From The Archive

15 More Quirky Menorahs

Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown. Wanna lighten up the Festival of Lights? Check out these 15 funny, unique, and just plain geeky menorahs. 1. Circuit Board

5 Songs from the Eurovision for Endangered Languages, Liet International

English has taken over pop music to the point where many bands from other countries will write their songs in English in order to appeal to a wider audience. The Eurovision Song Contest provides one place where other languages can get a chance at a bigger

RIP Dave Brubeck: 5 Things You Might Not Know About the Jazz Legend

Legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck passed away this morning in Connecticut, one day short of his 92nd birthday. Here are five things you might not have known about the Kennedy Center Honoree, jazz standards composer, and leader of the Dave Brubeck Quart

World War I Centennial: Balkan Armistice, Britain Warns Germany

Installment #47: Seeing his armies exhausted following their defeat at Chataldzha, Bulgaria’s Tsar Ferdinand (pictured) finally listened to the pleas of the Bulgarian civilian government and the advice of Bulgaria’s patron Russia, and consented to an armi

25 Wonderful Words and Phrases We Learned in 2012

In 2012, we invested in dictionaries. Old dictionaries. Slang dictionaries, mostly, and often we didn't have to invest much. What we spent at yard sales and used book stores was well worth it, and we've been shoehorning great terms like these into office

5 Stars Who Badmouthed Their Own TV Shows

Two and a Half Men’s Angus T. Jones isn’t the first actor to publicly bash his own show. (Jones, who called the show "filth" earlier this week, has since backpedaled and apologized.) Here are a few other stars of series past who couldn’t resist airing the

45 Everyday Words that Mean Something Different to WWII Navy Veterans

For most folks, the abdomen is the part of the body between the chest and the pelvis. For a generation of men who took to the seas during World War II, though, abdomen is also a 5.3-mile long uninhabited chunk of rock sitting somewhere in the middle of A

5 Moments in Sauce History That Changed The Way We Eat

Whether it’s the classic brunch staple Hollandaise or Guy Fieri’s Donkey Sauce, human beings have always seemed to have a love affair with condiments. From the murky history behind Worcestershire sauce to the great French culinary tradition of the five Mo

What Country Eats the Most Turkey?

by Nicholas

Pilgrims Didn't Just Wear Black and White

Daven Hiskey runs the wildly popular interesting fact website Today I Found Out. To subscribe to his “Daily Knowledge” newsletter, click

17 Other Memorable Presidential Photographs

This White House photo of President Obama doing the "not impressed" look with Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney is zooming around the Internet this morning. This gives us a good excuse to share some of our favorite presidential pics from the White House and

Beyond the Twinkie: 5 Other Hostess Products We're Losing

The corporate future of Hostess Brands is hanging by a mere thread, and the Internet is all a-Twitter with Twinkie talk. But there’s more than just a golden snack cake at risk here. Here are five other Hostess products that could vanish forever. 1. Wonde

10 Twinkie Talking Points

It's a sad day for Twinkie enthusiasts. Hostess Brands announced that it's asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to shut down operations. Another company could swoop in and resurrect the more popular products, but there is no guarantee. So if y

Villagers dancing in a painting by Pieter Breugel the Elder.

The Strange Origins of 5 Historical Manias

Delve into the strange cases of dancing plagues, laughter epidemics, and other bizarre manias throughout history.

11 Facts from the American Museum of Natural History's New Food-Themed Exhibit

A hydrophonic vertical growing system, designed by Windowfarms, in the museum's Weston Pavilion. Photo Courtesy AMNH. On November 17, the American Museum of Natural History will open a new exhibit, Our Global Kitchen, which examines how food is grown, mo

9 Legendary Monsters of North America: Part Three

This is the third installment of legendary monsters of North America, as everyone has their local favorite -or has even seen one of these creatures! Previous posts have legends of other parts of the world, too. Here are more monsters from the stories told

11 Word of the Year Candidates That Didn't Catch On

To the dismay of many people with swag, "GIF" edged out "YOLO" to become the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. (In the UK, the top word was "omnishambles.") Other shortlisted terms include "nomophobia," or cellphone separation anxiety (no+mobile+phobi

Researchers at Duke Are Perfecting an Invisibility Cloak

Duke University researchers perfect the illusion of invisibility using a new light-bending

11 Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Army

Today the U.S. Army is celebrating its 240th birthday.

15 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Wreck-It Ralph

All images (c) 2012 Disney Enterprises, Inc As a Disney geek and former Nintendo addict, I was fired up for Wreck-It Ralph when I heard about it at the D23 Convention last year. Here are 15 facts about the movie that will get you just as pumped as I am,

007 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Skyfall

Skyfall — the 23rd entry in the James Bond franchise and the third to star Daniel Craig — hit U.S. theaters today, and critics are awarding it some of the highest marks in the series' 50-year history. But Skyfall's four-year production was nearly as convo

Is Puerto Rico on the Verge of Becoming the 51st State?

In the midst of Tuesday's mad rush of election news from all 50 states, one contest was largely lost in the shuffle: Puerto Rico's referendum on statehood, which could potentially make the Caribbean island and U.S. territory the 51st state in the union. N

The Wisconsin Town That Didn't Learn English for Five Generations

The story of Hustisford looks very much like the story people usually tell about their immigrant ancestors. But in this story, there's a twist.

10 Historical Euphemisms for Infidelity

Here are 10 historical slang terms and euphemisms for infidelity that you probably won’t see in headlines today.

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