Ryan asks: Where did the phrase “let the cat out of the bag” come from? The famous humorist and writer Will Rogers once said, “Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.” But where did this expression come from and why is it used in this way? For those who aren’t […]
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John K. asks: I heard that the NFL is tax-exempt. Why is this when they make billions every year? The NFL made over thirteen billion dollars this past year in gross revenue. That is over three billion dollars more than Major League Baseball, the next most profitable professional sports league. The Buffalo Bills, the NFL’s current least valuable team, is […]
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According to a 2013 survey, over eighty three percent of Americans drink coffee in the morning and the average citizen drinks multiple cups per day. Between the dark brew, the flavored lattes, the frozen caffeinated treats, and the whirling gadgets, coffee is now a thirty billion dollar industry. Coffee is big business and companies like Starbucks, Peets, and Folgers have […]
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Daniel asks: Who invented Jell-O? For over a century, Jell-O has been a part of American culture and, according to a 1904 edition of the Ladies Home Journal, “America’s Favorite Dessert” (conveniently enough named such in an advertisement paid for by Jell-O before anyone was really buying it all). That said, ever since then it really has been one of […]
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Seth asks: Where does the expression “open a can of worms” come from? For the uninitiated, the expression “to open a can of worms” means to attempt to solve one problem, or to do something, that creates a whole litany of other problems that were not there in the first place. The idiom has become a journalistic and writing cliche […]
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Kara asks: Did unicorns ever exist? On November 30, 2012, the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s government “news” agency, reported that scientists had “reconfirmed” the existence and location of the final resting place of the unicorn ridden by King Dongmyeong, the founding father of Goguryeo of an ancient Korean kingdom. The unicorn’s grave was located under a rock near […]
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Whenever there is a list released of the world’s most dangerous jobs, tree loggers, steelworkers, electrical power-line installers, and fisherman usually are the professions that populate the list. But none of those things are nearly as dangerous as being propelled out of a long cylinder tube, flown through the air completely untethered, and attempting to land safely on the ground. […]
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Masen P. asks: Where did the expression “have your cake and eat it too” come from? The idiom “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” deliciously illustrates the concept of making trade-offs and realizing that you can’t have something if you have another. The phrase is often used when referring to compromises and alludes to making a choice […]
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Before a story about toys, before monsters went corporate, before anyone went searching for Nemo, and before twenty seven Academy Awards, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose clients included the government and the medical community. The story of Pixar isn’t exactly full of superheroes, adorable robots, or talking bugs. The tale of the most profitable and critically adored […]
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Marvel “John” (everyone called him Jack) Whiteside Parsons was born in Los Angeles, California in 1914 to a upper-middle class parents. Upon learning about her husband’s affair with another woman, Jack’s mother, Ruth, did something rather shocking for the time: she filed for divorce. Ruth was now an unmarried woman with two kids (Jack had a sister). Lucky for her […]
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On the evening of Good Friday- April 14, 1865, as President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd enjoyed Our American Cousin at the Ford’s Theatre, famous stage actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth approached the President from behind and shot him in the back of the head. With the President slumped in his chair and chaos ensuing, Booth […]
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The buzzer sounds. The teammates’ hands link and raise up in victory. The heads of the other team dip in defeat. The orange basketball is flung up in celebration. Young student-athletes dance around, releasing a year’s worth of pent up stress due to basketball and (in theory) school-work. Another men’s basketball NCAA championship has been won. The winning team gathers, […]
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John Nance Garner may have been a well-respected Speaker of the House in 1931, but always ambitious, he wanted more. So, in 1932, he ran to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. When it became clear that New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt was going to get the presidential nomination, Garner cut a deal with […]
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On a cold, late November Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crowd of 7,021 arrived to the Minneapolis Auditorium to watch an NBA game between the Fort Wayne Pistons and the Minneapolis Lakers. This was a new experience for many of the fans in the stands. The NBA had formed due to a merger between rival leagues, the Basketball Association of […]
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For four hot, humid July days, 56 delegates of the Second Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia with one purpose – to ratify the Declaration of Independence. The document, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson with the help of Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, ad Robert Livingston, declared that the thirteen American colonies were now independent and free of the tyranny […]
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Everyone has had a moment in their life where they’ve muttered to themselves, “Wow, where did the time go?” It may have been after a wild night of partying, or a great conversation with a friend, or while intensely concentrating on a project. Sometimes hours can feel like minutes, weeks feel like days, years feel like months. Time comes and […]
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On March 12, 1928 at approximately 11:57 pm, the St. Francis Dam broke. 12.4 billion gallons of water that was supposed to fill the sinks, bathtubs, and mouths of Los Angeles residents was now surging down the San Francisquito Canyon. At 11:58 pm, the power lines surrounding the dam snapped and powerhouse number two was destroyed, darkening the surrounding towns […]
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Jeremy asks: Why do we drop the ball on New Year’s eve in Times Square? When Adolph Ochs purchased the floundering New York Times in 1896, he made it his mission to make the newspaper the number one paper in all of New York. He started by forming the New York Times Company and made himself the majority owner, ensuring […]
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