Today I found out the song “Happy Birthday” is copyrighted and brings in about $2,000,000 per year to the copyright holders (currently an investment group that purchased Warner Music who in turn was the most recent owner of the copyright for the song). The original tune for the song was created by sisters Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in […]
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Today I found out the origins of the demotivator meme. The meme, as we know it today, has its origins in a company called Despair, Inc. Before them though was a company called Successories. This company was started by Mac Anderson in 1985. Among their products were motivational posters with the now classic black background and text underneath a picture. Around […]
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Today I found out Duct tape was originally named “Duck” tape and originally only came in green, not silver. Duct tape was originally invented by Johnson & Johnson’s Permacel division during WWII for the military. The military specifically needed a waterproof tape that could be used to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. This is why the originally Duct tape […]
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Today I found that Dr Pepper is the oldest major soft drink, that is still being produced, in the United States; now over 125 years old. In 1885, in the frontier town of Waco Texas (nicknamed “six-shooter junction”), a pharmacists by the name of Charles Alderton worked at the “Old Corner Drug Store” owned by Wade Morrison. At this drug […]
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Today I found out about a Japanese soldier who continued fighting World War II a full 29 years after the Japanese surrendered, because he didn’t know the war was over. Hiroo Onoda is a Japanese citizen that originally worked at a Chinese trading company. When he was 20 years old, he was called to join the Japanese army. He promptly […]
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Today I found out how Valentine’s Day got started. It was all a huge conspiracy jointly popularized by the diamond company De Beers; Hallmark; and the collective might of gourmet chocolate manufacturers the world over … Ok, not really, but it certainly worked out for them didn’t it??? Didn’t it!?!?!?!? 😉 Really though, it actually all started with a little […]
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Today I found out why zippers have a YKK on them. The YKK stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha (say that five times fast). In 1934 Tadao Yoshida founded Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha (translated Yoshida Industries Limited). This company is now the world’s foremost zipper manufacturer, making about 90% of all zippers in over 206 facilities in 52 countries. In fact, they […]
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