Fascinating origins that answer the question: What lies beneath? CORSET Meaning: A stiffened undergarment extending from a woman’s hips to below her chest, to support and shape the torso Origin: Corset is Old French for “little body,” from the Latin corpus, or “body.” (Body—later bodice—was used to refer to the part of a dress that […]
Stop watching Netflix for a minute and read these facts about Netflix. CEO Reed Hastings got the idea for a company where uses pay a monthly fee to keep out DVDs—instead of a fee to rent a single movie for a day or two, and then incur late charges—in 1997. He’d returned Apollo 13 […]
The stories behind some of baseball’s most colorful nicknames. OIL CAN Dennis Boyd, who pitched for the Red Sox in the 1980s, grew up playing baseball in the hot summers of Mississippi. Every time he’d drink a beverage to cool down, he supposedly remarked that it was so smooth, it was “just like drinking oil.” […]
In 1976 the United States celebrated its bicentennial. Here is a look at how much things cost 40 years ago! (1) Want to watch a movie at home? There’s a new invention called a VCR that sells for a mere $1,600. (2) Rather attend the theater to see the year’s hottest flicks, like Rocky or Network? […]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has hit home video after a box office run of $934.89 million, making it the highest grossing movie of all time. Here’s just how much money that is. If The Force Awakens were a country, it would have the 174th largest GDP on Earth, just behind Guinea-Bissau and ahead of […]
From the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, Apple has had a lot of successes in recent years. It wasn’t always like that. Macintosh Portable A portable computer was positively revolutionary in 1989. Apple’s entry had a black-and-white LCD screen, which folded down over the keyboard to make the whole thing easy to cart […]
These spider facts are more scared of you than you are of them. SPIDERS ARE SNEAKY! Ever seen a newborn spider? No? That’s because they’re colorless (and tiny), making them virtually invisible to predators…and you. Hundreds can colonize your home and by the time you realize it, they’re all fully grown. THEY CAN SEE YOU! […]
We’ve written about the bold leaps taken by Archie and the Riverdale gang before, but there are just so times this comic book about a bunch of high school kids got really strange. Faculty Funnies In 1989, Archie publishers apparently thought that what their legions of kid and preteen readers really wanted was a comic […]
When you think about it, baseball is kind of an absurd game: hit a ball with a stick, and then run around a square as fast as you can. But that’s nothing compared to these real games and sports played around the world. Contest: The Tough Guy Played in: England How it’s played: This grueling […]
Most major rock guitarists have custom instruments built for them. Some are truly odd. Rick Nielsen’s Multi-Neck Guitars Cheap Trick is probably most memorable for two things: “I Want You to Want Me” and Rick Nielsen’s two-, three-, four-, and five-neck guitars. Up until about 1980, he’d line up as many as five different guitars […]
We hope these heifer-vescent cow facts really m-o-o-o-o-ve you. (1) The first American cows arrived with the British in 1611 at the Jamestown colony. (2) It takes about 350 “squirts” to make a gallon of milk. (3) How can you tell how old a cow is? Count the rings on her horns. (4) Cows were […]
More answers to the burning question, “Where does all this sports stuff come from?” THE FOOTBALL HUDDLE “In 1924 Herb McCracken, the coach of the Lafayette College football team, discovered that his hand signals [flashed to players during the game] had been scouted and decoded by Penn, his upcoming opponent. On game day, McCracken countered […]
History has a tendency to marginalize women inventors, but there have been many. Here are a few that may impress you. The Circular Saw INVENTOR: Tabitha Babbitt STORY: Babbitt got the inspiration for her invention in 1810, at the age of 26, while sitting at her spinning wheel. Watching a work crew saw wood with […]
A self-proclaimed time traveler is among the lesser-known names running for president. Does he win or lose? He probably already knows, but then if he knew he was going to lose, he wouldn’t be running. That means he’s going to win! Washington lawyer Andrew Basiago says he’s got the government experience that would qualify him […]
It’s very difficult to amend the U.S. Constitution. A potential amendment has to pass both houses of Congress with two-thirds approval, and then it has to be approved by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Since 1787, only 27 amendments have been adopted. Numerous others have been proposed…and rejected. Here are some notable rejects. […]
Here are the origins of some common phrases. ON THE LAM Meaning: To be on the run, especially from the police Origin: “American slang since the latter part of the 19th century. The root of lam is the Old Norse word lamja, meaning to ‘make lame,’ and the original meaning, when it first appeared in […]
In the 1980s and ’90s, Prince introduced lots of young singers to the world, writing and producing songs for them. But how’d they do without Prince? Sheila E. She started drumming professionally as a teenager, and it helped that her father was iconic Latin jazz drummer Pete Escovedo. She was an accomplished session drummer by […]
You’ve bought them. You’ve played with them. You’ve wondered where they came from and who created them. Now the BRI offers these bits of useless information to satisfy your curiosity. BINGO In 1929 a tired, depressed toy salesman named Edwin Lowe set out on a nighttime drive from Atlanta, Georgia, to Jacksonville, Florida. On the […]
