tax groups, such as the Wage and Investment Division to handle individual wage earners.

Many countries, like Iceland and Norway, offer pensions to elderly citizens

Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway offer some of the highest annual pension payouts at over 30,000 euros. The below chart shows how European nations stack up in terms of which offer the highest annual pension payouts.

How to owe nothing on your federal tax return

Do you know you can avoid owing the IRS money come tax season by making changes to your W-4? For context, a W-4 is the form you fill out when you first start a new job. It tells your new company how much money to withhold from each paycheck for taxes. Find out how to avoid writing a check to the IRS each April in this article.

The company building Irish pubs across the globe

The Irish Pub Company is a Dublin-based business specializing in designing Irish pubs around the world. The outfit has created over 2,000 custom Irish pubs in over 100 countries, each with its own distinctive flair incorporating essential features of the classic Irish pub. Read about the founders and their clients here.

The most taxed states in America

Some states in the US have higher taxes than others. Hawaii, for instance, has the highest total tax burden in the country at 13.9%, whereas Alaska has the lowest overall tax burden at 4.9%. New York has the highest individual income tax burden; and eight states have no individual income tax. See a map of the most-taxed US states here.

Over a century ago, fewer than 1% of Americans paid income taxes—but the cost of World War II prompted the federal government to greatly expand the number of people required to pay income taxes.

The world's quirkiest time zones

In contrast to telling time by physical signs like the sun or stars, cultural time relies on political agreement and standards. The convention of time zones arose due to transportation and communication advancements, and while many work just fine, some are pretty wild. Chief among those is the time zone of the uninhabited Baker and Howland Islands in the central Pacific, which results in a technical 26-hour day.

In a 2012 poll, Brits named Washington as the kingdom's greatest military enemy

The poll by the UK's National Army Museum ranked Washington above Irish independence hero Michael Collins, France's Napoleon Bonaparte, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The United States currently ranks number one for countries that enable the most financial secrecy

Financial secrecy refers to complex systems that make it easy for people and companies to hide assets. High levels of financial secrecy are associated with illegal activity, like drug trafficking and money laundering. Lax regulations around reporting who owns trusts, real estate, and businesses impact the United States' global financial secrecy ranking.

Britain extracted nearly $45T from India during colonial rule

Between 1765 and 1938, Britain drained an estimated $45T in today’s dollars from India through taxes, resource extraction, and coerced trade—wealth that helped Britain’s economic rise while contributing to widespread poverty in the colony.

The American missionary and the uncontacted tribe.

When a 26-year-old American missionary set out for a lush island in the Indian Ocean last year, it was with one objective in mind: to convert the uncontacted Sentinelese tribe, who had lived for centuries in isolation, free from modern technology, disease, and religion. John Chau's mission had ambitions for a great awakening, but what awaited instead was tragedy.

The way the minimum wage is set in other countries often differs from US methods

Unlike the US, some countries set the minimum wage by industry through collective bargaining agreements. In Luxembourg, the minimum wage translates to roughly $19.50 per hour, currently making it the country with the highest minimum wage in the world.