Few, if any, toys are as iconic as Barbie. While I never had one (I was more of a G.I. Joe kid, myself), the doll remains incredibly popular with kids and collectors. Still, many might not know the doll’s history.

Like Cher and Rihanna, Barbie needs no last name. However, she does have one. In fact, she’s got a whole biography. Her full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts and she was born on March 9, 1959.

Though she attends high school in Willows, Wisconsin, the blonde teen has held dozens of jobs over the years. She’s been a dentist, a jet pilot, an aerobics instructor, and a McDonald’s cashier.

Barbie isn’t an only child. Far from it. The plastic icon has six younger siblings, including twins Tutti and Todd. As near as I can tell, her boyfriend through it all is still Ken Carson. When you hear somebody with bland good looks described as a “Ken doll,” this is who they’re referring to.

In 2006, Barbie was named one of the most influential people who never lived. She came in 43rd, ahead of Atticus Finch, Batman, and my very own G.I. Joe.

While Barbie does have many fans, not everybody believes she’s a good influence. Last year, a woman created a life-size version of the doll in an effort to show that Barbie may inspire some children to develop body-image issues and eating disorders.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

February is Black History Month, a time for Americans to reflect on the cultural contributions African Americans have made to the United States. Some may be wondering how Black History Month became an official celebration. And why is it celebrated in February? Here’s the scoop.

Most history experts give credit to Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). Woodson is commonly referred to as the father of black history. Carter led a challenging but amazing life. At the age of 19, he entered high school and completed his studies in two years. He then studied Greek and Latin, while working in a mine shaft. Eventually, he went to the University of Chicago, and finally got his PhD from Harvard University.

But what does that have to do with Black History Month? After founding the Journal of Negro History, Woodson was instrumental (read: it wouldn’t have happened without him) in organizing “Negro History Week.” Woodson chose a week in February as a way to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery, and Frederick Douglass, the iconic civil rights activist.

Negro History Week became Black History Month during the 1960s. “No other single thing,” Woodson said, “has done so much to dramatize the achievement of persons of African blood.” According to AppalachianHistory.net, Woodson often remarked that “he hoped the time would come when Negro History Week would be unnecessary; when all Americans would willingly recognize the contributions of black Americans as a legitimate and integral part of the history of this country.”

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Of all the urban legends floating around college campuses, I think one stands out above all others. If your roommate dies, the legend says, you will automatically get a 4.0 GPA for the semester. True or false?

This one is 100% false, kids. Nobody knows for sure just how the story got started, but according to the experts at Snopes.com, stressed-out students were likely responsible. As the years went by, the story got told more and more, until people actually started to believe it.

And, as we pointed out in a piece from Ask Yahoo! several years ago, the notion does sort of make sense. After all, the death of a roommate would be extremely traumatic. Expecting a student to continue on with his or her studies does seem unreasonable. But, while students in this unfortunate situation are often given bereavement leave, an automatic 4.0 does not happen.

What are some of your favorite urban legends? Are they true, false, or unknown? Please leave a note below and let me know.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Anyone who tosses a crumpled up piece of paper at the garbage can and misses is likely to hear a familiar expression from watchers: “Close but no cigar,” they’ll shout. How did this expression originate?

Like a lot of old timey phrases, nobody is 100% sure about how this one became so popular. However, most idiom experts agree that it likely originated at county fairs and the like during the mid-1900s.

According to The Phrase Finder, “fairground stalls gave out cigars as prizes, and this is the most likely source, although there’s no definitive evidence to prove that.”

The site writes that “Close, but no cigar” appeared in print form for the first time in 1935 as a line of dialogue in “Annie Oakley” starring the great Barbara Stanwyck in the title role.

The site, Take Our Word For It gets a little more specific with its theory. “It is widely assumed that it arose in carnivals, where the prize for ringing a bell with a sledge hammer was often a cigar. If you got close to ringing the bell but didn’t actually hit it, you might be told, ‘close but no cigar.’”

Got any favorite phrases with mysterious origins? Leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading,

Mike

My friend Todd told me about this secret many years ago. He has rebuilt more cars in his suburban home garage than anyone I know.

I met Todd at my first part time job, we used to work early weekend mornings during high school. I was too young to have a driver’s license, so my dedicated parents would always drive me.

That was before remote starters, so I would usually start the car a few minutes before leaving. Actually, that’s not true — my Dad was usually the one starting the car a few minutes before I was ready to leave, which was about 10 minutes after I told him I would be ready to leave.

It didn’t make much difference to the car — it was still cold for at least half the trip. On the rare occasion that I started the car, I would turn the heater to its hottest setting and turn the fan to full blast. That’s actually the slowest way to warm the car, so lets talk more about the fastest way.

The trick is very counter-intuitive, so I want to briefly explain how the car heater works for this secret to make sense.

The item pictured above is a heater core. Most cars have one of these inside the dashboard. Hot liquid passes through the fins, which are there to create a lot of surface area so that air passing through can pickup as much heat as possible before it comes out the air vents. It works just like the radiators in many older homes in that sense.

The liquid is heated by excess engine heat, so if the engine is cold then you won’t get any hot air from your air vents. Your engine has a cooling system which is designed to draw heat away from the engine so it does not overheat. The heater works in a similar way, removing heat from the engine and using it to heat the air being blown into the passenger compartment. So, when you turn on your heater, you are essentially cooling the engine by transferring some of its heat to the inside of the car.

To heat the engine faster, you want to stop that heat loss. It’s similar to heating your oven, you don’t leave the door open because you’ll lose all of the heat.

You want to turn the heater off by moving the temperature control all the way to cold. Also, turn the fan off to ensure it is not blowing air across the heater core which transfers heat away from it. This will trap the heat in the engine cooling system (reducing its ability to cool the engine) and therefore heat the engine more quickly. It traps the heat in, just like closing the oven door.

If your car has an automatic climate control system that allows you to dial in the temperature then there is no need to worry about these suggestions to make them heat the car faster, most of these cars do it automatically. If your car has automatic climate control, it’s normal that the fan doesn’t blow when you first start the cold car. The vehicle engineers already know this secret and have programmed it into the car. The fan does not run until there is adequate engine heat to warm the air (unless you want to warm the car more slowly and manually activate the fan).

This knowledge is helpful to all drivers, even if you never plan to drive in cold weather. If your engine is overheating in hot weather, set the climate control to hot, turn the fan on full blast and roll down all the windows. This will dissipate engine heat through the heater core and help cool the engine.

Thanks to Todd M for sharing this secret many years ago.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Sources: 2CarPros, How Stuff Works

Thanks for reading,

The other day, I spotted a scofflaw jog across the street without using a crosswalk. As I stood there, twiddling my thumbs waiting for the light to change, I got to wondering about the expression “jaywalking.” How did that term get its start?

Back in early 20th century the term “jay” was slang for country bumpkin or hick. To put it another way, a type of person who didn’t have any experience in the big, scary city. Back then, many people were seeing cities for the first time and didn’t know the rules of the road. As a consequence, they wandered out into streets and risked being hit by cars. People called these folks “jaywalkers.” It was not a term of endearment.

The Straight Dope pins down the origin to Boston. A 1927 issue of Harpers wrote, “the Bostonian … has reduced ‘a pedestrian who crosses streets in disregard of traffic signals’ to the compact ‘jaywalking.’”

These days, folks who jaywalk risk more than being honked at by angry drivers. Hefty fines ($191 in Los Angeles, for example) can result. Or, if they’re having a really bad day, a trip to the hospital.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

With holiday parties fast approaching, many may be wondering just how late “fashionably late” really is. Here’s the scoop.

First off, it depends on the event. If you’re going to a wedding, a funeral, or a business meeting, you never want to be late. But for holiday parties, most etiquette experts believe that guests should arrive within a half hour of the appointed time.

Miss Manners writes that the window is actually about 20 minutes. She also writes that she doesn’t really get why anybody wants to be late to a party. “You get to talk to the hosts, you don’t have to forage for food and drink, and you have an excuse for being the first to leave.”

Ask Men argues that it’s far worse to show up early than it is late. “It’s common knowledge that being fashionably late will contribute in garnering you attention. But thirty minutes late should represent a barrier you don’t want to cross. There’s a reason the host asked you to come over at a specific time and complying shows that you are a courteous individual. Never be early.”

Indeed, that seems to be the big tradeoff. If you come to a party on the late side, you might appear to be kind of cool. But you might also run the risk of there being no more food or drinks.

What are your thoughts on when to show for holiday parties? Right on time? A little bit late? Or way late? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

They say that knowledge is power. But don’t get too smart because they also say that ignorance is bliss. Here’s the story on those contrasting quotes.

English philosopher and scientist Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the man who first remarked that knowledge is power. At least he’s the one who, more often than not, gets credit for coining the phrase. Thomas Hobbes is the other philosopher who may have come up with it.

The University of Tennessee at Martin hosts a peer-reviewed site on philosophy. The magnitude of Bacon’s idea is summed up nicely: “Knowledge is power, and when embodied in the form of new technical inventions and mechanical discoveries it is the force that drives history – this was Bacon’s key insight.”

But what about ignorance and the feelings of sweet, sweet bliss it can produce? This sad but true sentiment is often attributed to the great poet Thomas Gray. The full quote is: “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.” The phrase appears in Gray’s “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.”

What are some of your favorite quotes? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Last week, I wrote about how cats seem to know to use their litter boxes. I figured it’s only right to give equal time to dogs.

Of course, dogs don’t use litter boxes (at least none that I know of), but they do have their own instinctual habits. Think about whenever a dog lays down. Ever notice what the pooch does before settling in? Most of the time, the dog will turn around several times before sitting down with a big sigh. What’s going on here?

Before I began researching, I assumed the dog’s instinct to turn around was a kind of defense mechanism against predators. After all, dogs used to live out in the wild, fighting for survival against much more dangerous creatures. It would make sense that dogs wanted to take one last 360 degree look around to make sure there weren’t any enemies lurking about.

How wrong I was. According to ThePuppyPlace.org, the act is a way for dogs to find the coolest part of the ground. “Dogs are often found digging into cool soil to escape hot weather; by digging and then turning several times they can direct their bodies into the curled posture that will best take advantage of the depression’s coolness.” They’re not worried about predators, they just want to be comfy.

Dogs may seem crazy, but everything they do, they do for a reason (even sniffing each other’s backsides).

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Growing up, my family always had cats. And I remember, even as a kid, being amazed at how the cats always knew that they were supposed to go to the bathroom in the litter box. How the heck do they know?

This apparent talent is due in large to cat DNA. Thousands of years ago, cats out in the wild made it a habit to bury their waste so it wouldn’t be detected by predators. Thankfully, for those who adopt felines, that instinct is still around today.

Similarly, when a cat is in the wild, it will never urinate near where it sleeps. The cat’s urine gives off a strong odor that can be easily picked up by its enemies. If you find that your house cat is no longer using the litter box like it used to, it could be because the litter box has absorbed some of the odors and the cat no longer thinks its a safe place to go.

The Humane Society lists some tips on how to make sure your litter box remains up to your cat’s standards. After all, as the Humane Society points out, the last thing you want your cat to do is “think outside the box.”

Thanks for reading,

Mike