Trivia: “Close, but no cigar.” Its origin comes from being screwed over by a carnie. As for “Give that man a cigar,” same place but with a happy ending.
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Wife: “Honey? Do we have any blindfolds?”
Hubs: “I don’t think so, except for the special one. Will that work?”
Wife: “Yes. Would you be a dear and fetch it for me?”
Hubs: [from bedroom] “What about the handcuffs?”
Wife: “Maybe later.”
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Strange story, this Lucretia Vanderbilt.
It’s got everything!
Astrology!
Italian cheeses!
Alter egos!
Guitars!
Human hair fraud!
Bootleg liquor!
Pre-arrest suicide!
Belgian war heroes!
And butterflies!
Stefon would be jealous.
Check out the history of Lucretia Vanderbilt here, along with its rather wonderful first paragraph that sets the tone beautifully.
In Alan Jenkins’ very readable ‘The Twenties’, his second chapter is titled ‘Let’s Do It!’. “Do what?” he asked, well… “Practically anything you can get away with. Dance. Make love. Sing. Laugh. Make money. Lose money. Drink. Fly. Smash something.”, he wrote.
Fun facts: Even though it totally sucked compared to the arcade version, over seven million Atari 2600 cartridges of Pac-Man were sold.
It was a 4KB ROM cartridge.
The highest possible score for the arcade version of Pac-Man is 3,333,360 points.
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The railroad version of a rotary plow is pretty badass. Imagine shaving with that puppy.
See one in action on Donner Pass.
Yep, that Donner.
The Olympus 35EC was introduced in 1969.
Napoléon Bonaparte was introduced in 1769.
And then there’s the small matter of Napoleon’s penis, currently residing in New Jersey.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” — Napoleon
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Before he formulated Coca-Cola, did you know Doc Pemberton sold a wine & cocaine precursor based on Vin Mariani in France? Also, he was a morphine addict.
“He called it Pemberton’s French Wine Coca and marketed it as a panacea. Among many fantastic claims, he called it ‘a most wonderful invigorator of sexual organs.'”
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The toy that also taught us about second- and third-degree burns.
Q: If two 60-watt incandescent light bulbs take 12 minutes to bake a cake, how long would it take LED bulbs?
A: 0 minutes. Just throw it in the microwave.
Fun Fact: Kenner sold half a million ovens in the first year (1963).
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According to the Vintage Fashion Guild, Landlubber was “THE cool jeans to wear” in the 1970s.
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Q: Where do Volkswagens go when they get old?
A: The Old Volks home.
I’m so sorry.
Not-really-fun fact: The Volkswagen Beetle was originally named the Volkswagen Type 1 and marketed as the Volkswagen.
More VW Beetle trivia here via Mental Floss.
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