• Although we often refer to several familiar automobiles as “muscle cars,” in actuality they were “pony cars,” which were shorter in length, lighter in weight, with long hoods. Although Ford is given the credit for the first pony car with its 1964 Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda was actually released on April 1, 1964, 16 days before the Mustang. Pony cars leaped in popularity because they were sporty and affordable. The base price for the 1964 Mustang was $2,368. • The 1964 Barracuda was really just a redesigned fastback version of the Plymouth Valiant, and was in fact known […]
March 2023
Preston Tucker – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – He was a man ahead of his time, creating cars with features like no one had before. Follow along as Tidbits explores the life of this visionary carmaker. • Infatuated with automobiles at an early age, Preston Tucker learned to drive when he was 11. At 16, he began flipping vehicles, buying cars, repairing them, and re-selling. As a teen, he secured a job as a mail messenger at General Motors in Detroit, wearing roller skates to speed up his duties. At 20, he was working on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company, […]
TIDBITS® Focuses on Muscle Cars
By Kathy Wolfe Gentlemen, start your engines! It’s time to rev up some facts on some of our favorite muscle cars. • These hot cars weren’t originally called “muscle cars.” They were initially referred to as “Supercars.” The classic muscle car era was from 1964 to 1974, although some would argue that it ended in 1971, when manufacture of high compression engines with high horsepower torque ceased. • The term “muscle car” usually applies to two-door cars with rear-wheel drive, with high performance V-8 engines, dual exhaust, aimed at young buyers with an affordable cost in the $3,000 to $4,000 […]
Random Chess Facts
• The modern-day chess set was standardized in 1849 by London game manufacturer John Jaques & Son. Called the Staunton design, it’s named after British chess champion Howard Staunton, who endorsed the design just as global chess tournaments were becoming popular. Previously, different chess sets had various designs for different pieces, and it was easy to mistake a rook for a bishop or a bishop for a queen. The Staunton design made the weighted pieces instantly recognizable, from pawn to king. They were easily mass-produced, bringing the price down. In 1924 the world chess federation declared it to be […]
Marvin Glass – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – • When Marvin Glass was a kid in Chicago in the early 1900s, he paid little attention to schoolwork or his social life. He preferred crafts with paper, cardboard, scissors, and art supplies. He constructed castles and airplanes and fantasy characters. At the age of 8, he designed a toy submarine that fired wooden torpedoes. He moved into a small apartment with a friend as a roommate as a young adult. • His friend designed window dressings for storefronts for a living, and one day came home from work with the assignment to design some […]
TIDBITS® Plays Board Games
By Janet Spencer Some of the oldest games in history are chess (from India), Mancala (from Ghana), backgammon (from Mesopotamia), and Pachesi (India). Come along with Tidbits as we play games! THE OLDEST BOARD GAMES • The world’s oldest playable board game where the rules are known is the Royal Game of Ur. It was created in what is now Iraq around 2500 BC. Game boards have been discovered all over the Middle East, Crete, and Sri Lanka. The most famous one was found in the Royal Tombs of Ur in ancient Iraq, from which the game gets its name. […]
Liars
Liar, liar, pants on fire! Who lies and why? This week, Tidbits tells the truth about lies! • Prevaricator, falsifier, deceiver, perjurer … no matter what you call them, it’s a person who does not tell the truth, one who makes “an intentionally false statement.” Why do we do it? There are many reasons we do it, but almost always it’s for some degree of self-protection, to prevent damage to one’s reputation, and to avoid confronting facts and feelings. • Research supports the concept that 95% of people cannot go an entire week without telling at least one lie. […]
Irena Sendler – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – Thousands of people are alive today due to the efforts of a 30-year-old Polish social worker named Irena Sendler. Here’s the story of this remarkable woman. • In 1939, when the Nazis invaded Warsaw, Poland, Irena Sendler was a social worker, working in the city’s canteens that offered food, shelter, medicine, and clothing to the city’s persecuted Jews, who were registered at the facility under fictitious Christian names. In October, 1940, more than 400,000 Jews were forced into a locked area about the size of New York’s Central Park. As she observed thousands dying […]
TIDBITS® Offers a March Mixture
by Kathy Wolfe As March comes in like a lion, Tidbits offers facts about this month’s events. • Although we know March as the third month of the year, it wasn’t always so! In the oldest Roman calendars, the year was just ten months long, and March was the first month. January and February weren’t added until about 700 B.C., and March became the third month. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. • On March 20 or 21 each year, the sun is directly above the equator, making the day and night of equal length. This […]
Poisonous Mushrooms
• There are millions of species of mushrooms in the world. Of those, about 700 are edible, while around 400 are toxic. There’s a saying that states, “All mushrooms are edible – some, only once.” • There are about two dozen potentially deadly mushrooms in the U.S. Most “poisonous” mushrooms will cause unpleasant symptoms, but are not life-threatening. On average, one or two people die of mushroom poisoning in the U.S. every year. • Of the approximately 10,000 calls received by Poison Control Centers each year, about 80% involve toddlers at the stage where they put everything in their mouths, […]