Tag: festivals

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Most School Buses Are Bright Yellow For Exactly The Reasons You’d Probably Expect

The buses kids will start using this fall will be very similar to ones dating back to 1939, when a bunch of experts chose a bright shade of yellow as the standard school bus color.

Before Humans Ever Went To Space, A Mom In France Tried Training Her Son To Be An Astronaut

Newspaper articles in the 1920s featured the six year old who was training to go into space before humans even figured out how to do it.

Inventor Becky Schroeder Had A Patent Before She Was A Teenager

https://open.spotify.com/episode/093dU0HlVXv7rwc35RMKHz?si=c2a3858ce1344708 Today in 1974, the US issued a patent to one Becky Schroeder, an extremely inventive kid. I mean, not many of us have our...

A Formerly Enslaved Man Roasted His Former Master In A Classic Letter

Today in 1865, newspapers published "Letter From A Freedman To His Old Master," Jordan Anderson's note perfect response to a guy who probably shouldn’t have written to him in the first place. 

Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” Was Partly Based On Real Bird Weirdness

Today in 1961, a news report in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about a strange bird event along the coast of California that ended up shaping an iconic movie about a strange bird event.

The Guy Who Officially Had The First Social Security Number

Americans who pay into the system and receive benefits have Social Security Numbers, so who had the first one? The answer is kind of strange.

The Winchester Mystery House Probably Wasn’t Built To Be Mysterious

Sarah Winchester's decades-long renovation project turned an eight-room farmhouse into hundreds of rooms, and sparked endless rumors that at least some of those rooms are haunted.

Campbell’s Soup Grew To Love Andy Warhol’s Soup Can Paintings, Just Maybe Not Right Away

Andy Warhol made a mark with his paintings of Campbell's Soup cans, though the company wasn’t immediately thrilled with his work.

One Of MGM’s Roaring Lions Lived A Life Even Stranger Than The Movies

One of the lions that played MGM's roaring mascot in the movies used up more than a few of its nine lives while traveling for the movie studio.

Ford Once Tried To Replace The Steering Wheel With A “Wrist Twist” System

Cars have changed the world, but not every idea from automakers works out. Like the time Ford tried to reinvent the (steering) wheel.

Bacteria Can Consume Used Plastic And Turn It Into Medicine

Researchers have a new way to make one of the most commonly used pain relievers, out of plastic that might otherwise end up in landfills.

The North Pole Moved Three Feet Because Of Dams

A Harvard study finds that the thousands of dams humans have built over the last couple centuries have locked up so much water it's actually affected Earth's poles! We'll try to explain.