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• Auld Lang Syne roughly means "days gone by" or "once upon a time" in Scots. The song is associated with New Years festivities in Western countries (called Hogmanay in Scotland). Part of its charm has become the tendency for people to remember the tune better than the lyrics, especially when they're full of New Years libations. In Taiwan and Japan Auld Lang Syne is traditionally used as a graduation and funeral song because of its bittersweet tune that implies a farewell. • French monks originally made champagne for use in the Eucharist. Monastery-owned vineyards produced some of the best grapes for this sparkling wine, and it eventually began to be used in coronation ceremonies for new royalty. This was the beginning of champagne's association with celebrations of all kinds, and once the distinctive "popable" bottle and cork closure was developed, it totally filled its role as a party starter. Contrary to popular belief, champagne was not invented by the monk Dom Perignon, although he did innovate new methods of production. It may have come into existence by accident, when still wine was bottled with extra sugar and yeast so that it continued to ferment in the bottle, imparting the distinctive sparkle. |
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• The tradition of the Christmas stocking started in Germany, where children would use one of their everyday socks as a convenient place for Santa to stow their small gifts. Originally each stocking was supposed to be filled with five gifts, one to stimulate each of the senses. Usually these included something sweet to eat like candied fruit, something that made a pleasing sound like chimes or even nuts to crack, a visually interesting gift like jewelry or art supplies, an object that was fun to feel like clay or mittens, and an item with a distinctive fragrance like bath soap or perfume. • Although coal is never a good sign if it appears in a stocking, it's a popular symbolic gift in Scotland a week later. For the Hogmanay celebration, which is similar to New Year's festivities, friends compete to be the first person to enter their other friends' houses in a practice called first-footing. The prevailing first-footer would add a lovingly chosen lump of coal to the host's hearth, symbolizing luck and potential for the New Year. First-footing is still a widely practiced way for neighbors and friends to meet one another and party during New Year's, but placing coal on a friend's heater, even if you are the first-footer, is probably not the safest idea. |
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• The word "chakra" comes from the Sanskrit for "wheel", even though the chakras are said to be seven points of energy that follow the human spine. Chakras, or similar concepts, are central to Hinduism, Yoga, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as some New Age philosophies closer to home. Some believe that the chakras correspond to the endocrine system however, which is responsible for sending messages to the rest of the body by way of hormones. • Savasana is one of the most widely practiced yoga poses, called "asanas". Its goal is total relaxation and adherents swear that it's more restorative than sleep; some yoga teachers even recommend that people spend five minutes in savasana for every half hour practicing other poses. • The Tibetan Buddhist saint Milarepa, on the other hand, practiced an intense yoga called Tummo. He was said to be able to dry wet sheets draped over his body simply through the intensity of his meditation. Modern researchers have seen Tibetan monks continue this practice, and the world record for willful change of body temperature and metabolism is held by a Tibetan practitioner of Tummo yoga. |
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• The first model boats were made by ancient Egyptians to be part of their elaborate funeral rituals and paraphernalia. They believed that a small boat, manned by a crew of miniature oarsmen, was necessary to ferry the deceased's soul to the afterlife. Like the other artifacts buried with high-status Egyptians, these model boats are in amazing condition considering they've been around for about 5,000 years. In fact, most of what we know about ancient seafaring comes from these intricate models since real ancient Egyptian boats, made of wood and left in the open, have long since disintegrated. • Play is more than just fun and games. In fact, play as a theoretical concept is one of the hardest, most debated concepts for anthropologists and psychologists to pin down. On the one hand, any non-serious activity can be considered playing, but just look at how intense children (or a group of grown-ups on a sports field) can get when they're absorbed in a world of their own. Play can also be seen as a learning activity, especially types of play that are like rehearsals for real-life events, even those as exciting as banking (remember how exciting play money used to be?). |
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• While the modern tree ornament is a symbol of warmth and holiday cheer, its ancestor played a more protective role in the family household. The witch ball, which is the inspiration for the spherical ornaments so common today, was hung in the window of homes in Europe during the winter months to defend against witches and other mischievous beings. According to legend, the brightly colored glass balls would entice evil spirits with their luxurious shine and then trap the ghouls in their hollow interiors. They were placed on trees to ward off spirits who would envy the presents left beneath. • The giant tree at Rockefeller Center has been a holiday icon since 1937, but it's not clear where it goes after the season's passed. While much of it is recycled into mulch and other plant fertilizer, the United States Equestrian Team uses the largest section of the trunk as a show jumping obstacle. |
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• There are as many theories about the origin of the word "cocktail" as there are cocktails, but one of the most plausible comes from the way colonial pubs stored their liquor in large casks. As patrons drank and the casks were drained, the liquor was exposed to more and more air, which caused it to loose potency and flavor. To preserve what they could, barkeeps would drain the almost-empty casks into one cask and offer the mix of liquors to patrons at a bargain price. Customers would then ask for the "tailings" from the stopcock of the other casks, which would be a random mixture of rum, brandy, whiskey, gin, applejack, or whatever else the tavern offered. It was many years later, most likely in New Orleans that barkeeps began to purposefully mix drinks to their patrons' tastes. • Many people believe that wine glasses are made with beauty as a primary goal; after all, the glasses are delicate, can't be stacked, and usually don't respond well to the dishwasher. In fact, a wine glass's shape and design is mostly informed by the characteristics of the wine it's intended to hold. Red wine glasses have bulbous bodies that allow you to swirl the wine without spilling and sides that taper towards the opening in order to concentrate the wine's aroma, while glasses for whites are designed to keep the wine chilled. Stems play an important role in temperature control as well, allowing you to hold the glass without transferring any of your body heat to the wine within. |
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• The turtledove’s closest relative, other than the dove, is the pigeon, but it holds a far more romantic place in the hearts of most people. They’re pretty romantic birds themselves - turtledoves generally stay with one partner for life with whom they also raise children. Contrary to what we and most other folks think, it’s name comes from the “turrr-turrr” sound that it makes, not the shelled reptile. • The Turkish word for the turkey (the bird) is hindi which means “related to India”. The turkey in question is native to North America, which was once thought to be part of India, hence the naming confusion. It was also a relatively exotic bird when it was discovered, and in those days exotic things were associated with the East, even if their origins were nowhere close. The misnomer persists though. The Turkey is known as the “Indian chicken” in languages from French to Hebrew. |
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• The term "jet-set" evolved during the beginning of international jet travel, when flying was possible but too expensive for most people. Because of this exclusivity it was quite glamorous, and people who could afford to travel just for fun, usually to parties in Europe or to tropical islands, became known as "jet-setters". Sun tans, once indicative of farm work, became popular signifiers of wealth at around this time too. • Passports weren't common for international travel before the first World War but are now one of the most important tools of jet-setting. The first passport was issued in 450 B.C. Nehemiah when an official serving King Artaxerxes of ancient Persia asked permission to travel to Judah. The King agreed and gave Nehemiah a letter "to the governors of the province beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands. • Passports are called "Paspoort" in Dutch. |
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• A lot of people, including us, thought that winter occurs when Earth moves further from the Sun than its summer position. In fact, in the Northern Hemisphere, winter occurs when the Earth is closest to the Sun. Here's how it works: Earth's tilt relative to the sun causes the southern hemisphere to get more Sun exposure than the north during the winter. During summer in the north, Earth tilts the other way, and the south experiences winter. This is also why days get shorter and people can get a little gloomy. The ancient Greek explanation is actually really similar: Persephone is said to have lived with Hades in the underworld, which is definitely a depressing place, for half the year, which caused winter. She lived with her mother Demeter for the other half, which was a lot more enjoyable, and led to longer days, warmer weather, and more food. • Why are there four seasons? Actually, there aren't. At least not everywhere. The concept of four seasons developed in temperate regions like Europe and East Asia as an attempt to predict climate change- without an understanding of the changing seasons, growing enough food would be impossible. In tropical regions there can be two (wet season and dry season) or three (wet season, dry season, and cool season). Seasons can actually be based on any predictable event: hurricane season, wildfire season, or even baseball season. • Snegurochka means "Snow Maiden" in Russian and is a major character in their fairytales. Russia is one of the snowiest countries in the world, so it makes sense that they'd try to associate snow with someone beautiful and kind. Unlike the "ice queens" in American folktales and popular culture, Snegurochka is said to have melted from the love that she felt for the people around her. Modern storytellers have often cast her as Santa's granddaughter. |
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• Bats aren't blind and at all, and they also have the ability to use echolocation to determine the location of insects at night. • Gotham City, later made famous by the Batman comics, was a name for New York popularized by author Washington Irving, who also penned “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip van Winkle.” He got it from a story about the English parish of Gotham, whose residents aren’t particularly possessed of wisdom. • Famed gunfighter Bat Masterson, who gambled in such towns as Tombstone and Dodge City, probably only killed one man, but had a knack for promoting his talent. He acted as Wyatt Earp’s deputy marshal at one point, and also captured four train robbers as Ford County sheriff, one of whom went on to fight in Billy the Kid’s gang. He later found a job as a sportswriter. |
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• Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. also owned the Chicago Cubs at one point, and although he originally renamed Weeghman Park, where they played, Cubs Park, it was renamed Wrigley Field in his honor in 1926. • Wrigley, Jr. also owned a Pacific Coast League team and had a ballpark built for them in south-central LA, which was named Wrigley Field before Wrigley Field in Chicago got the name. In 1961, after expansion brought an AL team to Los Angeles, they played there for a year. • Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox in Boston, runs right up against Landsdowne Street and a railroad track, so left field is scarcely 300 feet from home plate. As a result, its designers made the left field wall higher to stop cheap home runs. At first, it was covered in advertisements, but after it was painted green, it became known as the Green Monster. |
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• Many famous left-handed artists have graced the globe - Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens - but Leonardo da Vinci's left-handedness had the largest impact on his work, so much so that his contemporaries called him mancino, or "lefty." Whereas many of his fellow lefthanders retrained themselves to use their right hand, da Vinci used his left, generally inscribing everything backwards so as not to smear the ink, which is why all of his notes require a mirror to read.. • The phrase "hand over fist" - as in quickly and continuously, such as spending money hand over fist - originally referred to pulling on a rope, as one first grabs onto the rope using a fist, then reaches an open hand to grab it again, then repeats the process. • Just last year, Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona finally admitted to using his hand to score perhaps the most famous goal in World Cup history against England in 1986. Although the English had protested vehemently, the ref apparently didn't see Maradona punch the ball and awarded the goal. Famous for inciting controversy, scoring goals and using cocaine, he had denied the illegal play for years prior to his admission on a TV show. |
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• The term for a large number of fish has nothing to do with the schools that one attends for learning. The latter derives from the Latin schola, which translates as leisure, discussion or lecture, whereas the former derives from the Old English scolu, which is a multitude. • Grammar schools got their name because their original purpose, in Europe, was to teach Latin grammar, although they gradually started to teach a variety of subjects and stopped teaching Latin. • Similar to the Hudson River School, the so-called Ashcan School - a number of painters in the early 1900's that focused on real life as opposed to high society - didn't receive that name until afterward, and received it from a critic who was attempting to disparage them. |
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• A few ways to stay cool in a hot house or apartment sans air conditioner are to set a bucket of ice by a fan and, at night, to take your sheets, dampen them and put it them in the freezer for an hour before setting them out. • It's certainly wise to drink lots of cold liquids, particular water and juices, but it's also wise to avoid alcohol and caffeine, since they lead to fluid loss, and sugar, since it often leads to cramps. For maximum results, drink at regular intervals throughout the day. Once your body becomes acclimated to the heat, it requires even more fluids. Fruits and vegetables keep you cool, whereas protein generates more heat in the digestion. • Heating the outdoors is a lot less painful than heating the indoors, so things like parking your car outside until the engine cools off and cooking outside on a grill can keep things cool in the house. |
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• Although the Norse explorer Leif Ericsson was probably the first European to settle in the New World in about the year 1001, it was probably discovered by Bjarni HerjÛlfsson in 985, who saw it when his voyage to Greenland blew of course. No one knows where Ericsson settled, but it was perhaps what is now Newfoundland. About five hundred years later, on what is now Columbus Day, Christopher Columbus became the first Western European to land in the Caribbean islands. • Before Frances Drake explored California and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, he was a bold pirate who plundered ships and towns on the Spanish Main. He did it partly because England was at war with Spain, partly for the vast riches he got, and partly because the Spanish had attacked a fleet he sailed on during his previous career as a smuggler. Although he was so astonishingly successful in his attacks that he earned the nickname "The Dragon," he had a reputation as a merciful pirate. • Although it's probably based on the fact that Marco Polo was an explorer, no one knows the origin of the Marco Polo game or why it was named after him in particular. |
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• The phrase "cook the books" dates back to 1636 and relates to the idea of taking certain ingredients, e.g. numbers, and altering them in the "cooking" process to produce a different result. • One theory has it that the chef hat came about during the time of the ancient Assyrians. Because monarchs were often poisoned in those days, only the most loyal and trusted men were allowed to become court chefs. As acknowledgement of their lofty position, they were allowed to wear a crown of sorts. Fashioned after the style of crown that kings wore, the chef's hat had pleats to depict the ribs on the side of the king's crown. Traditional versions of the chef hat always included one hundred pleats, because a master chef knew how to prepare eggs one hundred different ways. • On April Fool's Day in 1991, The Smithsonian Institute held its first and only conference on Jell-O history. In addition to a Jell-O Jell-Off Cooking Contest, they discussed such topics as "The Dialectics of Jell-O in Peasant Culture" and "Jell-O as Technological System." |
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• While countless kids have played for their fathers in Little League, six have gotten the chance to play for their fathers in the Majors - Cal, Jr. and Billy Ripken played for Cal, Sr., Dale Berra played for Yogi, Earle Mack played for Connie, Brian McRae played for Hal, Moises Alou played for Felipe and Aaron Boone played for Bob. • Bob Boone's father, Ray, and his sons, Bret and Aaron, have all played in the Major Leagues, as did Bob. "To this day,'' Aaron Boone says, ''we'll get into arguments about which players are better. My grandfather thinks the players in his day were the best, my father thinks the players in his day were the best, and of course Bret and I think the players now are better.'' The Bells - Gus, Buddy and David and Mike - accomplished a similar feat, as have the Hairstons - Sammy, Jerry and Jerry, Jr. • The 1972 and 1973 Reds had an astonishing six players whose sons would go on to play in the Major Leagues - Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Hal McCrae, Julian Javier, Ed Sprague Pedro Borbon in 1972, then Ken Griffey and Ed Crosby in 1973 after McCrae and Javier left. Their sons are, respectively, Pete, Eddie, Brian, Stan, Ed, Pedro, Ken and Bobby. Each squad won their division. |
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• When you have vegetables like zucchini, squash, tomatoes, asparagus and potatoes on the grill, lightly coat the cut up vegetables with a light olive oil to protect the skin from drying and burning. Then sprinkle them with great seasonings like rosemary, parsley, garlic, oil-n-vinegar salad dressing, black pepper, salt, basil and thyme. • E.G. Kingsford saw that his relative Henry Ford's Model T production lines were producing a large amount of wood scraps that were just being discarded. So he pitched a simple idea to Ford: Set up a charcoal manufacturing facility next to the assembly line and sell the charcoal at Ford dealerships. Ford immediately implemented the idea, and today Kingsford charcoal is the dominant brand used by charcoal grillers. • Australia and New Zealand have coin-operated barbecues in city parks. |
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• The Oscar winners didn't become secret leading up to the ceremony until 1941. Prior to that year, newspapers were provided with an advance list of winners to be published at 11 pm. However, in 1940, the Los Angeles Times published the winners in their 8:45 pm edition, before the ceremony had even started. The very next year, sealed, secret envelopes were used for the first time and have been used ever since. • During the marriage ceremony of the ancient Incas, the couple took off their sandals and handed them to each other as a gesture that each would accept the will of the other, and thereby became officially wed. • At the Closing Ceremony of each Olympics, a flag is passed from the mayor of the host city to the mayor of the next host city, and each waves the flag a symbolic eight times. At the Torino Olympics, Sergio Chiamparino passed it off to Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan. Since Sullivan is a quadriplegic, he accepted the flag in his wheelchair, and then spun eight times as the crowd roared in approval. |
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• “The Flintstones” was the first animated series in which a character got pregnant, and Wilma’s pregnancy was also the first “story arc” in American cartoon history, wherein numerous consecutive episodes focused on the pregnancy, Pebbles birth and Fred adjusting to fatherhood. Previously, all cartoon episodes were stand-alone stories. • The first non-animated TV character to become pregnant was May Kay in Mary Kay and Johnny, which is also often considered the first sitcom in history. Written by and starring May Kay and Johnny Stearns, who were a real life couple, the show incorporated her real-life pregnancy and then allowed their son, Christopher, to become one of the youngest “actors” in history when he was born. • Sheryl Swoopes missed the first part of the Houston Comets’ 1997 regular season because she was pregnant, but just weeks after having her child, Jordan, she returned to the squad and played in all their playoff games as the Comets won the first championship in WNBA history. |
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• "Etiquette" is French for ticket, and gets its name because Louis XIV had a custom of posting the events for the day, their location and proper dress on a "ticket" in Versailles for nobles to read. • Judith Martin was a journalist for 25 years before starting her Miss Manners column. She reported on White House social events and reviewed plays, and she had also lived in various foreign capitals. • Although Emily Post's famous etiquette guide from the 1920's has many useful tips for today, a few of her suggestions have not dated so well, such as her aversion to fruits on a train: "The smell of a banana or an orange, is in fact to nearly all bad travelers the last straw - one fruit enthusiast can make his traveling companions more utterly wretched than perhaps he can imagine." |
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• In the 1700's, lunch was usually the largest meal of the day, although it was called dinner, then, as opposed to supper, which occurred when we now have dinner. However, once the Industrial Revolution started, it was not practical for workers to sit down for a large, prepared meal, so they started eating a lighter meal so they could get back to work. The Germans and Scandinavians still eat large meals for lunch, though, which is favored by nutritionists in that it allows the body to use all the energy from the larger meal. • The first TV show to appear on a lunchbox was Hopalong Cassidy, which first showed up on a box from the Aladdin company in 1950. The last lunchbox of what is considered the Golden Era of Lunchboxes was a Rambo box that was released in 1987. • The Reuben sandwich was probably invented by a grocer named Reuben Kolakofsky and his poker buddies, who called themselves "the committee," between 1920 and 1935 at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha. Although Reuben's Restaurant in New York City also claimed to have invented it in 1914 for an actress, the earliest evidence of the sandwich is from a 1937 menu from a hotel owned by Charles Schimmel, who also owned the Blackstone. |
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• According to the Roman historian Pliny, glass was first discovered around 5000 BC when Phoenician sailors, feasting on a beach near Belus in Asia Minor, couldn’t find stones to place their cooking pots on and set them on blocks of soda carried on their ship. As the fire's heat increased, the sand and soda turned to molten glass. However, this story is probably apocryphal – historians now guess glass was discovered by accident by the Syrians, the Babylonians or the Mesopotamians two thousand years later. • Before flat, transparent glass was invented, sheets of alabaster or shutters were used to cover wall openings. In fact, “window” derives from “wind eye” in Middle English, because those who weren’t rich left their windows completely uncovered. • Playwright Tennessee Williams, who penned The Glass Menagerie as well as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, lived in Mississippi, Illinois and Louisiana, but never Tennessee. He chose the new name himself because his father had lived there, and he wanted to distance himself from his earlier works, which he considered inferior, as Thomas Lanier Williams. |
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• In America, Hawaii, most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of Indiana and the parts of Arizona that are not part of the Navajo Nation do not set their clocks forward for Daylight Saving Time. As a result, those parts of Indiana effectively shift from Eastern to Central, and those parts of Arizona from Mountain to Pacific. Since the Navajo Nation covers two other states, they all observe the one-hour shift. • The idea for Daylight Saving Time was, like a lot of other things, invented by Benjamin Franklin. It was not implemented, however, until 1916 in Britain and 1918 in America. The "Act to preserve daylight" in America had the advantage of saving fuel for the war, since the days started staying lighter longer so less lamps were used. • After the war, though, it was repealed because so many Americans got up early and found it dark. It was brought back for the Second World War, then completely left up to localities, leading to a tapestry of time standards that caused confusion for railroads, broadcasters and airlines. One year, parts of Iowa had 23 different Daylight Saving start dates. Finally, in 1966, President Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which established Daylight Saving for all states, except those that passed a law saying otherwise. |
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• Although history has often reported the simple story that her feet were tired, Rosa Parks had a history of activism prior to famously starting the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. She had acted as secretary of her local chapter of the NAACP, worked on voter mobilization drives and assisted in fighting for defendants in court. Just six months prior to her famous act of defiance, she had attended a workshop on school integration for community leaders held at the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. Furthermore, she continued to fight for social justice after the boycott, founding the Rosa and Raymond Rosa Parks Institute for Self-Development and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1999. • Annie Oakley, on whom the famous Annie Get Your Gun is based, was not only an outstanding marksman - probably the greatest marksman in the nation for several years - she was also a strong, tireless advocate of various social causes. She shot in charity events to help orphans, widows, and underprivileged women, and she campaigned for women's rights to hold paid employment, earn equal pay and participate in sports. And on a side note, she really did defeat shooting champion Frank Butler in a match - and go on to marry him. • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, famed fighter for suffrage and several other causes, had the word "obey" taken out of her wedding ceremony. • For more stories of remarkable women who altered the landscape of the nation, visit the National Women's Hall of Fame site here.
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• A tiny village in Quebec called Saint-Valentin is a popular destination for letters sent by stamp collectors looking for unusual postmarks to add to their collection. Permission was granted by the Canada Post to let Saint-Valentin use a special heart-shaped postmark, and in 1999, collectors throughout Canada sent more than 6,000 Valentine's Day cards to get the special stamp. • Around 1977, crime was rampant in New York City, the civic coffers were empty, and tourists stayed away from the city in droves. In response, the state of New York hired advertising agency Well, Rich and Green to develop a marketing campaign for the city. Milton Glaser, a productive commercial artist, created the "I heart NY" design for free, expecting the campaign to last only a few months. To his surprise, the design became a major success and has continued to be sold for years. • In California, you can get the heart symbol on vanity license plates. Although it requires an extra fee, the proceeds from use of the heart symbol go to the Child Health and Safety Fund, which keeps California kids safe through injury prevention efforts. |
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• 40% of consumers take the opportunity to give gifts to someone other than a romantic interest at Valentine's Day. • Platonic relationships get their name because the ancient Greek philosopher Plato spoke of a type of affection that ascended from passion for the individual to a contemplation of the universal and ideal.
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• The chief difference between a turtle and a tortoise is that tortoises live on land and turtles are aquatic. A turtle that lives in lakes and ponds is often called a terrapin, and the term "turtle" is also used to describe the whole family that includes tortoises and terrapins. • Ladybugs feature bright colors to scare away potential predators. This phenomenon is called aposematism, and it works because most predators associate bright colors with poison. Ladybugs can also vary from red and black to yellow and black or orange and black, earning one species the nickname of "Halloween ladybug." • In parts of Northern Europe, tradition says you get a wish granted if a ladybug lands on you. |
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• The Scottish celebrate a holiday called Hogmanay on New Year's, which lasts so long they also get January 2nd off as a holiday. Hogmanay customs include fireball swinging, wherein a parade of citizens swings burning balls of flammable material such as chicken wire, tar or paper, and first-footing, which gift-giving in order to provide luck for the new year. A tall, dark man is preferred to provide the gift. • Croatia has a tradition of playing picigin on New Year's Day, a game that takes place in the Adriatic Sea, despite the fact that the sea temperature rarely exceeds 50 degrees in January. The sport involves players diving around the ocean knocking a small ball in an attempt to keep it out of the sea. • In Hong Kong, citizens celebrate at a place that is also called Times Square, although no ball is dropped in celebration. |
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• According to legend, a blue ribbon came to denote excellence after a gala that England's King Edward III threw back in the 14th century. One lady at the court ball lost her blue garter on the dance floor, and the king found it, then shockingly put it on his own leg, supposedly announcing "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (shame on him who thinks evil of it). What is certain is that Edward III did establish the Order of the Garter as the most honored order of knighthood, and to this day its members don a ribbon of blue silk on their lapels, just as winners of contests across the globe do. • The tradition of yellow ribbons supporting troops started during the first Gulf War. It derives from the Iran hostage crisis, when Penelope Laingen of Maryland, wife of one of the hostages, suggested that Americans tie yellow ribbons to welcome the hostages "rather than throw dog food at Iranians." That concept came from the 1972 ditty "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" - popularized by Tony Orlando and Dawn - which discusses the welcoming of a returning prisoner, and which itself may have originated from either a 1950's legend, the 1949 film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or the 1917 ditty "Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon." |
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• Sterling silver is a grade of purity, defined as consisting of at least 92.5% of the element. This is why you will often see the numbers 925 on your silver jewelry. Usually, the other 7.5% is a metal like copper used to make the substance harder. • The phrase "silver bullet" - used to represent an impossibly simple solution to a complicated problem - comes from the old idea that only a silver bullet could kill certain villains. This probably arose out of European folklore, and spread to America in the 1941 werewolf film The Wolf Man. Coors Light later adopted the phrase for their advertising campaigns. The Lone Ranger also used silver bullets, and frequently left one as a keepsake of his visit as he took off without pausing for thanks. • Not only did the Lone Ranger use silver bullets and have a horse named "Silver," his friend Tonto was played by a man named Jay Silverheels in the famous TV show that ran from 1949 to 1957. A member of the Mohawk tribe, the Canadian actor was a star lacrosse player and boxer before he shot to stardom as Tonto. |
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• The star on the Arizona flag actually represents copper. Arizona produces more copper than any other state, and when it is not called the Grand Canyon State, it is often called the Copper State. • Not only is copper essential for the biological functions of all higher plants and animals, it is also the most versatile of all metals. It conducts electricity better than any material except silver and is used in almost all technology, from telecommunications to transportation. It forms bronze when combined with tin and brass when combined with zinc. It is also one of the most recyclable materials on Earth. • The terms "cop" and "copper" - as in a police officer - do not, as is often reported, derive from the copper badges or copper buttons that they had on their uniforms years ago. They probably derive from the verb "to cop," as in, to steal, take away or capture, since policemen capture criminals, and hence are "coppers." |
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• The tallest tree in the world is a redwood called the Mendocino Tree and stands about 365 feet tall. It is located north of San Francisco on the outskirts of a small town called Ukiah. • Tree snakes just look like normal snakes, but they are able to jump from a tree, flatten out their entire body into the shape of a ribbon and glide to the next tree. They live in Southeast Asia. • Many tree frogs build nests in trees directly over ponds. When their tadpoles hatch, they drop directly into the water. |
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• Hair dryers were invented around the start of the 1900's, although the first versions were significantly larger than today's models, usually standing on their own in a fairly immobile fashion. They were so impractical, most hair salons still had their customers hang their hair out the window to dry. It wasn't until around 1951 that the first really usable dryer became available to the general public. • The film industry uses clothespins not for drying clothes, but as a small gripping tool for things like lighting. However, it is referred to as a as a C47 - probably from the label of a bin used to store them in an early studio - to make it seem like more than just a clothespin. A C74 is reversed, with the thin ends pressed against each other. • The phrase "keep your powder dry" - in essence, to stay prepared - comes from the fact that gunpowder did not go off unless it was dry, and a soldier caught without dry powder was not a prepared soldier. |
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• Reading Rainbow has won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series seven out of the last ten years, and the series was nominated for six more Daytime Emmy awards in 2005. Its host, LeVar Burton, got his start in the miniseries performance of Alex Haley's Roots, and also went on to play Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. • Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, could neither read nor write. According to him, those who read "will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality." However, his ideas are around today only because his pupil, Plato, knew how to read and write and recorded them all in his famous Dialogues. • Reading, Pennsylvania is the location of the first outlet mall in the country. A few abandoned textile mills were converted into the VF Outlet Village, and Reading became known in the 1970's as "The Original Outlet Capital of the World." The city is also famous for the Reading Railroad, which ran through many cities and towns including, most famously, Atlantic City, as shown on the Monopoly board. |
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• Earl Grey tea is named after the second Earl Grey, who led the Whig Party in England from 1807 to 1834. He became prime minister in 1830 when the Whigs returned to power, and reputedly received the black tea blend from a Chinese mandarin, after which he began providing it in his drawing room. Incidentally, the fourth Earl Grey became the governor-general of Canada, and the Canadian Football League championship, the Grey Cup, is named after him. • The outrage that led to the Boston Tea Party was not caused by a new tax on tea, but by a new British policy that allowed the British East India Company to sell their tea in the colonies without having to pay the taxes that the colonial merchants had to pay. The Tea Act irritated all of the colonies, who initiated a boycott of tea that was led by colonial women, who were the primary consumers of the commodity. When the East India Company ships set sail, the colonists persuaded most of the company's agents to resign, but the ones in Boston refused and allowed the ships to arrive, so a group of colonists led by Samuel Adams snuck onto the ships and dumped all of the tea into the harbor. As news of the so-called Boston Tea Party spread, other colonists performed similar acts, and King George responded with the so-called Coercive acts that took the colonists and the British Empire closer to war. • According to Chinese legend, tea was discovered when Sennong - an emperor of China and the founder of Chinese medicine - was boiling water and a few tea leaves fell into his cup. He found that the new beverage had restorative properties. |
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• The diamond gets its name from the Greek "adamas" - invincible. As a result of diamonds' unsurpassed strength, they have become a symbol of power and protection across the planet. It is also the one gem that is made entirely out of one element - carbon. • A carat (not to be confused with a karat) is a measure of mass in gems. It was established in 1907 as 200 milligrams. The largest cut diamond in the world is the Cullinan, which was mined in Africa. The 3,106-carat diamond is about 21 pounds and now resides in the Tower of London - set in the scepter of King Edward VII. • Although he disappeared from film prominence after 1988's Stand and Deliver, Lou Diamond Phillips actually won a Tony in 1996 for his performance in the Broadway revival of The King and I. |
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• According to statements from Curtiss Candy Company, who originally
manufactured the bar, Baby Ruth is named after Grover Cleveland’s daughter,
Ruth. However, the bar was released in 1921, right as Babe Ruth vaulted to • A week after the film ET: The Extra Terrestrial was released - in which the title character is shown eating Reese’s Pieces - sales of the candy had tripled. • Denmark eats more candy per person than any other country, at 35.2 pounds per year, followed by Sweden, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. On average, Americans consume approximately 25.2 pounds per year. |
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• Not only are yams and sweet potatoes different, they are not even closely related. The sweet potato is the root of a vine that originated in what is now Peru and Ecuador. The yam is a tuber, or underground stem, from a tropical vine that comes from Africa - the word actually derives from the Fulani word nyami - "to eat." Yams are sweeter, although they are also occasionally toxic when eaten raw. Sweet potatoes are also loaded with potassium as well as Vitamins A and C, whereas yams have lots of potassium and Vitamin B6. • To avoid getting teary-eyed over onions, freeze the onions for half an hour before chopping, peel them under running water and don't slice the onion root, which releases the strongest fumes. • Carrots have lots of carotene, which your liver converts into Vitamin A, which does protect vision, particularly night vision. So, in a sense, if you don't get enough Vitamin A, your vision will suffer, and if you don't eat enough carrots, you may not get enough Vitamin A. The myth of a more direct causal link actually started during the Battle of Britain in World War Two. British fighter pilot John Cunningham was adept at shooting down planes at night, and the Royal Air Force circulated a story in the newspapers crediting his ability to the amount of carrots that he ate. In reality, the British were using radar, and they circulated the story to disguise their secret. Despite the obvious radar towers on the British coast, the Germans fell for it, and Britain, whose citizens had taken to eating lots of carrots so that they could get around during the many blackouts, won the battle. |
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• Pencils don’t have any lead in them, and they haven’t for centuries. A precursor to the pencil, a version in ancient Rome – pencil is actually Latin for “little tail” – did have lead, but in 1564, a large graphite deposit was discovered in England, and was discovered to be enormously useful in marking sheep, thereby becoming the chief material for the production of all pencils. No other graphite deposit has even been discovered – the material can only be found elsewhere in powder form – handing England a monopoly on pencils for centuries until a useable method of producing graphite sticks out of graphite powder was invented by an officer in Napoleon’s army, which had had no pencils. • Tires were originally white, but a company owned by Joseph W. Binney discovered that carbon black – a mixture produced by partial combustion of natural gas – made the tires a lot more durable. Years later, his company, which had become Binney & Smith, used that same carbon black to make better quality, non-toxic crayons for children. They named their crayons “Crayola,” at Joseph’s son’s wife’s suggestion, which comes from “craie ola,” which in a combination of French and English translates roughly as “oily stick of color." • Since pens require gravity to function, an old joke about NASA involves the organization spending millions of dollars to develop a device that could write in space, until someone finally sends them a pencil. However, the tale is apocryphal, as pencils would actually cause graphite dust to float about the cabin and possibly clog filters in a shuttle. Instead, NASA uses the Fisher Space Pen, a pen developed by an enterprising individual named Paul C. Fisher, which can work in extreme temperatures, upside down, and in the weightlessness of outer space. |
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• The word camera comes from the Latin phrase "camera obscura," or "dark chamber." The original camera obscuras were tents that allowed an image to be projected on one wall using a lens or mirror. Camera obscuras did not produce photographs, but did allow one to cover a wall with paper and trace the projected images on it. Aristotle made first mention of such a device around 300 BC, and its invention was very important for astronomers like Johannes Kepler, who established the laws of planetary motion, in the 1600's. • The first photograph was not produced until 1827 by a Frenchman named Joseph Nicefore Niepce. The exposure time was eight hours. It took fellow Frenchman Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre twelve years to get the exposure time down to less then thirty minutes. His first practical version of a photograph was known as a Daguerrotype. • The largest print photograph in the world is a 365 foot by 50 foot picture of a Canadian aboriginal forest. It is displayed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, and acts as a backdrop for a display of six different houses representing the architectural styles of various tribes of the Pacific coast. |
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• Penn Jillette of the famous comedy/illusionist duo Penn & Teller published a novel in 2004 called Sock, in which the protagonist is a talking, crime solving sock monkey. • In 1994, TV host David Letterman appeared in the film Cabin Boy - starring Chris Elliot - as a man attempting to sell a sock monkey. When he hosted the Academy Awards the next year, he showed a clip of it, which featured a whole barrel of sock monkeys and Letterman's line, "Would you like to buy a monkey?" • Although no one knows who crafted the first sock monkey, they have probably been around for over a hundred years, and by 1920 they were so popular that the Nelson Knitting Company, the first company to manufacture socks on a mass scale, began including instructions on how to make them in all their socks, labeled - "instructions for making the sensational monkey toy." |
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• Contrary to its popular perception as a common rural activity, there is no evidence that anyone has ever gone cow tipping. Cows do not sleep standing up with their legs locked, they are almost impossible to sneak up on because they have an enormous field of vision and instinctively react to anything that could be a predator, and they would require the same amount of strength to tip over as a five-foot-high refrigerator filled with about 900 pounds of lead weight. The concept could have been invented as a tall tale to trick particularly gullible urbanites. • A cow horse is a light saddle horse trained for herding cattle. There is even a National Reined Cow Horse Association, known as the NRCHA, whose largest annual event is called the Snaffle Bit Futurity, wherein horses take cows from herds and maneuver them along fences to the center of the arena. • One of the most significant battles of the American Revolution was actually fought in an unused cow pasture. At the Battle of Cowpens, Daniel Morgan led a group of ragged, poorly equipped, poorly trained Americans to victory over Banastre Tarleton's Redcoats, starting the British retreat to Yorktown that soon led to their shocking surrender and the end of the war. |
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• The Life Saver candy was invented by chocolate maker Clarence Crane of Cleveland, Ohio as a "summer candy" that wouldn't melt in the heat. At that time most candies were square, but in 1912 Crane saw a pharmacist operating a circular pill-making machine and decided to use one to manufacture his new candy. He then punched a hole in the candies, causing them to look like life preservers, which is how they got their name. • "SOS," the distress signal that ships sent out in Morse code, does not actually stand for anything. Although they are often assumed to stand for "Save Our Ship," the letters were actually adopted because they are so distinctive and easy to recognize in Morse code "...---..." not because they had any significance. • Mighty Mouse, whose theme song featured the famous line "Here I come to save the day," later lip-synched on Saturday Night Live by Andy Kaufman, was actually the first cartoon ever to appear on Saturday morning. It was called The Mighty Mouse Play House and first appeared on a Saturday in 1955. |
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• New research suggests that Vitamin D, which is generated by your body when you are exposed to sunlight, assists in preventing osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer and even diabetes and obesity. Many doctors are now recommending moderate exposure to sunlight because it is almost impossible to get enough Vitamin D just in your diet. Even SPF 8 blocks the rays that cause the body to produce Vitamin D, although, it also prevents sunburn, which has no benefits, and, ironically, skin cancer. Probably because Vitamin D is made in your body and not sold in stores, its benefits are advertised far less. • Louis XIV was known as the "Sun King" for his relentless pursuit of French national greatness. He ruled France for 72 years, assuming the crown when he was four years old and ruling until his death in 1715. He is considered the prototypical absolute monarch, increasing the power of the state and the power of his country throughout his rule. • Sam Foster, founder of the Foster Grant company, sold the first sunglasses at a Woolworth's on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, in 1929. Judges in China had actually donned tinted glasses for centuries to hide their reactions to evidence, but Foster's were the first intended to protect against the sun's rays. |
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• The first computer program was actually developed in the 1840's by Charles Babbage, after whom the store was named, and Ada Byron, who predicted before anyone else did that the computer could someday display graphics and be used for both scientific and practical purposes. Her father was George Gordon, better known as Lord Byron, who was one of the leading poets of the mid-nineteenth century, penning such works as Don Juan and Childe Haroldís Pilgrimage. • In a 1999 poll, Cliff Huxtable of "The Cosby Show" was voted "Favorite TV Dad of the Millennium." He won out over Archie Bunker of "All in the Family," Howard Cunningham of "Happy Days," Ward Cleaver of "Leave it to Beaver," and Mike Brady of "The Brady Bunch" in the Microsoft-sponsored poll. • At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, in the version that everyone saw in theaters, Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father. When that part was filmed, though, creator George Lucas was concerned that word would get out about the shocking twist, particularly because there was such anticipation for the film, and because David Prowse, who played Darth Vader, was a notorious blabbermouth. As a result, instead of "I am your father," he had Prowse say "No - Obi-Wan killed him," referring to Luke's mentor, played by Alec Guinness. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, had to be taken aside and told about it just the day before filming, and he had to pretend that Prowse was saying that Vader was his father when they shot it. Only later would James Earl Jones add the real line. Sure enough, shortly thereafter, the London Sun blared the headline "ALEC GUINNESS TOP BADDY IN STAR WARS SEQUEL." |
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• Grace Kelly's father, John B. Kelly, won three gold medals in rowing at the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games. His son, John Junior, also rowed in the Olympics, and won a bronze medal that he gave to his sister as a wedding gift for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, one of the most celebrated weddings of the century. • Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's father was Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first prime minister of independent India. He also popularized Nehru jackets, which were named after him. • After immigrating from Sicily at the turn of the century, Giuseppe DiMaggio worked in the railroad at 10 cents an hour to earn enough to bring his wife and child over. Soon, he would father nine children, and three of them - Vince, Joe and Dom - would be outfielders in the Major Leagues, combining to collect 4,853 hits and appear in twenty-two All-Star games. Joe was considered by many as the greatest all-around player in his day and was a racial pioneer whose very success trampled prejudices and entrenched the descendants of Italian immigrants as first-class citizens. |
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• The word barbecue was perhaps derived from the Spanish word "barbicoa," which in turn was taken from a word used by the Arawak and Taino tribes in the Caribbean and which meant the wooden structure upon which food was hung for smoking or drying. Another theory attributes it to a nineteenth century advertisement for a combination whiskey bar, beer hall and pool establishment in North Carolina that had the phrase "bar-beer-cue" in its name. • Barbecues were often held by political candidates to gain votes, and churches have held barbecues since the 19th century - as a result, the barbecue has a history of gathering people of all classes in one place. Journalist Jonathan Daniels, writing in the mid-twentieth century, once observed that, "Barbecue is the dish which binds together the taste of both the people of the big house and the poorest occupants of the back end of the broken-down barn." • In a typical household, females (57%) are more likely to make the decision to barbecue and select the menu, but the males (61%) are more likely to do the cooking. |
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• The donning of a gown at graduation goes back to at least the 1300's, when several colleges in England established that all their students should wear gowns in response to students wearing clothing that was deemed excessive. The gowns were full length probably partly because that kept them warm. A Portuguese college called the University of Coimbra also issued a gown mandate around 1321. • "Pomp and Circumstance No. 1," composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1901, was not intended for use during graduation ceremonies in the slightest, and was first played at one - at Yale University in 1905 - just because Elgar was an acquaintance of a professor there. Soon, the composition was being played at almost every graduation ceremony across the country. Ironically, it has not been played at Yale's commencement since 1950, when the band director was told not to play "that song" because it was "high school déclassé." • Billy Joel delivered the graduation speech at the Berklee College of Music in 1993. His most famous line was, "I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary." |
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• When Benjamin Franklin was running the Pennsylvania Gazette, the owner of the rival newspaper was also the postmaster general in Philadelphia, and he refused to deliver Franklin's paper. Soon, though, his rival was removed from the position, and Franklin was soon appointed to it. He was "satisfy'd without retaliating [his rival's] refusal," and his paper still easily won the Philadelphia market. In addition, by surveying routes, placing milestones on roads, and getting the postal workers to travel night and day, he cut mail delivery times in half, and went on to become postmaster general for all the colonies. • On January 10, 1840, England became the first country to introduce affordable prepaid postage, which quadrupled the amount of letters delivered in the country in about ten years. Previously, postage had to be paid by the person receiving the package, and often, the sender would put a code on the outside of a letter indicating its intent, and the recipient would refuse payment, not unlike those who identify themselves as "pick me up at football practice" when making collect calls. |
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• Many of the famous sweaters worn by Mr. Rogers on his popular television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" were actually knitted by his real mother. • Liquid Paper correction fluid was invented by a secretary living in Dallas. She was also a painter and, considering how artists painted over their mistakes, she came up with the idea for something called "Mistake Out." At the start, her son (she was a single mother) and his friends would assist her in filling the bottles. Her name was Bette Nesmith Graham, and her son's name was Mike Nesmith. He went on to become one of the Monkees. She sold the rights for what eventually became Liquid Paper to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million. • In the 1950's, pioneering jazz dancer and entertainer Josephine Baker and her husband adopted twelve children from around the world, calling her family a "World Village" and a "showplace for brotherhood." |
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• Elizabeth Ann Buttle of Cwmann, Wales is the mother who holds the record for the longest interval between the birth of two children. She gave birth to Belinda on May 19,1956 and Joseph on November 20, 1997. The babies were born 41 years 185 days apart. The mother was 60 years old when her son Joseph was born. • In many ways, Elvis Presley was a veritable mama's boy. He often slept in the same bed with his mother, Gladys, until he reached puberty, and up until Elvis entered high school, she walked him back and forth to school every day. She also made him take along his own silverware so that he wouldn't catch germs from the other kids. |
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• Literally, "marinara" means "in sailor style." Marinara sauce originated in Naples soon after the Spanish brought the tomato back from what is now Mexico. • In Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, "tomato sauce" actually refers not to what is called "tomato sauce" here, but to ketchup. "Tomato sauce," as it is known here, is called "pasta sauce" in those countries. • In 1893, the controversy over whether the tomato was a vegetable or a fruit actually had to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1887 tariffs had been imposed on vegetables and not on fruits and the Court was called upon to decide whether the duty should tax tomatoes as well. Although technically a fruit, the tomato is more often used as a vegetable, so the Court decided that imported tomatoes should in fact be taxed. • There is speculation that basil was used in baths or ointments for kings many centuries ago - it comes from the word meaning "royal" in Greek and in India, where the plant originated, it is highly revered. In ancient Rome, it was thought to be a charm that protected against a fire-breathing dragon. |
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• Indeed, you could have balanced a raw egg on its end on March 21st, the
day
of the
spring equinox. However, you can also stand an egg up on any other day.
All it takes is very steady hands and the right egg. The equinox is the day
when the Earth’s
axis is perpendicular to the direction of the sun, causing day and night to
each be about twelve hours long – It has no effect on gravity, though, and
therefore makes it no easier or harder to stand a raw egg on its end. • In many countries, such as China, Japan and several European nations, the equinoxes and solstices (the dates when the days and nights are of equal length and the longest and shortest days of the year, respectively) do not mark the beginning of seasons, as they do here. Since a season is three months long, many other countries believe the actual first day of spring is six weeks before the equinox, or February 7th. |
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• The decoration and exchange of eggs at Easter has to do with the egg's ancient symbolism of rebirth and the way it relates to the arrival of spring. Eggs are thought to have been dyed and eaten at spring festivals in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome. With the advent of Christianity, the symbolism of the egg changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Edward I's accounting books from 1290 show an expense of eighteen pence for four hundred and fifty eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts. • The most famous decorated Easter eggs were those made by the famous goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge. In 1883 the Russian Czar, Alexander, commissioned Faberge to make a special Easter gift for his wife, the Empress Marie. The first Faberge egg was an egg within an egg. It had an outside shell of platinum and enameled white that opened to reveal a smaller gold egg. The smaller egg, in turn, opened to display a golden chicken and a jeweled replica of the Imperial crown. This special Faberge egg so delighted the Czarina that the Czar promptly ordered the Faberge firm to design further eggs to be delivered every Easter. In later years Nicholas II, Alexander's son, continued the custom, and fifty-seven eggs were made in all. • The critically lambasted 2003 film Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Steve Martin, has nothing to do with the famous novel Cheaper by the Dozen except that it involves a family with twelve children. The novel is a true story about a dozen kids raised by Frank and Ann Gilbreth. Frank is an "efficiency expert," who devises things like how to shave in the fastest time possible. In the recent film, the family had two sets of twins, whereas the Gilbreths had no twins. Ironically, Frank wished that Ann had had a set of twins, as he thought that it would have been more efficient. |
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Courtesy of Gardener's Supply Company, a company that serves millions of gardeners each year and is well known for their community involvement and charitable donations • Many plants have natural chemicals in their roots, leaves or flowers that repel unwanted pests and attract beneficial insects. Horseradish does a good job repelling Colorado potato beetles and mint repels flea beetles and aphids. • Most people dry their herbs, but freezing them is actually far more effective. It preserves the essential oils, and it's the oils that give the herbs their flavor. For more gardening tips, click here. |
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• Our celebration and study of Black history is owed to the son of a slave born in New Canton, Virginia named Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson decided to take on the challenging ambition of writing Black Americans into the nation's history. In 1926 he launched Negro History Week in order to bring national attention to the contributions of Black people in American History. He chose the second week of February, which marks the births of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. As the years progressed, February proved to have much more to show than these two men for its significance in Black History, and Negro History Week expanded to become Black History Month. • Charley Pride is the one African-American in the Country Music Hall of Fame. The singer from Sledge, Mississippi recorded an astonishing 29 #1 country and western hits throughout his career, including such country classics as "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone" (1970), "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" (1971), and "All I Have to Offer You Is Me" (1969). Click here to learn about more unheralded African Americans in history. |
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• Although the term was not in use at the time, the founding member of the Mile High Club is considered to be Lawrence Sperry. One day in 1916, the handsome aviator and inventor was giving flight lessons to a Mrs. Waldo Polk when the pair decided to take advantage of one of Sperry's many inventions, the autopilot. Apparently, something went awry and the plane descended 500 feet into the sea in a crash that somehow did them no serious harm. • Their plane had never gotten above 500 feet, but Sperry receives credit today as the founding member of the Mile High Club, which took on its name later as planes began to reach cruising altitudes of 5,280 feet. • Today, several private companies offer the opportunity to charter a flight entirely for the purpose of joining the club. One advises: "You and your partner are seated in the back of the airplane (Cessna 172 or Cessna 182) and spend the time as you please. FAA regulations require you to buckle-up only during taxi, takeoff and landing. In between take off and landing you can unbuckle. For modesty purposes we can install a veil between the front seats and the back seats, if so requested. The pilot is usually too busy flying to pay attention to you anyway. Further, the pilot wears a headset that babbles Air Traffic Control streams most of the time, so he's almost isolated from ...fun loving passengers." |
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• Dating began in the United States around the 1920's, and was probably brought about partly by a combination of factors, such as the emancipation of women, increased use of cars, the popularity of movie theaters and the rise of cities. It gradually replaced the older customs of courtship, where parents played a much larger role. Around the turn of the century, a girl's parents would often sit in an adjacent room to where the young couple was in order to listen to the their conversation. • Iranian teenagers are not permitted to date by law. Once they are old enough to get married, their families introduce prospective spouses to each other. • Tom Selleck was a bachelor on TV's The Dating Game in 1967, before he became famous or appeared in any films. |
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