Flying a flag “half-staff,” or when the flag is halfway between the top and bottom of the flagpole, is done during periods of mourning for a nation or to remember a significant event. But how and when did this tradition of lowering the flag begin? The most accepted and oldest…

For decades, Homer and Langley Collyer lived in seclusion in a brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue in Harlem, New York. The Collyer brothers became known as the worst hoarders in history, amassing a collection of 120 tons of odd and eclectic items. They also set up booby traps in their…

Pilots Had to Have This Specific Requirement The Lockheed A-12 aircraft, known as Project Oxcart and the predecessor to the SR-71 Blackbird, was a secret military aircraft developed in the 1960s. Requirements for those who could fly the aircraft were very specific. Pilots had to have a certain number of flight hours in high-performance jets, be emotionally…

There is a small two-story building in Wilmington, Delaware, that is the registered agent address of at least 285,000 American and foreign businesses operating in the United States. The address at 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington is the home to more companies than anywhere else in the world. The…

In 1932, the Australian military took on a formidable foe that stood roughly six feet tall and could run up to 30 miles per hour. Machine guns and military tactics were no match for these creatures, and the Australian military eventually had to give up. But these opponents weren’t some…

The phrase “shrimp on the barbie” is not something Australians say, though it certainly has been propagated as if it was. The saying originated from a 1984 television commercial starring Paul Hogan, who later starred as Mick Dundee in the popular movie Crocodile Dundee in 1986. …

American writer Edgar Allen Poe is regarded as the inventor of the detective fiction genre and was known for his short stories and poems of dark romanticism. But the author’s end of life imitated his art as his death has been cloaked in mystery. What happened to Edgar Allen Poe? …

Sand dunes are usually associated with the desert, but there is one place far from the heat that has them, and of all places, it’s in Alaska. These sand dunes occupy Kobuk Valley National Park in Northern Alaska. The park covers over 1.7-million-acres and is 25 miles north of the…

“I have a need…a need for speed.” These were the words immortalized by Maverick in Top Gun right before he did the reverse high-five with Goose that became all the rage in the 80s with teenagers and grown-ups alike. But what do you really know about speed? …