A headline is designed to capture the reader’s attention and draw him or her into the story. Sometimes that happens in entirely unexpected ways. Take a look at some of the most […]
What Were These Headline Writers Thinking?
Funniest Newspaper Correction is …. Drugroll, Please!
In 2012 the editors of Centralia, Illinois’ Morning Sentinel learned the value of one little letter. Red-faced, the editors ran the following correction: “Due to a typing error, Saturday’s story on local […]
To Battle… By Car?
In the movie Braveheart, Sir William Wallace gives a stirring speech at the beginning of the battle of Stirling Bridge that motivates the Scots to fight to victory. Perhaps they were so […]
How “Herbie Goes Bananas” Led to a Radioactive Disaster
Herbie Goes Bananas, the 1980 film about a Volkswagen Beetle that is seemingly alive, is widely regarded as the worst of the Herbie movies. Some might even call it a disaster. Few […]
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.’ ~~Elbert Hubbard
Originally posted on Quotes, thoughts and musings:
Fear Fear can and will cripple us. We will make mistakes. Will we learn from our mistakes? The challenge is to embrace the learning. The…
It’s Not Easy Being Green Grey
Marvel Comics’ mega-strong, most-in-need-of-anger-management character the Hulk is best known for being green. Originally he appeared as grey, just as his creator Stan Lee intended. When a printer error turned him green, […]
Don’t Kill the Messenger — Especially if He Comes from Genghis Khan
Haven’t heard of the Khwarezmian Empire? You can thank the unbelievably bad decisions of its leader, Shad Ala Ad-Din Muhammad II (1169-1220). The Khwarezmian Empire stretched from the Sea of Oman to […]
Need a Cheap iPhone? This Guy Has a Few. Just Don’t Ask About His Love Life
A Chinese factory worker spent more than $63,000 (500,000 yuan) to purchase 99 iPhone 6 devices. This is 17 times the average annual salary in his southern province of Guagzhou. He arranged […]
If Only There Were A Backspace Button for Speech
When Crown Princess (later Queen) Louise of Sweden visited Uppsala Cathedral, the Archbishop conducted the tour in English. His use of the language was good, but he got tripped up at a […]
Getting Cut Off on the Phone Now Means Something Different
One Little Letter Makes All the Difference
Japanese speakers frequently have difficulty differentiating between the English letters “L” and “R”. This was particularly evident in 1950 when supporters of General Douglas MacArthur (then serving as military governor of Japan […]
Backing Into a Musical Hit
At the beginning of the song “Roxanne” by The Police, during the intro, you can hear a strange piano chord, then Sting laughing. In fact, during the voice recording, Sting accidently sat […]
I Knew We Forgot Something
The flag of Nova Scotia was only officially adopted in 2013, after 155 years of use, when an 11 year-old girl researching a project realized that it had never been officially recognized […]
Super Sticky — Accidental History
Eastman Kodak research Harry Coover discovered Superglue years before he figured out what to do with it. At first, its stickiness infuriated him. Coover first came across cyanoacrylates (the chemical name for […]
All This Thanks to a Melted Chocolate Bar
Sometimes all you really need to make the next leap in science is a snack. Percy Spencer was an American engineer who, while working for Raytheon, walked in front of a magnetron, […]
