1. Sewing and Mending Clothes Grandparents often believed everyone should know how to sew a basic hem or replace a button. In their world, tossing out a shirt because of a small rip made no sense at all. A simple […]

1. The Voynich Manuscript The Voynich Manuscript looks like a medieval book filled with strange plants, star charts and elegant handwritten text. The problem is that no one can actually read a single word of it. Linguists, cryptographers and historians

1. The Last Slice of Stale Bread Every family had a loaf of bread that reached the point of no return. It was too stiff for sandwiches and too dry for toast. Instead of tossing it, someone quietly turned it

1. Waiting Thirty Minutes After Eating to Swim Every kid heard the rule about not getting in the pool right after lunch. Adults warned that cramps would strike and disaster would follow. Nobody ever questioned where the warning came from

1. The Locked Wooden Trunk Almost every old house seems to have one, a heavy wooden trunk with a latch that refuses to budge. You haul it down from the rafters expecting blankets or holiday decorations, and instead you find

1. Coco Palms Resort, Kauai, Hawaii If you have ever seen the Elvis Presley movie Blue Hawaii, you have already seen Coco Palms in its glory days. The resort opened in the 1950s and quickly became one of the most

1. Charles Stratton, “General Tom Thumb” Charles Stratton, known as “General Tom Thumb,” was one of P.T. Barnum’s biggest stars. Standing at just over three feet tall, he charmed audiences around the world with his wit, humor, and theatrical performances.