From All That’s Interesting:

5 Pittock Mansion

Most haunted houses in the United States bear the spiritual scar of past horrors. But the Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon, is a different story. The ghosts there are said to be fairly friendly.  Pittock Mansion was first constructed in 1909 by Henry and Georgiana Pittock. Already elderly, the wealthy Pittocks wanted a home for their retirement. Architect Edward T. Foulke designed them a beauty — a 46-room French Renaissance mansion overlooking the city below.

But by the time Pittock Mansion was completed in 1914, the Pittocks didn’t have much time left to enjoy it. Georgiana died in 1918, and Henry died a year later. In death, however, the Pittocks seemed determined to stay at their mansion. After all, they’d hardly been able to enjoy it in life.

Today, the mansion is a historic site and open to the public. Visitors and workers alike have reported odd experiences that suggest the Pittocks stuck around in the afterlife. Most of these encounters happen in the upper stories of the house, where their bedrooms were located.

There, many people claim to have smelled rose perfume — as if Georgiana is passing through the room. Visitors have also heard footsteps throughout the house and insist that portraits of Henry Pittock sometimes move. One visitor says that she saw a woman in a long dress. And a staff member recalled that one night after she had turned off all the lights and locked the mansion, every light in the house suddenly flared back on.

Visitors have even reported hearing the sound of shoveling and heavy footsteps outside. Some speculate that this is the groundskeeper doing his rounds. Like Henry and Georgiana, he lived and died in Pittock Mansion.  All in all, though, Henry and Georgiana Pittock seem like friendly ghosts. Though they make their presence known, they seem perfectly content to share their beautiful mansion with the public.

6 Franklin Castle

Considered the most haunted house in Ohio, Franklin Castle is a strong contender for the most haunted house in America, too. And for years, its grand turrets and stone façade masked terrible tragedies.

In 1881, German immigrant Hannes Tiedemann built Franklin Castle in Cleveland for himself and his family. However, not long after they moved in, Tiedemann’s teenage daughter died of diabetes. Then his mother died. Soon, three more children died. And finally, Tiedemann’s wife, Louise, died in 1895. Shortly after that, Tiedemann himself left the house.

But this series of tragedies led some to speculate that Tiedemann had more than bad luck. Before long, rumors spread about what had really happened behind Franklin Castle’s ornate walls. The darkest of the rumors claims that Tiedemann hanged his teenage daughter and killed the others. Human bones were even found in the house in 1975, but most believe that the current owner planted them to drum up publicity for ghost tours.

Today, Franklin Castle is home to many purported ghost sightings. People have claimed to see a “girl in white” wandering the halls, allegedly the ghost of Tiedemann’s daughter. Others say they’ve seen Louise Tiedemann staring down at the street from a window. The room where she died is known as the “cold room.”

Franklin Castle is allegedly so haunted that several paranormal teams have visited it to investigate.  “Franklin Castle is unlike any other,” explained Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures investigator Zak Bagans. “You can come here, open the door, walk inside and begin having experiences like that.” He and his team claimed that something pushed them, and they recorded a ghostly voice that muttered: “Feels like… kill you.”

Certainly one of Ohio’s most haunted places, the Franklin Castle may also be one of the most haunted houses in America. Though visitors can only see it from the street, you may still catch a glimpse of Louise Tiedemann from the window.

SOURCE: ALLTHATSINTERESTING.COM

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite actors—Zachary Levi.  Zach was born in 1980 and starred in my one of favorite tv shows—Chuck. One of the reasons I loved this series so much was the plausibility of the story plus the added bonus of watching the characters evolve and grow and it’s hysterical at parts.

The above picture is Chuck, season one.  He is a nerdy employee at an electronics store, not living up to his potential.  He was one semester from graduating from Standford when he was unceremoniously thrown out of college for cheating (he did not).  He college roommate turned him in.  That same roommate sent him an email which upon opening, “downloaded” government secrets into his brain.  An NSA agent and a CIA agent tracked the email to him and they want to throw him in a padded cell and squeeze information out of him.  He falls for the female CIA agent and proves he can be an asset. 

In season two, Chuck matures somewhat revealing his feelings for his CIA handler.  The team spends the season fighting and eventually defeating, a rouge group of agents known as Fulcrum who think the government has gone soft. He discovers his father invented the Intersect (computer) program and actually designs a program to remove it allowing Chuck to lead a normal life.  But in the finale, Chuck’s best friend is killed in front of him and this time he purposely downloads the program into his brain to save those he loves.

Season three sees Chuck progress as a spy even more, developing incredible skills.  His look reflects that as well, but, of course, conflict in his romance is inevitable. Chuck does not believe in killing anyone—even bad guys—and it leads to his CIA girlfriend falling for a macho fellow agent.  He tries to brush it off, but eventually admits his feelings and fights for (and wins) her back.

The fourth season reveals that Chuck’s mom, whom everyone thought had abandoned them, was actually alive.  The season is a search and rescue season and it’s revealed that she is an agent too.  This season also sees Chuck and his girlfriend engaged and eventually married.  (Comic genius in this season revolves around feminizing Sarah—the CIA’s top agent—with wedding details.)

Season five, the final season, sees the couple trying to create a life outside the spy world.  A cyber security type business—his computer savvy combined with her badass bad guy knowledge. The problem is, the same type of Intersect program steals all of Sarah’s memories and she doesn’t recognize Chuck or the life they were building.  He has to fight for her all over again.  (But our hero is up to the task.)

Happy Birthday Zach!

I found this article on Reader’s Digest—I was intrigued by the title—and wanted to share it!

From Reader’s Digest:

Think humans are the smartest animals? Raccoons pick locks, crows know physics, and bees hold democratic dance-offs.

Smart species

We humans take a lot of pride in our brains and our supposed “dominance” over the other creatures of the earth. But the animal kingdom is full of brainy creatures who would surely blow even the smartest humans away with their intelligence and skills if we gave them the chance. Case in point: Think things like dancing, cheating, and even sleight-of-hand are human inventions, exclusive to Homo sapiens? Think again. Get ready to marvel at some of the smartest animals on the planet—some of which will surprise you!

Raccoons pick locks

If you’re planning a whimsical animal burglary, you’ll definitely want a raccoon anchoring your squad. In a bizarre 1908 study by ethologist H.B. David, raccoons were able to pick complex locks in fewer than ten attempts, even after the locks were rearranged or flipped upside-down. Various studies conducted from the ’60s to the ’90s found that raccoons boast an impeccable memory, able to recall solutions to tasks for up to three years. Bonus fact: Thanks to their broad hearing range, raccoons literally hear earthworms moving underground. (How this will benefit you in your heist is for you to determine.)

Crows know physics

Not only can crows recognize faces to differentiate between predatory and benign species, they also understand basic physics (like this lab crow who mastered water displacement to maneuver a treat within reach), have been known to change entire migration patterns to avoid farms where crows have been killed in the past, and may even memorize city garbage routes so they can snag the inevitable food droppings on trash day. Talk about some of the smartest animals! Cool, calculating, and known to harbor a grudge, crows shouldn’t be compared to gangsters, per se, but we do feel obligated to remind you that a group of them is called a murder.

Pigs use mirrors

Pigs may as well be man’s best friend, according to a 2015 paper from the International Journal of Comparative Psychology. Like dogs, pigs have been shown to understand emotions, demonstrate empathy, solve mazes, learn simple symbolic languages and, most adorably, make best friends. As some of the smartest animals in the world, the youngest pigs even put our youngest humans to shame. In an experiment where wee British piglets had to use mirrors to divine the path to a hidden bowl of food, piggies as young as six weeks old learned the concept of reflection within a few hours—a milestone that takes baby humans several months to grasp.

Octopi are master escape artists

True prison-breakers of the sea, these tentacled creatures have proven time and again their talents for popping lids off screw-top jars, compressing their bulky bodies through slit-small holes, and climbing impossibly out of aquarium tanks to their freedom. Otto, a German aquarium octopus, was even known to throw rocks at the glass and spray water at overhead lamps to short-circuit the annoyingly bright lights (on more than one occasion). Add to their rap sheet the innovation of assembling shelters from coconut shells, and there’s no denying cephalopods will one day be our overlords.

Squirrels use sleight of hand

If you’ve ever second-guessed yourself while trying to remember an online account password, know that you have stooped to sub-squirrel intelligence. According to a Princeton University study, grey squirrels are capable of remembering where thousands of nuts are buried—for months at a time. They’ll even use subterfuge to trick would-be nut takers; in a 2010 study, squirrels who knew they were being watched dug fake caches for their nuts, making a show of digging holes and patting them over with dirt while hiding their precious nuts under their armpits or in their mouth until they could find a more suitable hiding spot elsewhere.

Dolphins cheat

Dolphins are often cited as the second smartest animals on Earth due to their relatively high brain-to-body size ratio, the capacity to show emotion, and impressive mimicry of the dumb apes who research them. Now, findings from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi suggest dolphins may also be the second-sneakiest animals on Earth. When dolphins at the Institute were trained to pick up litter in their tanks and exchange them with trainers for fish, one dolphin named Kelly discovered a way to game the system. By hiding scraps of litter under a rock in her tank, Kelly discretely tore single sheets of discarded paper into multiple pieces, then turned them in one at a time to maximize her fishy reward. Kelly’s clever deception, it seems, was no accident; researchers say she did it all on purpose.

Bees hold dance-offs

Honeybees have evolved what we call “swarm intelligence,” with up to 50,000 workers in a single colony coming together to make democratic decisions. When a hive gets too crowded in springtime, colonies deploy scouts to look for a new home. If any scouts disagree on where the colony should build its next hive, they argue their case the civilized way: through a dance-off. Each scout performs a “waggle dance” for other scouts in an attempt to convince them of their spot’s merit; the more enthusiastic the dance, the happier the scout was with his spot. The remainder of the colony votes with their bodies, flying to the spot they prefer and joining in the dance until one potential hive reigns #1 bee disco of the neighborhood. Alas, if only Congress settled their disagreements the same way. Also, you shouldn’t be afraid of bees. (Unless you’re allergic, of course.)

Elephants don’t need Facebook

In case you’ve forgotten, elephants have incredible memories. They’re able to recall specific routes to watering holes over incredible stretches of terrain and over the span of many years—and they never forget a friend, either. In 1999, an elephant named Shirley arrived at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Immediately, a resident elephant named Jenny became animated and playful. It wasn’t love at first sight; Jenny remembered Shirley from when they performed briefly in a circus together—22 years earlier.

SOURCE: READERS DIGEST: By Brandon Specktor and Brittany Gibson

Pine Cone Owls

Create some pine cone owls with colorful felt cut into shapes for horns, feathers and noses and glued to the cones. You can use googly eyes for a funny look.

Pine Cone Hedgehog

How about a hedgehog for a pine cone craft project? You could mold clay into a cone shape and paint it when it’s dry. Then glue it to the bottom of the pine cone. These would make adorable place card holders!

Leaf Votive Jars

Wine Cork Pumpkin

Paint one end of the wine corks and leg dry.  Hot glue them together in rows (see photo).  Cut a one cork in half to make the stem.  Glue to the top. Cut out and glue 2 leaves from green felt.  Wrap twine around the stem and tie into a bow.

Apple Votive Cups

Apples make a beautifully rustic tealight holder. Choose well-shaped, unblemished apples, and help your kids to cut out a recess to hold a tealight. Make sure the apple sits flat so that there’s no chance it will tip over. The heat from the tealight will gently infuse the air with the delicious scent of apples, so your decoration looks and smells great.

SOURCE: FAMILYHANDYMAN.COM

Goldenrod is a native North American perennial wildflower that is tall and slim with fluffy golden flower spikes in various shades of yellow. Once regarded as an invasive weed, goldenrod is increasingly valued by gardeners thanks to cultivars that offer better performance and more attractive flowers. Goldenrod grows best in any sunny location, survives well in average or even poor soil, and thrives in temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Goldenrod Care

Here are the main care requirements for growing goldenrod.

Plant goldenrod in the spring or fall, choosing a sunny location with average soil.

Stake the taller varieties so the plants don’t flop and bend. 

Water young goldenrod plants weekly to keep soil moist until established, then only supplement in drought.

Do not overfertilize; goldenrod does not need fertilizer at all.

Light

Goldenrod craves full sun for optimal flowering. The plant will tolerate a bit of shade, though a shady location can reduce its blooms.

Soil

Goldenrod is not overly picky about soil but it must be well-drained with a pH in the acidic-to-neutral range. This plant can tolerate sandy, rocky, and clay soils. Very rich soil can cause the plant to become leggy and potentially flop over.

Water

Water new goldenrod plants weekly to maintain damp, but not soggy soil. Mature goldenrod plants are drought tolerant and rarely need supplemental watering except when rainfall is scarce.

Temperature and Humidity

The hardiness range varies a bit depending on the species, but most goldenrods thrive in USDA cold hardiness zones 2 to 8, taking heat and cold weather in stride. Goldenrod isn’t fussy about humidity, either.

Fertilizer

Fertilizing goldenrod is typically not necessary because the plants do well in lean soil conditions. However, if the soil quality is poor or you wish to give your plants a boost to increase their height, add a layer of compost in the spring.

Too much fertilization often leads to floppy green growth and reduces flower production.

SOURCE: THE SPRUCE.COM

Today is Kelsea Ballerini’s birthday (born September 12,1993).  I really love some of her songs! I’ve already discussed “If You Go Down, I’m Going Down Too” and how it described how I feel about Filly –partners in crime even if we’ve never met…LOL.

But I want to talk about another song of hers, Peter Pan.  The song discusses a man who seems to resist growing up and for the longest time, I worried my son would be a Peter Pan.

My son is a creative, hardworking man, but he seemed selfishly consumed by his own goals.  He had many girlfriends over the years, but when they got serious, he got wanderlust.

Then he met my future daughter-in-law and I was hopeful.  They dated for many months and then they broke up.  One weekend just before he graduated college, we had a long, long talk.  Being a mom, I had to ask…no plans to settle down?  His answer surprised me.  He wanted to someday move to Colorado and none of the girls he was dating wanted to even discuss moving that far away from their families. 

When he brought my future daughter-in-law to the next family function, I was again surprised.  The following week, I asked why.  “I missed her” was his answer, adding “we can always visit Colorado.”

My Peter Pan grew up.

Peter Pan

The smile, the charm, the words, the spark
Everything, you had it
And I guess I had a naive heart, ’cause boy I let you have it
You said I was your only, I never thought you’d leave me lonely

You’re just a lost boy, with your head up in the clouds, yeah
You’re just a lost boy, you never keep your feet on the ground

You’re always gonna fly away
Just because you know you can
Never gonna learn there’s no such place
As Neverland, you don’t understand
You’ll never grow up
You’re never gonna be a man, Peter Pan

Deep down, I knew that you were too good to be true
But every piece and part of me wanted to believe in you
But now it’s happily ever never, and I guess now I know better

You’re just a lost boy, with your head up in the clouds
And you’re just a lost boy, never keep your feet on the ground
Always gonna fly away
Just because you know you can
You’re never gonna learn there’s no such place
As Neverland, you don’t understand
You’ll never grow up
You’re never gonna be a man, Peter Pan

You’re just a lost boy, yeah, I know who you are
You don’t know what you lost, boy, you’re too busy chasing stars

You’re always gonna fly away
Just because you know you can
Never gonna learn there’s no such place
As Neverland, you don’t understand
You’ll never grow up
You’re never gonna be a man
Yeah, you’re never grow up, yeah
You’re never gonna be a man, Peter Pan

I found an article on HISTORY on unknown facts about 9/11.

From HISTORY.CO.UK:

September 11th was a bleak milestone of the modern age. Many think of it as the day on which the 90s ended, and the 21st century really began. While the images of New York’s stricken skyline are seared into the collective consciousness, here are some facts you might not know about 9/11.

1 Ground Zero burned for 99 days

The combination of jet fuel and combustible matter, such as office documents and furniture, meant that the wreckage of the World Trade Center burned non-stop for 99 days. Firefighters tended to this seemingly endless inferno around the clock.

One firefighter later said: “You couldn’t even begin to imagine how much water was pumped in there. It was like you were creating a giant lake.”

2 Michael Jackson was almost a victim

The night before 9/11, Michael Jackson put on a lavish concert in New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden. He then stayed up late chatting to his mother and sister. He stayed up so late, in fact, that he overslept and missed a meeting scheduled to take place at the Twin Towers the next morning.

“We only discovered this when mother phoned his hotel to make sure he was OK,” Michael’s brother Jermaine recounted.

3 Seth MacFarlane also narrowly escaped

Another celebrity who had a near-miss on 9/11 was Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. He had a seat booked on Flight 11 but missed the departure by 10 minutes. Hungover, he decided to take a nap at the airport, waking up 45 minutes later to the surreal news that the plane he should have been on had crashed into the North Tower.

4 A woman survived 27 hours in the wreckage

Miraculously, several people were pulled alive from the scorched wreckage of the World Trade Center. The last to be saved was Genelle Guzman-McMillan, a young migrant from Trinidad and Tobago who worked as an office assistant in the North Tower.

She had been making her way down a stairwell when, as she later described, “the walls burst open and the rubble came falling down”. Somehow surviving a skyscraper collapsing on top of her, Genelle remained buried for 27 long hours before firefighters finally came across her.

5 Many British people died

Other than the US, the country that sustained the most casualties on 9/11 was the United Kingdom. No fewer than 67 Brits perished that day, and many others narrowly survived. One of the lucky ones was Scottish ex-pat Andrew Cullen, who worked in the South Tower. He owed his survival to disobeying official instructions to stay put while authorities worked out what was going on.

6 The terrorists used elaborate codenames

The 9/11 attackers referred to some of their targets using elaborate codenames. They called the Pentagon ‘the Faculty of Fine Arts’, while the North Tower of the World Trade Center was ‘the Faculty of Town Planning’.

The attacks themselves were referred to as ‘the first semester’, while the 19 terrorists were dubbed ‘19 certificates for private education’.

7 A chance encounter on a train was key

The 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta and several of his accomplices had originally planned to undertake their jihad by battling Russian forces in Chechnya. But, while travelling on a train in Germany in 1999, the group was approached by a stranger who was affiliated with Al Qaeda. As a consequence of this meeting, Atta’s group was introduced to Osama bin Laden, paving the way for 9/11.

8 One company lost the majority of its staff

Many firms based in the World Trade Center were decimated by the attacks, but none more so than investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. The company’s offices were situated above the plane’s impact site, meaning that nobody present at work that day survived.

Of its 960 New York employees, 658 were killed. The CEO, Howard Lutnick, survived because he was taking his son to school that morning, but his younger brother Gary was among the dead.

9 The co-creator of Frasier was killed

David Angell, Emmy Award-winning co-creator of the classic sitcom Frasier, was on board American Airlines Flight 11 with his wife Lynn when it struck the North Tower. By eerie coincidence, in a 1997 episode of the show, Dr. Frasier Crane receives a phone call from someone flying in on ‘American Flight 11’.

10 One of the intended targets is still a mystery

Three of the planes hijacked on 9/11 hit their intended targets: the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was brought down after the passengers bravely rose up against the hijackers.

To date, we still don’t know for certain where the plane was heading. It’s likely to have been either the White House or the US Capitol, but experts have long disagreed on which of these iconic buildings had been on the terrorists’ radar.

11 A much bigger terrorist plot was initially proposed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, originally wanted to have nine planes flown into a variety of targets, including nuclear power plants. A tenth plane would have then been landed at an airport, where all male passengers would have been killed in a grisly media spectacle. This plan was deemed too complex and scaled back to “just” four planes.

SOURCE: HISTORY.CO.UK

From THESPRUCEPETS.COM:

The Belgian Malinois is a medium-sized herding dog with boatloads of athleticism, energy, and smarts. These sheepdogs from Belgium thrive when then have a job, making them excellent candidates for police and military operations.

What makes them good working dogs—the intelligence and vitality, namely—might rule the Belgian Malinois out for many potential pet owners. Ever-loyal Mals need committed, active owners who are willing to provide hours of mental and physical stimulation daily.

Characteristics of the Belgian Malinois

Belgian Malinois’ temperaments are marked by their high energy level. They need lots of mental stimulation and physical activity every day. These dogs generally have a moderately affectionate and friendly personality, and they form strong bonds with their primary owners.

While these dogs have characteristics similar to the German shepherd, the breeds have a different head shape, and the Belgian Malinois is leaner and has shorter fur.

History of the Belgian Malinois

The Belgian Malinois is one of four Belgian shepherd varieties alongside the Tervuren, the Groenendael, and the Laekenois. These Belgian shepherds date back to the 1800s, and the Malinois get their name from the city of Mechelen (Malines) where they were developed. Breeders were looking to create a strong herding dog and protector with a steadfast work ethic. 

The Malinois first arrived in the United States in the early 1900s, but their shot-lived popularity dissipated after World War II. But their popularity rose again in the 1960s after the American Kennel Club recognized the Malinois in 1959.

By the turn of the 21st century, Belgian Malinois were commonly seen working as police dogs, military dogs, drug-detection dogs, and search-and-rescue dogs. The Secret Service even employs them to patrol the White House grounds. Plus, Belgian Malinois are part of Navy SEAL teams, including the one that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Belgian Malinois Care

The Belgian Malinois is not the right breed for everyone. These dogs generally aren’t well-suited to living in an apartment because they need lots of space to run and play. They’re best for owners with an active lifestyle who can provide plenty of ways for the dogs to exercise their minds and bodies. These dogs also require proper training and socialization to ensure they are well-mannered. And their grooming is fairly simple. 

Exercise

It is essential for Belgian Malinois to receive vigorous daily exercise and mental stimulation. Otherwise, they might become anxious or develop behavior problems. Aim for at least one to two hours of exercise per day, including brisk walks, running, hiking, and playing fetch. This breed also is an excellent candidate for dog sports or any activity that involves focus and endurance to challenge their brains and bodies.

Remember: Your Belgian Malinois needs more exercise than many other breeds. A couple easy walks aren’t enough—unless you run about 5 miles a day with your pup.4 Be sure to schedule time for vigorous exercise throughout the day.

Be aware that the Belgian Malinois’ herding instinct might create a tendency to chase cars, bikes, and other moving objects. So, they must be kept on leash or in a secure fenced area. 

Grooming

Grooming is likely the easiest part of owning a Belgian Malinois. They have a short, straight, weather-resistant coat with a dense undercoat. In general, little more than basic grooming is necessary. Plan to brush at least weekly to remove loose fur and prevent mats. Shedding often increases as the weather changes in the spring and fall, necessitating more regular brushing and vacuuming.

Check whether your dog needs a nail trim roughly once a month. Some dogs can go longer between nail trims if they naturally wear down their nails through activity, such as walking on pavement. Also, aim to brush their teeth daily.

Training

In general, this breed is highly trainable, intelligent, and eager to please. They respond well to positive reinforcement and consistent instruction. 

Training and socialization should begin early in Belgian Malinois’ puppyhood. Enroll in a puppy obedience class as soon as your dog meets the age requirement, and expose your dog to different people, other animals, and situations. Belgian Malinois don’t always get along with other dogs, but having positive exposure to other dogs from a young age can help. 

Likewise, this breed isn’t always appropriate for families with children. Their high herding instinct can cause them to nip at kids’ heels. Even if you don’t have kids, it’s important to train your dog to be well-mannered around children, so you’re always able to safely control situations. 

SOURCE: THESPRUCEPETS.COM

Colonel Sanders was born today in 1890.  Entrepreneur.com had an interesting article on 7 things we may not know about the Colonel.

From Entrepreneur:

Did you know the real Colonel Sanders once tried to sue KFC?

The chicken chain’s recent marketing campaign has brought Colonel Sanders back to American television screens, embodied first by Darrell Hammond and now by Norm Macdonald. The move has been controversial: any over-the-top portrayal of a real human by a celebrity is going to rub some people the wrong way. (And yes, Colonel Sanders was indeed a real human; a study referenced in the 2012 book Colonel Sanders and the American Dream showed that less than 40 percent of Americans aged 19 to 25 were aware of that.)

However, KFC’s biggest misstep has been the sanitization of the Colonel. As our own Ray Hennessey wrote, “The new Colonel is a caricature, carefully choreographed by the company and its creative hired hands. Instead of resurrecting the Colonel to lead KFC’s sales back to their former fried glory, the company has instead unleashed a childish pantomime that people old enough to remember Colonel Sanders don’t like and people too young to know him can’t possibly understand.”

KFC has been eager to celebrate kitschy parts of the Colonel’s history, while ignoring more complex attributes that made him both successful and dangerous to the brand while alive. Here are a few of the most interesting facts about Colonel Sanders that many people don’t know – including a few that KFC probably would rather gloss over.

 For most of his life, he was a terrible businessman.

Most customers probably don’t realize that the Colonel only became a successful restaurateur after failed careers as a lawyer, insurance salesman, lamp salesman and tire salesman. Sanders often made unwise business gambles and had a habit of getting into fights that resulted in being fired – something that suited him as a self-employed entrepreneur, but that was less ideal as a company spokesperson later in life.

 He once shot someone for his brand.

What Sanders lacked in business skills, he more than made up for in passion. When Sanders painted a large sign pointing potential customers from the highway toward his gas station in Corbin, Ky. (it would eventually expand into Sander’s first cafe), he enraged the owner of a competing gas station, Matt Stewart. Stewart painted over Sanders’ sign, leading to Sanders threatening to “blow [his] goddamn head off” and repainting the sign himself.

When Sanders discovered Stewart once again painting over the sign, he and two Shell officials ran to catch him red handed, heavily armed. In the resulting gun fight, the Shell manager was killed and Sanders shot Stewart in the shoulder. KFC currently has a purposefully poorly acted reenactment of the fight that gave Sanders complete control over the gas station market in the area after his competition was sent to jail for murder.

He cheated on his wife (a lot).

While KFC loves certain quirky details about Sanders personal life, one of the facts KFC chooses not to highlight is his relationship with women, especially his two wives. Sanders married his first wife, Josephine, at the young age of 19. According to Colonel Sanders and the American Dream, his second wife’s nephew said Josephine wasn’t interested in a sexual relationship after giving birth to three children. So, Sanders “found what he needed to find in other places.”

One outlet for Sanders’ sexual energies was Claudia Ledington, a former waitress at Sanders’ first restaurant, Sanders Cafe. Claudia and Sanders wed in 1949, after an ongoing affair and two years after his divorce with Josephine. It would be Claudia that would support Sanders in transforming KFC from a restaurant with a good chicken recipe to a national brand.

Throughout his life, Sanders was notoriously licentious. Sanders’ biographer, John Ed Pearce, recalls a woman at the Chamber of Commerce saying that whenever the Colonel came in she had to beat his hands off of her. A 1970 New Yorker article quotes him observing crowds of housewives seeking autographs saying: “Umm, that gal’s let herself go… Look at the size of that one… I don’t know when I’ve seen so many fat ones… Lord, look at ’em waddle.” In short, if the Colonel was alive today, it wouldn’t be shocking to see his name come up in the Ashley Madison leak.

He’s not a military colonel.

If you’re not from Kentucky, you may have assumed that Sanders served as a military leader at some point in his long life. In fact, he was a Kentucky colonel, a title of honor awarded by the state of Kentucky. Sanders became a colonel in 1935 as the founder and owner of the gas station-adjacent restaurant Sanders Cafe, but misplaced his certificate, receiving his second colonelship in 1949.

In the 1950s, Sanders began marketing himself as a southern gentleman and Kentucky colonel, dying his beard white, crafting a string tie and donning his iconic white suit. As he franchised his concept starting in the ’50s, selling the recipe for his Kentucky fried chicken to restaurants across the U.S., this identity as a Kentucky colonel linked Sanders to a southern ideal that lent the Indiana-born man an air of legitimacy.

He only made $2 million selling KFC.

After KFC went from a single cafe to a franchised concept, Sanders sold the business in 1964, feeling out of his league at the age of 75 as the chain rapidly grew. The $2 million, plus an ongoing salary to remain the face of the brand wasn’t a terrible deal. However, after the company’s profitable IPO, in which shareholders made millions, Sanders began to feel as though he got the short end of the stick.

At the company’s first franchisee convention after the IPO, Sanders took the stage and spent 40 minutes railing against management. He claimed executives were thinking only about the short-term and ruining his reputation. While he failed to win over the franchisees and went on to continue his duties as a spokesperson, it seems a part of him remained convinced he had been tricked into giving up his business.

He tried to sue KFC for $122 million.

After KFC was sold to Heublein in 1971, Sanders’ appetite for disruption grew. When the chain denied him the right to open an antebellum-themed restaurant selling Original Recipe chicken, Sanders sued the company for $122 million. He eventually settled out of court for $1 million and a promise that the Colonel would stop embarrassing the company. Sanders did not keep up his end of the bargain.

According to him, KFC doesn’t use the famous secret original recipe of 11 herbs and spices.

While very few people in the world know exactly what is in Colonel Sanders’ mix of 11 secret herbs and spices, we do know that the Colonel said many times in his life that KFC stopped using his recipe. As KFC is intensely protective of the recipe, it is a difficult matter to fact check. The chain reports that it keeps Colonel Sanders’ handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices safely locked away in a vault, utilizing two suppliers to preserve that secrecy of the ingredients.

Whether or not the Colonel’s original recipe is in use today, it is clear that Sanders was dismissive of KFC’s menu in his final years. In 1970, the New Yorker quoted him saying the company’s new gravy recipe “ain’t fit for my dogs.” While the chain turned business around and reportedly improved food quality in the ’80s under new leadership, Sanders’ wasn’t around to see it. He died on Dec. 16, 1980, at the age of 90.

SOURCE: ENTREPRENEUR.COM

From HISTORY.COM

The deadliest natural disaster in American history remains the 1900 hurricane in the island city of Galveston, Texas. On September 8, a category four hurricane descended on the town, destroying more than 3,600 buildings with winds surpassing 135 miles per hour.

Estimates of the death toll range from 6,000 to 12,000, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Tragically, the magnitude of the disaster could have been lessened if the U.S. Weather Bureau hadn’t implemented poor communication policies.

When the storm picked up in early September of 1900, “any modestly educated weather forecaster would’ve known that” it was passing west, says Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over in Cuba, where scientists had become very good at tracking storms in the hurricane-prone Caribbean, they “knew that a hurricane had passed to the north of Cuba and was headed to the Gulf of Mexico.”

The Weather Bureau in Washington, however, predicted that the storm would pass over Florida and up to New England—which was very, very wrong.

“I mean they were just way off target,” he says.

The Weather Bureau—predecessor to the National Weather Service—was only 10 years old, and hurricane science in the U.S. wasn’t very advanced. “Galveston occurred at a very interesting time in the science of hurricanes,” Emanuel notes.

The bureau’s director, Willis Moore, “was so jealous of the Cubans that he shut off the flow of data from Cuba to the U.S.,” he says. At the same time, Moore told regional U.S. forecasters that “that they could not on their own issue a hurricane warning, they had to go through Washington”—not a very quick or easy task, in those days.

The combination of blocking information from Cuba, while also making it difficult for local forecasters to report hurricanes, turned out to be deadly.

In the couple days before the storm hit, the Weather Bureau’s chief observer in Galveston, Isaac Cline, began to suspect that Washington’s forecast had been off. He tried to warn the city, but it was too late. Cline’s wife was killed, the port city was devastated, and Galveston was never able to fully recover.

The 1900 hurricane was a wake-up call that the Weather Bureau needed to have better communication channels if it wanted to keep people safe.

“The Galveston hurricane made people realize you can’t play politics with a weather bureau,” Emanuel says. “If you make it political, people will die.”

U.S. hurricane science wouldn’t really take off until the 1940s. But after Galveston, the bureau began to open up communication channels both internationally and within the country. Although the U.S. had begun to send wireless messages out to sea before the hurricane, the practice became more widespread after Galveston.

Today, the United States has advanced systems in place to accurately forecast hurricanes and communicate storm paths to affected areas. “We have come light-years from where we were in 1900,” says Jay Barnes, a hurricane historian who has written about storms in North Carolina and Florida.

The bigger problem, which Galveston would still have faced if it had been properly warned in 1900, is the logistical challenge of evacuating large metropolitan areas in short amounts of time, Emanuel says.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in part because of government negligence (levee failures and inadequate aid after the storm), not an inability to accurately predict and communicate the storm’s path. Hurricane Harvey, which wreaked havoc in Houston as well as modern-day Galveston in August 2017, was also well-forecasted. But without effective emergency plans for mass evacuations, cities still end up suffering from natural disasters—even if they can see them coming.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM; BECKY LITTLE