Bernie Sanders mittens meme fad (2020)

Bernie Sanders mittens meme

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…

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Fire challenge fad (2010’s)

Fire challenge screen shots

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.

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The history of TV dinners (1950’s)

Swanson Night TV dinner advertisement

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.

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History of the Monopoly board game (1930’s)

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…

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The Kewpie Dolls fad of the 1910’s

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…

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The Crack Cocaine craze of the 1980’s

Smoking crack cocaine from a can

Crack is cheap, easy to get, and highly addictive. It emerged in the mid-1980’s as the popular drug of choice because it was easy and inexpensive to manufacture, making it readily available and cheap. In a 1986 Gallup poll, Americans listed crack cocaine as the most serious problem in American society.

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