Imagine getting the idea one day to sell everything you own, take the money to Las Vegas, and bet it all on a single spin of the roulette wheel. It sounds crazy. The risk of losing is very real, and you could very well be walking away with just the clothes on your back. In fact, the chance of winning […]
Read more
This Day In History: August 5, 1305 William Wallace was one of those to lead Scotland’s battle for freedom from England after King Edward I of England declared himself Lord Paramount of Scotland in the late 13th century. Wallace was finally caught on August 5, 1305, and brought to London for trial and execution. From the 15th century minstrel “Blind Harry” […]
Read more
In the summer of 1982, a 33-year old unemployed royal fanatic twice scaled a 14-foot wall topped with barbed wire and revolving spikes, shimmied up a drainpipe, entered Buckingham Palace through unlocked windows, sat on the Queen’s throne and even enjoyed a brief tête-à-tête with Her Majesty. Michael Fagan was born on August 8, 1948 in London. Married in 1972, […]
Read more
Movies have been made in Hollywood since it was incorporated into the city of Los Angeles in 1910. These early flicks often featured military equipment in the background, such as for an air show. Nonetheless, prior to granting access to its assets, the military ensured that each scene and film reflected its values and presented its soldiers in a positive […]
Read more
This Day In History: August 4, 1693 Legend has it that Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon stated, “I am drinking the stars!” after tasting the result of a botched batch of wine on August 4, 1693, thus “inventing” champagne. Of course, the story is certainly false, with the first documented mention of that line appearing in an advertisement in the late 19th […]
Read more
Falling under the category of “What could go wrong?” is the sport of ferret legging. Simple in its design although painful to master, the sport simply requires a man, a pair of baggy trousers and two live ferrets. The trousers are secured at the ankles, and, after the ferrets are set free in them, secured at the waist as well. […]
Read more
The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader It seems that no one’s ever suggested to Mother Nature that she do anything in moderation…sort of like how Felix the Dog gobbles up treats at the BRI. LIGHTNING ALWAYS STRIKES THE SAME PLACE The Catatumbo River in Venezuela is the site of a continual lightning storm. More than 160 […]
Read more
This Day In History August 3, 1529 Back in 1525, the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s forces had defeated France at Pavia in Italy. King Francis I of France was taken prisoner and was forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid. He ceded lands in Italy, Flanders, Artois, and Tournai, as well as parts of France, to the Emperor. […]
Read more
The Mystery of the Kentucky Meat Shower On March 3, 1876, one Mrs. Crouch was working in her yard in Bath County, Kentucky, making soap, when suddenly “meat which looked like beef began to fall all around her. The sky was perfectly clear at the time.” Falling like large snowflakes and settling all around the 5000 square foot yard, pieces […]
Read more
In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we discuss the origin of the “ACME” brand name in Looney Tunes, the slave who helped make the famous Freedom Statue in Washington DC, why the Monopoly pieces are as they are, that time a tulip cost more than a house, and the truth about whales and their blowholes (aka, why Dory […]
Read more
Sitting in the heart of London since long before anyone can remember, theories regarding the London Stone range from Roman ruin, to Druidic icon to a talisman of good fortune. Although many point to John Stow’s Survey of London (1598), where he sets the 10th century as the first mention of the stone in print (he claims he found a […]
Read more
This Day In History: July 31, 1703 Daniel Defoe, who later went on to author the novel Robinson Crusoe, was put in the pillory on July 31, 1703. His crime was seditious libel related to a satirical pamphlet he wrote defending freedom of religion. The problem was that Defoe did too good of a job of mimicking those he was […]
Read more
At the turn of the 20th century in the isolated little town of Boonville, California, local residents became so enamored with creating and using their unique slang that they essentially developed an entire language. Called Boontling after the town, due to the way the language was formed, it is relatively incomprehensible to all except the initiated. About 50 miles southeast […]
Read more
Thomas Fitzpatrick, known to his friends as Tommy Fitz, was a native of Washington Heights, Manhattan, who, although he had moved to New Jersey, still hung out with his old friends from the neighborhood. A “wild bunch,” Tommy’s crew were adventurous and enjoyed frequenting area bars. Late in evening (or rather early in the morning) of September 30, 1956, as […]
Read more
This Day In History: July 30, 1976 The road to Bruce Jenner’s record-breaking gold medal in 1976 began at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, where he placed tenth in the decathlon. After the event, he reportedly approached the champion Nikolay Avilov of the Soviet Union, looked him straight in the eye and told him, “Next time, I’m going to […]
Read more
This is a video from CGP Grey in which he explains what countries comprise “Scandinavia.” If you like this video, please subscribe to Grey’s awesome YouTube channel here. You can also join us in supporting his videos on Patreon here. If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: The Truth About Vikings and Their Helmets Where Do the Gypsies […]
Read more
For a couple of months in the fall of 1969, a persistent rumor that Paul McCartney had been killed two years earlier and replaced with a look-alike captured the imaginations of Beatles fans and the general public. The rumor began in the winter of 1967 when, after a particularly icy night, reports were flying among Britain’s national press that Paul […]
Read more
This Day In History: July 29, 1862 Confederate spy Marie Isabella “Belle” Boyd, often called the “Cleopatra of the Secession”, was arrested by Union troops on July 29, 1862, and incarcerated in Old Capital Prison in Washington D.C. It was the first of three arrests for this teenage espionage agent from Martinsburg, Virginia. Belle’s town was one of the first […]
Read more