Today I found out about Nellie Bly, the woman who purposefully got herself committed to a notorious insane asylum so that she could report on what actually went on inside. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, Nellie Bly was considered the most rebellious of her father’s fifteen children. (Yes, fifteen) Her family was thrown into poverty when her father died […]
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Today I found out that Milton S. Hershey bought a VIP ticket for the Titanic but ended up not boarding. The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, launched on April 10, 1912, carrying some 2,200 passengers and crew en route to the United States. On the night of April 14, 1912, the ship hit an iceberg and sunk, resulting in around just […]
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Edgar Allan Poe is probably best known for his raven that squawks “Nevermore,” but he’s also one of the first American short story writers and is often credited with being the “inventor” of detective fiction. He also contributed heavily to the genre of science fiction. Not only that, but he was one of the first American writers to earn a […]
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Today I found out about the first woman to officially run in the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer. “No woman can run the Boston Marathon,” said Arnie Briggs, Kathrine Switzer’s running coach. This coming from a man who had been excited to see a woman start running with the all-male cross country team at Syracuse University. He insisted that women were […]
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Today I found out about the remarkable Pancho Barnes, a famous aviatrix and the founder of the Happy Bottom Riding Club. It could be argued that flying was in Pancho’s blood. Born into a wealthy family in 1901, Florence Leontine Lowe, as she was originally known, grew up in a large mansion in California. Her family’s wealth was built on […]
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Today I found out about the one-legged woman who was “the most dangerous of allied spies.” Her name was Virginia Hall, an American spy born in Baltimore in 1906. She attended both Barnard College and Radcliffe College—two prestigious all-women’s higher education facilities—and continued her studies at schools in France, Germany, and Austria. She had dreams of a career in foreign […]
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Leo Major was a French Canadian man born in 1921. He probably didn’t think he was going to be more of a hero than the average soldier when he joined up with the Canadian Army at the start of World War II—supposedly he simply joined up because he wanted to show his father, with whom he had a shaky relationship, […]
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Today I found out about the remarkable Harriet Quimby, the first woman in the United States to get a pilot’s license. Born in Michigan in 1875, Harriet Quimby’s family moved to California when she was a young woman. Their farm had failed, and they sought a better living situation in the warm, sunny state. Quimby found that the atmosphere was […]
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Today I found out that the man who is credited with inventing Doritos (which incidentally means “turned golden / crisp”) had the chips sprinkled over his grave when he died. Archibald Clark West was born to Scottish immigrants in Indiana in 1914. With his mother too poor to take care of him, he was raised in a Masonic home after […]
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Travis asks: How did Judge Judy get her gig? Is she actually a real judge and are her rulings actually legally binding? Say what you want about Judge Judy, but the woman is successful and not by mistake. The no-nonsense woman with the signature white doily is indeed a real-life judge and now television icon making boatloads of money. She […]
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Today I found out that Samuel Clemens (aka, Mark Twain) used to “collect” girls between the ages of 10-16 years old. On February 12, 1908, Clemens said, “I suppose we are all collectors… As for me, I collect pets: young girls — girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent — […]
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Today I found out that Duncan Hines was a real person. The name “Duncan Hines” might not ring any bells for you until you walk down the dessert aisle in a supermarket. His name is plastered on countless cake boxes and frosting jars, and it turns out that it isn’t just the brand name of delicious desserts, but also the […]
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Katie asks: Why is the Newbery Award called that? The Newbery Award is named after a man, John Newbery, who is considered more or less the “Father of Children’s Literature”. Newbery was born in 1713 in England. He was apprenticed at the age of sixteen to a printer named William Ayers and later to William Carnan. When Carnan died, he […]
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John Cochran impressed Survivor fans this past season by winning a food challenge in which he had to eat beetle larvae, shipworms, a balut (duck/bird embryo complete with feathers and a beak), and finally pig brains. So gross but at least they are all digestable right? There are people in this world who suffer from an eating disorder called pica, […]
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When asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up,” most children reply with the standard, “firefighter, police officer, teacher”. Some go less traditional with “circus performer, singer or professional athlete”. I have yet to hear a child answer with “professional farter”; yet believe it or not, this is actually the way a select few in the world […]
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Today I found out about the largely forgotten colorful benevolent dictator of the United States and protector of Mexico, Emperor Norton I. His Imperial Majesty Joshua Abraham Norton I was born between 1811 and 1818 in England. Records of his birth date vary considerably, but it’s likely that the latter date is the correct one. His family immigrated to South […]
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What was supposed to be just another day on the job for 25-year-old Phineas Gage turned out to be anything but, with events transpiring to make him a legend – in neurology anyway. On that fateful day, Phineas Gage suffered a traumatic brain injury when a very large iron rod went through his head. Despite this, he survived and became one of […]
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He died nearly 800 years ago, and yet we all still know his name. From 1190 to 1227, Genghis Khan ruled an empire that eventually stretched from Russia to China. He is responsible for millions of deaths, but he also unified warring factions and brought peace and security to 5000 miles of trade routes. The complicated legacy of his Mongol […]
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