Figure skating is called figure skating because your skates are supposed to etch figures into the ice. For example, you might etch a figure 8. Jumping is a recent addition to the sport.
Below, a 1775 guide on how to draw the figure of a circle.
"World Wide Web" in the below Wikipedia article might sound archaic. You might think it was written in 2006 itself
The phrase was inserted in 2017. Earlier, the article just called it the web, then someone changed it, and no one noticed or had any reason to change it back.
They couldn't have counted on many people who watched that knowing the significance of the song. But they did count on people seeing it and thinking, "Hey, this song goes much better with the footage than the song they actually went with," because it does. www.cracked.com/article_2881...
Dawson's Creek series finale, they throw on a home movie Dawson shot years earlier. It's the show's own title sequence from season 1
Except, instead of the theme song, the song that plays over it is "Hand in My Pocket," which the show originally wanted as a theme song but couldn't get the rights to
Those are the two best chip flavors ever devised, handily beating third place, which is "Milk (salty)"
The two flagship Doritos flavors are "Milk (salty)" and "Milk (salty)"
Imagine you went back 30 years and told everyone that a star from a video website would make his own hit movie.
They'd be like, "Sure. Sounds like a normal next step for someone like that."
The nickname "the city that never sleeps" came from an 1898 exposé on New York poverty. The context here was an anecdote in which a drunk fortysomething woman died on the street by drinking carbolic acid. www.mentalfloss.com/history/dark...
New York got the nickname "The Big Apple" thanks to a 1909 book, which was talking about how rural states resent New York for leeching off them.
The dairy requirement sounds normal if you heard dairy's one of the "four basic food groups." But the USDA dropped those categories over 30 years ago. They then replaced those recommendations, made by lobbyists, with different ones, also made by lobbyists www.cracked.com/article_2894...
The law says schools must offer milk, which is weird. It doesn't say schools must offer chicken (just protein in general) or must offer apples (just fruit in general) but it does say it must offer milk.
This began as a 1954 USDA subsidy to the dairy industry.
Photographer Kevin Carter was only at the scene because he'd flown there on a UN aid plane.
Also, he did chase that vulture off after taking the photo. The vulture probably didn’t pose any real threat to the boy, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
www.mentalfloss.com/history/famo...
This 1993 photo attracted outrage from people angry that, instead of helping, the photographer just stood around and snapped photos.
But see that white thing on the boy's arm? It's an aid agency wristband. He was receiving help. The boy went on to outlive the photographer by 13 years.
MAD Magazine, December 1993
Even if someone is trying to kill you with their car, you're not supposed to shoot them. Shooting them won't save you (so is not self-defense) and endangers people besides the driver, including fellow agents.
For guidance, see this report from Customs and Border Patrol.
This slap session needed a fair amount of force behind it because the goal was to make the king cry. Heavy tears made for a good omen, foretelling a prosperous year for everyone. www.mentalfloss.com/holidays/his...
During the Mesopotamian new year festival of Akitu, the priest would strip the king to humiliate him and then would slap him. This was considered necessary for the king to continue being an effective leader.
People skeptical of the heart attack diagnosis point out that Churchill went on to never have another heart attack in his whole life.
Or maybe he did have more heart attacks and those were covered up as well. www.mentalfloss.com/history/disa...
Winston Churchill spent Christmas of 1941 at the White House. No one invited him.
After a private screening of The Maltese Falcon with FDR, his doctor noted that Churchill had had a heart attack that day. The doctor told no one at the time, not even Churchill.
Let's remember the Muppet Christmas crossover, in which the Swedish Chef saw Big Bird and immediately decided to kill and cook him
The famous Folgers incest ad was based on this earlier ad of theirs, shot in 1986. You can see how the new one made some changes, including aging up the sister.
Sing to your poop log:
Caga tió, tió de Nadal
No caguis arengades
Que són massa salad
Caga torrons
Que són més bons!
This translates as:
Shit log, log of Christmas
Don’t shit out herring
It’s too salty
Shit out turrón candies
They are much better! www.mentalfloss.com/holidays/chr...
Have you set up your Tió de Nadal yet?
The Tió de Nadal ("the poop log") is a log with a face painted on it. It represents a Catalan character who will poop out treats come Christmas day.
A couple years ago, in their ranking of the best Bob Dylan covers, Rolling Stone listed the Rolling Stones' "Like a Rolling Stone." It came in at number 24.
In 1995, the Rolling Stones put out a cover of Like a Rolling Stone. It was the 30th anniversary of the song as well as of the Stones' own Satisfaction
No one guessed that in *another* 30 years Dylan or even one Stone would still be alive, much less still be touring www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRYo...
Dad dresses as Santa for the child's sake. If the parents instead think the child's in bed fast asleep, it's unclear why Dad would bother putting on the costume.
No wonder then that many listeners assumed the song is about Mommy kissing the real Santa. www.cracked.com/article_3214...
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was originally created by Saks Fifth Avenue, to promote their annual Christmas card.
Writer Tommie Connor took inspiration from the below cover of The New Yorker. Here, unlike in the song, the parents know the child is present.
That nonsensical closing gag, which today would be a post-credits scene, was a late addition to the movie.
Earlier, the script ended with the pigeon lady's birds flying and then a shot of the Rockefeller Christmas tree.
Popping in Home Alone 2. "That's right, kids. Food delivered to the door used to be a crazy luxury. Room service was the stuff of wish fulfilment fantasies.
"Book the finest suite in Manhattan's top hotel? Rich family won't mind. But the room service bill would leave dad screaming."
Never forget that the first Kingdom Come Deliverance offered this option
