Arts & Culture
Shockingly Dangerous Toys Your Grandparents Played With
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Article
Before the age of cellphones and even TV screens, kids spent much more time outside, running rampant with unsupervised abandon and relying largely on their imaginations for entertainment — as well as the popular toys of the era. It may seem like a rosy picture, but what’s often forgotten in the hue of nostalgia is how dangerous some toys were back in the old days. Your grandparents and possibly even your parents were kids before a wealth of emergency-room data had been analyzed, and no one knew how lethal certain toys could be. From explosive Ping-Pong ...Read More
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Arts & CultureArticle43The Strange History of Santa Schools
Every December, shopping malls, markets, parades, and office parties call in an army of Santas to headline their Christmas festivities. Donning the red suit is no small responsibility: The best…
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Arts & CultureArticle51The Hidden Origins of Famous Nursery Rhymes
The oral tradition of nursery rhymes goes back to at least the 13th century. But the golden age came in the 18th century, when many of the most famous verses…
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Arts & CultureFact12Mark Twain was the first person to publish a book that was written on a typewriter.
“I was the first person in the world that ever had a telephone in his house,” Mark Twain once claimed, adding that he was also “the first person in the…
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Arts & CultureArticle29Rock ’n’ Roll’s Greatest Muses
The idea of a muse — someone who serves as a profound source of artistic inspiration — is far from new. Muses were an everyday part of ancient Greek culture,…
