He visited Venice, Italy, an experience that would remain in his imagination for decades and eventually provide the inspiration for his most famous creation.
Abbot Kinney (November 16, 1850–November 4, 1920) was an American businessman, real-estate developer, conservationist, writer, and visionary whose name became inseparably associated with Venice, California. Although he is best remembered as the founder of “Venice of America,” Kinney was a remarkably complicated and accomplished man whose interests ranged from tobacco and forestry to anthropology, urban planning, architecture, and public health.
I’ll never forget the wicked witch and her hourglass in the Wizard of Oz.
The hourglass is one of the most recognizable instruments ever devised for measuring the passage of time, yet its origins are far more mysterious than those of the sundial or the water clock. Unlike those earlier devices, whose histories can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and China, the hourglass appears relatively late in the historical record. Despite frequent claims that the Romans or ancient Greeks invented it, no convincing archaeological or written evidence supports those assertions. Historians generally agree that the hourglass emerged in medieval Europe sometime between the eighth and fourteenth centuries,
Roosa worked as a smokejumper for the U.S. Forest Service.
Stuart Allen Roosa was born on August 16, 1933, in Durango, Colorado, and was raised in the small logging community of Clairemont, New Mexico, where his family was involved in the forestry and lumber business. Growing up in the rugged landscape of the American Southwest fostered an appreciation for aviation, the outdoors, and hard work that would shape his future career. He attended public schools in
Unlike many civic slogans that commemorate a famous resident or historical event, this one is rooted in a humorous accident rather than any longstanding tradition or official title.
Galena, Kansas, a small city in Cherokee County along the historic Route 66 corridor, has become known in recent years for an unusual and intentionally puzzling slogan: “Home of the Sea Slug King of Kansas.” Travelers crossing the Missouri-Kansas state line are greeted by a welcome sign bearing the phrase, which naturally prompts the question of what it means.
In May 2026, Pabst Brewing Co. announced it was placing the iconic Schlitz brand “on hiatus,” effectively ending the production of the beer that was once the best-selling lager in the world.
Schlitz Beer occupies a unique place in American brewing history as both one of the nation’s greatest commercial success stories and one of its most famous business cautionary tales. For much of the twentieth century, the Schlitz name was virtually synonymous with American lager, and its celebrated slogan, “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous,” helped establish Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the country’s brewing capital.
My first one, was a Daisy Model 1894 “Spittin Image” BB rifle, which I got for Christmas in the early 1960s. I can’t even imagine how many times I fired that gun!
The BB gun occupies a unique place in the history of recreational shooting, youth training, and American popular culture. Although often regarded simply as a child’s first gun, the BB gun has a far more complex history that stretches back more than a century and a half. It evolved from modest indoor target guns into sophisticated pneumatic and spring-powered sporting arms capable of remarkable accuracy. Throughout that evolution, companies such as
It was not derived from the television series “Hogans Heroes”, where Colonel Klink was in charge of the German prison camp.
The nickname “the clink” for a jail is one of the oldest pieces of English criminal slang still in common use today, and its origins stretch back more than six centuries. Although many people assume the word comes from the metallic sound of prison bars, handcuffs, or cell doors clinking together, historians and linguists generally agree that the term almost certainly originated
He was injured during the inaugural ride of a new roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia.
Fabio Lanzoni, known worldwide simply as Fabio, became the central figure in one of the most bizarre celebrity news stories of the 1990s when he was injured during the inaugural ride of a new roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia. The event occurred on March 30, 1999, during the media opening of Apollo’s Chariot, a steel hypercoaster that was then one of the most anticipated new rides in the United States.
The enterprise began as a commercial effort to raise ostriches for their highly prized feathers.
The Cawston Ostrich Farm was one of the most unusual and successful tourist attractions in the history of Southern California. Founded by English-born entrepreneur Edwin Cawston during the late nineteenth century, the enterprise began as a commercial
The film concentrates on the tense seventy-two hours leading up to the D-Day landings, when Allied commanders had to determine whether weather conditions would permit the largest amphibious invasion in history.
Pressure (2026) is a British-French historical war drama directed, co-written, and edited by Anthony Maras. Adapted from David Haig’s acclaimed 2014 stage play of the same name, the screenplay was written by Haig and Maras, expanding the original theatrical work into a more cinematic account of one of the most consequential decisions of the Second World War. Rather than focusing on the combat itself, the film concentrates on the tense seventy-two hours leading up to the D-Day landings,
