Ever wonder who put the “strone” in “minestrone”? The “owder” in “chowder”? The “ho” in “pho”? (Careful, there, soup boy! This is a family soup book!) Then sit thee down at the Table of Label—and read all about the name origins of several well-known soups. . (This article was first published in our 31st annual edition, […]
Sports stadiums in the U.S. are historic buildings, with some dating back to the early 20th century or beyond. And you know what they say, the older a building gets, the more likely it is that ghosts are hanging out there. Here are some spooky sports stories. George Gipp The University of Notre Dame was […]
Do you play the video game Minecraft? If you don’t, your kids or somebody close to you probably does. Not since Pac-Man has a single video game been this popular. Here’s a look into the origins and impact of this cultural behemoth. (This article was first published in our 31st annual edition, Uncle John’s Actual and […]
Put that competitive instinct and that deep-seated pathological need to win to the test: Here are some ways to increase the likelihood you’ll win at that classic battle of weapons and wits: Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Right now, Lady Gaga is dazzling audiences with her first major role in a movie, a remake of A Star is Born, directed by co-star Bradley Cooper. It’s an auspicious first stab at film stardom, unlike these other attempts by pop stars who tried their hand at acting. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band A […]
In which Uncle John corrects widespread grammatical and language abominations. Here are a few celebrity names that you may be pronouncing wrong. Martin Scorsese You can use a pneumonic device with this one to remember that the director’s last name is not pronounced “score-says-he.” When it comes to award nominations, Martin “scores easy.” Demi Lovato […]
Well, according to those celebrities, that is. Sammy Hagar In his 2001 memoir Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, Van Halen singer and solo star Sammy Hagar (“I Can’t Drive 55”) recounted an encounter with what he believes to be extraterrestrials. While lying in bed as a kid, he looked out the window outside his […]
We all want to be in the safest place possible, especially when we’re in these harrowing situations. (This article was first published in our 31st annual edition, Uncle John’s Actual and Factual Bathroom Reader.) SAFEST PLACE TO SIT ON A PLANE In 2015 Time magazine analyzed data from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Accident Database […]
Uncle John can barely fathom the agony doing all the work to make a book, get it out to thousands of bookstores…and then having to gather them all back up again. It occasionally happens to publishers, however—forced to recall a book because of a really bad mistake that nobody noticed. Kindle’s 1984 and Animal Farm In […]
When the microwave was first released in the late ‘70s, people thought that was a silly kitchen gadget, so who knows? Maybe over time people will swear by these things, too. Bear Paws Meat Shredder Claws You could shred meat or make a pork roast into pulled pork with the gentle use of a fork […]
Apples, oranges, melons, and berries—they’re sweet, delicious, nutritious…and extremely dangerous, apparently. Here are some weird news stories about people who sustained some nasty injuries courtesy of nature’s candy. Bad Breadfruit In December 2017, a Salt Lake City woman named Valerie Zaugg took a vacation to Hawaii, home to an exotic piece of produce called the […]
Here are some shows that ran for many years and became part of TV history. And to think, they were almost canceled right away. Cheers It frequently makes lists of the best TV shows of all time, it won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series four times, and it made stars out of Ted […]
For fun facts and interesting stories, just dial 1-800-UNCLE-JOHN. Actually, don’t, because that’s not a functional number, and everybody does everything over the internet these days instead of the phone. For example, here’s a toll-free look at the history of 1-800 numbers. Automated collect calling Back in 1967, American telephone companies introduced a new system […]
Since 1982, book folk (libraries, publishers, readers) have celebrated “Banned Books Week,” setting aside the last week of September to examine literature that’s been “challenged” or banned” around the country. Here are some books removed from shelves…for some very odd reasons. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret The Judy Blume novel about a girl’s […]
For every PlayStation or Nintendo Wii that sells in the tens of millions and generates billions of dollars, plenty of other video game systems enter the market…and then it’s game over. OUYA The OUYA system got to market outside of the system—the creators raised $8.5 million in development cash via crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Units were […]
Those TV shows we love, the ones with beloved and familiar characters we welcome into our homes week after week? They could have been a lot different, had creators gone with their original ideas and instincts. Frasier Fraiser was a smash hit for NBC, running from 1993 to 2004 and winning the Emmy for Best […]
“Rideshare” services like Uber and Lyft have only been around for a few years, but they’ve already become a big part of American culture. Basically privatizing the taxicab industry, individuals sign up to be paid drivers, and people pay a reasonable fee for a ride by using a smartphone app. They also leave stuff behind […]
While it takes its name from a German city, there are few foods more quintessentially American than the hamburger. But from sea to shining sea, there are tons of variations on the old meat patty between two buns. After all, America is a big country, and the land of ingenuity. Smash Burger While the rest […]
