A rector of a Yorkshire parish, who died in 1804, left a considerable property to his daughter on the condition that she should dress with greater propriety than theretofore. ‘Seeing that my da...
In 1973, Sheldon Klein of the University of Wisconsin programmed a computer to write a 2,100-word mystery story in 19 seconds: Wonderful smart Lady Buxley was rich. Ugly oversexed Lady Buxley was sin...
Connecticut inventor Richard Hemmings patented this “improvement in velocipede” in 1869. If I understand his description aright, the feet aren’t used at all: The operator sits in a ...
Convicted of murder in Illinois in 1934, Walter Dittman composed a poem to serve as his last words: I see it grimly waiting patiently for me, To send me as its victim into eternity. Not a whit or bit...
We must assemble a jigsaw puzzle that contains 100 pieces. If a “move” consists of connecting two sections (even a section containing a single piece), what’s the minimum number of m...
In 2008, five European scientists announced that cattle and deer around the world align their bodies in roughly a north-south direction when grazing or resting. German zoologist Sabine Begall studied...
“It is a curious thing that every creed promises a paradise which will be absolutely uninhabitable for anyone of civilized taste.” — Evelyn Waugh
This is an appeal by the Crown by way of a stated case from a decision of the magistrate acquitting the accused of a charge under the Small Birds Act, R.S.O., 1960, c.724, s.2. The facts are not in d...
In 1832, at age 19, Giuseppe Verdi applied to study at the Milan Conservatory and was rejected. In 1898, at the end of his career, he learned that the conservatory had decided to rename itself the Gi...
In 1881 a federal trial judge in the Territory of New Mexico, presiding at Taos in an adobe stable used as a temporary courtroom, passed sentence on murderer José Gonzales. We don’t know the de...
When his wife grew ill in the early 1960s, Indian farmhand Dashrath Manjhi took her from their home in Gelaur to the hospital in the neighboring town of Wazirganj. Unfortunately, this meant a journey...
You walk into Arlington, Virginia. As the Pentagon comes into view, you’ll be able to see either two or three sides of the building. Which is more likely? Click for solution …
Stage instruction from La Tragedia de Baskerville, a five-act drama mounted in Bilbao in 1915 by Gonzalo Jóver and Enrique Arroyo: El perro ha de ser de atrezzo, grande, negro, de cabeza achatada, en...
By Sam Loyd. White to mate in two moves. Click for solution …
John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, has two living grandchildren. Tyler (1790-1862) was 63 when he fathered his seventh son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, in 1853. And Lyon was in his 70s whe...
cunctator n. a procrastinator
Effects of lightning on Mrs. T.T. Boddington, struck as her post-chariot departed Tenbury on April 13, 1832, as reported in The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine: The … electric fluid...
In 2006 a Russian student emailed her postal address to a friend in France so that she could send her a Harry Potter book. Unfortunately the French friend’s email program was not set up to disp...
An innocent maiden of Gloucester Fell in love with a coucester named Foucester; She met him in Leicester, Where he merely careicester, Then the hard-headed coucester just loucester. There was a young...
In 1868, American alpinist W.A.B. Coolidge received a unique gift — Tschingel, a 3-year-old dog with a preternatural passion for mountaineering. Though he was “not at all a dog fancier,&#...
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe … and presumably she needed to take her kids for a stroll occasionally. Iowa inventory George Clark patented this “child’s carriage”...
The will of John George, of Lambeth, who died in London in June, 1791, contained the following words: ‘Seeing that I have had the misfortune to be married to the aforesaid Elizabeth, who ever s...
You’re confronted with two doors. One leads to fortune, the other to death, but you don’t know which is which. The doors are attended by two guards. One always lies, and the other always ...
The Duke of Wellington contemplates a wax model of the dead Napoleon at Madame Tussaud’s in London. Wellington was one of the exhibition’s first visitors, and this was one of his favorite...
The wise optician smiled and said: “The upper half to look ahead; The lower half whereby to read; And thus one pair is all you need. Have patience; in a week or two Bifocals will not trouble yo...
In a certain town, 90 percent of the residents drink coffee, 80 percent drink tea, 70 percent drink whiskey, and 60 percent drink gin. No one drinks all four. What percent of the residents drink liqu...
“The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own.” — William Empson
One day I paid him a visit [an orangutan at the Paris Zoological Gardens], accompanied by an illustrious old gentleman, who was a clever, shrewd observer. His somewhat peculiar costume, bent body, an...
A baseball pitcher played an entire game while throwing the minimum possible number of pitches. The game was not called before completion. How many pitches did he throw? Click for solution …
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