Updated January 20, 2021 to include the 46th President, Joe Biden. In honor of Presidents’ Day, here are some fun facts about the 45 men who served as the 46 Presidents of […]
46 Fun Facts About the 46 Presidents
Five Years of Blogging — What Do People Find Interesting?
When I started Commonplace on September 9, 2014, it was a way for my sons and me to document and share things that grab our interest. The first post was a minor […]
A Cynic’s Guide to Congress
Readers of this site know that congress is the word used to describe a large group of salamanders. Most people, however, think of something completely different when that word is mentioned. Take […]
An Extra Leap for Magnetic Personalities
Mark Twain (who is featured in multiple posts here on Commonplace Fun Facts) wrote about the lengths some people will go to in order to get a frog to outjump other frogs. One […]
Mark Twain: Patently Multi-Talented
Mark Twain was much more than an accomplished author. He was also an inventor who was awarded patents for three different innovative devices. Ironically, because of his inventions, this well-known author’s most profitable […]
How To Learn To Like Someone
Mark Twain summed up his disdain for one woman when he said, “I could never learn to like her except on a raft at sea with no other provisions in sight.”
Not Enough Juice for the Dimwits
“The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.” — Mark Twain
Fellow Authors Are the Hardest to Please
It would be an understatement to say that Mark Twain was not a fan of Jane Austen. “She makes me detest all her people, without reserve. Is that her intention? It is […]
Leaving With Approval
“I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”– Mark Twain
He’s Just the Type Who Would Type
Mark Twain was the first significant author to submit a typewritten manuscript to a publisher. By his own accounts, Mark Twain admitted that he did not actually do the typing himself, but […]
The Poor Guy Just Couldn’t Win
Mark Twain lost more than a half million dollars in his lifetime from the failed inventions in which he invested. The invention that cost Twain the most was one in which he […]
An “Irregular” Fact About Mark Twain
Nikola Tesla once “shook the poop out” of a constipated Mark Twain with an experiment. One famous legend surrounding the eccentric Tesla was that he had an earthquake machine in his Manhattan […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 