Talking to a real mafia boss or gangster might make anyone's legs shake and their voice tremble with nervous excitement. It must have been thrilling for Dylan Struzan, being face to face with one of the mafia bosses of the Genovese crime family, Vincent Alo, aka "Jimmy Blue Eyes".

A close friend of Jimmy, Tommy Sobeck, got in touch with Mr. Struzan and asked him to help write Jimmy's story. And what came after was some of the most interesting encounters any common person would have with the mafia.

I had my questions ready, prepared but unsure how to speak to a guy like Jimmy. After all, a person doesn’t just walk up to the guy the FBI called “the oldest living Godfather” and ask for an interview. It just isn’t done. I was introduced to the spry 91-year-old and found him to be both affable and interesting. Over lunch, pen in hand and paper ready, I gently asked a few questions based on the material I had researched.

Things took off from there. Jimmy was keen and a bit wary on being interviewed, which Mr. Struzan picked up on. Only when he put down his pen and paper, did the atmosphere around Jimmy become more relaxed, and he felt at ease telling his stories.

They had several meetings like this until the day Dylan Struzan finally got what he was looking for. Jimmy gave him details on the essence of who he became in life. The Godfather told him what it took to make a criminal.

It was hard to have deep discussions, so I wrote a letter—about fifteen pages, I think – with my ideas about the story of Meyer Lansky. I must have said something right because the next time I called, Jimmy talked to me for a full hour about his life. At the end, he said, “I just wanted you to know what it takes to make a criminal.” That was big. It was something I had wanted to know from the beginning and now I had it from the horse’s mouth and I didn’t even have to prod for the answer. I was humbled.

(Image credit: World Telegram/Library of Congress; Wikimedia Commons. Illustration: mine)

With the help of medical technology and sanitation procedures, surgeries and amputations these days aren't as frightening to undergo. Anesthetics and morphine can numb our senses to soothe the pain so the procedure won't be as agonizing.

But during the Civil War era, it was a lot bloodier. There were no anesthetics, tools weren't sterilized, and painkillers were rarely given to patients due to lack of availability. Wounded soldiers would have to lie awake on the bed and bear through the pain of getting their limbs cut off.

Most bullets during the Civil War were made of soft lead. These soft bullets would expand on impact, creating large entrance and exit wounds. As a result, bones were shattered and tissue was destroyed. There was no way to reverse or lessen the damage, making amputation a necessary evil.

Doctors, covered in blood, moved from one patient to the next, without washing, and used the same set of tools on all the patients.

Sponges soaked in blood and pus were simply squeezed out in a bowl of water and reused on the next patient.

Thankfully, we have the conveniences of modern medicine so that we won't have to endure anything like those Civil War amputations.

(Image credit: Mutter Museum/Wikimedia Commons)

Though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to live a quiet and peaceful life outside royal duties and away from scrutinizing eyes of the public, there are certain rules that they have still have to abide, especially as they will welcome a new member into the royal family.

Titles and names have a rich history in England, and restrictions and preferences have been observed regarding them, special ones which only concern the royal family. Here is a brief history of how royal titles came to be used and how these conventions affect Prince Harry and Meghan's baby.

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Sports are a great way for youth to develop holistically as well as have a goal or drive to achieve more in something. They invigorate and activate not just the youth's growing bodies but also their minds and hearts.

But there are increase pressures and difficulties for youth sports in the US. Not all types of sports are accessible, neither is the anxiety healthy for those who are aiming for sports scholarships in college.

In contrast, Norway's sports programs may provide a model to help the US programs to address these issues.

In Norway, 93 percent of children grow up playing organized sports because costs are low and access is wide, Farrey reports.

The country’s Children’s Rights in Sport is an eight-page document, introduced in 1987 and updated in 2007, that outlines rules for youth sports teams. It states that children should “decide for themselves how much they would like to train,” and can even opt out of games if they want.

Before age 11, publication of game scores and rankings is prohibited, as are regional championships. National championships are prohibited before age 13. Rather than a focus on producing elite athletes, the country's motto is “Joy of sport for all,” according to the Times.

Norway's programs focus on children's enjoyment of the sport rather than the pressure to continue to achieve and excel. This helps drive their motivation since essentially, they are the ones who would be pushing themselves to do better. This internal drive, as opposed to external pressures, is one of the main thrusts of their sports programs.

Deseret News reports on other data and details about the sports programs.

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A new breed of chefs coming from the little town of La Paz on the Andes Mountains are transforming the local culinary scene of Bolivia.

With some help from Danish chefs, the new generation of chefs they trained are literally putting the "haute" in haute cuisine, as they place La Paz as a culinary hotspot in the gourmet world.

When I first visited Gustu, in 2013, La Paz was an overlooked city, largely undeveloped, with no culinary scene to speak of. But the head chef at the time, Kamilla Seidler, also from Denmark, promised me that the young chefs in Gustu’s cooking programs would soon transform the city. “When we see this generation go off and do their own thing, it’s going to be very exciting,” she said.

She was right. Six years later, La Paz is in the midst of a culinary renaissance inspired by Gustu culinary principles and alums. That revival has overlapped with a rejuvenation of the city as a whole—one that has transformed La Paz into one of South America’s most exciting capitals.

Along with the rebirth of La Paz, locals now appreciate native ingredients better as the local chefs bring these into the fore of people's attention, letting them know and experience the pride that comes from making something out of their own.

Bolivia may be one of the poorest countries in the Americas, but geographically and biologically speaking, it’s one of the richest. Its endemic ingredients include some 2,000 different types of native potatoes, dozens of antioxidant-rich palm fruits, and a handful of protein-packed grains.

We expect much to come out from La Paz in the future. In the meanwhile, you have to try out some of the best dishes from the up and coming restaurants like Gustu, as suggested by Mark Johanson of Men's Journal.

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Animals exhibit some of the oddest and sometimes cutest mannerisms. My dog likes to wipe her snout with her paws while she's lying down. I don't know why she does it, I can only surmise its for hygienic purposes or trying to get dust off it. It just happens from time to time and I find it very cute. But I digress.

Birds, it turns out, have a certain tic of their own. They rub their beaks on trees, fence posts, railings, and other things they perch on. Why? Here's a bit of a gist of the theory on this behavior called bill-wiping:

Although they haven’t arrived at a definite, universal explanation, we can summarize their reports on the role of bill-wiping this way: It definitely acts like a napkin, probably as a file, and maybe even as a cologne spritzer.

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Many things have happened in the world just within the past century that it's pretty rare to find candid depictions of life, scenery, beauty, and the mundane.

Everything is so fast-paced and everyone is trying to get on the latest trend. But there is something about looking through photos of the past that winds things down.

In Paolo Di Paolo's latest exhibit, he makes you feel exactly that. You are taken into a different era where people had different sentiments in the context of a different zeitgeist.

One of his photos features Piazza Navona, which is quite a popular tourist spot now but back then, it must have been a wonderful place to just sit and relax, and observe the world around you.

(Image credit: Bengt Nyman/Flickr; Wikimedia Commons)

Mark Pain gives us here a funny little ironic comic strip, titled "Swear Jar", which is about someone who set out to swear less by putting up a swear jar to give him an incentive. The outcome of the exercise turns out to be quite bittersweet. Check out more of his material on his website. via Geeks Are Sexy

(Image credit: Mark Pain/Pain Train Comics)

In the same vein as Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog brings another beloved character to the big screen in live-action form. But in the almost-three-minute trailer, there was one thing that a lot of the internet took particular notice: Sonic's teeth.

I checked a few other renditions of Sonic in other media and it appears that, though he was shown to have teeth, it had the charm and playfulness of an animated character, very different from how it was rendered on screen.

In any case, the film comes out this November, and it stars Jim Carrey as Doctor Eggman, Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, and James Marsden as police officer Tom Wachowski.

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures/IMDb)

As somebody who doesn't really think that the supernatural is something to be afraid of, I usually wouldn't know how to react to spooky tales and ghost stories. I don't dismiss them but I'm not sure whether to be afraid of them or not.

Readling or listening one can unsettle you though, and these interesting stories about Charterhouse, and the creature that supposedly resides in it, seems likely enough to pique someone's curiosity but at the same time compel them to take every precaution necessary not to encounter said creature or any other phantoms that lurk in the area.

As usual, there will be disappearances, hearing sounds or voices where there should be none, and finding yourself being interrupted in the middle of the night by an intruder who can pass through any barrier. These are the stories of Charterhouse. And it gives even the best of us the heebie-jeebies.

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Some of the greatest and timeless music worthy to be included in a canon of music in history are said to be inimitable because they are so unique and ingrained in our memories that only the original artist or band can truly bring out everything special about the song.

But inevitably, even in this artistic aspect of life, AI begins to invade. With the use of deep learning software and just a few snippets from songs, computers can now recreate and create songs.

Dadabots is an AI band created by CJ Carr and Zack Zukowski using deep learning software. Real snippets of music by death metal band Archspire are fed through the SampleRNN neural network to create Relentless Doppelganger, a constant, livestreaming aural assault that is actually pretty listenable. If you like death metal.

You may hear a sample of the music that Dadabots created on Cult of Weird.

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What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Though admittedly, there's much more happening in Las Vegas than just the glitz and glamour, fun and booze which people associate with it and the popular Vegas Strip where it all happens. It's not all sin city.

Allison Sanchez from Uproxx gives us another size of Vegas that many tourists might not know. Here are ten things that you can do in Vegas apart from the stereotypical casinos, luxurious hotels, and everything else Vegas is known for.

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The late great Queen frontman adored his nine cats. He lavished them with everything that they need. Here are some photos taken of Freddie Mercury with some of his cats. Most of the photos were taken by Peter Freestone and included in Freddie Mercury's memoir.

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Scientists have been able to detect these fullerenes in interstellar medium (ISM) found between stars. Not much is known about ISM but this find may shed some light as to why they are there and what other insights it might give us.

“Currently, the leading theory is that they form as a result of carbon chemistry in the warm envelopes of dying stars, such as Red giants.”

“The confirmation of interstellar [buckminsterfullerene] represents a breakthrough in our understanding of chemical complexity in the diffuse interstellar medium [..] bringing a new understanding of the types of molecules that may be responsible for the remaining (unidentified) diffuse interstellar bands.”

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Endgame has been released for almost a week now and social media has been abuzz with so much excitement as well as fair warnings from people who haven't watched the film not to spoil them.

In somewhat good fun, one teacher posted a note to his students saying that no discussions about the movie will take place in his class until he and his brother could watch the film.

The note was posted on Twitter, which has since been taken down, but Mashable was able to get the gist of the note here.

(Image credit: Kamilious/Twitter)