Since 1981, the syndicated entertainment news TV show Entertainment Tonight has enjoyed consistent popularity, and remains a popular draw as it comes to the close of its 35th season. In 1982, Entertainment Tonight engaged Mary Hart to serve as one of its hosts. Hart would go on to be the face and voice of the show for the next 29 years, finally stepping down at the end of the 2011-12 season. Hart kept the show lively and light, keeping up a cheerful banter with each of her various cohosts, keeping the focus on TV, movies and music, and away from controversy. The formula remains part of the show’s enduring success Mary Hart and the rest of the Entertainment Tonight crew, though not known as hard-hitting journalists, were never known for having a negative impact on the world. Regardless, they did have a negative impact on at least one member of their audience. In 1987, a woman in Albany, New York started to get seizures. After two years, the local hospital where she worked term...

The process of puffing grain is a very old one.  The oldest known examples were discovered by archaeologists in New Mexico.  This earliest puffed grain was popcorn, which has been around for at least 4,000 years.  Early popcorn was smaller than what we know today, with a popped piece roughly the diameter of a US penny. Other grains were never really puffed until much more recently.  The next puffed grain to appear was invented in 1901 by Dr. Alexander P. Anderson.  Dr. Anderson experimented with grains of corn starch, exposing them to heat and pressure in test tubes.  He heated these grains in an oven, and later cracked them, which caused them to explode into small puffs.  This was the invention of puffed cereal, which would be introduced to the world at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, billed as “The Eighth Wonder of the World”. Sure, it’s grain—now with air! Since Dr. Anderson’s invention, puffed cereals have become a standard in th...

Dad's drunk and naked.  Again. Soon after promising to never again to kill off all life, God realized how imprudent this was and gave himself an out.   To the Noah family He then said, “You know, when I said the other day that I wouldn’t kill humanity off again, I just meant I wouldn’t do it by flood .   You got that, right?” “Sure, Lord, whatever You say,” said Noah. “All right, then: that’s the promise.   You be careful now.   And you’d better take care of all my creatures.   I’m watching you.” “Lord?” asked Noah. “Yes?” “Where’d those penguins come from?   And where’d they go?   They were cute.” “Never mind.   And if any of you write about this story, don’t mention them.   Or the kangaroos.   Or the llamas.” “Why not, Lord?” “Don’t ‘why not’ Me!   I am the Lord, thy God!   That should be enough!   Now dig this rainbow.   Whenever you see this, remember that it means that ...

The Ford Edsel: the car of tomorrow... today!  (Well, actually, of about 70 years ago.  But who's counting?) The Ford Motor Company had high hopes for its new car, the 1958 Edsel.  It was a highly promoted model, with lots of market research and advertising bought in anticipation of the new car.  Named for Edsel B. Ford, son of Henry Ford, who founded the company, the Edsel was to be the flagship product of the late 1950s.  Instead, it turned out to be a legendary flop. Ford wasn’t messing around.  Work on developing the Edsel began in 1955, with a launch for the 1958 model of the new car slated for launch in the fall of 1957.  They made the deadline, having sunk $250 million into this new vehicle.  That might sound like a lot of money, and it was, but consider that $250 million in 1957 dollars works out to about $2.14 billion in 2016 dollars.  Ford was going big. Ford announced its new car on a top-rated TV special called ...