Albert Einstein disliked wearing socks and gloried when he could go without them. “When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in the sock,” he once said. “So I stopped wearing socks.”
He saw the footwear as being pointless and inefficient. Once, when writing to his second wife, he boasted about a visit to the University of Oxford: “Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilisation in high boots.”
John Joseph Merlin: The Roller-Skate Pioneer Who Couldn’t Steer, Couldn’t Stop, and Hit a £500 Mirror
John Joseph Merlin pioneered early roller skates, played violin while wearing them, and reportedly crashed into a £500 mirror at a masquerade.
Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor, and the Fine Art of Saying Too Much
Florenz Ziegfeld loved elaborate notes. Eddie Cantor preferred brevity. Their clash produced one of Broadway’s funniest lessons in overcommunication.
Albert K. Bender: The UFO Investigator Who Helped Create the Men in Black Legend
Albert K. Bender founded one of the first UFO investigation groups, tried to contact aliens by telepathy, and helped launch the Men in Black legend.
Leave a Reply