Running is difficult. It takes great power, energy, and muscles to push your legs to run fast, especially when they’re worn out. But be thankful you’re not Thomas Hicks at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics men’s marathon! The 1904 Olympics were big. They were the first modern Olympics to be held in the US, and there were some very good sports, except for the men’s … Continue reading “Keep it moving! Just 23 more miles!”

Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to be the main character in a movie? And if so, what movie would you pick? You’d probably choose adventurous tales like Indiana Jones, suspenseful ones like Jaws, or maybe a more slow-paced movie, like Logistics (but good luck doing something for 35 days! More on that for a future blog post though…) Would you have chosen … Continue reading “Oh, yes, I’ve been WAITING for this!”

If you live in the United States, you are very used to driving on the left side of the road. In fact, much of the world does, with the places that don’t being former British colonies. But back then, it wasn’t always that way. Many countries back then adopted driving on the right side of the road, but one particular example here is Sweden. Before … Continue reading September 3, 1967: A day of chaos (and confusion)

What superpower would you have? Some of us would choose things like flying or invisibility, but what if you could magically make it rain, literally? For Charles Hatfield (1875-1958), this wasn’t a fantasy; Hatfield could literally MAKE RAIN! Born in Kansas and later moved to Southern California, Hatfield studied pluviculture (rainmaking) as a young man, and in 1902 claimed that by mixing 23 chemicals in … Continue reading Make it rain!!!

Sometimes, some words seem like they’re just gibberish, but over time, they become accepted as standard language. A good (albeit fictional) example of this is the book Frindle. But sometimes, a word CAN start out as gibberish, and become forgotten because no one needs it, or it just isn’t catchy, or it can be a misunderstanding by reading an index card for an abbreviation, thinking … Continue reading “I’m not dord!”

English can be a hard subject for people who are learning to speak it. English is kind of a rebel in pronunciation, like with the word ward not being pronounced the same as card, lard, bard, hard, etc. And if you are learning English, then do not use this 19th-century handbook that translates from Portuguese to English, or otherwise, you will cause much confusion with … Continue reading “Sook here if I knew to tame hix!”

The United States is considered a republic, which is a country that isn’t ruled by some sort of king or royal person or, most importantly, an emperor. And yet from 1859 to 1880, the US had one. And you may be asking yourself, WHY? Well, Joshua Norton (1818-1880) was a man who was born in South Africa, though it is not clear EXACTLY where he … Continue reading All Hail Norton I., Emperor of the United States–wait, what?

In case you don’t know, the text above reads, “No one outpizzas the hut”, the classic tagline for Pizza Hut, in fake Russian text. And you’re probably wondering, why? Well, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) was the final leader of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 to its fall in 1991. There’s lots of stuff to be said about his leadership in office, but one notable thing … Continue reading “Иo oиe oцтрizzдs тнe нцт”

Do you know what pi is? No, not the food, though. Pi (also known as π) is the symbol given to the number that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter approximately equal to 3. Well, 3.14. Well, 3.14159. Or, if you really want to push the boat out, 3.141592653589793238462643383. There is really no end to this long number! Nerds, geeks, and … Continue reading A pi(e)-in-the-sky idea