Trivia

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Alcatraz

On August 11, 1934, the first federal prisoners landed on the 22-acre prison known as Alcatraz Island. Though used as a military outpost for many years, most people recognize Alcatraz as home to a federal penitentiary that housed some of the 20th century's most infamous criminals including Al Capone and Robert Stroud. Here are five shocking facts about the island...

Alcatraz was Home to the Pacific Coast's First Lighthouse.

The island may be remembered as a prison, but it has a storied history beyond that. A Spanish Lieutenant named Juan Manuel de Ayala was the first known European to lay claim to the rocky island and called it “La Isla de los Alcatraces,” which translates to “Island of the Pelicans.” The Spanish sold the island to the United States in 1849, and in 1854, the first lighthouse on the coast of California was built there.

Despite the Birds, the Infamous "Birdman of Alcatraz" Had None.

Richard Stroud was a psychopath who killed a prison guard while serving a sentence for manslaughter in Alaska. But, he was also a smart guy with a real affinity for birds. He actually wrote and published a definitive book on canaries while in prison and was running a profitable business from behind bars, before he got caught making alcohol in his cell and transferred to Alcatraz. Despite the bird watching there, Stroud was not permitted to observe or work with any birds during his time on the island.

Al Capone Played Banjo in the Prison Band.

Capone was serving a sentence for tax evasion when he became one of the first inmates at Alcatraz and up until his transfer, things had been pretty good. He successfully bribed his prison guards for preferential treatment at his previous facility but found the guards at Alcatraz to be far less forgiving. Capone had no choice but to fall in line. His good behavior earned him a spot in the prison band—The Rock Islanders—who regularly played on Sundays for other inmates.

36 Prisoners Attempted Escapes. It's Believed No One Succeeded.

There's no way to say for sure though. Of the 36 who managed to get out of their cell and past the guards, 23 were captured, six were killed, and two drowned. If you're a math person, you know that leaves five unaccounted for. That's because five inmates managed to make it into the water, never to be seen again. They are presumed drowned, especially given the prevailing rumor that it's impossible to swim ashore from Alcatraz. That rumor has been proven false—first by an inmate found unconscious (but alive) at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and today by hundreds of triathlon athletes who swim the 1.5 miles each year.

Some Prisoners Wanted to Go to Alcatraz.

Many think of Alcatraz as a home for the worst of the worst, but really it was a prison facility built to reform prisoners who tried to game the system through bribery and/or escape and needed to follow the rules. There were actually several perks to a stay at Alcatraz over many other federal facilities. For one, each room housed only one prisoner (no roommates allowed). There was also better food and great perks for good behavior (case in point: Capone's band). As a result, many prisoners actually requested a transfer to Alcatraz before it was shut down in 1963.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About the Berlin Wall

In an effort to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany began building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin on this day in 1961.  Here are 5 things you probably didn't know about the Berlin Wall...

The Wall Was Built to Protect the East German Economy.

About 2.5 million Berliners crossed from East to West Berlin daily to work because salaries were higher in West Berlin. In addition, they could exchange their West German Deutsche marks for East German currency, and buy goods in East Germany, where prices were much cheaper, as well as having the ability to live in the subsidized housing. This caused the East German economy to flounder.

The Berlin Wall Wasn’t Supposed to Fall.

At a 1989 press conference held by a member of the politburo in East Germany, it was announced that there would be a lifting of restrictions on travel visas that would start right away. However, he misspoke because East Germans would still have to go through the process of visa applications, which was lengthy. Erroneous reports that the border crossings had been opened led to thousands of people showing up, and the head duty officer, overwhelmed, opened the crossing and soon the others followed suit.

The Berlin Wall Wasn’t a Single Wall.

The graffiti-covered wall commonly thought of by westerners as the Berlin Wall is one of four barriers that were meant to keep the city separated. Two of the barriers were wire fences, while the other two were concrete walls. The graffiti-covered wall was called the Grenzmauer 75, but even with all the precautions that were in place to guard the wall, thousands still managed to escape over or under it to freedom through the years.

A Church was Left Inside the Berlin Wall.

The Church of Reconciliation, a building erected in the 18th century, was located inside the Death Strip after the construction of the wall, and since most of its parishioners were from West Berlin and could no longer come, the church was mostly abandoned. Deciding that the church obscured the view from the watchtowers, it was intentionally destroyed in 1985, and a new building was constructed in its place.

The Death Strip Kept Most People From Escaping into West Germany

The Death Strip was a sandy area about 160 yards wide with a paved strip down the middle, and it was located between the concrete barrier walls. The sand was laid intentionally to show the footprints of anyone who made it over the outer wall from East Berlin. Armed guards manning watchtowers, guard dogs patrolling the area, tripwire machine guns, floodlights and anti-vehicle trenches made escaping from East Germany difficult. It is estimated that about 100 people died while trying to escape into West Germany.

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5 Fascinating Facts to Celebrate International Left-Handers Day

On August 13, 1992, International Left-Handers Day was established to increase awareness by the public on the disadvantages and advantages of being a leftie. Left-handed or not, you may be surprised by the following 5 facts about southpaws...

About 13 Percent of People Around the World Are Left-Handed.

It all has to do with the way the brain is wired, and some people are just wired differently. Many left-handed people tend to have the right-hand side of the brain as dominant, and this controls areas such as creativity, art and music, while right-handers use their left hemisphere more. The left hemisphere controls areas such as science, math, writing and language.

Being Left-Handed Once Had a Negative Connotation.

In Latin, the word for left is “sinister,’ used as another word for evil, and the word for right is “dexter,” which has come to mean dexterous. It isn’t much better in French, where left is “gauche’ or used as a description for an unsophisticated person. The word for right in French is “adroit,” which means skillful.

Some Products Are Really Annoying for Left-Handed People to Use.

Three-ringed binders and spiral notebooks are especially annoying because the rings are on the wrong side for left-handed people. Left-handed scissors are necessary because the blades and handles are reversed, so the person doing the cutting can see the line. Ball-point pens don’t work well for lefties either because the writer is pushing the ball, not pulling it, and often ends up with ink all over their hand.

There Are Many Famous Left-Handers.

From astronauts to actors, left-handed people have made a name for themselves throughout history. One surprising fact is that one out of four astronauts are left-handed, including Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin from Apollo II. Famous left-handed actors include Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland and Brad Pitt, but there are many more.

Some Bad Guys Were Also Left-Handers.

The Boston Strangler; Billy the Kid, the famous Old West outlaw; and Jack the Ripper were all left-handed. John Dillinger, the Depression-era gangster, was a leftie as well as John Wesley Hardin, the Old West gunfighter who is believed to have killed around 44 people before he himself was gunned down.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About World War II

On August 14, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Japan had unconditionally surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II.  You may know the major details of the war, but here are five things you probably didn't know about World War II.

The Soviets and Japanese Didn't Formally Fight Until Just Before Japan Surrendered.

Stalin's fight against Hitler in Europe is one of the more well-known aspects of the war, but what many people don't realize is that the Soviets didn't fight in the Pacific theater until August 8, 1945. The same month that the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the Soviets finally declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria, which had been under Japanese control. In fact, this declaration and invasion may have been the actual reasons that Japan finally surrendered. The two bombs, dropped on August 6 and August 9, devastated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese government did try to negotiate with the Allies. But the Japanese did not surrender unconditionally until August 14, and the Soviet invasion may have been the final straw.

One Man Survived Both Atomic Blasts, and His Initial Exposure May Have Saved His Family.

Whether Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a lucky or unlucky man is up to you, but there's no doubt he's one of the more amazing figures from the war. Yamaguchi was a naval engineer from Nagasaki who had been working in Hiroshima temporarily. Literally, on the day he was supposed to wrap up work in Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb fell. Yamaguchi survived and returned to Nagasaki but was burned so badly that his family in Nagasaki didn't recognize him. However, those burns may have saved his family. When the second bomb fell on Nagasaki—while Yamaguchi was in that city being berated by a superior who didn't believe that one bomb was responsible for what happened in Hiroshima—Yamaguchi's wife had taken their child out so they could look for burn ointment for Yamaguchi. All three survived, but part of the Yamaguchi house was destroyed. Had his wife and child been home, they might have been killed.

Rationing in the U.K. and the United States Continued Well After the War.

Food, clothing, and fuel were rationed heavily in the U.S. and U.K. during the war, with elaborate but useful points systems and rationing books used throughout the war. The end of the war brought a lot of relief, but it didn't end the rationing. The U.S. got relief first, with most goods coming off the rationing scheme in 1945 except for sugar. That didn't become a non-rationed good until 1947, though some areas were able to get more sugar earlier than that. The U.K. had to deal with rationing for a much longer time because much of its food stores and supplies now had to support the destroyed communities in mainland Europe. Clothes were rationed until 1949, and food rationing lasted until 1954—and in fact, it got worse after the war ended.

German Troops Tried to Willingly Surrender to Allied Forces After V-E Day Instead of Evading Capture.

If your side loses in a war, what do you want to do? Most likely, you want to make it home safely, but for German troops stuck behind Soviet lines after May 1945, the idea of simply heading home wasn't an option. They faced capture by the Soviets, who they knew would not be nice about it. The Soviets were likely to tear the troops apart. So, the Germans actually tried to find the Allies—the British and Americans—because surrendering to them brought a greater chance of being treated less violently.

Britain and Argentina Nearly Got Into Their Own War Over Antarctic Territory.

You don't hear much about Antarctica in World War II except rumors of a secret Nazi base (which were false rumors), but that continent was nearly the cause of a separate war between the U.K. and Argentina during WWII. Way back in 1904, the U.K. had let Argentina take over a station on the continent, but in WWII, the U.K. came back and asserted control over the area after Germans sent a boat to Antarctica. (However, there was later speculation that it had more to do with taking the region back from Argentina.) This angered the Argentinians, and the U.K. did not want things to escalate. But the country still sent a ship over and had the crew gradually claim more land and construct more bases. Amazingly, when the ship first encountered Argentinians, the Argentinians were in such tough conditions that they were happy to see the British.

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Check Out These Far Out Facts About Woodstock

On this day in 1969, the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off on a patch of farmland in Bethel, New York.  Today, the festival is fondly remembered as a symbol of 1960s counterculture.  See how much you know about the festival with these five interesting facts…

Over 400,000 People Were in Attendance.

The promoters originally expected around 50,000 attendees. That number then swelled to 200,000. But when the gates opened on August 15, 1969, over 400,000 people had made the pilgrimage to the small town of Bethel, NY about 50 miles from the festival's namesake, Woodstock, NY. There were so many people that festival organizers ran out of food on the first day. Attendees ate sandwiches provided by volunteers and some resorted to drinking milk straight from cows. Surprisingly, however, there were no reports of violence and only a few drug-related arrests throughout the three-day event.

There Were Rumors of a Beatles Performance.

Despite the fact that The Beatles were well on their way to breaking up by the time the festival took place in 1969, rumors persisted that John, George, Paul, and Ringo might hit the stage at Woodstock. Of course, that did not happen and there are several rumors as to why. One prevailing theory is that John had visa issues that wouldn't allow him to make the concert, but there's also a rumor that the band walked away when Yoko Ono's group was denied an invitation to perform.

Only a Fraction of Attendees Saw Jimi Hendrix's Iconic Star-Spangled Banner Performance.

Today, when people think "Woodstock," they think of two things: hippies in the mud and Jimi Hendrix playing the coolest rendition of our National Anthem ever. But when Hendrix hit the stage to perform on Monday morning (the last day of the festival) at 9 AM, a large majority of festival attendees had already hit the road in hopes of beating the grueling traffic. Only about 25,000 attendees remained by the time Hendrix performed. 

The Festival Promoters Went Millions of Dollars into Debt Putting on the Show.

Four men in their early to mid-twenties with no experience in concert promoting were responsible for organizing and putting on the biggest rock festival in history. Despite booking an incredible lineup, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Big acts like The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin demanded their fees get paid before taking the stage and soon, the four men were deep in the financial hole. One of the organizers used his trust fund as leverage to get the local bank to open on a Saturday and give them a loan to pay performers. Despite losing millions on the festival, the group made it all back (and more) through exclusive rights to the concert footage released in a 1970 film. 

It's Not Likely That Any Babies Were Born at Woodstock.

One of the prevailing legends of the three-day fest in 1969 was that several women gave birth at the festival. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian even announced from the stage that a woman had just given birth. And while those kids would probably have grown up to be the coolest people ever, no medical records match up to support the stories of childbirth at Woodstock. Sadly, it sounds like just a story—not a fact.

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5 Shocking Facts You Didn't Know About Elvis Presley

On August 16, 1977, the King of Rock n' Roll took his last breath. Elvis Presley, just 42 years old, was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of his Memphis mansion, Graceland.  Here are five shocking facts you probably didn't know about Elvis Presley...

Elvis Had a Twin Brother Who Died at Birth.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, just a half-hour after his mother gave birth to his twin brother, Jesse Garon. Sadly, Jesse was stillborn and buried the next day in an unmarked grave. Though Elvis never met Jesse in life, he spoke of his brother frequently. His mother, Gladys, often said Elvis had the energy of two people.

He was Just 22 Years Old When He Bought Graceland.

The Memphis estate that would be his home throughout the entirety of his career was originally built as a 500-acre farm dedicated to the owner's daughter, Grace. When Elvis acquired the home in 1957 at the young age of 22, he kept the name but made a number of upgrades including a "jungle room" with a working waterfall and a wall of televisions so Elvis could watch multiple broadcasts at once. Today, more than 600,000 fans flock to Graceland each year to tour the King's castle, but almost no one has ever seen his bedroom.

President Bill Clinton Was Denied Access to Elvis's Bedroom.

Rumor has it that the heavily guarded room where Elvis spent his final hours remains in the exact condition it was in the night he died. Clothes remain in the drawers, sheets on the bed, and nothing touched. It's the holy grail for any Elvis fan, but almost no one has ever walked through the plush double doors. Only Elvis's family and the estate manager have keys to the padlocks, and when President Clinton toured the facility in the 1990s, he was denied access. Rumor has it there's only been one non-Presley to cross the threshold into the King's domain: actor Nicolas Cage. Cage married Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie, and as the story goes, got a personal tour of the bedroom as his wedding present.

Elvis Once Flew To Denver for a Midnight Snack.

No stranger to extravagance and a glutton for greasy food, Elvis spared no expense when it came to getting what he wanted—food included. And one night, after waxing nostalgic about a $50 sandwich he once had at a restaurant in Denver, Elvis and his entourage hopped on his private plane to go get one. The trip cost a whopping $16,000. Oh, and the sandwich? A full loaf of Italian bread sliced lengthwise, scooped out and filled with margarine, an entire jar of grape jam, an entire jar of peanut butter, and a pound of bacon, deep-fried. 

Elvis Never Performed Outside of North America.

Despite his immense popularity worldwide, the King never played outside our continent. In fact, despite the fact that 40 percent of his record sales came from outside the US, Elvis's only shows outside our country were a few scattered Canadian performances in 1957. There are several theories as to why, but the most prevailing is that Elvis's longtime controversial manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was actually an illegal immigrant who feared deportation if he left the United States.

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Do You Swear to Answer All Of These Questions?

On August 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton underwent grand jury questioning in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. We figured that made today as good a day as any to test your trivia knowledge about the affair that rocked the nation... 

According to the Man Who Painted Bill Clinton's Portrait, What is Casting a Shadow in his Painting?

Nelson Shanks was tasked with painting Bill Clinton's portrait for the National Portrait Gallery, the famous art museum in Washington, D.C. And he apparently couldn't help himself. He painted a tiny shadow from a mannequin wearing a blue dress onto the mantelpiece (staging the mannequin there when the President was out of the room).

That is meant to reference Monica Lewinsky's blue dress found to have Clinton's semen on it and submitted as evidence of Clinton's affair. In other words, the blue dress is casting a shadow on Clinton's presidency in his portrait. Said Shanks, "He and his administration did some very good things, of course, but I could never get this Monica thing completely out of my mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting." According to Shanks, the Clintons are trying to get the painting removed from the museum.

What News Aggregator Got Its Big Break from the Clinton-Lewisnky Scandal?

Nowadays, Drudge Report is one of the biggest websites on the planet. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center study, it was, after people going to the website on their own and going there through Google, the number one way people ended up at a given news site. 

Business Insider pegs Drudge Report's current worth at hundreds of millions of dollars, and it gets over a billion page views per month. All this despite looking like it was designed by a 12-year-old on geocities. But once upon a time, nobody had heard of Drudge Report. Then in January 1998, they reported that Newsweek was sitting on a story detailing Clinton's affair with an intern named Monica Lewinsky. You can see why it started getting a few more page views after that.

Why Was Kenneth Starr Originally Appointed to Investigate the Clintons?

Obviously, we all love a good sex scandal, but when independent counsel Kenneth Starr first set out to investigate Clinton, he was looking into something different: a real estate venture started by the Clintons called Whitewater. The investigation of this matter slowly led to more and more scandal being uncovered, including accusations of fraudulent loans, records disappearing, people being fired from the travel office to give positions to friends, possible links to a mysterious suicide and FBI files being kept on prominent Republicans.** But eventually Starr's investigation came to also include Monica Lewinsky, and as far as public interest is concerned, you ain't topping that.

Besides Bill Clinton, Who is the Only Other U.S. President to be Impeached?

The Grand Jury Investigation paved the way for the impeaching of Bill Clinton, making him the second U.S. President to receive such a fate. Who was the first? If you guessed Richard Nixon ... you're wrong. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. The ignominious honor goes to Andrew Johnson who barely evaded actual conviction by only one vote. Obviously, Clinton also avoided conviction, but not before angering quite a few Americans. As Clinton once put it, "I'm having to become quite an expert in this business of asking for forgiveness."

**We emphasize the phrase "accused of." Trivia Today is in no way commenting on the ultimate veracity or lack thereof of these accusations. 

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Genghis Khan

On August 18, 1227, after years of conquering enemies, Genghis Khan died. Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.  Here are five things you didn't know about Genghis Khan...

His Name Wasn't Actually a Name.

"Genghis Khan" is really a title and honorific meaning something akin to "supreme ruler." He was actually named Temujin, which was the name of an enemy slain by his father; the naming was meant to be a celebration of the victory. "Khan" itself means "leader," and he gained that title in 1206. "Genghis" is also sometimes romanized as "Chinggis."

He Was Known for Conquering, but He Also Brought New Types of Freedom.

Other cultures were understandably alarmed and terrified of being taken over by the Mongols under Khan's reign because of the large numbers of deaths that often occurred. However, Khan was not keen on treating conquered people that badly after the fighting was over because he knew that would only exacerbate tribal warfare in the region. Khan abolished slavery and torture, allowed moderate religious freedom (he may not have been as tolerant toward Muslims and Jews as he was other religions), abolished the kidnapping and selling of women, and created an international postal scheme, among many other accomplishments. He also avoided a lot of nepotism, placing allies, rather than family, in governmental positions.

His Own Clan Wanted Nothing to Do With Him as a Child, Except Through Slavery.

The Mongols before Khan were a tough group to live with. Lots of warfare and kidnapping, as well as rivalries that ended in poisoning, were par for the course. And there wasn't a lot of sympathy. When Khan's father was killed, Khan's mother and siblings were tossed out of their clan simply because the clan wasn't interested in feeding a woman and a bunch of kids. Khan himself ended up back in the fold as a slave after a miscalculated military move, but he managed to get out. Had he not, history could have turned out very, very differently.

No One Today Knows What He Really Looked Like.

Khan didn't allow portraits of himself to be made while he was alive, so every picture or painting we have of him was something created after his death—in other words, from the memory of someone who was either happy he was gone, sad that he was gone, or had no idea what he was like and was just kind of guessing. In all of those cases, it's a safe bet that the artist was influenced by either emotions or a lack of knowledge of what Khan really looked like.

He Gave Mongols Their First Written Script

Mongols didn't have a writing system until Khan conquered the Uyghurs. He had the Uyghurs' scribe create a writing system for the Mongolian language that was based on the Uyghur script; it was clunky, and it was replaced by several other writing systems over the years, but it was the first time anyone had officially put down Mongolian language in a written form.

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Bill Clinton

August 19, 1946, is the birthdate of Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States and one of the key figures in late 20th-century U.S. politics.  Here are here are five stellar facts you didn't know about Bill Clinton.  You might be surprised by what you learn!

He Was the First Baby Boomer President

When Bill Clinton first ran in 1992, he was the first Baby Boomer to win the presidential election, and this heralded a major change in politics. It was seen as a changing of the guard, with the Baby Boomer generation coming into its political own. 1946 is generally taken as the first year of the Baby Boom, the remarkable and unpredicted sudden surge of births in the United States and numerous other countries.  Now we have three presidents who were born in the calendar year 1946: Bill Clinton in August, George W. Bush in July and Donald Trump in June. Note that all three were born just a little more than nine months after V-J Day. (For younger readers, that's the end of World War II.)

He Met JFK Before He Died

As a senior in high school, Clinton traveled to Washington, D.C. with an American Legion civics program he was part of called Boys Nation. While he was there, he got to meet JFK and even shook his hand.

He Prefers Briefs Over Boxers...Usually

To this day the question of why he chose to answer the question remains a debated one among Clintonistas. But he did. When a young woman asked him whether he prefers boxers or briefs, he answered, “Usually briefs.” Yep, there are a million jokes that cold be derived from this one, and we’re sure Jay Leno dropped a few on The Tonight Show back in the day. A clearly flummoxed Clinton violated the cardinal political rule: Always answer the question you wish you were asked, not the one you were actually asked.

He Eats Apples Whole

It was a habit he picked up in his college days, while trying to emulate his professor Jan Deutsch. As Clinton writes in his autobiography, “[Professor Deutsch] was the only man I’d ever met who ate all of an apple, including the core, stem and seeds. He said all the good minerals were there. He was smarter than I was, so I tried it. Once in a while, I still do, with fond memories of Professor Deutsch.”

He Has Two Grammy Awards.

It's true! He won in 2003 and 2004, and he had additional nominations in 2007 and 2012. All were for spoken word albums; his 2003 Grammy win was actually for a recording of Peter and the Wolf, for kids, and his 2004 win was for narrating My Life.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Voyager 2

On August 20th, 1977, the United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.  See how much you know about this historic event with these 5 facts about NASA's Voyager mission...

Voyager 2 Was Part of a Backup Plan.

Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, on its mission to reach Saturn and Jupiter. The slower moving Voyager 2 was planned as a backup in case something happened to the other, faster space probe. The Voyagers are more than 20 billion kilometers away at this point and sill emit weak signals, while continuing on their journey through space.

Voyager 2's Computer Systems Knocked Out During Launch.

While there was no problem with the liftoff, Voyager 2’s computer went crazy because of the shaking, twisting motion of the rocket. It reacted by switching into backup mode, and it turned things off and would not communicate with its handlers on Earth. The coder who programmed the computer system managed to reestablish contact and patch the software before the launch of Voyager 1.

The Voyager 2 Mission Was Technically Over in 1989.

The mission for Voyager 2 was supposed to terminate in 1989, but it was extended so the space probe could study parts of the solar system that were further out. The Deep Space Network is used to keep astronomers and scientists in touch while it is still in range, and Voyager 2 has been working away to explore unknown parts of our solar system for about 39 years.

Voyager 2 Supplied Extensive Information When it Flew Past Uranus.

Voyager 2 made it close to Uranus early 1986 and sent back thousands of images of the atmosphere, moons and rings to the Deep Space Network. In addition to photographing the largest moons orbiting around the planet, it also detected ten moons that had never been seen before, as well as two additional rings that hadn’t been discovered.  A few of the things it discovered are that the temperature on Uranus is around -350 degrees Fahrenheit and that its rate of rotation is much shorter that of Earth’s at 17 hours, 14 minutes.

The Space Probe Carries Proof of Human Life.

A gold-plated copper disc 12-inches across carries sounds, images, music and greetings in numerous languages to any life form that the probe might come across in its long journey. Astronomer Carl Sagan chaired the committee that chose what to place on the record. Instructions on how to play back the messages are in mathematical form that an alien might be able to understand and interpret.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About The State of Hawaii

On August 21, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state.  Here are 5 little-known facts you probably didn't know about the Aloha State...

The Annexation of Hawaii as a U.S. Territory Was in 1898.

Governmental powers in the United States were worried that Hawaii might be taken over by a European country because Hawaii had given economic privileges to France and Great Britain back in the 1830s. After signing a treaty with Hawaii in 1849, the American government ended up deposing Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900 but did not become a state until much later.

Queen Liliuokalani Wrote the Lyrics for Hawaii’s Most Famous Song.

Queen Liliuokalani was the composer of “Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee),” which she wrote when she was 40 years old. Her inspiration for the song was seeing a man who was being told goodbye by a young woman, who happened to be the queen’s sister. This is only one of the many songs written by the queen, who was a prolific songwriter her entire life.

Hawaii Is Unique in That it Is Growing Larger Every Year.

Hawaii Island, known as the Big Island, is estimated to grow larger by around 42 acres yearly, thanks to its active volcano, Kilauea. Kilauea, which is a young volcano, has been erupting since 1983. According to Hawaiian legend, the volcano's central crater is home to Pele, the fire goddess. The lava flows from the volcano have added new coastline and cover about 100 square kilometers at this point; however, about 200 houses have been destroyed in the process.

Hawaii Is the Only State That Honors a King and Has a Royal Palace.

In 1810, King Kamehameha succeeded in uniting the islands into one kingdom after many years of conflict. Hawaiians celebrate during the month of June by draping leis on the king’s statue and with parades, concerts and parties. Iolani Palace was built by King Kalakaua in 1882 and was placed on the registry of National Historic Landmarks in the early 1960s.

Tropical Rainforests in the United States Are Only Found in Hawaii.

Heavy rainfall and jungle plants found nowhere else in the world form the basis of the tropical rainforests found on all the islands in Hawaii. Dense canopies of exotic plants such as the rainbow eucalyptus, which sheds bark in a rainbow of colors and the hau, used to build canoes, provide shelter for a wide range of birds, animals and insects. Only two native species of mammal survive in Hawaii, the Hawaiian hoary bat and the Hawaiian monk seal.

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5 Facts About Pete Rose's Lifetime Ban from Baseball

On August 23, 1989, the baseball world sat in shock as all-time hits leader Pete Rose reached a settlement with Major League Baseball that would result in a lifetime ban from the game. Here are five interesting facts surrounding Pete Rose's ban from baseball....  

The Dowd Report was More than 200 Pages Long.

While friends and teammates knew Pete Rose struggled with a gambling addiction as early as the 1970s, most believed that he was only placing bets on horse races and basketball games. But, in February of 1989, Commissioner of Baseball Peter Ueberroth began questioning Rose about rumors and allegations of Rose betting on Cincinnati Reds games as a player and manager. In April 1989, Attorney John Dowd was retained to investigate the claims. He produced a 225-page report full of interviews, phone and bank records, and expert testimonials that would ultimately lead to Rose's ban.

Rose Vehemently Denied the Allegations...

From the beginning, Rose denied any and all claims he bet on the game of baseball—either as a player or a coach. Rose was combative throughout the investigation, refusing to appear at court hearings and even filing a lawsuit. Ultimately, Rose chose to settle with a "no contest" plea that did not admit guilt, but ultimately resulted in his name getting placed on the MLB's "ineligible list." In exchange, the new Commissioner of Baseball, Bart Giamatti, agreed to not look any further into the findings from the Dowd Report.

...Until 2004, When He Confessed in a Tell-All Memoir.

In 2004, Rose published an autobiography titled "My Prison Without Bars" where he confessed to and detailed his gambling problems and bets placed on Cincinnati Reds games as a manager of the team. He clearly stated that he always bet in favor of the Reds—never against. Rose claimed he was coming forward in hopes of launching a campaign for reinstatement, but his critics saw it as an opportunist attempt to milk money during a book tour rather than an earnest confession and apology. Rose was no closer to earning a spot back in the game he loved.

His Ban Technically Is Not a Lifetime One.

Most people—including Rose—recognize his ban as a lifetime exclusion from the game. But the original agreement actually permitted Rose to apply for reinstatement within just one year of the August 23, 1989 decision. Rose applied for reinstatement in 1992, 1998, 2003, and 2015, all without success. In 2015, Commissioner Rob Manfred was the first to formally reject Rose's application for reinstatement. His decision was based largely on the fact that Rose—who was living in Las Vegas by this point—was still betting on baseball (albeit legally, now). Manfred felt Rose did not have a "mature" understanding of how his behavior impacted the game and opted to maintain the ban.

He's Still in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

Though banned from ever having his name up in Cooperstown, The Cincinnati Reds organization practiced forgiveness and elected to include Pete Rose—the MLB all-time hits leader and leader of "The Big Red Machine"—in their Hall of Fame in 2016. The organization actually had to change their bylaws to make the exception for Rose, who was elated at the honor. His number, 14, was retired as a result.

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the War of 1812

It was on August, 24, 1814, that one of the major symbols of our great nation, the White House (then known as the “Presidential Mansion”) was burned to the ground during the War of 1812. Here are five fascinating facts about the War of 1812...

A Thunderstorm and Tornado saved Washington, D.C., From Further Destruction

British troops marched into Washington, D.C., on August 24, 1814, and set the White House, Capitol and other federal buildings afire. The following day, the arson continued until a drenching two-hour thunderstorm extinguished the flames. The massive storm spawned a rare tornado that blew roofs off buildings, buckled a bridge over the Potomac River and even lifted two cannons off the ground. According to the National Weather Service, flying debris from the tornado killed more British soldiers than American guns did during their brief occupation of the nation’s capital.

Our National Anthem Was Written During the War of 1812.

The poem that would later make up the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814. Key was being held captive by the British aboard a ship during their attack on Baltimore. American troops managed to keep the British at bay, which inspired Key to write the poem, called "Defence of Fort M'Henry." A few weeks later, the lyrics were printed along with music by John Stafford Smith and our national anthem was born.

The War of 1812 Had Its Own "Paul Revere" Character.

You probably know Paul Revere as the guy who rode a horse across a stretch of central Massachusetts to warn American militiamen of oncoming British troops. Well, the War of 1812 had a similar character, albeit on the other side of the battle. Laura Secord was a Massachusetts-born wife to a wounded Canadian Loyalist. She caught wind of an impending ambush by American troops on a British outpost and trekked 20 miles to warn the Brits. Her warning saved them from near-definite defeat.

New England Considered Cutting Ties With the Rest of the U.S.

Long before the South started talking of secession from Washington, folks up in New England started a rallying cry to break away from the U.S. in protest to "Mr. Madison's War." New Englanders felt the brunt of British naval blockades, and though secession was never actually endorsed by delegates from New England, it was seriously discussed behind closed doors. 

After Being Torched, Washington, D.C., Was Nearly Abandoned as The National Capital.

In September 1814, a homeless Congress returned to a broken and dispirited Washington, D.C., and met in makeshift quarters. With a cash-strapped government facing a costly reconstruction, the first item of business was a proposal to return the capital to Philadelphia. After weeks of spirited debate, the House of Representatives narrowly rejected the measure by an 83-to-74 vote.

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Five Fascinating Facts About The Wizard of Oz

On August 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz made its debut in theaters around the United States.  While most of us know the story of Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and The Cowardly Lion, here are some interesting facts about what was happening behind the scenes for the film...

Dorothy's Famous Ruby Red Slippers Were Supposed to be Silver.

It's hard to imagine Dorothy without her iconic ruby slippers shimmering on the screen, but the original story for The Wizard of Oz actually called for Dorothy to wear silver shoes. It was the screenwriter who changed the slippers to ruby because they would contrast better in technicolor against the yellow brick road. When Diana Ross and Michael Jackson performed in The Wiz in 1978, the original silver slippers were brought back. 

The Actor Who Played the Scarecrow was Originally Hired to Be The Tin Man.

MGM originally hired actor Ray Bolger to play The Tin Man, but Bolger thought his acting ability was far better suited for something with a little more...flexibility. So, Bolger convinced then-Scarecrow, Buddy Ebsen, to switch roles. But when Ebsen donned the silver face paint, he had a severe allergic reaction and nearly died. Ebsen had to be replaced by the man you see on the silver screen (pun intended): Jack Haley. 

One Actor Played Five Different Roles in the Film.

Most people know that most of the actors played two characters in the film: one in Kansas, the other in Oz. Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and The Tin Man all played farmhands, while the Wicked Witch was also Ms. Gulch. But one actor, Frank Morgan, really made the rounds in Oz. Not only did he play Professor Marvel on the Kansas side, but he also took on four other roles in Oz: the Wizard, the doorman at the Emerald City, the cabbie riding around a "Horse-of-a-Different-Color," and the crying guard.

Toto Earned More than The Munchkin Actors.

Move over Lassie. Though the actors who played The Munchkins earned a very decent wage for actors in the 1930's (by one account, they earned $25 per week — about $450 per week today), Toto was really the top dog on set. Toto earned a whopping $125 ($2,250 today) per week to star in the film. Not bad for a small pooch. Toto went on to star in a total of 16 films before passing away at the age of 11 in 1945.

They Used Jell-O to Change the Horse's Color.

The Horse-of-a-Different-Color is one of the first encounters Dorothy, and her crew make as they enter the Emerald City and for a film shown in technicolor, the bright hues of the steed really shined. But creating the multi-colored animal didn't happen in post-production: crew members applied Jell-O powder to the horse's mane in order to change its color. It worked like a charm except for one small problem: the horses wouldn't stop licking the sugary treat off of themselves!

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5 Insane Guinness World Records of All Time

August 27, 1955, is the day that the first Guinness Book of Records was first published. Originally meant to be a reference for settling disputes in pub quizzes, the book quickly took on a life of its own.  Take a look at these five insane Guinness World Records...

The Best Record Ever: The Largest Pizza on Record.

December 2012 was supposed to bring about the end of the world, according to conspiracy theorists, but if anything ended, it was the previous record for the largest pizza made. On December 13, a team from Italy made a 100 percent gluten-free pizza that measured 1,261.65 square meters, or just a hair under 13,581 square feet. The team named the pizza "Ottavia." There was no word on whether they set the record for most breakfasts of cold pizza slices the next morning.

May as Well Have Fun When Setting a Record: Human-Mattress Domino Chains.

Yes, people got together and stacked up row after row of people leaning against mattresses. On July 23, 2016, 2,016 (get it?) people in Wuhan, China, spent 14 minutes and 47 seconds falling down in order at an event sponsored by two companies. People fell backward onto thick mattresses in lines stretching both inside and outside a building.

Most Socks Put on in One Minute—and a Bonus Record-holding Record Holder.

This record is interesting not only because it showed physical power that you wouldn't normally think of, but also because the guy who set the record is quite a record-setter himself. The record in question is putting on socks in one minute on one foot. Silvio Sabba, a fitness trainer from Italy, managed to pull 45 socks onto one foot in one minute, and as odd as that sounds, that can take some physical force given the amount of friction you'd experience after just the first sock. What makes this more interesting is that Sabba holds at least 70 world records.

Why?? Breaking Toilet Seats With One's Head.

Yes. On September 1, 2007, American Kevin Shelley broke 46 wooden toilet seats with his head in Cologne, Germany. It's definitely a memorable record, if a baffling one.

What Is It With Chopping Things on People?: Chopping Watermelons on One's Stomach in One Minute.

Believe it or not, people keep attempting this. Think about all the times you almost hurt yourself while chopping something quickly with a knife on a cutting board, and the record becomes all the more frightening. In 2005, Australian Celia Curtis let Australian Jim Hunter chop 25 watermelons in one minute on her stomach. With a machete. You'd think that people would stay away from that record, but no—more tried it. In 2016, Ashrita Furman and Bipin Larkin paired up to chop 24 watermelons on one of their stomachs while on a bed of nails. In 2018, K. V. Saidalavi and K. P. Gireesh met in Kerala, India, and chopped 55 watermelons in one minute on one of their stomachs. Well, to each their own?

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5 Things You Didn't Know The "I Have a Dream" Speech

On August 28, 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  To mark the anniversary of that memorable event, here are 5 things you didn't know about this inspiring speech...

Someone Tried to Sell the Speech Recording Commercially.

As King delivered his speech, Twentieth Century Fox Records and another company called Mister Maestro, Inc., recorded the entire thing and then tried to sell copies of the speech. King did fight back; he claimed the speech was copyrighted material, and the court found in his favor.

The August 28 Speech Was Not the First Time He Had Used the "Dream" Theme.

The "dream" theme, it turns out, was a common one in King's previous speeches. In fact, he almost didn't use the theme in his speech for the march, but in the end—literally—he began an impassioned, improvised section of the speech that focused on the dream theme. He had been urged by Mahalia Jackson, the singer, to use the dream theme during the speech. The combination of the theme with his passionate way of speaking at the march made it a speech to remember.

King Wrote up the August 28 Speech the Night Before the March.

Most of the speakers at the march had written up their speeches long before the actual day. King decided to wing it, somewhat; he didn't write his speech down until the night before, and as mentioned, part of the speech was improvised. That meant his speech wasn't available for distribution in advance of the march, but it became such a memorable speech anyway that advance distribution could possibly have dampened some of the enthusiasm that welled up when people heard the speech for the first time.

The Speech Has Been Ranked the Number One Speech of the 20th Century.

In December 1999, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M University ranked political speeches from the 20th century and chose "I Have a Dream" as the top speech out of 100. The research looked at opinions from 137 scholars and determined that King's speech was the best, followed by John F. Kennedy's speech about "Ask not what you can do"; after that came two speeches from Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 1976 keynote address for the Democratic National Convention, given by Barbara Jordan.

The Speech Almost Wasn't Heard by Everyone at the March.

Opposition to the march took a nasty turn when, on the day of the speech, the speaker system was deliberately damaged. Without the speaker system, people around the area would not be able to hear the speech unless they got up close, something that was impossible to do given the crowd size. Luckily, then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy was determined to fix the problem and ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to do the repairs.

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, and went on to become one of the most admired, most awarded, and most controversial artists of all time.  Here are five things you probably didn't know about the "King of Pop"...

Jackson Is the Most-Awarded Artist of All Time.

As time goes on, more artists may certainly join the ranks of the most-awarded. But the most awarded is likely to remain Michael Jackson, who received 197 major awards including Grammys, Guinness world records, and presidential honors. While individual records have since fallen—for example, Jackson used to hold the record for being the youngest performer to get six or more Grammys in one night, but Adele broke that record in 201—overall it will be tough for anyone to surpass Jackson's total number of awards.

"Billie Jean" Was the First Music Video by a Black Artist to Air on MTV.

In MTV's earlier years, it was mainly music videos (as opposed to the current constant stream of non-music shows that it's been running for a while), but its catalog was filled with white performers. It wasn't until March 10, 1983, that the channel aired the video for "Billie Jean," which led to more Black artists such as Lionel Richie getting airplay on the station. However, the actual path to getting that video played wasn't so easy. Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS Records, basically threatened to take all CBS videos off of MTV unless they added "Billie Jean." It was a well-timed threat; MTV was under financial strain, and after Jackson's videos began airing, the station's financial situation turned around.

He Is the Highest-Earning Deceased Artist.

Jackson still outsells everyone. In 2017 Forbes named Jackson the highest-earning dead celebrity—for the fifth year in a row—with sales of over $75 million. Arnold Palmer was second, and Charles Schulz, Elvis Presley, and Bob Marley were also in the top five. The sales come from not only copies of previous albums, but also from newly released specials and additional music-catalog releases. In 2017, profits from a related Cirque du Soleil show also added to the total.

Jackson's Famous Dance Move, the Moonwalk, Is Said to Have Been Based on the Routine of Mime Artist Marcel Marceau—but It Might Not Have Been.

A popular rumor is that the famous moonwalk move that captivated fans in the 1980s was based on something done by the French mime Marcel Marceau. The rumors go so far as to say that Marceau or his choreographer actually taught the move to Jackson. However, that may not be the case. Not only have past performers used similar moves, including David Bowie and dancer Bill Bailey, but even Jackson's family has said that Marceau did not teach him the move, crediting it instead to choreographer Jeffrey Daniel.

Thriller Is the Best Selling Album of All Time and Continues to Sell Worldwide.

This is one album that lives on in a much happier way than the zombies in Jackson's video for the title track. Thriller continues to sell worldwide, and in February 2017, Billboard.com reported that both Sony and Jackson's estate claim the album has sold about 105 million copies total. It remains the best-selling album in the U.S., hitting 33-times platinum in 2017.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Hurricane Katrina

On August 30, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction and death. To mark the anniversary of that natural disaster and the tragedy that followed, we've put together these five facts you probably didn't know about Hurricane Katrina...

Evacuation Was Ordered for About 1.2 Million People.

Hurricane Katrina first struck Florida and then moved in a westerly direction, causing severe damage in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Although Katrina was a Category 1 hurricane when it initially struck Florida, by the time it reached the other Gulf states, wind speeds had increased up as high as 175 mph, the strength of a Category 5.

The Levees in New Orleans Weren’t Built to Hold Against a Category 5 Hurricane.

Lake Pontchartrain, located north of New Orleans, overflowed and numerous levees, meant to protect the city, failed, causing severe flooding in 75 to 80 percent of the city. A number of the levees, built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, failed before the water even reached the top because of the foundation soils giving way under the strain. Investigations conducted afterward reached the conclusion that the U.S. Corps of Engineers was responsible for the levee failures, which led to enormous destruction and loss of life.

A Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi, Was Destroyed by a Casino During the Hurricane.

An 1856 Greek Revival home, the Tullis-Toledano House, was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina when a floating casino barge landed squarely on top of it. The home had been bought in 1975 by the City of Biloxi and furnished and restored for public tours. The home might have survived except for the barge, which flattened it like a pancake.

Hurricane Katrina Caused Many Deaths.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there were a total of 1,833 fatalities that occurred during the hurricane’s destructive path. The highest number of deaths occurred in Louisiana with 1,577 lives lost, followed by Mississippi with 238, Florida with 14, and Alabama and Georgia, each with two. The highest number of fatalities in a hurricane on American soil was the Great Galveston Hurricane in 1900 with a death toll of 8,000.

The Hurricane Spawned Numerous Tornadoes.

The death toll for Hurricane Katrina does not include the fatalities caused by the 43 tornadoes that were unleashed. Georgia reported 20 tornadoes, while 11 each were reported in Mississippi and Alabama along with one in Florida. Georgia broke the state record for the highest number of tornadoes in a day for August and the only fatality from a tornado in August in its recorded history.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Princess Diana

On August 31, 1997, Great Britain's Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36. Here are five shocking facts you probably didn't know about the princess who enchanted the world...

Lady Diana and Prince Charles Only Saw Each Other a Few Times Before Getting Engaged.

Prince Charles had met Lady Diana when she was 16, while he was dating her sister, Lady Sarah. At the time they became engaged some years later, Charles had been pressured to find a wife after being refused by one woman and seeing other women but not settling on any. It is reported that Charles and Diana only spent time with each other 13 times before their marriage.

When Lady Diana Became Engaged, She Was Working as an Aide at a Kindergarten.

Lady Diana did not do particularly well at her schooling. However, she was talented at playing the piano. After she finished her education, she took a post working part-time in the Pimlico District of London as a kindergarten teacher. She shared an apartment with three others and also worked as a housekeeper for her elder sister and nanny for an American woman.

Lady Diana Had to be Sewn Into Her Wedding Dress.

After she became engaged, Lady Diana started losing weight, whether from her eating disorder or just nerves, and her gown had to be refitted numerous times. The bodice was remade five times to accommodate her shrinking waist, but she still had to be sewn into the gown right before the ceremony to make it fit properly. One thing wedding guests didn’t get to see were the remade antique parasols that matched the wedding gown in the event of rain.

The Royal Couple Separated in 1992.

Due to reported infidelity by both Charles and Diana and Diana’s depression, bulimia and other problems, the couple divorced in 1996. Princess Diana continued with her charitable work, cutting down to concentrate on a few specific charities, and she began dating again. In 1997, she began going out with film producer and known playboy Dodi Al Fayed, the son of an Egyptian billionaire, who was the owner of Harrods Department Store at the time.

The Chauffeur Driving the Car When the Princess Died Was Drunk.

The princess and Dodi Al Fayed were in Paris at the Ritz Hotel and departed in a Mercedes accompanied by the driver, Henri Paul, and a bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, when paparazzi spotted the vehicle and chased after them. The driver lost control of the vehicle as they passed through a tunnel, and the vehicle struck one of the pillars. The bodyguard was the only one to survive the accident and was hospitalized for several months due to his injuries, and it was later revealed that Henri Paul had been drinking and driving.

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yes I REMEMBERED  when this happened

dgrimm60

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5 Things You Didn't Know About World War II_2

On September 1, 1939, World War II began as an estimated 1.5 million German troops crossed Germany's shared border with Poland. Here are 5 things you probably didn't know about World War II...

Poland Had One of the Largest Armies That Fought in World War II

In addition to more than 700,000 troops, both men and women, Poland also had 400,000 partisans that made up one of the war's biggest underground armies. Because of its large number of forces, Poland had the fourth largest Army that fought during World War II. According to Winston Churchill, Poland also had the best spies, which helped lead the Allied Forces to victory.

Hitler’s Nephew Served in the U.S. Navy During the War

Hitler’s brother, Alois, had a son, born in 1911, who was named William Patrick Hitler. William Hitler lived for a time in Germany but became stranded in the United States while visiting because of the war, so stayed and obtained his citizenship, after which he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as a pharmacist’s mate. Following the war, Hitler changed his last name to William Stuart-Houston and operated a medical laboratory in Long Island, New York.

The Largest Tank Battle of World War II Happened in Russia

The Battle of Kursk in July 1943 was Germany’s last chance to dominate the Eastern Front. On the battlefield, around two million German and Russian soldiers, 4,000 aircraft and 6,000 tanks faced off in what became Germany’s final blitzkrieg. By later in August 1943, the Red Army of the Russians had taken over the 1,200-mile front line, which put the Germans into the retreat that eventually led to their surrender.

The Only Town Bombed by the Japanese in the Continental United States Was in Oregon

Nine months after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, Japanese pilot Nubuo Fujita dropped four thermite bombs in an area near Brookings, Oregon, with the hope that they would set the forest on fire and burn down the surrounding towns. However, it being Oregon, it was too wet, and the bombs fizzled out without doing any damage. Years later, as a gesture of goodwill, the residents of Brookings invited Fujita and his family to visit during the annual Azalea Festival, where he presented the town with his most cherished possession, a Samurai sword that had been in his family for 400 years.

The Nazis Considered Transporting all the European Jews to Madagascar

In 1940, leaders in the Nazi party considered sending all the European Jews to the island of Madagascar, revoking their citizenship and then confiscating their property, while placing the island under the rule of the Nazi SS. The idea appears to have been Heinrich Himmler’s, according to a piece of correspondence by him in 1940 to Hitler. The Nazis thought they would be able to use ships confiscated from the British Royal Navy after they had conquered the United Kingdom to transport so many people, but Great Britain was uncooperative by fighting back against the Nazi threat and the plan never came to fruition.

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Labor Day

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September every year to honor the contributions that working men and women have made to American life.  As we bid summer adieu, here are 5 things you probably didn’t know about this federal holiday…

The First Celebration of Labor Day Was Held in New York City

There is some question about who the person was that invented a holiday celebrating labor but no question about where the first celebration took place. It was held in New York City on September 5, 1882, when workers gathered, joined by 200 more from Newark’s Jewelers Union who served as a band, and took to the streets. They were joined by 10,000 to 20,000 other working women and men who joined the parade, which ended with picnics, speeches, beer, and cigars at Elm Park.

Labor Day Originated in Canada

Americans may be chagrined to learn that Labor Day originated in Canada. The first parades to honor Canadian workers happened in 1872 in Toronto, our neighbor to the north. In 1882, Peter McGuire, who some say founded Labor Day in America, was a speaker at the labor festival in Canada and proposed this idea to a labor union in New York later that year. They must have liked the idea because workers held a parade and celebrated Labor Day that same year.

Oregon Recognized Labor Day as an Official Holiday First

The state of Oregon officially designated Labor Day as a holiday on February 21, 1887. Later that same year, four additional states adopted Labor Day as a state holiday. Twenty-three states had officially added the holiday by 1890.

The Labor Day Holiday Was Made Official by President Grover Cleveland

Although it was already being celebrated on local and state levels, President Cleveland made Labor Day into a federal holiday when he signed the legislation into law on June 28, 1894.  This happened during the Pullman Strike that was happening nationwide after many of the company's workers were laid off and wages cut by 25 percent. The Pullman Company was the leading manufacturer of sleeper cars for trains at the time.

People No Longer Follow the Unwritten Rule About Wearing White After Labor Day

Back in the early 20th century, it was considered a fashion faux pas to wear either seersucker or white after Labor Day. However, according to Emily Post, the etiquette icon, wearing white was a sign that people were spending time away from the hot city at a mountain retreat or seaside cottage where they wore clothing that was lighter weight. This rule is no longer followed.

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Google

On September 4, 1998, Google was incorporated and now has more than 2.3 million searches performed each second. As one of the most valuable and innovative companies in the world, you may be surprised by the following things you didn’t know about Google.

Google Wasn’t the Original Name

Google was the brainchild of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were both students at Stanford University in 1995 when they developed a search engine based on criteria to determine a ranking of individual sites. They originally called the search engine Backrub because the program examined backlinks as a basis for rating websites. They later renamed it Google based on the mathematical name Googol, which is a one followed by 100 zeroes. When investors from Silicon Valley stepped in with a lot of cash, the search engine was officially born in 1998 in a garage in Menlo Park.

The “I’m Feeling Lucky” Search Is Expensive to Maintain

Costing about $110,000 each year originally, the “I’m Feeling Lucky” search has been narrowed down but still offers “I’m Feeling Playful,” “I’m Feeling Adventurous” and other options. By clicking on “I’m Feeling Lucky” and another other option that pops up, the searcher is taken to the top results for that category.

Choosing Your Language Isn’t Limited to Common Ones

Google offers commonly spoken languages such as English, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese, as well as lesser spoken languages such as Nigerian Pidgin but it doesn’t stop there. Users can also choose from fantasy languages such as Bork, Bork, Bork!, Elmer Fudd, Klingon, and Pirate. Users only have to go to their account settings, select language, and scroll down to choose the language they want.

All the Google Doodles Are Online to Play

The first doodle produced by Google was based on the Burning Man Festival held annually in Nevada and showed a burning stick figure of a human. This is because Page and Brin both attended the festival, and this was a way to let people know they were going to be gone for a week. Since then, more than 1,000 doodles have appeared on the search engine, and people can enter “doodles” in Google search to see and play all of them, which could keep anyone busy for weeks or months.

Remember Atari? You Can Play it on Google

The Atari company was formed in 1972 and produced popular arcade, console, and handheld video games. One of the most popular classic games was called Breakout and was released in 1972 by Steve Jobs, the wizard founder of Apple, and Steve Wozniak. Google lets you play Breakout by going to Google Images and just typing in the words “Atari Breakout.”

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5 Things You Didn't Know About Princess Diana's Funeral

September 6, 1997, was a somber day across the world as over 2.5 billion people tuned in to watch the televised funeral of Princess Diana.  Here are 5 things you didn't know about Princess Diana's funeral and death...

1. Diana Is Not Buried With Others From the Royal Family.

Diana's family was long associated with the Royal Family; in fact, Diana herself grew up on one of the Queen's many estates, and she was a childhood friend of the royal children. However, after her death, she was not buried in any resting places that the core royals would be buried despite her title. Instead, she is buried on her family's land on an island. She was originally going to be interred in a vault, but the island location provided more privacy and security.

2. Mother Teresa Died the Day Before Diana's Funeral.

Diana was well-known for her charity work, which brought her into close contact with Mother Teresa many times. Oddly enough, Mother Teresa herself died on September 5, one day before the funeral. One of the objects buried with Diana is a set of rosary beads that Mother Teresa had given her.

3. The Applause During Her Funeral Procession Gave Rise to One of the More Amusing Theories of the Time.

A memorable part of the procession of the coffin was when the crowds lining the streets suddenly started applauding as the coffin went by. It was as if the public was telling Diana, "Well done; you did your best." But it turns out that the applause also confounded at least one newscaster because people had also applauded at Margaret Thatcher's funeral, but no one had really done it prior to Diana's. Winston Churchill's funeral, for example, was very quiet in that regard. The newscaster argued that the applause was due to a lack of hats -- instead of being able to remove a hat and signal your respect, hatless Britons now applauded. One guest on the program in which the newscaster made this claim said this could hold a grain of truth in that people do need to make a display of grief or respect, and applause may now be the easiest form of that gesture.

4. The Fatal Nature of the Accident Was Due to Actions of the Driver, the Paparazzi -- and Even Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed.

The multiple inquests into Diana's death (both to determine the cause and to quash conspiracy theories about a hit job arranged by the Royal Family) found the driver, Henri Paul (who also died) to be mainly at fault because he was very drunk at the time. The paparazzi were also blamed because their actions to reach the car were reckless and created dangerous conditions. The deaths were even ruled to be "unlawful killings," which is the British version of what the U.S. judicial system calls manslaughter. But the fatal nature of the accident -- the fact that Diana and Al-Fayed died, rather than lived -- was put down partially to the fact that the two were not wearing seatbelts. Those seatbelts would not have prevented the accident, and Diana and Dodi were not at all to blame for the crash or the actions leading up to it. But the jury involved in the main inquest found that the lack of belt use was a factor in the two's deaths.

5. She Still Remains a Subject of Fascination -- Which Has Led to Questionable Moments.

Understandably, Diana is still a fascinating personality, especially with the marriages of her two sons and speculation about how Diana might have gotten along with Meghan and Catherine. Unfortunately, this has also led to some outlets taking rather odd -- if not unwelcome -- steps. Newsweek, for example, created a digital photo of an aged Diana walking with Catherine, which was immediately called "creepy." The accompanying story was supposed to focus on what Diana would be like now, which itself isn't strange, but the photo stole the show in what was for many an unpleasant way.

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5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Uncle Sam

On this day in 1813, the United States got its nickname, Uncle Sam.  Here are 5 things you didn't know about the king of the pointy-finger Army posters, Uncle Sam...

1. The Name Came Before the Image.

The name "Uncle Sam" got its start way back in 1813 when troops nicknamed meat supplies as "Uncle Sam" due to the initials "US" on the packaging. The "US" stood for "United States," but the man who ran the meatpacking business that created the supplies was named Sam Wilson, so "US" quickly took on a tongue-in-cheek meaning. The image of Uncle Sam as we know him, though, didn't take form until the mid-1800s, and the current image wasn't even created until about the time of the Civil War when cartoonist Thomas Nast based the likeness on that of Abraham Lincoln.

2. He Wasn't the First Illustrated Personification of the United States.

Uncle Sam may be well-known now thanks to military recruitment posters, but he's not the first instance where someone tried to represent the United States with an illustration. Columbia, a female representation, was the original personification of the United States starting way back in Revolutionary times. She remained a well-known figure throughout the 1800s but gradually lost ground in the public eye to Uncle Sam. There was also Brother Jonathan, who had his origins way back in England but who became a co-representation of the country with Uncle Sam in the mid-1800s.

3. He May Represent Only the Government - Not the Country.

If you're uncomfortable with throwing Columbia out of the picture, you're not alone; a common belief is that Uncle Sam really only represents the government of the U.S., while Columbia continues to represent the country as a whole.

4. He Was Originally Younger and Clean-Shaven.

Before Thomas Nast took a turn illustrating Uncle Sam, the figure was younger and did not have a beard. In fact, he never had a beard until Nast -- also the man who created the modern, bearded representation of Santa Claus -- decided the figure should have some facial hair.

5. There May Be Two Modern Comic Book Connections.

"Sam Wilson" is a pretty common name, but Marvel Comics may have decided to base its superhero character "the Falcon" on the meatpacker Sam Wilson. And in 2014, when the comics publisher decided to remove the character of Steve Rogers from the position of Captain America, guess who got the job? Yes -- the Falcon, or Sam Wilson, now personifying the country in a superhero capacity.