Today is Bastille Day, a holiday that commemorates an important event in the French Revolution. On that note, here are some inventions you may not have known originally came from France. The Pencil Sharpener A French mathematician named Bernard Lassimonne went through so many pencils that they got dull too fast, and he hated having […]
Because age is just a number: the youth and their accomplishments. At age 1 Future jazz great Buddy Rich started drumming professionally as part of his parents’ vaudeville act. At age 3 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart learned to play his first instrument, the harpsichord. At age 5 Future rock star Tori Amos was accepted to the […]
Earlier this week, the FBI announced that it was finally closing its file on the mysterious 1971 plane hijacking case in which a man identified only as “D.B. Cooper” demanded $200,000 in cash (and some parachutes), jumped out of the plane over the Pacific Northwest, and disappeared without a trace. This means Cooper’s identity may […]
It’s not just for breakfast anymore! We’ve discovered that beer has many inventive and unlikely uses around the home and beyond. (Uncle John’s never had so much fun researching an article.) (1) Beer is slightly acidic, making it useful for cleaning copper pots. Throw a small amount of beer in the pot, let it sit […]
It seems like everyday there’s another story about how the environment is doomed and there’s little we can do to stop it. In 2010, we brought you one of those stories: There was a worldwide shortage of helium and the possibility of it running out before long. Well, in an unlikely turn of events, the […]
Hillary Clinton has secured enough delegates to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. She’s the first woman to be a major party’s nominee, but she’s certainly not the first woman to make a run for the Oval Office. Belva Ann Lockwood A suffragist and one of the first licensed female lawyers in the U.S. […]
The new Pokémon video game reboot Pokémon Go has become a pop culture sensation. Utilizing the camera and GPS on an electronic device, players must go out into the real world and seek out cute little monsters that the game says are hidden in stores, streets, behind trees, etc. (They show up superimposed in the […]
Have you ever played the game of Uno? It’s consistently been one of America’s best-selling toys. Here’s where it came from. Invented by: Merle Roberts, a barber from Cincinnati, Ohio Origin: In the 1960s, Roberts created a simplified version of the card game Crazy Eights, and sold it out of the trunk of his car […]
We’ve written before about not-so-cool bands rock stars were in before they became rich, successful (and cool). Here’s another look at early musical attempts of some notable actors, singers, and rappers. Russell Crowe He’s got an Oscar for Gladiator, and he fronts a rock band called 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. But in the early […]
Everyone says they don’t believe in ghosts. If that’s so, then we’d like know why so many people go to see haunted houses like these ones…but we’re afraid to ask. (This story was published in our newest release, Strange History.) Alcatraz If you were to stay overnight on this island prison off San Francisco—which hasn’t […]
The Fourth of July is over, but you don’t have to put away the party hats and fireworks just yet. Here are some of the strangest “holidays” still to come this month.
Uncle John knows pretty much everything—and if he doesn’t, he heads his massive research library, or puts one of his many associates on the case. So go ahead: In the comments below, ask Uncle John anything. (And if we answer your question sometime, we’ll send you a free book!) How (and why) is “won’t” a […]
Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the Bicentennial, the yearlong 1976 celebration marking 200 years of the United States (officially the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.) The festivities culminated in the splashiest Fourth of July in history. Here’s a look back on how America looked back. Congress began planning the Bicentennial 10 years earlier, […]
July 1 is Canada Day, so here’s a look back on the humorous Canadian political “movement” known as the Rhinoceros Party. In 1963, a Quebecois writer named Jacques Ferron founded a new political party intended to satirize Canadian politics from the inside. A real, registered party, Ferron’s Rhinoceros Party satirized other politicians by promising from […]
Here’s hoping these facts don’t burn out like a candle in the wind. “Your Song” John’s first album, Empty Sky (1969), flopped in both the U.S. and the U.K. Still, he got a gig as the opening act for Three Dog Night. One of the songs he performed on that tour was “Your Song,” which […]
Hungry for some word play? You’ll eat up these juicy origins of popular phrases. Spill the Beans Meaning: To give away a secret Origin: “A tradition that began in ancient Greece for electing a new member to a private club was to give each existing member one white and one brown bean with which to […]
Major cities around the world place bids years in advance to host the Summer Olympics games. Here’s a look at some major metropolises that went for the gold…and lost the race. Tokyo, Helsinki In 1936, Tokyo was selected as the site of the 1940 Olympics, the first Asian city to host the Games. But in […]
Here’s why the Black Forest of Germany is deeply associated with both a special kind of ham and a cherry-chocolate cake. The Black Forest—or Schwarzwald, in German—isn’t strictly a forest. It’s actually a mountain range, found in the southwestern corner of Germany. It’s probably best known to non-Europeans in the names of two foods: Black […]
