Buy Me Some Peanuts and a Cracker Jack Hot Dog…
The baseball season has just started, and with it comes this year’s round of insane ballpark concessions.
Author: Uncle John
Beg Your Pardon?
One of the perks of being president: you can commute (reduce) sentences or pardon convicted felons (meaning they have the crime expunged from their record). Here are some notable people who had their crimes absolved by the Oval Office.
12 Delicious Facts About Cookies
12 trivia bits about cookies (or bisoketto, if you’re Japanese). (1) “Cookie” comes from the Dutch word koekje, meaning “small cake.” They’re called biscuits in England, galletas in Spain, and keks in Germany. (2) Cookies probably originated in 7th-century Persia, the first culture to cultivate sugar. (3) Best-selling cookie in the United States: Oreos for […]
Where Did It All Go?
This stuff used to be a part of everyday life. Now it’s gone. So where did it all go?
Weird April “Holidays” You Ought to Celebrate
April Fool’s isn’t the only bizarre holiday in April! All of these weird observances are real. (Really.)
Historic April Fools
It’s not unusual to find odd-but-true stories in the news these days. But if the date of the article is April 1, you might want to think twice before assuming it’s true. In 1959… The Indiana Kokomo Tribune announced that due to budget cuts, the city police department would now be closing each night from […]
3 Epic April Fool’s Day Pranks
April Fool’s is a holiday to play harmless jokes on your friends. Here are some that weren’t so innocent. In 1998, Babil, an Iraqi newspaper ran a front page story announcing that the U.S. had lifted sanctions against Iraq, which could lead to all kinds of humanitarian aid pouring into the country. The headline on […]
Two Baseball Myth-Conceptions
Here are two quick myths common to baseball, and the facts behind them. Myth #1: The tie goes to the runner. Fact: Actually, the opposite is true, according to major league umpire Tim McClelland. “There is no rule that says the tie goes to the runner. But the rule book does say that the runner […]
5 Weird Cheeses
When you think about it, all cheese is weird—it’s hardened milk that smells kind of weird (but tastes pretty good). However, here are some a little bit more out there than your everyday cheddar or Parmesan. Stilton Stilton is a rich, pungent variety of blue cheese made in England. In 2013, cheesemaker Clawson unveiled the […]
5 Celebrities That Died in Hotel Rooms
We’ve all checked into hotel rooms that left us cold: bad room service, grungy sinks, bedspreads that haven’t been washed—since the ’80s. But at least we made it out alive. These famous folks didn’t. Celebrity: Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Where he died: Room 16, Hôtel d’Alsace, Paris Story: At the height of […]
12 Fascinating Pickle Facts
Cleopatra is said to have attributed her beauty to eating pickles. Here are some more fascinating facts about pickles. 1. First known pickling of a cucumber: in Meso – potamia (Iraq), 2500 B.C. 2. Cucumbers are native to India, and were spread from there across Western Asia about 5,000 years ago. 3. East Asians were […]
How to Clone Your Pets
Hey, more dogs are always a good thing, right? Well, it’s a little bit odd, and straight out of science fiction, that cloning pets is now a reality.
Strange Baseball Trivia
Assorted weirdness from around the baseball diamond. 1. On September 30, 1934, Charley O’Leary of the St. Louis Browns became the oldest big leaguer to get a hit and score a run. He was 51. 2. In Japan, catchers learn to crouch by having spiked boards placed under their behinds. 3. From 1936 to ’46, […]
5 Songs Written For Movies That Were Left Out of the Movie
Music is a big part of the movies…except when the song gets cut out entirely. Producers of the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball couldn’t make up their minds on a title song. After rejecting “Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” by Shirley Bassey (who had done “Goldfinger” for Goldfinger), they asked Dionne Warwick to re-record it. […]
Weird Ghosts
You might not want to read this page with the lights out. WANDERING SOLES Employees at a store in Cornwall, England, claim a ghost has taken up residence in the shop. And the ghost, they say, is obsessed with shoes. “I was standing at the counter,” says a salesclerk named Helen Honey, “when the top […]
What They Did After They Ran For President (And Lost)
Of the two major party presidential candidates, one gets to be president and the runner-up…has to find something else to do.
Random Trivia About Beatles Hits
Trivia you don’t know about the songs you definitely do know. Penny Lane The song described real locations in Liverpool. Or at least they were real—the street called Penny Lane is no longer there, although the barber, banker, and “shelter in the middle of the roundabout” still stand. The barber and banker are still a […]
Football Team Name Origins
Every football team has a storied history. So do their names. PITTSBURGH STEELERS Originally named the Pirates after Pittsburgh’s professional baseball team, in 1940 owner Al Rooney renamed the team for the city’s steel industry. HOUSTON TEXANS The Dallas Texans were one of the original AFL teams. They moved to Kansas City in 1963, so […]
