Leonardo DiCaprio will play this fearless frontiersman in the upcoming film The Revenant. Here’s how his adventures back in the 19th century helped turn him into a legend. It’s difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to his many adventures. In 1806, 26-year-old Glass was reportedly kidnapped by the crew of pirate captain […]
As they learn more about a disease (or respond to public misconceptions), doctors and scientists may change the name of familiar, widespread conditions. SEID Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the official name for this difficult to understand condition in which those afflicted experience long bouts of otherwise unexplainable tiredness is myalgic encephalomyelitis. According to […]
One of music’s biggest mysteries has finally been revealed. Carly Simon was one of the 1970s’ biggest pop stars. Her memoir Boys in the Trees just released, and to tease and promote it, she told People the answer to the one question they’ve been asking her for years that she’s never quite answered: the identity of […]
It’s like The Longest Yard in real life: professionals pitted against prisoners. The Sing Sing Black Sheep New York state’s Sing Sing is one of the most notoriously tough prisons in America. In 1931, Lewis E. Lawes was running Sing Sing and the decision was made to start a prison football team as a form […]
The West Coast burger chain In-N-Out enjoys a rabid following for its almost mythically good “double doubles” and fries. (They just opened one near BRI headquarters and Uncle John has moved his office to a booth in the back.) People want an In-N-Out near them so badly they’ll believe anyone who tells them there’s one […]
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Here are some odd holidays happening in the month of December.
Most professional sports stadiums used to be named after the teams that played there (Dodger Stadium, Tiger Stadium) or a person (Wrigley Field, Joe Robbie Stadium). But over the last 20 years or so, teams have developed a source of revenue by selling “naming rights” to their stadiums for millions of dollars. A corporation gets a stadium named after itself as a form of advertising…but what happens when that company goes out of business?
Stuck in an afternoon slump and you can’t go get a cup of coffee, and the boss has asked you to stop taking naps at your desk? Here are some alternatives. There’s a yoga pose/stretching technique called the “fish pose” that adherents say stimulates the body. Lie flat, on our back, and hold your hands […]
Here are a few really weird news stories…that could only have happened in Canada.
Here are some awful avians and foul fowl that have made headlines recently. Cunning Cassowaries The cassowary is widely considered the most dangerous bird on the planet. Native to New Guinea and Australia, cassowaries have super sharp claws and powerful legs. They can run at speeds of up to 31 mph and can jump nearly […]
When economists want to get a sense of how the economy is doing, they look at things like the prime lending rate, the unemployment rate, and the Dow Jones Average. It turns out that’s not all they look at. (This article was originally published in Uncle John’s Weird Weird World EPIC.) Down Under Alan Greenspan was […]
Many Americans bought their first record, cassette, or CD at a Tower Records. Uncle John’s dutiful blogger here bought a Monkees album at a Tower in Portland, Oregon, for example. The chain’s impact on the American music industry was huge. And now it’s gone. When Russell Solomon founded Tower in 1960, he was in his […]
It would seem that the nation has a major problem with bathroom banshees. Akai-Kami-Aoi-Kami According to modern Japanese folklore, Akai-Kami-Aoi-Kami likes to pop up in stalls to ask his female victims (he only pops up in women’s restrooms) a seemingly simple question: “Do you want red paper or blue paper?” Those who answer “red” are […]
Lots of spectators + huge balloons + autumn weather = the potential for calamity.
Can we top off your cup of steaming hot facts?
Historian Samuel Eliot Morison says that “more bunk has been written about Pilgrims than any other subjects except Columbus and John Paul Jones.” After reading this, maybe you’ll agree.
Some say that Batman is the world’s greatest detective but this Victorian star of stage and screen (and plenty of books too) gives the Dark Knight a run for his money. Holmes was created by English author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who once studied to become an eye doctor. While in medical school at the […]
On November 23, 1936, the late great Life magazine published its first issue. Here are some facts about the magazine.
