Today I found out Dr. Seuss wrote “Green Eggs and Ham” on a bet that he couldn’t write a book with fifty or fewer distinct words. The bet was made in 1960 with Bennett Cerf, the co-founder of Random House, and was for $50 (about $382 today). Despite Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodore Geisel, winning the bet by producing one of […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic Source: Today I found out
Read more
Today I found out the first speeding infraction in the U.S. was committed by a New York City taxi driver in an electric car on May 20, 1899. The driver was Jacob German who drove for the Electric Vehicle Company, which leased its electric taxicabs to be used around New York. German was driving his taxi at a blistering 12 […]
Read more
##EMBED## John Wayne’s real name was Marion Robert Morrison. His middle name was later changed to “Mitchell” because his parents wanted to use “Robert” as the name of Marion’s little brother. He later acquired the nickname “Duke” (which was used in the credits of one of his filmes “Duke Morrison”) after his dog, who was named Duke. He generally didn’t […]
Read more
Today I found out there once was a Major League Baseball player that was traded for himself. That player was Harry Chiti. Chiti was a catcher who played in the major leagues from 1950-1962, taking two years off in that span to fight in the Korean War. The momentous event of getting traded for himself happened in 1962 when Chiti […]
Read more
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Flat World Knowledge for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. That source is Flat World Knowledge which is the first major provider of college textbooks that are released under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike open license. These textbooks can be read through their free online reader that works in […]
Read more
##EMBED## Apples weren’t typically eaten previous to the 20th century. Before then, apples were generally used to make alcoholic drinks. It wasn’t until around the early 1900s, thanks to groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, that people popularly stopped using apples for drink and decided they should eat them. At this time, the WCTU was campaigning against the evils […]
Read more
##EMBED## Cisco Systems, in 2009, released the following numbers for the origins of spam by country in descending order: Brazil at 7.7%; USA at 6.6%; India at 3.6%; South Korea at 3.1%; Turkey at 2.6%; Vietnam at 2.5%; China at 2.4%; Poland at 2.4%; Russia at 2.3%; Argentina at 1.5%. Surprisingly, you have to go all the way down to […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic Source: Today I found out
Read more
##EMBED## The name Montgomery Scott, for “Scotty” on Star Trek, was chosen because Montgomery was James Doohan’s middle name and the character was portrayed as Scottish. Interestingly though, Doohan himself was Canadian. Doohan, who was a famed voice actor at the time, presented several different accents for the character to Gene Roddenberry, but ultimately convinced Roddenberry that the character should […]
Read more
##EMBED## The Wonder Bread logo of colored balloons was inspired by an International Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Speedway witnessed by Elmer Cline, the Vice President for merchandizing for Taggart Baking Company who manufactured Wonder Bread at the time, before Continental Baking bought them out. The final version of the logo itself was designed by Drew Miller, who was a […]
Read more
##EMBED## TNT was originally created in 1863, not to be used as an explosive, but rather, was used as a yellow dye. Because it was so difficult to detonate and not very powerful compared to many other popular explosives of the day, it wasn’t commonly used as an explosive until much later by German forces in 1902. The Germans devised […]
Read more
##EMBED## Previous to the Roman Empire, evidence suggests that the withdrawal method was the primary form of contraception used in the world. Incidentally, the withdrawal method is statistically only slightly less effective at preventing pregnancy than condoms (withdrawal: 82% effective vs. condoms: 83% effective, both with real world use). The withdrawal method fell out of popularity with the Romans who […]
Read more
Today I found out why the toilet is also often called “The Crapper”. It all started with U.S. soldiers stationed in England during WWI. The toilets in England at the time were predominately made by the company “Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd”, with the company’s name appearing on the toilets. The soldiers took to calling toilets “The Crapper” and brought […]
Read more
##EMBED## October got its name from the Latin “octo”, meaning “eight”. If this seems odd to you, considering it’s the tenth month in the modern day calendar (Gregorian), that actually used to not be the case. It was once the eighth month (in the Roman Calendar) and the name simply carried over. Click Here for Sources and to Learn More […]
Read more
##EMBED## Dr. Nick on the Simpsons is named after the doctor that prescribed narcotics to Elvis Presley, George Constantine Nichopoulos. Dr. Nichopoulos initially began treating Elvis in 1967 for “saddle pain” and later was hired as his personal physician until Elvis’ death in 1977. In 1980, Dr. Nichopoulos was was indicted for over prescribing drugs to Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis […]
Read more
##EMBED## Mary was the most popular female baby name in the US from 1879-1946. It was finally beat by “Linda” in 1947. Linda held that position until 1953 when it was beat out by none other than Mary, which then held that spot until 1962 when it was supplanted by “Lisa”. Since then, Mary has never regained the top spot. […]
Read more
##EMBED## The testicles Will Ferrell used on step brothers cost approximately $25K to make. Will Ferrell later asked if he could keep them and was allowed to do so. Source: DVD Commentary on Step Brothers
Read more