When Fats Waller Was ‘Kidnapped’ for Al Capone’s Birthday
A meme about Fats Waller and Al Capone’s birthday is periodically popular on social media.
today i learned
FDR and the Business Plot of 1933
A popular July 2023 post to Reddit’s r/todayilearned focused on 1933’s “Business Plot” around Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Bicycles and Women’s Liberation
A popular post to Reddit’s r/todayilearned claimed that bicycles played an important role in women’s liberation and influenced fashion conventions.
Do Elevator ‘Close Door’ Buttons Work?
A popular February 2023 post to Reddit’s r/todayilearned asserted 80 percent of elevator “close door” buttons are not functional.
Was Tulsa the ‘First American City Attacked from the Air’ in 1921?
In February 2023, a 2013 post about the 1921 Tulsa race riots circulated on Facebook.
Greece, Turkey, and ‘Earthquake Diplomacy’
After a devastating earthquake in early February 2023, a post about “earthquake diplomacy” in Turkey and Greece was popular across platforms.
Is Paprika ‘Just Dried Bell Pepper’?
In January 2023, a tweet about paprika being “just dried red bell pepper” spread virally.
Original Lyrics to ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’
An extremely popular December 2022 TikTok post claimed that the original lyrics to the Christmas classic were darker and “too sad.”
‘TIL That the Civil Rights Act Was Not the First One in the U.S., But Rather the Second One….’
A Reddit post claimed that the Civil Rights Act was preceded by an effort quashed by the Supreme Court decades before.
‘If You See Me, Cry’: Hunger Stones in Some Czech And German Rivers
The emergence of “hunger stones” heralding agricultural doom wasn’t new in 2022, but neither was it a fabrication.