When the sentence of death is carried out, it is always noteworthy. Mary’s execution was no exception. This particular use of capital punishment attracted even more attention than usual. People gathered from […]
Just when we thought we had thoroughly combed the historical record and reported all interesting tidbits on a subject, we are reminded that there is no limit to strange stories from the […]
The official editorial position of Commonplace Fun Facts takes a skeptical view toward government programs. We adhere to Ronald Reagan’s warning, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m […]
The charges against the defendant were almost unimaginable. Prosecutors accused him of leaving a trail of twelve corpses. A dozen lives were tragically and unjustifiably cut short by an inexplicable killing spree. […]
Something was bugging the people of St. Julien. The “something” was a bug. A bunch of them, actually. Weevils were threatening the peace and prosperity of the French town. Criminal trespass to […]
The first Siamese cat in the United States was named Siam and came from — drumroll, please — Siam. OK, that’s not all that fascinating. It isn’t where the cat originated that […]
A widely-held common belief tells us that only those with special education, training, and expertise are qualified to give investment advice. The world of Wall Street is far too complex for anyone […]
No account of the heroes of World War II can be complete without mentioning the two-time recipient of the Blue Cross medal. Juliana’s heroic acts included single-handedly defusing a bomb and saving […]
F.D.C. Willard was 7 years old when he became a published researcher. As you might expect with someone so gifted at such a young age, there were some difficulties in coping with […]
Originally posted on Pacific Paratrooper:
SMOKY At the beginning of of 1944, Smoky, a Yorkshire terrier, was found by an American soldier with a stalled jeep in the New Guinea jungle where…
They called him a bird-brain, but it wasn’t an insult. He was known to fly from battle, but no one called him a coward. He spent the entirety of his military service […]
War can bring about some uneasy alliances. In the right circumstances, opposing forces can sometimes be persuaded to stop killing each — for a little while, anyway. This happened on Christmas Day, […]
Mao Zedong (1893-1976) disliked pests. Rats, bed bugs, and flies (not to mention as many as 30 million people who got in his way) were, at various times, the focus of Chairman […]
History books tell us that England embraced the Protestant Reformation because its king wanted a divorce. What the books frequently fail to point out is that a dog — more precisely, a […]
There are times when history’s balance hinges upon the inspiration of animals. Scotland’s greatest king was inspired by a tenacious spider, and the civilization of Ancient Greece owed its survival to a […]
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