The Silly Bandz craze of the 2000’s

They come brightly colored and in shapes of animals, letters, princesses, mythical creatures, logos and more. Kids trade them, collect them, and shoot them across the room (which is why some schools have banned them).

Macarena dance at the 2012 CCP4 Study Weekend, University of Warwick

The “Macarena” song and dance grew into an incredibly popular fad during the 1990’s. The song and subsequently the Macarena dance spread like wildfire throughout the mid-1990s. The song and dance remain an often-referenced piece of 1990’s pop-culture, mentioned in TV shows, movies, books, and even by a United States presidential candidate.

WWJD Christian What Would Jesus Do bracelet

During the mid 1990’s, it was common to see a person wearing a brightly colored bracelet with the enigmatic “WWJD” letters printed on it. To those in the know, these four letters posed a question that would lead the person to a calculated moral decision. What would Jesus do?

In January 2021, Bernie Sanders, the popular US senator and far-left activist, was photographed seated during the inauguration of Joe Biden. Wearing distinctive chunky mittens (hand knitted by Vermont elementary school teacher Jen Ellis.) and bundled in a thick coat and wearing a surgical mask (it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic), the…

The aftermath is posted to social media sites and firefighters, police officers, and media sources have spoken out against the dare game which has become to be known as the Fire Challenge.

Packaging of Rubik's Cube, Toy of the year 1980 – Ideal Toy Corp., made in Hungary

It has one correct answer and forty-three quintillion wrong ones. It can be solved in 25 seconds or less. Its inventor became the first self-made millionaire from the communist bloc.

As the story goes, after poor Thanksgiving sales left Swanson Foods with a huge surplus of turkeys, Swanson executive Gerry Thomas conceived an idea – what if they packaged the turkeys with other foods in an easy to prepare meal container, similar to what airlines in that era served passengers on domestic flights.

The oldest known version of the game called Monopoly, handmade by Charles Darrow, is in the Strong Museum in Rochester

Charles B. Darrow invented the Monopoly game. Or did he? It was 1934, the height of the Great Depression, when Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania, took what he called the MONOPOLY board game to the executives at Parker Brothers. Like many other Americans, Charles Darrow was unemployed at the time. They soundly rejected the…

A close-up of the center piece of Bob Moomaw's "Hippie Memorial", a 62-foot sculpture in downtown Arcola, Illinois.

The peace sign combines a circle and a vertical line with downward sloping lines forming a sort of upside down broken cross. During the 1960’s it symbolized the spirit of love, service to humanity, and peace. Its use grew from the anti-war hippie culture and quickly merged into mainstream society as it came to appear…

German bisque Kewpie, c. 1912, with original heart sticker on its chest

Children have played with dolls since the dawn of civilization. A fragment of an alabaster doll with movable arms was found that dated from the Babylonian period. Archeologists have found dolls in Egyptian tombs which date to as early as 2000 BC. Dolls have been found in the graves of Greek and Roman children. One…