The early ‘90s gave rise to one of the strangest family feuds of all time: The Bush family—as in President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush—and the Simpsons…as in the fictional one from TV’s The Simpsons. This dispute had some near-Hatfields and McCoys levels of tension. “The dumbest thing I had ever seen.” […]
There are only a few TV producers and TV show creators whose names are as famous as TV stars—people like Norman Lear, Garry Marshall, Shonda Rimes, and Steven Bochco, who died this month at age 74. Steven Bochco was a TV innovator who developed and produced classic, groundbreaking shows like the gritty and harrowing police […]
Here are some fab facts about the most underrated, overlooked, and mocked Beatle, Ringo Starr. “Ringo Starr” is not his real name. The “Starr” is short for “Starkey” and “Ringo” comes from his habit of wearing rings. Somebody called him that once and it stuck, which the drummer himself liked because he thought it made […]
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, but […]
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, but […]
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, but […]
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, but […]
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, […]
Who’s a good blog entry full of facts about puppies and dogs? These are! Yes they are! Puppies at Birth Puppies are born without teeth, sight, and hearing. (Those come at about two weeks old.) Nor can they regulate body temperature or know how to expel body waste. The first sense they develop is touch, […]
Say you’re a musician and you work and toil for years and finally score a big hit song…but then you can’t ever manage another one. How to pay the bills? Write musical scores for film and television. Jay Ferguson Jay Ferguson is a double one-hit wonder. In 1968, his rock band spirit scored its only […]
We are celebrating poetry with these fascinating and interesting stories about some poetic titans of the English language. Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer only published one work in his life, and he didn’t even finish it before he died, but fortunately that one work was The Canterbury Tales, the first work of narrative poetry in the […]
How did you sleep last night? Let’s take a moment to reflect on the importance of sleep, the science of sleep…and all of the many ways that sleep doesn’t come so easily for a lot of people. Exploding Head Syndrome This hyperbolically named condition affects sleepers right as they’re falling asleep or who have just […]
How can you be a rock superstar and a one-hit-wonder at the same time? When you leave your successful group for a solo career…and it doesn’t work out. Nick Lachey There was a slew of “boy bands” in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. The one teeny bopper from the era who is still a […]
Here is a celebration of one of the world’s most adorable, fascinating, and endangered creatures. Size In pictures and in videos—spending an afternoon in a panda wormhole on YouTube is a fine way to waste a few hours—pandas look like they’re about the size of a stuffed teddy bear, or a dog. They’re actually much […]
This doesn’t take away from their talent or cast doubt on if they deserve fame, but it’s certainly interesting that some celebrities got off to a good start early on—they were already wealthy before they became famous. Taylor Swift Taylor Swift is the most successful pop star on the planet right now—to the tune of […]
As the world prepares to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day—and all things Irish—here’s a look at some of the things that can only be found on the Emerald Isle. Halloween as a National Holiday? Think Halloween is a big deal in the U.S.? It’s bigger in Ireland. It’s the only place in the world where Halloween […]
Sad news: Stephen Hawking, quite possibly the greatest scientist of our time and the smartest person on Earth has passed away at age 76. He’s been a public figure and popularizer of science for decades, but there’s still a lot about him that most people didn’t know. Field of Study Hawking was a “scientist” to […]
Today is March 14, or “3/14,” which are the first three digits of that almost-magical ratio called pi. Sure, we could talk about math and circles…but looking up “pi” just made everyone here at Portable Press hungry for “pie” (and pie facts). Origins of the Word What’s the origin of the word pie, to describe […]
