Showing results by author "Dan Lewis" in All Categories

Did you know that a measles outbreak led to the assigning of phone numbers? How about the fact that pirates are the reason we don’t use the metric system in the United States? Or that there’s actually a reason why stepping on a Lego hurts so damn much? Now I Know: The Soviets Invaded Wisconsin?! is the ultimate challenge for even the biggest trivia buff. Based on the very popular newsletter, you are guaranteed to learn something new despite how much you already think you know.

Did you know that there are actually 27 letters in the alphabet, or that the U.S. had a plan to invade Canada? And what actually happened to the flags left on the moon? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know. From uncovering what happens to lost luggage to New York City's plan to crack down on crime by banning pinball, this book will challenge your knowledge of the fascinating stories behind the world's greatest facts.

Get ready to find out the real deal behind a new collection of fascinating facts. From pink camouflaged fighter planes to secret Harry Potter characters, Now I Know More covers everything from history and science to sports and pop culture. You'll learn about made-up towns that made their way onto real maps, the time three MLB teams squared off in a single game, and 99 more curious cases of remarkable trivia. And it's all true. With this audiobook, you really will know more!

In today's volatile economic environment, filled with uncertainty and sudden change, the forces pushing you to stay focused on the core business are extremely powerful. Profiting from the core is crucial, but the danger is that overfocusing on the core can blind companies. Scanning the horizon for new markets and new products can also be tempting, but risky. Fixating too much on either strategy can cause you to miss the substantial opportunities for growth that are often hidden in plain sight, at the edge of the core business.

Welcome to San Francisco Sketchfest 2018! Here's your front row seat, your backstage pass, and your all-access badge to one of the biggest comedy festivals in the country!

We’re five friends who talk about ABC’s hit TV show Once Upon a Time and invite you to share your theories, observations, and more. We discuss the stories, fairytales, easter eggs, and Lost references. Join Daniel J. Lewis, his wife Jenny, and Jeremy Laughlin, and discover happy endings. Send your feedback to Feedback@ONCEpodcast.com or leave a message on our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. ONCE podcast is an unofficial podcast and is not affiliate with ABC Studios.

If you don't know who Taylor Swift is – well, you may just be the last person on the planet who can lay claim to that. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter is as big of a superstar as they come.

Did you know that the Sentinelese people of the Indian Ocean’s North Sentinel Island are the most isolated people in the world, or that Kentucky Bend is a section of Kentucky that is totally cut off from the rest of the state? And what about pirate radio broadcaster Major Paddy Roy Bates, who occupied a British sea fort and eventually declared its sovereignty? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know: Geography. This special collection from the Now I Know archives will challenge your knowledge of the fascinating stories behind the world's greatest facts.

If you're a homeowner, having a river or pond run through your property can be pretty cool – it can turn a rather nondescript piece of land into something more interesting and, with proper upkeep and safety, something more fun. Of course, that's only true if the body of water was something you expected to be there. If, one day, you woke up to find your typically dry backyard more akin to a bayou – well, that's a problem.

Charles Schulz, creator of the iconic comic strip Peanuts, saw the stripe's protagonist, Charlie Brown, as a laughable loser. According to the Peanuts Wiki website, Schulz once said that "Charlie Brown must be the one who suffers, because he's a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than winning. Winning is great, but it isn't funny."

The typical LSD "hit" contains about 100 micrograms of the drug – at the high end, that means a gram holds about 10,000 doses.

The term "government bailout" emerged in the collective consciousness in 2008, when the US government threw gobs of money at big banks, insurance companies and the automotive industry, all in hopes of propping up businesses. The term "too big to fail" was a part of that conversation – many economists and politicians believed that if major companies in those sectors were to go under, the general economy would fall down the sinkhole after them.

It began in 1997. Grocery stores in Bucks County, Pennsylvania – about 45 miles from Philadelphia – were all reporting the same things to their distributors: loaf after loaf of Friehofer's brand bread, destroyed.

Beginning in the 1630s and lasting for more than two centuries, Japan's foreign policy was one of strict isolationism – to a violent degree. According to Wikipedia, the policy, called "sakoku," held that "no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death."

Dental floss? That's good for your teeth and gums. Fairy floss? That's anything but good for your oral health (and if you're in Australia, you already know that).

Situated on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, is the Green Building. Built in the early 1960s, the building is named after Cecil Howard Green, co-founder of Texas Instruments and a graduate of MIT – Green donated much of the money for the building's construction.

If you're running a counterfeiting ring, you probably need a lot of, let's say, "employees." One of the key ones is an engraver – someone who is going to make the plates from which your copies are produced.

A candy bar – let's go with the criminally underrated Sky Bar as an example – will cost you about $1 nowadays, give or take. Accounting for inflation (and even though I'm about to talk about Canada, we're going to use all US dollars here, because accounting for inflation and for currency exchange rates at the same time is basically impossible for someone without an advanced math degree), that same candy bar should have cost about 10 cents back in 1947.

Off the southwestern corner of the Korean Peninsula is Sorokdo, or Sorok Island. At first glance, it looks like a good vacation getaway – it is a tiny but accessible 1.75-square-mile (or 4.46-square-kilometer) spot of land with nice beaches and pine trees, and is home to about 1,000 people, give or take a few hundred.

The problems that beavers can cause are, actually, pretty simple: firstly, the animals build dams – which is a very good thing if they're in a relatively rural floodplain, but a really bad thing if they're in more densely populated suburbs or cities – and secondly, if left unchecked, beavers in an area with a lot of humans can cause damage to trees and, in some cases, flooding.