Fact of the Day: Halloween in Japan

Halloween is a sorta new holiday in Japan since they knew about it from American pop culture. Jack-o-lanterns are popular, but trick or treating is not. Dressing up in costume is usually only for private parties. 

Fact of the Day: Trick or Treating For UNICEF

The program started out as a small local program in 1950, but today has raised over 118 million dollars for the United Nations' fund for better standards of living for children in poor nations. 

Fact of the Day: Origin of Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes date back to Scotland in the late 19th century. This is also another old photo of me. I'm the one in the middle. My two brothers are Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. 

Fact of the Day: Origin of Trick or Treating

While many kids dress up every year to trick or treat, the origins date back to England and Ireland in the middle ages. It's similar to the old practice of souling. People would go door to door on Hallowmas (Nov 1) to receive food in exchange for prayers for the deceased on All Souls Day (Nov 2) the next morning. Also this is me when I was 2 or 3 before we went trick or treating. I was the bear,

Fact of the day: How Halloween Got It's Name

The name Halloween was first recorded in the 16th century. It was known as the night before All Hallows Day also known as All Saints Day. Which occurs on November 1st. 

Fact of the Day: Halloween is Celtic

While we all enjoy Halloween, it's eariliest roots date back to the Celtic Harvest festival known as Samhain.

A Look Into Video Games: Let There Be Light For My Gameboy!

In Japan they got one version of the original Gameboy system we failed to recieve. It was called the Gameboy Light, and it featured a back-lit screen so you could play in the dark. A standard for any modern device, but it would take Nintendo until 2004 to have a true back-lit system with the Nintendo DS. Really awesome light behind the screen. The GBA SP was front-lit but they did introduce a

Fact of the Day; The Iodine State

Before becoming known as the Palmetto State named after it's famous tree. My state of South Carolina used to be known as the Iodine State (apparently a lot of grew along with the vegetation) and it was even on the license plates. 

Fact of the Day: President Dr. Robotnik

Sonic's main villian has an interesting origin. While Sega was looking for a new mascot someone had suggest a Theodore Roosevelt-like character in pajamas. Even though Sonic became the new mascot, the idea carried on. Now I can't unsee it. 

Fact of the Day: Pachinko

Las Vegas is a miracle of a city. However our friends in Japan don't have a real counterpart of their own. However they do have a craze that reminds me of Las Vegas, and they call it Pachinko. Instead of a few major city's main economy being set around casinos, these Pachinko parlors are everywhere. The point of Pachinko is to obtain as many little silver balls as you can. You play again by using

Fact of the Day: Terrible Ancestor

Nathaniel Hawthrone was a famous author during the 19th century. One of his works was the famous novel The Scarlet Letter.  He did have a famous ancestor as well. Well sorta famous. His great-great-grandfather John Hathorne (Nathaniel changed the spelling of his own surname) was a judge and executor for the infamous Salem Witch Trials. He was the only person to never repent for his crimes. 

Fact of the Day: Musician Then Congressman

After a whole career in entertainment, Sonny Bono later became a Republican congressman representing California. 

Fact of the Day: Sonic The Rabbit?

While Sonic became Sega's much needed answer to Mario, the search for a mascot was a hard one. As they were thinking up animals to make into a game, Sonic was almost a rabbit. That might be a little hard to imagine, but the idea carried more than a decade later with the character Cream the Rabbit.

Fact of the Day: Katy Perry Hudson

Katy Perry was born Katheryn Hudson, She even had a Christian album as her musical debut named Katy Hudson. She later changed her name to Katy Perry (her mother's maiden name) to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson. 

Fact of the Day: Spanish Tooth Fairy Rat

In Spain they have a tooth fairy...or tooth rat. Ratoncito Pérez is his name, and he does pretty much the same thing as his fairy counterpart. Kid loses tooth, put it under pillow, he comes to get it, leaves money/present behind.Honestly a rat sounds terrible. I'd rather be visited by her. 

Fact of the Day: Pizza, Baseball, and the GOP

Tom Monaghan had the perfect story for a rising CEO. Started out with one crappy pizza joint and within his lifetime, he saw it expand to millions and millions of dollars. He owned both Domino's Pizza, and the Detroit Tigers for some time. However he sold both of them, and later took an interesting choice in life. After selling his prime business deals, he led a life promoting his Catholic faith

Fact of the Day: They're Soviets, Not Russians

When the Soviet Union formed, Russia was no longer a country. It was the new country's largest state. It would be incorrectly referred to as Russia, even when a lot of their people were also from former countries like Ukraine and Belarus which are now countries.  

Fact of the Day: Portable Sega Genesis

Following Sega's minor success with the GameGear, they decided to make another handheld a few years later. They came out with the Sega Nomad, which simply played Sega Genesis games. They only sold 1 million units before Sega called it quits on the handheld. 

Fact of the Day: He Took His Idea To The Grave

There's been a questionable urban legend among Christian groups that Charles Darwin (guy who founded Evolution) had converted to Christianity on his deathbed and renounced Evolution. The only source of this story is a tale of a woman known as Lady Hope. Lady Hope allegedly visited him on his deathbed and saw things like him reading a bible. Darwin's religious views were complex over his lifetime,

Fact of the Day: Micheal Keaton Douglas

Micheal Keaton's birth name is Micheal Douglas. He chose his stage name to avoid confusion with the other famous actor after reading an article about Diane Keaton.