Author name: communityoflights

Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer who terrorized the streets of London greater than a century in the past, might have lastly been recognized by forensic scientists in Nice, Britain. Genetic assessments revealed final week within the Journal of Forensic Sciences level to Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old Polish barber and a major police suspect on the time. Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer generally believed to have been active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. In both the criminal case files and contemporary journalistic accounts, the killer was called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.

“Oppenheimer” won big at the 2024 Oscars, coming in with 13 nominations and earning awards in major categories such as best director, best actor and best picture. “Barbie,” the other half of the dual box-office Barbenheimer sensation, earned eight nominations, but only got one win Sunday night for best song. Other big winners at the 96th Academy Awards were “Poor Things” — which won awards for hair and makeup, production design and costume design — and Cillian Murphy, who won best actor, continuing his winning streak after taking home comparable awards at the 2024 Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards for the title role in “Oppenheimer.”

Valerie Plame is an American spy whose identity was revealed by a Washington Post reporter in 2005. President George W. Bush and members of his administration were suspected of orchestrating the leak after Plame’s husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, wrote an article criticizing the Bush administration for exaggerating evidence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. One of Bush’s top aides, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison for the “Plame Affair,” as it became known. Plame retired her CIA post in response to the incident.

Josephine Baker is best-known for her celebrated song and dance career that spanned five decades. But she is also famous for being a spy for the French resistance during World War II. As the story goes, Nazi guards were so star-struck by Baker that they let her slip across the border without trouble — little knowing that she was smuggling secrets written in invisible ink on her sheet music. After the war, Baker was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her service.

Margareth Geertruida Zelle ( August 7, 1876- October 15, 1917) is the most famous and controversial spy of World War One. She was also known as Mata Hari, a Dutch born woman who carried exotic stripping to an art form. So many myths and legends have surrounded her past that it’s hard to tell reality from mystery.