In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we look at how the practice of women jumping out of cakes began, who invented Monopoly, the surprisingly fascinating story of the founding of KFC, the interesting origins of the Troll doll and SpongeBob Squarepants, the boy who was executed twice, and the infamous Fcuk Fashion campaign. Click here to subscribe to […]
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While the Ancient Greeks had their celebrated Sacred Band of Thebes, a legendarily successful fighting force made up of all male lovers, in more modern times the various branches of the United States military have not been so accepting of such individuals, which brings us to the topic of today- that time in the 1980s when the Naval Intelligence Service […]
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Mike D. asks: Why is cereal considered a breakfast food? For kids who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, it was sugary cereal commercials that dotted the television landscape, featuring lucky leprechauns, wise-cracking droids and adorable Gremlins. A common theme among all of them was advocating these products were a “magical part of a complete breakfast“, helping to ingrain […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Here’s a piece of recent American history that most people have never heard of. It involves many of the elements we associate with modern life—cars, travel, eating, entrepreneurship…and discrimination. Here’s the story of the Green Book. ROAD TRIP! For as long as automobiles have been around, they have symbolized freedom […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. That Time Mozart Pirated a Forbidden Piece of Music from the Catholic Church from Memory Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is known for many things, few of which we care to cover on this site because you probably already know all about them. […]
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On the morning of July 7, 1944, Captain Ben L. Salomon of the U.S. Army’s 105th Infantry, commissioned as a dentist, single-handedly held off a fierce attack of an overwhelming force of Japanese soldiers in order to allow sufficient time for approximately 30 of his comrades to safely retreat. After 15 hours of terrible fighting, when relief finally arrived, Salomon […]
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In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we cover the truly fascinating reason why fluorescent lights buzz, why cats like catnip and why stepping on legos is unbelievably painful. We also collaborate with List 25 to share some amazing facts, as well as look at why orange juice tastes so awful after brushing your teeth, why a dollar is […]
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is known for many things, few of which we care to cover on this site because you probably already know all about them. Instead, we prefer to cover things that you likely didn’t know, like that the alphabet song was based on a tune by Mozart, or covering his extremely adult themed works that included a bit […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Believe it or not, in the 1950s the U.S. seriously considered building a military base on the Moon. Why? As Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson later put it, so that Americans would never have to go to bed “by the light of a Communist Moon.” LOOK—UP IN THE SKY! Just […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Transfermium WarsIf the Transfermium Wars raged from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, how is it that so few people have ever heard of them? Because they were fought by rival groups of scientists over who would get to […]
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Olivia B. asks: Where did the word dunce come from and who came up with the dunce cap? The word dunce derives from the name of an extremely accomplished religious scholar- John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308), an influential philosopher and theologian of the High Middle Ages. If you guessed that his ideas and those who touted them were (somewhat unfairly) eventually […]
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On Christmas Day 1904, Carl Emil Pettersson stood at a crossroads – either he was going to be eaten by hungry cannibals or become a member of the Tabar people. Happily, the latter occurred, after which he led a rather remarkable life. Born in October 1875 in Sweden, at around the age of 17 Pettersson went to sea. Working his […]
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Whether it’s flying tanks , literal bat bombs, surprisingly effective pigeon guided missiles, chicken heated nuclear weapons, or dogs that are trained to gruesomely take down tanks, humans have been using animals in war in a variety of bizarre ways. Today we’re here to talk about yet another seemingly absurd animal war-time event of the 20th century that actually turned […]
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Brenda V. asks: Is it true that men can breastfeed babies naturally? The ability to lactate exists in a variety of male animals, though male milk production is typically a rare occurrence. However, male Dayak fruit bats are commonly known to lactate. So what about human male lactation? Believe it or not, men can, in fact, lactate. Possessing all the […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader If the Transfermium Wars raged from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, how is it that so few people have ever heard of them? Because they were fought by rival groups of scientists over who would get to name newly discovered chemical elements. PARENT TRAP When someone discovers a […]
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In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we answer such questions as how George Washington died, why Rice Krispies snap, crackle and pop, why Coke inexplicably tried to change their formula completely almost overnight, why lobsters turn red when you cook them, why poop is brown, why peppers taste hot and mint cold and why the traditional dog of […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. That Time Hoover Acciedentally Cost Itself Almost 50,000,000 by Giving Away Free Flights with the Purchase of a Vacuum Cleaner Giving away free stuff with a purchase is a good way to bolster sales and can result in a tidy increase […]
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This is an excerpt from our book, The Wise Book of Whys, available on Kindle | Nook and in Print | Audiobook This tradition is mostly thanks to Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadian Band. While their work is largely unknown to those born in the last few decades, the band has sold over 300 million records to date. Guy […]
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