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 […]
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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 […]
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##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 […]
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##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 […]
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Embed This Infographic Source: Today I found out
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##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 […]
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##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 […]
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##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 […]
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##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 […]
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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 […]
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##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 […]
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##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 […]
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##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. […]
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##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
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##EMBED## Both the Klingon language and the Vulcan language were initially very crudely developed by James Doohan, who played “Scotty” on the original Star Trek. Later, these languages were expanded and refined by professional linguists, primarily by Marc Okrand. Click Here for Sources and More Interesting James Doohan Facts
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##EMBED## Mike Myers really did have an ex give him a gun rack. A week after his ex broke up with him, she tried to win him back by getting him a gun-rack, which she thought he would find hilarious. It didn’t work. He did, however, put it in Wayne’s World with the character of Stacy, also called “pyscho hose-beast”, […]
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##EMBED## Duct tape is composed of three layers. The top layer is a plastic, polyethelyne; the middle layer is a fabric mesh; the bottom layer is a rubber-based, pressure sensitive adhesive. It was originally manufactured simply by pressing these three layers together and was named “Duck Tape”, not “Duct Tape”. It was invented by Johnson & Johnson’s Permacel division during […]
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Today I found out the words “blond” and “blonde” are not wholly synonymous. So what’s the difference between the words “blond” and “blonde”? (besides the obvious extra ‘e’) 😉 The difference is simply in what gender the word is referring. When referring to a woman with yellow hair, you should use the feminine spelling “blonde”. When referring to a male […]
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