In this video from our YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we take a look at the origin of 7-UP, the real reason it was named that, and what lithium has to do with it. To make sure you don’t miss out on many more videos like this, be sure and subscribe to our new daily channel! If you liked […]
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The immutable ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, pi, is, and always has been, 3.1415926 . . . ad infinitum. However, in the winter of 1897, the Indiana State legislature nearly changed this mathematical constant with a civil law. The ridiculous story starts with amateur mathematician Edward Goodwin who, in 1894, believed he had finally solved […]
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Sara M asks: Why are Boeing planes so randomly numbered for their names? Although it may seem as if Boeing planes are randomly numbered, there actually is a method to their madness. Founded in July 1916 as the Pacific Aero Products Co, but changing into Boeing Airplane Company in 1917, Boeing was re-tooling and adapting to the end of World […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, remains one of the most infamous events in U.S. history. Yet the spy who played a key role in the sneak attack is a forgotten man, unknown even to many World War II buffs. UNDER COVER On March 27, 1941, […]
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This Day In History November 2, 1772 “.. an attack on the liberties of one Colony was an attack on the liberties of all.” – Sam Adams The Sons of Liberty were always busy organizing new public protests and resistance strategies against unpopular British policies. They continually looked for new ways to educate the citizens about the pressing issues of […]
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C. Lani asks: What are those little black spots on some kinds of chips? Corn and tortilla chips are speckled with black spots, but what exactly are they? The staple ingredient for both corn and tortilla chips is, of course, corn. An ear of corn is made up of individual rows of kernels, and each kernel is attached to the […]
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This Day In History: October 30, 1944 Most people are familiar with the tragic story of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl forced into hiding with her family when her older sister Margo received a call-up notice from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration to report to a labor camp in 1942. At the time, the family was living in […]
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A lot of things happened on D-Day- the largest seaborne invasion in history took place; James “Scotty” Doohan from Star Trek fame was shot six times by his fellow countrymen; and Mad Jack Churchill stormed the beach with a sword and a bow. Another unusual thing that occurred was the capture of what initially was assumed to be a Japanese […]
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In this video from our YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we take a look at who really invented duct tape and what it was originally used for, which is probably not what you think! To make sure you don’t miss out on many more videos like this, be sure and subscribe to our new daily channel! If you liked […]
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This Day In History: October 29, 1901 Jane Toppan was born Honora Kelley, daughter of Irish immigrants by the names of Peter and Bridget Kelley. Unfortunately for her, when she was just a few years old, her mother died of tuberculosis, leaving her in the care of her alcoholic and allegedly abusive father. Accounts are conflicting as to whether Peter […]
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Elvis Presley was the hottest act in all of show business by the summer of 1956. The 21-year-old singing dynamo had electrified the entire world in his live shows, concerts and television appearances. His records and albums were selling like proverbial hotcakes. But in spite of all his incredible success, Elvis wanted more; he wanted to be a movie star. […]
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In this video from our YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we take a look at how exactly the practice of Halloween and Trick or Treating really got started. To make sure you don’t miss out on many more videos like this, be sure and subscribe to our new daily channel! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: […]
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This Day In History: October 27, 1659 Although the Puritans partially came to America to escape religious persecution, there was an abundance of it to be found in the Massachusetts Bay Colony… except it was them doling it out this time. On the receiving end were the Quakers- members of the Religious Society of Friends, a group that the Puritan […]
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Back in 1981, in an effort to raise some quick funds, American Airlines introduced a $250,000 pass (about $641,000 today) that would allow customers to fly on its airlines for free for the rest of their lives. In 1990, they bumped the price to $600,000 (about $1.07 million today), and then in 1993 to $1.01 million (about 1.7 million today). Despite […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader What happens when the fans of a hugely popular novel and every book publisher in the world demand a sequel that the author doesn’t want to write? The author’s family waits 50 years, then hires someone to follow up Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN Gone […]
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This Day In History: October 26, 1977 For many millennia, smallpox was one of the most easily transmitted and deadly diseases in the world for humans. In the 20th century alone, when a successful vaccine was already being widely administered in many countries, it is estimated that smallpox still caused somewhere between 300 and 500 million deaths worldwide. Approximately one-third […]
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This is yet another great article from our friends over at The Medicine Journal. Check out their YouTube channel here! Taking another person’s feces and shoving it up your bum doesn’t seem like a worthwhile medical procedure, but in reality, this form of defecation sharing can save someone’s life. So drink some coffee, eat a bran muffin and read on […]
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In the midst of the Cold War, it can be easy to think the United States and the Soviet Union would be unable to come to an agreement on anything. Yet they, and ten other countries gathered in Washington, D. C. in 1959 to successfully negotiate the Antarctic Treaty, which not only encouraged international cooperation with the goal of scientific […]
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