Month: March 2016

  • Burned at the Stake: Dying for Religion

    On this date in 1556, the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake. Here are some things you may not have known about Cranmer and his time as archbishop. Cranmer was born in 1489 and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1520. In 1532, Henry VIII…

  • Archive — Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race #history #trivia #podcasts

    (Originally published March 20, 2015) March 20 is the 20th anniversary of Libby Riddles becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail sled dog race. Here are three things you might not know about the Iditarod. • It’s named after the Iditarod National Historic trail, which runs from Seward to Nome via the ghost…

  • Archive — Gambling in Nevada

    Today is the 84th anniversary of the legalization of gambling in the state of Nevada. Here are three things you may not know about gambling in Nevada. • In part, you have civil engineering to thank for the casinos of Las Vegas. The legalization of gambling coincided with the construction of the Hoover Dam, 30…

  • Ben & Jerry’s: An Ice Cream Story

    Today is the birthday of Ben Cohen, one of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Here are some things you may not have known about the company and its founders. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield met in gym class when they were seventh-graders in Merrick, New York, in 1963. Cohen went off to…

  • Empire State Building: An Art Deco Masterpiece

    On this date in 1930, construction began on the Empire State Building in New York. Here are some things you may not have known about the landmark building. The land where the Empire State Building sits was first developed as a farm in the late 1700s. Later, the block was the site of the original…

  • Jerry Lewis: Entertaining for 85 years

    Today is the 90th birthday of entertainer Jerry Lewis. Here are some things you may not have known about him. Joseph Levitch was born in 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. His father was a vaudeville entertainer, who used the stage name Danny Lewis. His mother played piano for a radio station. He started performing at…

  • Domain Names: Directing Traffic Since 1985

    On this date in 1985, the first Internet domain name, symbolics.com, was registered. Here are some things you may not have known about domain names and their history. Domain names are what identifies resources on the Internet. TriviaPeople.com is our domain name and .com is the world’s most popular top-level domain. Symbolics, the company that…

  • Cotton Gin: Unintended Consequences

    On this date in 1794, Eli Whitney was granted a patent for his cotton gin. Here are some things you may not know about Whitney and his invention. Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts in 1765. He went into business early in life manufacturing nails in his father’s workshop during the Revolutionary War. He began…

  • Archive: Naming of Harvard

    March 13 marks the 376th anniversary of the naming of Harvard College. Originally founded as “New College” in 1636 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the college was renamed to honor clergyman John Harvard, who left the college £779 and a library of about 400 books. The 779 pounds is worth roughly $177,200 today. Our question:…

  • Archive: Girl Scouts Founded On This Date

    March 12 marks the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Girl Guides, which would later become the Girl Scouts of the USA. Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Guides after meeting Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the Scouting movement in 1907. The Girl Scout mission is to build “girls of courage, confidence and character, who…