Knowledge Stew Quotes

“In which state was the first successful oil well drilled in 1859? The Drake Well in Titusville, Pennsylvania was the first successful oil well drilled for the sole purpose of finding oil.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“wasn't until 1915 when Detroit, Michigan got the first real stop sign.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“The @ Symbol The first recorded use of the @ symbol was in 1536 by a Florentine merchant to denote units of wine that were called amphorae, but there isn't any certainty how or why it got its shape. Fast forward to 1971 when Ray Tomlinson had a problem connecting people who programmed computers to one another.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“English came out with the first commercial cardboard box in 1817.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“The drinking straw as we know it today is an older invention than one might think. Its birth took place on January 3, 1888, and was invented by a man who owned a paper cigarette holder company named Marvin Stone.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“patent in 1878 for a new "Type-Writing Machine", as it was known. This was the first time the QWERTY keys had been introduced, and these are the same as we have today. But why did Sholes change his key layout from alphabetical to the QWERTY style?”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“Christopher Latham Sholes patented his first typewriter in 1868.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2

“The company was founded in 1889 as the Marufuku Company by Fusajiro Yamauchi, and they made playing cards for a Japanese game called Hanafuda. Marufuku flourished in the first half of the century and even survived the economic collapse of Japan brought on by World War II. In 1951, Yamauchi changed the name of the company to the Nintendo Playing Card Company. "Nintendo" in Japanese loosely means, "You work hard, but in the end, it's in heaven's hands.”
― Daniel Ganninger, Knowledge Stew: The Guide to the Most Interesting Facts in the World, Volume 2