The 5 W's: When?: An Omnium-Gatherum of the Garden of Eden & the Macintosh Apple, the Fruit-of-the-Month & the Seventh-Inning Stretch, the Summer of Love & April Fool's Day & More of Life's Milestones

By Erin McHugh

A collection of trivia about eras in history, what time has brought us, and when events and inventions that you always wonder about took place.

When . . . Did a bank put out first ATM? Were the three major attacks of the Bubonic Plague? Were the amendments of the Bill of Rights enacted? Travel through different eras for a glimpse of what each period has brought us and get a fun and all-inclusive overview of landmark events that’s irresistibly intriguing.

When was . . .

 . . . the shortest war in history? In 1896, when Zanzibar lost a war to England that lasted all of forty-five minutes.

 . . . the world’s oldest lake formed? Between twenty-five and thirty million years ago. Located in southeastern Siberia, Lake Baikal holds more than 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

 . . . the first bicycle built? About 1790, by Count Mede de Sivrac. It consisted of two wheels joined by a wooden beam, and the rider pushed with his feet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781402792144

Erin McHugh

Erin McHugh is a former publishing industry executive and the author of many books of humor, inspiration, history, and more. A devoted pickleballer, she lives in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

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Books by Er in McHugh:

WHO?

WHAT?

WHERE?

WHEN?

WHY?

1

ERIN MCHUGH

9781402792144_0003_001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016

© 2005 by Erin McHugh

All rights reserved

Sterling eBook ISBN: 978-1-4027-9214-4

For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales Department at 800-805-5489 or [e-mail].

CONTENTS

COME AND GET IT!

HELLO?

WEATHER WATCH

NO GRAY AREA

WHY YOU FORGET WHEN YOU FORGET

THE YEAR OF YOU

GOING, GOING, GONE

THE BEGINNING OF TIME

STICKY SOLUTION

MIGHTY WINDS

ON THE BLINK

LEAVING IT ALL BEHIND?

THE MAKINGS OF A SAINT

SIX BELLS AND ALL IS WELL!

WHEN U.S. WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

I DO, FOR NOW . . .

KIDS TODAY!

WHO SCREAMED FOR ICE CREAM?

SKY LIGHT

SHINE ON

AFTER SINGING AULD LANG SYNE

PUTTING ON THE FEEDBAG

PLAY BALL!

SCRAPING THE SKY

HANDS ON

GIVE ME YOUR POOR . . .

THE BIRDS

GIVE ME YOUR CASH

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOODLAND

WHEN IT’S GOOD, IT’S VERY, VERY GOOD . . .

NOTHING TO CELEBRATE

BUBONIC PLAGUE

THE FLAG AT HALF-MAST

WHEN WHEN MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

HEAVY-TECH

ALIEN INVASION

ONE LEG AT A TIME

NUMBER, PLEASE, MR. OSCAR?

DAY IS DONE

THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES

GOOD EV-EN-INGS

WORLD’S OLDEST

PUZZLING . . .

THEY’RE HERE . . .

HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?

DISCO MADNESS

A TIME OF HORROR

OLYMPIAN FEATS

THE DEVIL’S ROPE

SING!

INAUGURAL LUNCHEON

THAR SHE BLOWS!

UNDER THE KNIFE

A BRIEF PUBLISHING TIMELINE

FOOD ON THE MOVE

THE LAST NAIL

TOP FOOD IN TOWN

A HISTORY OF WORLD’S FAIRS

WHO’S CALLING?

CUCKOO: EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR

A YEAR OF WEIRD HOLIDAYS

THE SUMMER OF LOVE

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

WE’RE HERE, WE’RE QUEER, GET USED TO IT

NEWS FLASH!!

DECLARATIONS AND CONSTITUTIONALITY

UP, UP, AND AWAY

COFFEE, TEA, OR VITAL SIGNS?

OVER THE BOUNDING MAIN

THE MORE-OR-LESS HUNDRED YEARS WAR

WHAT TH’ . . . ?

ALL THAT JAZZ

GREAT MOMENTS IN PIZZA

A HOLIDAY IN THE MAKING

VACANCY

TICK-TOCK

WHEN EMILY POST SPEAKS...

YOU ARE GETTING SLEEPY . . .

WONDERS OF THE WORLD LISTS

TRUE OR FALSE?

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES

GREAT MOMENTS IN INVENTING

LONG LIFE

MAZEL TOV—IT’S A BOY!

DOES IT ALL ADD UP?

NICKEL-AND-DIME THEM

THE FRUIT OF THEIR LABOR

THE HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE

NO BRAIN, NO PAIN

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED . . .

HOW DOES YOUR BABY GROW?

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF MODERN GAY HISTORY

HOW LONG?

A PARTIAL HISTORY OF GLORIOUS FOOD

AMERICAN FURNITURE PERIODS

IT’S SPUTNIK!

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD

COME AND GET IT!

American Cuisine Changes Forever

What do you do with ten railroad cars of turkey? That’s exactly what the management of the C. F. Swanson Company wondered back in 1953. They were stuck with too much meat (520,000 pounds of it) after Thanksgiving, and it was riding back and forth across the country in boxcars that would refrigerate only when riding the rails. The mandate to their employees: Find a home for the poultry. Salesman Gerry Thomas did just that, combining the concept of airline table trays and the shape of America’s newest fad, the television. In went the frozen traveling turkey, accompanied by cornbread dressing with gravy, sweet potatoes, and buttered peas. The TV dinner was born.

The genius part of the frozen dinner, of course, was that each item in the tray was blanched at a different rate, so that when the dinner was cooked at home, the entire meal was ready at the same time. What Swanson didn’t expect was that by calling the product a TV dinner, they would actually begin to change how—and where—American families gathered for their nightly meal. The first TV dinners cost ninety-eight cents, and a year later, Americans bought more than 10 million of them.

9781402792144_0005_001

HELLO?

The SS Great Eastern laid the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable, 1,852 miles in length, between Valentia Island, Ireland, and Newfoundland, between July 13 and September 18, 1866.

WEATHER WATCH

A monsoon occurs when there is a greater annual temperature variation over a large area of land than over its neighboring ocean surfaces. Its seasonal shift of winds usually blows out of the southwest from April to October, and out of the northeast from October to April.

A snowstorm is considered a blizzard when, for a duration of three hours or more, there is extreme cold, winds are over thirty-five miles per hour, and enough snow either falls or blows to reduce visibility to a quarter mile or less.

A flood is temporary submersion, partial or complete, of ordinarily dry land by water or mud, typically caused by an overflow of waters, whether inland, tidal, or from any accumulated runoff from any source.

NO GRAY AREA

The Pentagon was built in the early 1940s with twice as many bathrooms as were necessary. At that time, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

WHY YOU FORGET WHEN

YOU FORGET

Amnesia is a disturbance of the memory of information in

long-term memory. Types of amnesia are:

Anterograde amnesia: Inability to remember ongoing events after the incidence of trauma or the onset of the disease that might have caused said amnesia.

Emotional/hysterical amnesia: Memory loss caused when psychologically traumatized; usually a temporary condition.

Lacunar amnesia: Memory loss in which one is unable to remember a specific event.

Korsakoff syndrome: Memory loss caused by chronic alcoholism.