
In the interest of full disclosure, the Commonplace Fun Facts editorial staff admits that we have a profound love of the state of Colorado. Its rich natural beauty and cultural heritage make […]
In the interest of full disclosure, the Commonplace Fun Facts editorial staff admits that we have a profound love of the state of Colorado. Its rich natural beauty and cultural heritage make […]
If you are accustomed to the metric system, imperial units can be perplexing. There is logic in the fact that there are 1,000 meters in a kilometer or ten centimeters in a […]
“Time immemorial.” That’s the term we use to describe anything that has been around for so long that no one knows when it started. It is older than human memory. It refers […]
You may have heard someone say that there are three types of falsehoods: lies, darn lies, and statistics. Despite the imputation, statistics can be very compelling. Adding a statistic to your argument […]
Few people have been more successful or better remembered than Benjamin Franklin. During his long life, he made an impact on almost every area of human endeavor. Political science, literature, technology, diplomacy, […]
The most amazing coincidence happened to us the other day. Our mechanical pencil ran out of lead. Fortunately, our interns are always grateful for a chance to emerge from the basement and […]
Everyone knows there is a difference between the western and eastern halves of the United States. The weather, culture, cost of living, and political preferences are so stark that it is almost […]
Commonplace Fun Facts loves Canada. We have written about its enlightened policies that have created the only rat-free territory in the world, the establishment of the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, and […]
Those who lived long ago, in a difficult-to-fathom age known by paleontologists as “the 20th century,” liked to imagine what life would be like in our era. They would likely be disappointed […]
Snapping one’s fingers is a universally-understood way of communicating how easily and quickly something can be accomplished. If you want to be a bit more precise, you might want to know just […]
Some call it “at.” Others know it as “each.” The Italians refer to it as a “snail.” To the Dutch, it is the “monkey tail.” This curious symbol, known by so many […]
Much to our dismay, we came across the information for this article a few days too late to wish you a Happy Manure Day. Not to despair — December 28 will roll […]
At the time of this writing, much of the attention of U.S. legal scholars is directed at the televised trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. This article does not address the merits of either […]
As young students, we all got our first introduction to the solar system through pictures that showed the planets orbiting the sun. Those pictures frequently showed equal distance between the planets and […]
Cats are paradoxes. They are adorable and cuddly, yet they can abruptly become fierce and unapproachable. Perhaps their dual nature is what compelled Erwin Schrödinger in his famous thought experiment, in which […]