The Best Interesting Random Facts
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
It would be best not to complain about how basketball got its name, it could have easily been called “box ball” or even “trash can ball.” In 1891, when James Naismith was inventing the game for bored, snowbound students at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, he intended to use wooden boxes for his targets. But […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The name “root beer” is pretty much consumer fraud, pure and simple. In the early 1870s, Charles Hires was served a root and herb tea at a country inn on his honeymoon, and liked it so much he decided to market it as a soft drink. As an anti-alcohol prohibitionist, Hires hoped that drinkers would […]
In 1923, South Dakota’s tourism board got the idea to carve western heroes Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and John Colter into a mountain to attract out-of-state tourists. They approached John Gutzon Borglum, who had just accepted a commission to carve Robert E. Lee on the side of Georgia’s Stone Mountain. Borglum hated the idea of […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Traditionally, sailors on a ship considered seeing an albatross to be a sign of good luck. Probably this came from early days of navigation, when sailors mistakenly thought the bird sighting meant that land was near. Little did they know that an albatross can live for years on the sea without setting foot on land. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Illinois Avenue is the most landed space in Monopoly. It is followed by B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue, and Reading Railroad. Monopoly is a redesign of an earlier game “The Landlord’s Game”, which was first published by the Quaker and political activist Elizabeth Magie. Monopoly is also the most played commercial […]
The Buick Motor Company originated as the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in 1899, and was named after David Buick. He had the bad luck and poor business sense to found two successful companies and sell them both before reaping the rewards. By the end of his life, he couldn’t even afford a telephone in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Left handers can play jai alai as long as they’re willing to use their right hands. The rules and traditions specifically forbid playing left-handed. The reason is that the court has only three walls, one at each end and a side wall on the left against which the ball can be rebounded. Spectators sit behind […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hostess Sno Balls are spongy half-domes of cake and marshmallow, and traditionally come in white and pink. But the Hostess company isn’t beyond surprising consumers with special colors on holidays or for special events. For example, when the Broncos made the NFL play-offs, the Hostess bakery in Denver filled each package with one orange and […]
Scott Adams gets his ideas for the Dilbert comic strip from a couple of different sources. Adams was first a corporate cog in both the banking and the utilities industries, so a lot of fodder for his strip comes from personal experience. But the “Dilbert” strip is known for soliciting ideas from its readership, and […]
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 […]
