In an unsettling coincidence, many musical personalities have died at age 27. — These two lines from “Hotel California” by the Eagles may best express the theme of this story: “You can check out any time you like But you can never leave.” It’s a widely known, weirdly coincidental fact that a slew of musical performers have “checked out” at the tender age…

The boomerang history of AT&T and the “Baby Bells” will make your head spin — January 1, 1984 was the day AT&T said goodbye to its local telephone operations in the United States. It’s also the day that marked the beginning of the most mind-boggling anti-trust debacle in American history. It all began with Bell Little did telephone inventor Alexander Bell know what would become of Bell Telephone, the company…

Only the U.S. and New Zealand allow direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs — If you watch television in the United States, you are sure to see lots of advertising for prescription pharmaceuticals. …

It set the stage for the media we enjoy today — Nowadays, we take digital music, podcasts, videos and streamed television shows and movies for granted. But did you ever wonder how electronic media first got started? The miracle of wireless transmission An Italian named Guglielmo Marconi is credited as the first to demonstrate transmitting and receiving long-range radio signals in 1895. Marconi may not have…

How the once revered Revlon fell from grace — The consumer market can be unforgiving for any brand that doesn’t keep up with the times. This is especially true of cosmetic products in the U.S., an $18 billion market in 2022. Fierce competition in cosmetics is nothing new, but fresh faces have helped turn one of the best-known names…

Have things changed all that much in sixty years? — The 1960s in America are sometimes dismissed as a frivolous decade of nothing more than sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. But take a look at these six trends of the time and you’ll see that their influence lingers today. Addiction Primarily driven by the counterculture movement associated with hippies, the…

Concern about the Cold War led to “Operation Paperclip” — The old saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” was never truer than at the end of World War II. Between 1949 and 1959, US officials were so concerned about the Soviet Union’s nuclear weaponry and space capabilities that they launched a secret intelligence program called “Operation Paperclip.” …

How P. T. Barnum turned Charles Stratton into a worldwide celebrity — The 17th Century English fairytale about Tom Thumb featured a boy who was no bigger than his father’s thumb. That fanciful story was brought to life in the 19th Century when legendary showman P. T. Barnum discovered Charles Stratton and transformed him into “General Tom Thumb.” Discovered in Connecticut Charles Stratton was born…