Neil asks: Who invented the slot machine? The story of the slot machine is one of intrigue, theft, controversy, and murder. Okay, not murder, but everything else. And it starts in Bavaria…. Augustinus Charles Fey was the youngest of sixteen children born in 1862 in the small village of Vohringen, Bavaria which sits at the edge of the Alps. Early […]
Read more
Cunningham’s Law is an internet adage that states “The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer.” It’s an interesting hypothesis for sure. And, if you’ve spent any time on the internet whatsoever, you’re likely well aware that posting something incorrect online is a sure-fire way […]
Read more
Happy “Talk Like a Pirate” day! Besides learning about port and starboard in the video below, you can also learn the origin and meaning of things like “Avast,” “Arrrr,” “Scuttlebutt,” and many more in our video, The Origin and Meaning of 9 Pirate Words and Expressions. If you liked this video, be sure and subscribe to our YouTube channel here. […]
Read more
Kevin A. asks: I was just wondering how Felix Hernandez became known as “King”? The religious Abraham was commanded by God to leave his homeland and travel to a distant, already occupied, place in which Abraham would eventually rule with the aid of divine blessing. Maybe it was fate that Felix Abraham Hernandez, born in Venezuela, would come to baseball’s […]
Read more
Kay P. asks: Is spider blood really blue? When it comes to spiders, people generally know two facts about them- that you swallow around eight of them per year and that their blood is bright blue. Fortunately, the former is absolutely not true at all, the latter, on the other hand, is mostly correct. While it’s certainly true that spiders […]
Read more
To this day, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a monumental civil engineering feat. Connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn and extending across the East River, the bridge is a New York City icon. When finally finished in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever constructed. It is said that today over 125,000 motor vehicles cross the 130 year […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the real origin of the phrase “Let them eat cake,” as well as how Marie Antoinette got connected to the phrase. You’re also going to learn why history remembers Antoinette as such a villain, and how this starkly contrasts with the real woman. [TRANSCRIPT] If you’re interested in learning more on the […]
Read more
Big appetites can come in small packages. Case in point: 5′ 7″ and 125 pound Molly Schuyler, who lives with her husband and four kids (ages 5, 6, 7 and 10) in Bellevue, Nebraska. She maintains her lean frame by typically sticking to lots of vegetables, salads without dressing and keeping up with her four kids. She also notes, “We […]
Read more
The prevailing story of the origin of the potato chip starts in Saratoga Springs, New York, a historically affluent and resort community. It was 1853, eight years before the beginning of the Civil War. Known for its mineral springs and their supposed rejuvenation properties, Saratoga Springs had just started becoming a tourist destination with help of the railroad that cut […]
Read more
In December 1979, in the depths of a Montreal winter, two Canadian newspapermen created one of the most popular board games the world has ever known. High school dropout Chris Haney was the photo editor of The Gazette. He had originally dropped out of school at the age of 17 in order to take a copy boy job with the […]
Read more
The practice of jus primae noctis (“right of the first night”) is, in simplest terms, the right of the local noble to deflower local peasant brides on their wedding night before their newlywed husbands. Precedence for this practice supposedly goes back for many thousands of years, with the first reference of something like it going all the way back to […]
Read more
Hollywood tends to depict a myriad of different things happening to a person when they’re exposed to the near vacuum of space without any sort of protection, from blowing up to having their bodies freeze instantly. Recently, in Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord had just about nothing happen when he did it for a little bit. So which one (if […]
Read more
Jill R. asks: Why do police officers wear blue uniforms instead of some other color? Police services like the NYPD and the LAPD are bona fide pop culture staples that have been featured in countless movies and TV shows. Their distinctive blue uniform is known the world over, but have you ever stopped to think, “Well, why is it blue?” […]
Read more
Ricky A. asks: How do dry cleaners clean the clothes? What happens to clothes after being dropped off at the dry cleaners is a mystery to most. We know that our clothes come back a whole lot cleaner than when we dropped them off, but how? And who first got the bright idea to clean clothing without water? The earliest […]
Read more
Scott L. asks: Is it true that Michael Jackson bleached his skin to turn himself white? Many scandals marred Michael Jackson’s personal life, overshadowing his otherwise remarkable musical career. One such scandal was the obvious change in his appearance, especially his skin color, which started from the mid-eighties to slowly but surely turn from dark to white. By the mid-nineties […]
Read more
In the spring of 2005 during their mating season, toads in Germany and Denmark began exploding. Spewing guts, blood and skin for nearly a yard in every direction; the disturbing phenomenon at first baffled concerned scientists, although they eventually discovered the cause of the fatal condition. Pools of Death Observed near two ponds during that spring, one in the Altona […]
Read more
Would you fall on a grenade to save your friends? How about two grenades? Jack H. Lucas did and became the youngest man to be awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest combat award. Born Jacklyn Harrell Lucas in Plymouth, NC on February 14, 1928, Jacklyn was a natural athlete who quickly rose to captain of the […]
Read more
792: In 2011, a 17 year old Chinese man, Xiao Zheng, made headlines when he purchased an iPad and an iPhone. Why was this newsworthy? In order to be able to afford it, he sold one of his kidneys for 20,000 yuan or just a bit over £1,900 or about $3000. As he said, “I wanted to buy an iPad2, […]
Read more