Some amazing facts about one of America’s most towering and complex figures, Abraham Lincoln, born on this day in 1809. He Was a Really Good Wrestler Wrestling is an ancient sport, and it’s remained popular throughout the history of Western civilization, including the 1800s…when Lincoln was an outstanding grappler. He reportedly won approximately 300 matches […]
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist, like all the other Grammys, is decided by a vote of music industry professionals. They often have made the wrong choice, in that the winner faded into obscurity while the runners-up have become music superstars. Grammy voters can’t predict the future of course, but if they could have, […]
Here are some critical decisions in history that came back to bite the decision-makers in the butt. Bad Kitty When the Black Plague devastated Europe in the 14th century, many people assumed it was caused by witchcraft. And cats, with their glowing eyes and night-prowling habits, were thought to be tools of witches. Thousands of […]
Whether you actually like the music of the Genesis drummer-turned-soft rock superstar or not, you’ve got to admit: Phil Collins seems pretty inoffensive. That’s why we were a little surprised when we discovered all of these colorful stories about him. He was almost a Romeo… At the height of his musical fame in the ’80s, […]
Root, root, root for the home team—if they stay in town long enough, that is. Kansas City Scouts — 2 years in the NHL In the late ’60s and ’70s, the NHL tripled in size going from six teams in 1967 to 18 by 1974. The last new additions of that expansion period were the Washington […]
In preparation for the inevitable day when robots rise up and take over the world, you may want to familiarize yourself with these recent advancements in robot technology. Clonebots Scientists at Cornell University have built a small robot that can make copies of itself. The robot is made of several 10-centimeter-wide modules, each of which […]
Before home video was cheap and widely available, a book that retold the events of a movie was one of the few ways to experience a favorite film after the projector stopped rolling. The problem with “novelizations” was that the writers hired to churn them out were often given a very early version of the […]
Today’s the birthday of 40th American president and one-time actor Ronald Reagan. While he was usually relegated to “B” movies, Reagan appeared in classics like Knute Rockne: All American. He also starred in a lot of duds—hey, an actor’s gotta eat. Louisa (1950) Reagan plays Hal, a young man who worried and sickened that his […]
The Super Bowl is the most-watched TV event of the year, so the halftime show must be something spectacular that also has wide appeal. In the last decade or so, organizers have had success with getting a major singer or band, and just letting them perform a medley of their songs—the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, […]
Here’s a look at the origins, history, and accuracy rates of Groundhog Day, the most important meteorologically psychic animal-based holiday on the calendar. It’s obviously not the most scientific barometer to predict six weeks of weather patterns based on what a giant rodent does (or at least what a giant rodent does on one morning), […]
Masaya Nakamura recently passed away at the age of 91. You may not be familiar with that name, but his impact on the world was huge: Known as “the father of Pac-Man,” he helped usher in the video game age. The Japanese industrialist graduated from the Yokohama Institute of Technology in 1948. He studied shipbuilding, […]
February is the shortest month, but it seems to have so many holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. And all of these.
While, Florence Henderson will forever be associated with The Brady Bunch, she also factors into one of the dumbest—and most enduring—traditions in rock n’ roll. It’s a cliché at this point, and one you’ve probably seen go down if you’ve been to a concert in the past 30 years or so. During a lull, or between songs […]
Here are five TV shows that for various reasons had to change their titles in the middle of their runs. Sometimes it attracted more viewers…and sometimes it lost them. (1) Currently in its 14th season, NCIS is the second-longest running drama currently on TV. It began life back in 2003 as a spinoff of the […]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights pioneer and American hero. Naturally, quite a few songs have been written about him.
She could turn the world on with her smile, and take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. So long to Mary Tyler Moore, a pop culture icon for more than 50 years. One of Moore’s first paid acting gigs: as Happy Hotpoint, a buoyant elf in a 1956 commercial for the […]
It’s a new year, so the new world record books are out. Here are some people who in the last days of 2016 and the early days of 2017 set some very impressive (and very weird) world records.
The Oscars are the biggest awards ceremony in Hollywood, and they stretch back 80 years. That’s bound to generate some controversy…and rumors.
