This Day In History: June 26, 1945 On June 26, 1945, delegates from 50 nations joined in San Francisco, California to sign the United Nations Charter in the hopes of sparing “succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The precursor to the United Nations, the League of Nations, was conceived under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 “to promote international […]
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In 1936, the crew of the British gunboat HMS Gnat lacked a mascot, and the captain and crew decided to remedy that situation before starting patrols on the Yangtze River. Their sister gunboats, the Bee, Cicada, and Cricket already had mascots of their own. So Lieutenant Commander J. Waldergrave and Chief Petty Officer Charles Jefferey purchased an English Pointer puppy […]
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This Day In History: June 25, 1533 Mary Tudor was considered one of the most attractive princesses in Europe in her time. This, coupled with her high station, made her a very hot commodity on the royal marriage market. Her first fiancé was the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles, nephew of her sister-in-law Catherine of Aragon. That deal fell through […]
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Although crime in England’s capital was on the decline in the mid-19th century, thanks in part to the relatively recent formation of the London Metropolitan Police Force in 1839, fear of crime was a persistent, reoccurring issue thanks to a few instances of robbery and murder, and, of course, the news media. In particular, the so-called “garrotting” cases, where someone strangles someone else, […]
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Ever wonder why if you want to buy a truck in the United States you have drastically fewer selections than many other countries tend to enjoy and why U.S.-made trucks dominate the market in the country, while the same ratios aren’t seen at all in cars? It’s all because of chickens. No, really. Before the twentieth century, chicken wasn’t nearly […]
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This Day In History: June 24, 1916 In the days before women had the right to vote, one of the most powerful players in Hollywood was a diminutive blonde with corkscrew curls. Mary Pickford began her career appearing in “flickers”, short films shown in Nickelodeons where the actors were merely considered hired help. They weren’t given any billing at all […]
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In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we look at whether earwigs really sometimes lay eggs in people’s ears, when humans first started wearing clothes, why certain bedding has tags that say they are illegal to remove, why we toast drinks, and, finally, we also debunk 6 common myths. Be sure and subscribe to our YouTube Channel for many […]
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For most people, saying “a monkey could do my job” is a roundabout way of saying that their current position of employment isn’t exactly that mentally taxing. For James Wide though, it was more of a statement of fact because for 9 years in the late 19th century, his job of railroad signalman at Uitenhage station in South Africa was literally done […]
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This Day In History: June 23, 1894 On June 23, 1894, Alfred Charles Kinsey, one of the most influential and controversial figures of the 20th century, was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He is widely recognized as one of the first people to approach human sexuality, in all its forms, from a scientific angle. The son of a religious zealot, […]
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Kerrey23 asks: Where did the expression “dollars to donuts” come from? The word “doughnut” is American in origin and traces its roots to the early 19th century. It is presumed to have been a combination of the words dough and nut. It first appeared in print in Washington Irving’s 1809 Knickerbocker’s History of New York Sometimes the table was graced […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader TV’s Star Trek franchise was a four-decade-long roller-coaster ride, beginning with two different shows helmed by two very different men- Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman. Here’s their behind-the-scenes story. Macho Man In his youth, Gene Roddenberry was a lot like Captain Kirk- always looking for adventure. As a teenager, he […]
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This Day In History: June 22, 1847 Doughnuts are one of those culinary delights that most people love and that seem to have been around forever. Forever may be pushing it, but we do have evidence that the ancient Greeks and Romans would fry up strips of pastry dough and proceed to glaze them with a coating of honey (yum) […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Heroic Death of Chariots of Fire’s Eric Liddell Imagine you dedicated your adult life to helping those less fortunate than yourself -that you spent your entire adult life trying to make the world a better place, and when you died […]
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As you may know, naturally created diamonds are formed from carbon subjected to extreme pressure (725,000 pounds per square inch or so) and heat (1,650 to 2,370 °F) some 90-120 miles down. The world’s natural diamond supply (that has come to the surface) was formed in this way some 1-3 billion years ago. However, scientists only realized that diamonds are […]
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This Day In History: June 19, 1975 The son of Sicilian immigrants, Sam Giancana, also known as “The Cigar”, was born as Momo Salvatore Giancana on June 15, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois. As a teenager, he led a gang that did small jobs for the infamous Chicago Mafia headed by Al Capone. Sam soon was promoted to wheelman, or driver, […]
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Ask a casual fan of basketball to tell you who the greatest player in history is and they’ll probably say that it’s either Michael Jordan or Bugs Bunny, depending on how many times they watched Space Jam as a kid. When basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was asked who the greatest player he ever played against was, after a long an […]
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The law is a funny thing and when it comes to defamation and libel, it’s notoriously murky. As such, writers often have to be careful when they’re trying to create characters “inspired” by real people to avoid a lawsuit. For writers who don’t care about that though, there’s always the small penis rule. In essence, the small penis rule is […]
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This Day In History: June 18, 1873 The verdict of Susan B. Anthony’s trial on June 18, 1873 was a foregone conclusion. When the attorneys for both sides had finished their arguments, the judge read from a piece of paper he had in his pocket the whole time. What was the crime that the judge didn’t believe was worth even […]
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