American 18 gun Sloop of War Ranger

On This Day – February 14, 1778, American 18 gun Sloop of War Ranger (Captain John Paul Jones Commanding) of the Continental Navy, received the first official salute to the new American flag, the “Stars and Stripes.” The nine-gun salute was rendered by the French Read More …

Why Do We Eat Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day?

James Beard Award-winning author Adrian Miller shares his family recipe for the New Year’s Day staple. On New Year’s Day, millions of people will dutifully eat some amount of black-eyed peas with the hope that it will lead to prosperity throughout next year. This superstition Read More …

Chocolate Chips Were Invented After Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ruth Wakefield was no cookie-cutter baker. In fact, she is widely credited with developing the world’s first recipe for chocolate chip cookies. In 1937, Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, owned the popular Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. While mulling new desserts to serve at the inn’s restaurant, she Read More …

Christmas Decorating Tips From the Biltmore

If you’ve been, you know: One of the most spectacular holiday installations in the southeastern United States shines in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore, George Vanderbilt’s 8,000-acre estate, puts on a show for Christmas like no other. Lizzie Whitcher, Biltmore House’s Floral Manager and the architect Read More …

The first drive-thru window at McDonald’s was created in 1975 to serve the armed forces

Sierra Vista, Arizona, sits about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, and is home to the Fort Huachuca Army base. While military bases are often good for boosting local businesses, management of the town’s McDonald’s realized that service members often passed by the restaurant without Read More …

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

  I.         Hear the sledges with the bells—                  Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells!         How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,            In the icy air of night!         While the stars that oversprinkle         All the heavens, seem to twinkle            With a crystalline delight;          Keeping Read More …

Rock n’ roll at the casket factory

Rock n’ roll will live on in an old casket factory. The Jacksonville Historical Society is working to renovate a vacant warehouse, which was once the Florida Casket Co., near Veterans VyStar Memorial Arena. The museum will showcase artifacts, posters and other memorabilia that share the long history Read More …

Miss Piggy’s Name Is Short for “Pigathius,” From the Greek Meaning “River of Passion”

Not unlike Madonna, Lady Gaga, and other world-famous divas, Miss Piggy has never deigned to use her full name among us mere mortals. If she had, more of us might know that her first name is actually short for “Pigathius,” which comes from a Greek Read More …

10,000 Steps was invented for pedometer marketing

If you have a smartwatch or other fitness tracker, you might get a little celebratory notification when you hit 10,000 steps — or maybe you’ve just heard someone refer to “getting their 10,000 steps in.” That benchmark persists because it’s a nice, round number that’s Read More …