The comedy-only channel debuted 25 years ago this month. Since then it’s launched lots of iconic shows, including The Daily Show, South Park, and Inside Amy Schumer. Here are some short-lived Comedy Central shows that are…not so widely remembered. Comics Only (1990) This talk show hosted by stand-up comedian Paul Provenza only looked like a […]
Merle Haggard went by many names—including Hag, Mighty Merle, and the Poet of the Common Man—and he was among the most influential singer-songwriters in country music history.
The baseball season has just started, and with it comes this year’s round of insane ballpark concessions.
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 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 […]
This stuff used to be a part of everyday life. Now it’s gone. So where did it all go?
April Fool’s isn’t the only bizarre holiday in April! All of these weird observances are real. (Really.)
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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, […]
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. […]
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 […]
Of the two major party presidential candidates, one gets to be president and the runner-up…has to find something else to do.
