Culture

Picasso did smoke, and he credited cigar smoke with saving his life. The story that he told was that he had been born grey and wasn’t breathing. The midwife thought he was dead, but luckily an uncle, who was a doctor, decided to try something desperate, he blew cigar smoke into the infant’s nose. The … Read more

Pablo Picasso was an amazing and prolific painter. However, unlike Michelangelo, who was also an accomplished poet, or Leonardo, who dabbled brilliantly in the fields of science, math, philosophy, and music, Picasso’s genius in painting did not overlap into other fields. For example, when he tried his hand at writing plays, he took just four … Read more

Of the world’s famous painters, Rembrandt painted the most self portraits, with 62 self-portraits. Vincent van Gogh is number two, with 40. He had a good excuse, though, while institutionalized for madness, he didn’t have models or landscape views available. One of his portraits is Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, painted in the mental institution not … Read more

It’s true that the Ford Company was offered the Volkswagen plant for free after World War II, but turned it down. The occupying British army offered the Volkswagen factory and car model first to British firms and then to the Ford Motor Company. They all turned it down. Company president Henry Ford II wanted to … Read more

To get a one year assignment as a hotdogger, you have to be a recent college graduate, preferably in the field of communications, journalism, advertising, or public relations. Be aware, though, that competition is stiff. The company gets about 1,000 applicants a year. For the 1999-2000 year, they hired 21 hotdoggers, 15 of them women. … Read more

Most early cars could barely beat a man on foot. But the Stanley Steamer, invented by daredevil twin brothers Francis and Freelan Stanley, could go quite a bit faster. In fact, the two men risked their lives regularly by partaking in knuckle whitening speed trials. At a time when gas powered cars were rasping and … Read more

Two different studies indicate that bright yellow and bright blue are the most visible colors for a car. The University of California found that of the two colors, yellow shows up best at night, blue in fog and daylight. A test by Mercedes-Benz same conclusion, but came up with the suggested that white might be … Read more

The statistic that 75% of all fatal auto accidents occur within 25 miles of home is quite alarming. It does make it sound like there’s a bubble of danger around your own home, or that you’ll be safe if only you’re willing to stay more than 25 miles from your house. The truth behind the … Read more

The love story surrounding the Taj Mahal is true, but certain facts are generally left out. Here’s the oft-told romantic tale: Indian mogul Shah Jahan was deeply in love with his one of his four wives, whom he called Mumtaz Mahal, or “Ornament of the Palace.” In 1631, Mumtaz, on her death bed, asked Shah … Read more

The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. has 365 steps, one representing every day of the year. If you’re patient, you can count as you climb to find the step that represents your birthday. Unless, of course, you were born on February 29, sorry. The word “Capitol” comes from Latin, meaning city on a hill and … Read more

There are several bridges over the Thames, which flows through London. In fact, the bridge in question is only one of several bridges that have been named London Bridge through history. After the wooden London Bridge was torn down by the Danes in 1014, city leaders were determined that the next London Bridge would be … Read more

The Sphinx is the giant statue of a lion with the face of the pharoah Khafre that guards the pyramids. You may have heard a story of what happened to the Sphinx’s nose, that somebody or other shot it off. But this is just an old legend, and with each telling the culprit changes. Some … Read more

Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson on Mount Rushmore all have the biggest faces, and win by a nose. The boys on Mount Rushmore each have faces about 60 feet tall. The Sphinx’s face is about half that size, and Liberty’s is only about two-thirds the size of the Sphinx’s face. The … Read more

Pepsi got its name from one of its main ingredients, pepsin, a substance used to relieve indigestion. When pharmacist Caleb Bradham concocted the kola nut, pepsin, sugar, and vanilla mixture in 1893, he called it Brad’s Drink. When it became popular, he changed the name in 1903 and began the PepsiCola company. Bradham, who was … Read more

The double stick Popsicle was introduced during the Depression so that a Popsicle could be shared. Deliberately breaking a double down the middle produces two single Popsicles. Although there aren’t too many Americans who can’t spring for their own Popsicle these days, the idea of sharing this icy treat is still appealing.

Unlike Dr. Brown, Dr. Pepper was very much a real person, Dr. Kenneth Pepper of Rural Retreat, Virginia. The story goes that the founder and creator of the Dr. Pepper Company, Wade Morrison, got his first job at Pepper’s pharmacy in the 1880s. Morrison eventually left and settled in Waco, Texas, where he opened his … Read more

It has been a rumor since the 1930s that Dr. Pepper is made out of prune juice, but it’s not true. Prune juice has never been in Dr. Pepper. So what is the flavor? According to inside sources, the original soda jerk who concocted the brew was looking to duplicate the sweet smells of a … Read more

The extract from the yucca plant makes root beer foam more than other soft drinks. Not all commercial root beer companies add this, though. Some are downright ornery when it comes to the subject of froth. Barq’s, for instance, decided to focus more heavily on carbonation instead of worrying about frothiness. Rick Hill, a Barq’s … Read more

Here is the order in which Snoopy’s brothers and sisters were introduced in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip: Spike, Belle, Marbles, Olaf, and Andy. Once, Snoopy’s father received a Father’s Day card from “all eight” of his kids, so there are two more whose names we don’t know. The original drawings of Snoopy were inspired … Read more

Postum is a drink made of bran and molasses that was originally concocted as a substitute for coffee and a digestive aid. C. W. Post created Postum in 1895, then had to convince people to buy and consume Postum instead of coffee. So he did what every desperate businessman would do: scared the bejeebers out … Read more

You would think that Chock Full o’Nuts would be called Chock Full o’ Beans, wouldn’t you? Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee got its name from the fact that the company used to be a nut business. William Black sold nuts from a street pushcart in the mid-1920s, but sales slowed to the point where he … Read more

Duke Ellington’s real name was Edward Kennedy Ellington, a successful big-band leader and composer of more than 2,000 musical works, got his noble nickname because he had a dignified bearing. The name may have been influenced by its similarity to “the Duke of Wellington,” who was famous in schoolbooks for defeating Napoleon in the 1800s. … Read more

A gold record was one that sold a million copies and a platinum was a record that sold two million copies. But standards were loosened in the record industry in 1989, ostensibly because compact disks cost more than vinyl records and so should count more. A gold record used to take sales of a million … Read more

William Gilbert had to wait until Queen Victoria died before he was knighted. It’s true that Gilbert and Sullivan were both talented men and they equally contributed to the operettas that made them famous. However, Victoria “was not amused” at Gilbert’s lyrics, especially the devastating satires of her governmental officials. She didn’t hold Sullivan’s music … Read more

Among the famous name composers who composed the most music were: Franz Josef Haydn, who wrote 340 hours of music in 54 years of composing; George Handel, 303 hours in 54 years; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 202 hours in 29 years; and Johann Sebastian Bach, 147 hours in 47 years. On the other hand, the most … Read more

There really was a record called “Three Minutes of Silence”, and it was not so much a joke as a tribute to how ubiquitous and popular jukeboxes once were. Sometimes in a crowded bar or restaurant, you’d be willing to pay money for just a few minutes of relief from the constant music. You could … Read more

Robert Moog built the first Moog synthesizer in 1964. The electronic instrument was enormous and could play only one note at a time. When Walter Carlos recorded Switched on Bach on it, he had to laboriously build Bach’s chords and counterpoint by repeatedly recording separate tracks on tape. In 1970, advances in electronic miniaturization and … Read more

Elvis Presley did no give any encores for any of his concerts. Instead, the lights would come up and an announcer would say, “Elvis has left the building.” Perhaps this is a good idea, why should audience members have to beg and applaud in order to finally hear a performer’s best song?

The month of December does not have the highest number of suicides, it is a popular misconception. It’s true that many people go through a seasonal depression around the winter holidays for reasons as diverse as sad memories and shortened daylight. Still, statistics show that December and January have the lowest rates of suicide. In … Read more

In baseball, there are six ways a batter can get on base without hitting the ball. Most people know about walking after being pitched four balls or being hit by a ball. But, according to the official rule book, you also get an automatic ticket to first base if the catcher drops the third strike; … Read more

As long as the matador does not harm or kill the bull, bullfighting is legal in the United States. Detroit is one city that has featured bloodless bullfighting, bringing in some of the best Spanish and Mexican bullfighters to demonstrate their skills, speed, and courage without doing overt harm to the animals. In Portugal it … Read more

Traditionally a polo ball is made of willow root, but hard plastic has made significant inroads in the game. The outdoor polo ball is about 3¼ inches in diameter and weighs about four ounces. For indoor polo, players bat around an inflated leather ball 4 1/2 inches in diameter. The oldest polo ground in the … Read more

There are at least three sports that originated in the United States. Basketball, Volleyball, invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts, by William Morgan in 1895, for sedentary businessmen who found the new sport of basketball too strenuous. Rodeo, first formalized as a sport in Prescott, Arizona.

Scrummage isn’t exactly the same thing as scrimmage from American football, in fact, you could call it the father of scrimmage. The two, scrummage and scrimmage, are similar in that they take place at the start of a play, but that is where the similarity ends. In football, each side lines up face-to-face on either … Read more

Shoeless Joe Jackson and eight other White Sox players were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against Cincinnati, and were thrown out of baseball forever, even though they were acquitted of criminal charges. For 10 years afterward, Jackson, one of the best baseballers ever, played semipro around the country under various assumed names. When … Read more

The Los Angeles Lakers are actually named after lakes in Minnesota. Los Angeles has a notable shortage of lakes compared to other cities, it’s in a desert, after all. When the team was formed in 1948, it was in Minneapolis, in the “land of a thousand lakes.” When the team got relocated to Los Angeles … Read more

Each sumo match is preceded by an elaborate ceremony called dohyō-iri which is based on Shintoist traditions. The judges file into the ring with attendants and sword bearers. Each official is supplied with a small ceremonial dagger, originally provided so that he could disembowel himself if he gave a miscall. They perform a short ritual … Read more

Started at pudding and ended at pie is a British saying that has come to mean anything all-encompassing or far-reaching; figuratively, from one end of town to the other. The origin of the phrase dates back to the Great Fire of London on September 2, 1666, which started in the royal baker’s house on Pudding … Read more

To protect against themselves against theft of idea and business, any clown can register their face with the National Clown and Character Registry for about $20, sort of a trademark locale for clowns. A clown sends photos of his or her made-up face and a replica is painted onto a goose egg for archive purposes. … Read more

Although Chicago is called the Windy City, truth be told, it’s a wimp in comparison to the big boys. Chicago comes in 21st in a top 68 list of windiest cities. Cheyenne, Wyoming is the windiest city in the United States. The average speed of Cheyenne’s wind is about 12.9 miles per hour, while Chicago’s … Read more

The word Bronx is the possessive form of “Bronk.” In 1639, Jonas Bronk, or Bronck, moved into the area and laid claim to the place, naming a river, burgs, and streets after himself. The Dutch made “Bronk’s” easier to write by using their possessive “x” and spelling it “Bronx.” The Bronx is the northernmost of … Read more

Goofy made his debut in Mickey’s Review in 1932 under the stage name Dippy Dawg. His name changed slowly over several years, first to just Dippy, then Dippy the Goof, and then to Goofy by 1939. Suffering a slight identity crisis, he appeared as Mr. Geef for a while in the 1940s, but this name … Read more

Here’s how morticians keep a dead person’s mouth shut. Before embalming, it wasn’t uncommon to tie gauze or string around the chin and head until rigor mortis set in. Today undertakers pass a suture through the nasal septum and tie it to the lower lip. Or they use an injector needle gun to place wires … Read more

The main purpose of putting makeup on the dead is to make them look as life-like as possible for the viewing. This isn’t always easy, as blood pools after death, sometimes from broken or clogged blood vessels, sometimes because the body has been left in one position for a while. The embalming procedure helps: since … Read more

Disney World has only been closed for one day on September 15, 1999 since it opened in 1971. Although Disney World has shut down early or opened late for many reasons over the years, Hurricane Floyd in September 1995 has been the only event compelling enough to close down Disney’s Florida amusement park for an … Read more

Anne Carter Lee, the Southern general’s mother, suffered from cataleptic spells that caused her to fall unconscious and grow rigid with tremors. As the story goes, she was mistaken for dead during one of these spells and buried in the family plot in Virginia. Hearing a noise a while later, one of the servants called … Read more

Here’s how the Hearse funeral car got its name. It all began with the huge, elaborate candelabras that the ancient Normans used in religious ceremonies. Because, upside down, they resembled a type of British plow used under Norman rule, these candlesticks were eventually given the same name, herse. The large candlesticks not only were used … Read more

The word funeral comes from the Latin word funus, meaning “funeral,” which comes from the Latin funus, meaning “torch.” Using torches in death and burial ceremonies dates back to Neanderthal times, and the ancient Romans believed funeral torches showed the deceased the way to their eternal homes. Funeral rites and customs are as old as … Read more

Before magician Harry Houdini died, he promised his wife he would contact her if possible from the spirit world. During his life, Houdini had spent quite a bit of time running to psychics in an attempt to contact his dear departed mother, to no avail. He desperately wanted to find out once and for all … Read more

Train whistles used to mean a lot more back before phones, walkie-talkies, and other ways for the engineer to communicate with the rest of the crew. For example, one urgent toot! signaled the brakeman to jump from car to car, applying the brakes on each one, which at one time was the only way to … Read more

A good dog sled costs about $500. The harness, gang lines, and a snow hook, the Arctic equivalent of an anchor, will cost another $35. Sled bags will cost $25; and booties for your dogs’ cold feet will cost about $1 per paw. For more information on dog sledding, feel free to join your local … Read more

George Washington hated the tedium of sitting for days at a time when getting his portrait painted. When he retired from public office, he swore he’d never pose again, until his wife, Martha, suggested that both of them pose for portraits to be hung above the mantelpiece in their home. They chose Gilbert Stuart, a … Read more

Some have said there is a funny story to Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name, but that depends on your sense of humor. Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a powerful force to be reckoned with in her own right. What many people don’t realize is that she was a niece … Read more

More U.S. presidents are related to each other than one might think. John Adams and John Quincy Adams were father and son. William Harrison and Benjamin Harrison were grandfather and grandson. James Madison and Zachary Taylor were second cousins. And finally, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were fifth cousins. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the … Read more

Abraham Lincoln was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,468 12 years before he became the 16th president. The four-digit patent number is a telling indication of just how long ago that was. The device was intended to help grounded steamboats get off shoals and sandbars without jettisoning heavy cargo; it involved inflatable chambers designed to float … Read more

It’s hard to say for sure who the smartest president in the United States was, but James Garfield must be up there in the top percentile. He was a college professor in ancient languages and literature and once published a mathematical proof of the Pythagorean theorem. An ambidextrous man, Garfield also had a nifty trick … Read more

Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure if any former U.S. presidents were gay. However, our only bachelor president, James Buchanan, had that reputation in his lifetime. His longtime roommate, Senator and later Vice President William Rufus De Vane King of Alabama, also never married. According to historians, the two had an inseparable relationship … Read more

Seven U.S. presidents were born in a log cabin. They included Abe Lincoln, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Andrew Jackson, and James Garfield. A log cabin was the first generation home building erected quickly for frontier shelter. Historically log construction has its roots in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, and the first log cabins were probably built … Read more

Mark Twain was the first writer to submit a typewritten manuscript, with Life on the Mississippi in 1883. A sucker for new gadgets, he was one of the first people to buy a typewriter, calling it a “curiosity-breeding little joker.” Mark Twain’s wit and satire earned praise from both his critics and peers. After his … Read more

Shakespeare mentioned America once in his plays. In The Comedy of Errors, during a discussion between Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse, Dromio describes a woman, a rather large woman, who, in his mind, is globe shaped. During the course of the conversation, Antipholus urges Dromio to keep pinpointing geographic locations on her large … Read more

A traditional version of the classic tale “Little Red Riding Hood” was banned in the town of Empire, California, in 1990. Ironically, it wasn’t because of the sexual undertones in the story of the beautiful young girl being seduced by the aggressive, conniving wolf, or the gory attack on the grandmother. Nor was it because … Read more

Depending on the source, Aesop wrote anywhere between zero and several hundred fables. According to some scholars, Aesop was a Greek slave who, between 620 and 565 B.C., wrote down folk tales he’d heard. His name became associated with tales that centered around the animal kingdom and always contained a moral. Tradition has it that … Read more

The “F” in F. Scott Fitzgerald stand for Francis. His full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, and yes, he was the second cousin, three times removed, of the Francis Scott Key who wrote the U.S. national anthem. F. Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, … Read more

One big reason why Samuel Clemens called himself Mark Twain is that Clemens once wanted nothing more in life than to be a riverboat captain. Having someone measuring and calling out depth in a river was a must for any riverboat captain trying to navigate the Mississippi. The call mark twain means “two fathoms,” or … Read more

Although many believe that the word loony came from the loon’s laugh-like call, the word loony, or looney, is just a short version of the word lunatic. Lunatic has been in use for almost 1,000 years and comes from luna, the “moon,” based on the belief that insanity was affected by the moon’s phases. In … Read more

Dr. Lillian Moller Gilbreth, who also invented the now common kitchen trash can with a step-on opening lid, invented the electric food mixer. She was a pioneering efficiency expert and incidentally was also the mother in the book Cheaper by the Dozen, written by two of her twelve children. Lillian Gilbreth was was born in … Read more

The only way to find out if diner lingo is faster is to try it and see. First a little lingo: “Noah’s boy with Murphy carrying a wreath, splash of red noise, frog sticks, and an MD, hold the hail!” Now the order, straight: “Ham with potato and cabbage, tomato soup, French fries, and a … Read more

Mayonnaise is typically made from egg yolks, oil, water, vinegar, and some optional sweeteners, preservatives, and thickeners. Mayonnaise got its name from Port Mahon on Minorca, one of the islands of Spain. The word mayonnaise is believed to be a corruption of moyeunaise, from the very old French word moyeu, which means “yolk of egg”. … Read more

There are several pitfalls of ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant. First of all, trying to figure out whether to go with red, white, or Blue Nun, and then what type, label, year, and price. Just when you think you’re home free, the sommelier arrives, opens the bottle, and hands you the cork. … Read more

Cold filtered beer is just an advertising term and clever marketing. All beer is “cold filtered”, it just means using fine screens to remove particulates, including microbes. If combined with sterile handling, the filtering eliminates bacteria, which means that the beer doesn’t have to be pasteurized. Unpasteurized beer can legally be labeled “draft” beer, even … Read more

A firkin is an old English unit of measurement used in winemaking. It amounts to about a quarter of a barrel. The word firkin comes from the Middle Dutch word vierdekijn, which means fourth, or a quarter of a full-size barrel. For beer and ale a firkin is equal to nine imperial gallons, or seventy-two … Read more

Like so many Old Testament characters, Lot lived a long and eventful life. However, his wife didn’t fare so well, and his daughters seemed to be pawns in a terribly twisted tale. The story began when God decided that the town of Sodom, Lot’s hometown, was so evil that it must be destroyed. Since Lot … Read more

The superstition of the Evil Eye goes back centuries, and can be found in societies throughout the world. Ancient Romans claiming to possess the Evil Eye could be hired to charm enemies. Ancient India revered and feared the phenomenon, as did cultures in the Near East. For hundreds of years, gypsies were accused of possessing … Read more

The seven deadly sins, or cardinal sins, according to the Roman Catholic faith, are the sins that are most serious and can result in the death of one’s soul: pride lust gluttony anger envy sloth covetousness In their original form, as put forth by Avagrius of Pontus, an early Greek theologian, there were eight deadly … Read more

Superman first appeared in Action Comics in June of 1938. Superman is widely considered to be an American cultural icon, and helped to create and establish the superhero genre within the American comic book industry. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a huge influence on early Superman stories, and Superman took on the role … Read more

Richard Felton Outcault is widely regarded to have invented the modern comic strip, and was born on January 14, 1863. Outcault’s “Yellow Kid’ is considered the first comic strip character, and appeared in Hearst’s New York Journal in 1896. The Kid was a bald, floppy-eared, buck-toothed, grinning kid in a huge yellow shirt. Barefoot and … Read more