Category Archives: History

Oct 11 2016
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History, Technology

Fact #1208: At one point of time lightbulb lifespan had increased so much that world’s largest lightbulb companies formed a cartel to reduce it to a 1000-hr ‘standard’.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence#Contrived_durability

Oct 10 2016
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History, Politics

Fact #1207: At the surrender of the American Civil War, the Union troops began to cheer but Grant silenced them immediately.

He later stated that “The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Court_House

Sep 26 2016
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History, Technology

Fact #1195: Phones have an asterisk and pound sign because when Bell Labs designed the first touch-tone phone, their system had two tones which were not assigned values. So, they threw in * and #.

Source: http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php/457-Why-do-phones-have-the-*-and-buttons-(And-why-do-they-call-the-button-pound-)

Sep 23 2016
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History

Fact #1194: In 1998, a bolt of lightning killed an entire 11-man soccer team with the opposing team remaining completely unharmed.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/mar/15/theknowledge.sport

Sep 20 2016
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History, People

Fact #1191: U.S. President John Tyler was referred to as “His Accidency” when he became president after his predecessor William Henry Harrison died in office.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler

Sep 19 2016
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History, Language, Science

Fact #1190: Moron, idiot, and imbecile were classifications of IQ level until the 70s.

Source: http://www.campbellmgold.com/archive_esoteric/morons_imbeciles_idiots.pdf

Sep 08 2016
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History, Language

Fact #1183: The phrase ’23 Skidoo’, meaning “let’s get out of here”, was America’s first truly national fad expression.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_skidoo_(phrase)

Aug 16 2016
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History, Places

Fact #1167: During the 1936 Olympics, Liechtenstein and Haiti realized their national flags were identical. A gold crown was added to Liechtenstein’s as a result.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oly-flags-adv-idUSBRE86N0R420120724

Aug 12 2016
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History, Language

Fact #1165: When the Spanish landed on the Yucatan Peninsula, they asked “where are we?”, to which the indigenous population responded “Yucatan”, meaning “I don’t understand what you’re saying”.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n_Peninsula#Etymology

Jul 29 2016
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Food, History

Fact #1155: In England in the late 1600s, pineapples used to be valued at $8,000, but were rarely eaten and used as a status symbol at parties.

Source: http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/why-does-eating-pineapple-make-your-mouth-sore/

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