Theodore Geisel saved modern story time thanks to a few bets. In the 1950's, early-reader children's books consisted mostly of repeititve "primer" books like Dick and Jane using stories involving unnaturally clean and polite children doing ordinary things. One evening a struggling children's author, Theodore Geisel, was given a challenge by a friend over dinner: write a story for first-graders that was limited to no more than 225 words out of a first grade vocabulary list of 348 words. Nine months and 236 words later, “The Cat in the Hat” was born. Under his nom de plume of Dr. Seuss, Geisel's fanciful and naughty cat went on to sell around one million copies in the first three years. A few years later, Geisel's new publisher bet him $50 that he couldn't repeat his success using only 50 words, and “Green Eggs and Ham” was born. While Geisel claimed he never got his $50, he did get a lifetime of royalties from one of the best selling children's books of all time. See Dick and Jane blush with envy.

Social scientists think they have finally found a "universal word" that means the same thing in every language. Huh? That's the universal word--say "huh?" to almost any human on the planet and they will understand what you mean. While it doesn't sound precisely the same everywhere, all languages appear to have a word that is one syllable, starts with a glottal consonant, then has a short vowel with an upward intonation which indicates a question. The scientists postulate this word exists in all languages to give the person speaking a quick cue that you don't understand before somebody else jumps in. Since the average conversation only has 200 milliseconds of silence before somebody else jumps in, you need something quick. Also, "huh" is a useful word for people speaking different languages, and the researchers found that countries sharing borders almost always pronounced their version of "huh" the same way. Huh.

Happy American Education Week! Held annually the week before Thanksgiving, American Education Week has been observed since 1921. Distressed that 25 percent of the country’s World War I draftees were illiterate, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Legion met in 1919 to seek ways to generate public support and to raise awareness for the importance of education. Both organizations subsequently adopted resolutions calling for "a week observed in all communities annually for the purpose of informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs.” Amen, brothers and sisters. We will be giving thanks this year that at least we are focused on making our public schools better, not defending their very existence.

"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other..." No, that's not Donald Trump talking about his birthday. It's what John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife on July 3, 1776, before the Declaration of Independence was even signed. And that's why we have fireworks on July 4th.

Have you ever wondered if George Washington had an English accent? It turns out that while American colonists and the British royalty did have the same accent, it was actually closer to the current American accent (known as "rhotic" because of the hard 'r') than to the English" accent of today (non-rhotic). It wasn't until the Victorian Era that the Received Pronunciation of English, now colloquially called "BBC English," started being popularized by the British upper class.

A San Fermin pedimos! Today marks the start of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain. Most people know this is the famous "running of the bulls" which lasts for eight days. What you may not know is that most of the people running are incredibly drunk on Kalimotxo, the local fear-supressant of choice, made by mixing a two liter bottle of Coca Cola with a two liter bottle of red that costs only one Euro. Can you say "bull target" in Spanish?