This Day In History: August 10, 991 On August 10, 991, one of the best known battles between the Saxons and the Vikings took place in Essex, England near the small town of Maldon by the River Blackwater. It heralded the era of the Danegeld – the practice of paying off the Vikings to avoid future attacks. Aside from government-sanctioned […]
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Back in the mid 1990s, the UK based clothing company, French Connection caused a quite a stir in Britain when a keen eyed marketer noticed that the company’s initials bore a striking resemblance to a certain four letter word and suggested they begin using it in their advertising. The CEO of French Connection, Stephen Marks, thought this was a brilliant idea and […]
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This Day In History: August 7, 1620 On the night of August 7, 1620, an elderly German herbalist woman was torn from her bed, imprisoned, and charged with witchcraft. The primary evidence? Supposedly giving a woman name Ursula Reingold a potion which made her sick. These sorts of accusations were often thrown about at this time, sometimes with fatal results for […]
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Our very good friends over at Neatorama are currently running a big Back to School sale offering free worldwide shipping on all their numerous T-shirt designs, all printed on ultra-high quality shirts using state of the art printing equipment for the best and longest lasting prints money can buy. They also offer sizes from baby to 6XL, so you’re sure […]
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In this video from our new YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we answer the questions of who really invented the TV dinner. If you liked this video, be sure and click here to subscribe to our daily YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on any future videos.
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This Day In History: August 6, 1911 Lucille Ball, one of the greatest comedic forces in entertainment history and the embodiment of a classic rags-to-riches tale, was born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York. Her father died of typhoid when she was three, so her mother DeDe found factory work and a new husband, but this didn’t improve […]
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Imagine getting the idea one day to sell everything you own, take the money to Las Vegas, and bet it all on a single spin of the roulette wheel. It sounds crazy. The risk of losing is very real, and you could very well be walking away with just the clothes on your back. In fact, the chance of winning […]
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This Day In History: August 5, 1305 William Wallace was one of those to lead Scotland’s battle for freedom from England after King Edward I of England declared himself Lord Paramount of Scotland in the late 13th century. Wallace was finally caught on August 5, 1305, and brought to London for trial and execution. From the 15th century minstrel “Blind Harry” […]
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In the summer of 1982, a 33-year old unemployed royal fanatic twice scaled a 14-foot wall topped with barbed wire and revolving spikes, shimmied up a drainpipe, entered Buckingham Palace through unlocked windows, sat on the Queen’s throne and even enjoyed a brief tête-à-tête with Her Majesty. Michael Fagan was born on August 8, 1948 in London. Married in 1972, […]
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Movies have been made in Hollywood since it was incorporated into the city of Los Angeles in 1910. These early flicks often featured military equipment in the background, such as for an air show. Nonetheless, prior to granting access to its assets, the military ensured that each scene and film reflected its values and presented its soldiers in a positive […]
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This Day In History: August 4, 1693 Legend has it that Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon stated, “I am drinking the stars!” after tasting the result of a botched batch of wine on August 4, 1693, thus “inventing” champagne. Of course, the story is certainly false, with the first documented mention of that line appearing in an advertisement in the late 19th […]
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Falling under the category of “What could go wrong?” is the sport of ferret legging. Simple in its design although painful to master, the sport simply requires a man, a pair of baggy trousers and two live ferrets. The trousers are secured at the ankles, and, after the ferrets are set free in them, secured at the waist as well. […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader It seems that no one’s ever suggested to Mother Nature that she do anything in moderation…sort of like how Felix the Dog gobbles up treats at the BRI. LIGHTNING ALWAYS STRIKES THE SAME PLACE The Catatumbo River in Venezuela is the site of a continual lightning storm. More than 160 […]
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This Day In History August 3, 1529 Back in 1525, the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s forces had defeated France at Pavia in Italy. King Francis I of France was taken prisoner and was forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid. He ceded lands in Italy, Flanders, Artois, and Tournai, as well as parts of France, to the Emperor. […]
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The Mystery of the Kentucky Meat Shower On March 3, 1876, one Mrs. Crouch was working in her yard in Bath County, Kentucky, making soap, when suddenly “meat which looked like beef began to fall all around her. The sky was perfectly clear at the time.” Falling like large snowflakes and settling all around the 5000 square foot yard, pieces […]
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In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we discuss the origin of the “ACME” brand name in Looney Tunes, the slave who helped make the famous Freedom Statue in Washington DC, why the Monopoly pieces are as they are, that time a tulip cost more than a house, and the truth about whales and their blowholes (aka, why Dory […]
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Sitting in the heart of London since long before anyone can remember, theories regarding the London Stone range from Roman ruin, to Druidic icon to a talisman of good fortune. Although many point to John Stow’s Survey of London (1598), where he sets the 10th century as the first mention of the stone in print (he claims he found a […]
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This Day In History: July 31, 1703 Daniel Defoe, who later went on to author the novel Robinson Crusoe, was put in the pillory on July 31, 1703. His crime was seditious libel related to a satirical pamphlet he wrote defending freedom of religion. The problem was that Defoe did too good of a job of mimicking those he was […]
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