When do you think gift card first appeared? 1950? 1970? Actually, these plastic presents entered the gift-giving industry relatively recently -- in 1994, initially from retailer Neiman Marcus as the NM Express card, and later by Blockbuster Video, the onetime king of video, DVD and game rentals.
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Now 73 years old, King is still writing -- he published If It Bleeds and The Institute just last year. While his literary output is indeed impressive, he's as mortal as the rest of us. And back in 1999, King suffered a near-fatal accident that almost deprived the world of his extraordinary mind.
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The holidays offer a time to enjoy family, celebrate the beauty of the season, and engage in festive traditions like tree-trimming, drinking eggnog, and singing carols. While the British Royal Family also does such yearly rituals, their Christmastime is also filled with certain obligations.
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Sir John Macdonald wasn't worried about murderers, trespassers, or even infighting between the Natives and the large influx of new settlers. The Mounties were first formed to deal with the problem of the illegal whiskey trade.
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Deer meat, or venison, was highly desirable, but rarely offered for sale. The rich people who had access to it on their lands simply kept it for their families' personal use. When it was sold, it was still only accessible to the rich people who could afford to buy it.
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The Haitian Revolution not only led to independence, but it set off a ripple effect of uprisings by enslaved people across the Caribbean and South America.
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The British Royal Family is steeped in tradition, from how they dress to how they interact with people. Celebrating the holidays is no different, even though they are also just a family who wants to be together for Christmas and eat the food that comforts them.
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Few activities are as synonymous with winter as sledding. In colder regions around the world, children excitedly wait for the next snow day so they can go out sledding with their friends. Adults, too, enjoy the thrill of speeding down a hill on a wooden sled -- but they may prefer not to admit it
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From arsenic-infused fabric to socks that would burn their patterns into your skin, clothing of this era presented a real hazard.
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Eventually, the Medici won the altercation and regained control of their city. That meant Michelangelo, the once-beloved protégé of the Medici family, needed to get out of Dodge -- well, Florence -- and he needed to do it fast.
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President Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on November 25. The funeral was watched on television by millions more around the world. There was one person who not only never grieved the president's loss, she never heard the news of his assassination: his maternal grandmother.
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Much of the land where the palace was built was a swampy marsh that drew water from the Tyburn river. The village of Eye Cross was nearby. Living in Eye Cross was a woman named Margarie Gourdemaine (sometimes spelled Margery Jourdemayne), who would later become known as "The Witch of Eye."
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It's widely believed that medieval peasants, for instance, glugged their way through entire barrels of beer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but this isn't actually true. They couldn't afford it. Homebrewing was a thing, yes, but uncommon.
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One constant in the history of Russia is the phrase "unintended consequences." Russian history is filled with tragedy on a national scale. It has always been a hot mess. To understand why a country so big is so messy, here's a look at the various moments in Russian history that went horribly wrong.
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It's not surprising to learn that the life of ancient Egyptian royalty wasn't all that easy or simple. Here is what life as an Egyptian royal was really like.
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When it comes to regicide -- the killing of a king -- the historical record is blood-soaked indeed, but few are quite as famous as the execution of France's King Louis XVI, as well as his wife, Marie Antoinette.
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The true history behind the National Christmas Tree, however, doesn't exactly square with the narrative the National Park Foundation would have you believe.
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It wasn't that Erich Steidtmann was offended by allegations of his role in one of the worst pogroms in human history. No, what inflamed the ire of Steidtmann was that the woman who wrote the book claimed to have had an affair with him.
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The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has the dubious honor of being the most popular amendment that's never passed.
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By 2003, Hooters had been operating as a successful restaurant chain since the 1980s and was "flush with cash." Looking to expand the brand, Brooks bought the North Carolina-based charter airline Pace Airlines and refurbished the fleet of planes with Hooters logos.
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Occultism was a common interest among the British upper classes at the turn of the 20th century, but Aleister Crowley was one of the most notorious.
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The tiny nation of Niue, off the coast of New Zealand, decided to print popular characters on its coins. It's the first country to feature Pokemon on its money.
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As it turns out, Union General Joseph Hooker's main concern was making sure his troops' spirits remained high while they were fighting the Confederates.
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The wounded President McKinley was rushed to Pan-American Hospital and operated on by Dr. Matthew Mann. Mann was a gynocological surgeon who happened to be at the exposition and was the first physician to respond. When Mann opened up McKinley's stomach, he couldn't find the bullet.
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From 1956 to 1971, the FBI spied on and sabotaged scores of activists and organizations. This is the true story of COINTELPRO.
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Wilson Alwyn "Willie" Bentley accidentally discovered that no two snowflakes were similar in his attempt to photograph their perfect beauty.
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There's a Cookie Monster mural Peoria, Illinois, which features writing in Russian. Here's what we know about it.
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