Manjirō Nakahama, at the young age of 14, was a fisherman who, along with four companions, found himself stranded on an island following a shipwreck. Their rescue arrived in the form of an American whaleship, which transported them to Honolulu. While his friends decided to stay in Honolulu, Manjirō ventured...
The video game developer and publisher known today as Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., originally started out as Silicon & Synapse, Inc., established on February 8, 1991. Due to unfortunate confusion with silicon-based breast implants, they altered their name to Chaos Studios, Inc. in 1993. However, to avoid conflict with Chaos Technologies,...
In the Spanish-American War of 1898, Guam fell into US hands without any resistance. The island was such a neglected and isolated Spanish colonial outpost that the local governor was oblivious to the war’s commencement. As US ship arrived and began firing poorly aimed shots at the decrepit Spanish fort,...
In 1858, the first transatlantic telegraph cable was established, with a single character requiring two minutes to traverse the distance. Queen Victoria’s first comprehensive message took nearly 18 hours to transmit across the cable.
The most intense earthquake to ever strike the continental United States happened in New Madrid, Missouri, in 1812. Its force was so tremendous that it caused tremors felt as far away as New York, provoked church bells to chime in South Carolina, and even reversed the flow of a section...
The fedora, often associated with mobsters, originally held significance as a representation of the Women’s Rights Movement. Initially, the fedora was designed as a hat for women and gained popularity through the influential actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was known for her cross-dressing roles. Making its debut in 1882 as women’s...
Established by Byron Gambulos, Byron’s Liquor Warehouse stands as one of Oklahoma’s largest liquor outlets. This Oklahoma City landmark came into existence in 1959, soon after the state’s legalization of alcohol. The infancy of the legal alcohol era in Oklahoma was marked by chaos and confusion. “The system was haphazard. Both...
Surprisingly, a significant number of animals, including those we typically consider industrious, spend a considerable amount of their time seemingly idle. Observations of social insect communities, such as ants or bees, reveal that roughly less than half of the population are often stationary, appearing to do nothing.
Have you ever heard of pizza farms? These are unique establishments that either sell pizzas made from ingredients grown on-site, or they function as educational farms that cultivate pizza ingredients, often on a circular piece of land divided into pizza slice-like segments. Some of these farms primarily focus on selling...
Contemporary fruit, having been genetically altered over the years, is proving excessively sweet for zoo animals. Australian zookeepers have started reducing the fruit intake of some animals due to the heightened sweetness that may harm their health. Modern-day farming technology has accelerated the breeding of crops, enhancing their resistance to diseases...