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Baby Train
The Baby Train, or simply Baby Train, is an urban legend told in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The legend first appeared in Christopher Morley's 1939 novel '' Kitty Foyle''. According to the legend, a certain small town had an unusually high birth rate. This was allegedly caused by a freight train passing through the town and blowing its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in a mini-baby boom. Legend One version of the myth, as written down by the Australian author and folklorist Bill Scott in ''The Long & The Short & The Tall: a collection of Australian yarns'' tells the story of a little town on the coast, not too far north of Sydney, where the birth rate was three times the average for all the rest of Australia. This was so unusual the Government sent someone out to the town to investigate the cause for the high birth rate. When the official arrived, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties. In the past, urban legends were most often circulated orally, at gatherings and around the Campfire story, campfire for instance. Now, they can be spread by any media, including newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral generally remains the same. Origin and structure Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
September 11 Attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt. The attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the global war on terror over multiple decades to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them. Ringleader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Trains
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with fact, history, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, fiction refers to written narratives in prose often specifically novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition and theory Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly expressed, so the audience expects a work of fiction to deviate to a greater or lesser degree from the real world, rather than presenting for instance only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood as not adhering to the real world, the them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Urban Legends
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Urban Legends
Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Australians, indigenous peoples of Australia as identified and defined within Australian law * Australia (continent) ** Indigenous Australians * Australian English, the dialect of the English language spoken in Australia * Australian Aboriginal languages * ''The Australian'', a newspaper * Australiana, things of Australian origins Other uses * Australian (horse), a racehorse * Australian, British Columbia, an unincorporated community in Canada See also * The Australian (other) * Australia (other) * * * Austrian (other) Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Harold Brunvand
Jan Harold Brunvand (born March 23, 1933) is an American retired folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah. Brunvand is best known for popularizing the concept of the urban legend, a form of modern folklore or story telling. Urban legends are "too good to be true" stories that travel by word of mouth, by print, or by the internet and are attributed to an FOAF: friend of a friend. "Urban legends," Brunvand says, "have a persistent hold on the imagination because they have an element of suspense or humor, they are plausible and they have a moral." Though criticized for the "popular" rather than "academic" orientation of his books, ''The Vanishing Hitchhiker'' and others, Brunvand felt that it was a "natural and worthwhile part of his job as a folklorist to communicate the results of his research to the public." For his lifetime dedication to the field of folklore, which included radio and television appearances, a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraphernalia
Paraphernalia refers to a collection of items or equipment associated with a particular activity, hobby, or lifestyle. The term is often used to describe the tools, accessories, or objects that are used in various fields, such as sports, arts and crafts, or specialized professions. Historical legal term In legal language, "paraphernalia" is a term of art from older family law. The word "paraphernalia" is plural, meaning "things beyond the dowry". Paraphernalia were the separate property of a married woman, such as clothing and jewellery "appropriate to her station", but excluding the assets that may have been included in her dowry. The term originated in Roman law, but ultimately comes from Greek (''parápherna''), "beyond (''para'') the dowry (''phernē'')". These sorts of property were considered the separate property of a married woman under coverture. A husband could not sell, appropriate, or convey good title to his wife's assets considered paraphernalia without her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila Bell Wallace. For many years, ''Reader's Digest'' was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States; it lost that distinction in 2009 to '' Better Homes and Gardens''. According to Media Mark Research (2006), ''Reader's Digest'' reached more readers with household incomes of over $100,000 than '' Fortune'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Business Week'', and '' Inc.'' combined. Global editions of ''Reader's Digest'' reach an additional 40 million people in more than 70 countries, via 49 editions in 21 languages. The periodical has a global circulation of 10.5 million, making it the largest paid-circulation magazine in the world. It is also published in Braille, digital, and audio editions, and in a large-type edition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models (Playboy Playmate, Playmates), ''Playboy'' played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special #International editions, nation-specific versions of ''Playboy'' are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. With a regular displ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his weekly television appearances for over 17 years on the panel game show ''What's My Line?'' Early life and education Cerf was born on May 25, 1898, in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family of Alsatian and German ethnicity. Cerf's father Gustave Cerf was a lithographer; his mother, Frederika Wise, was heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune. She died when Bennett was 16; shortly afterward, her brother Herbert moved into the Cerf household and became a strong literary and social influence on the teenager. Cerf graduated from Townsend Harris Hall Prep School in Hamilton Heights in 1916, the same public school as publisher Richard Simon, author Herman Wouk, and playwright Howard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
February 1969 Nor'easter
February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years and 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the ''leap day''. February is the third and last month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, February is the third and last month of meteorological summer, being the seasonal equivalent of August in the Northern Hemisphere. Pronunciation "February" can be pronounced in several different ways. The beginning of the word is commonly pronounced either as or ; many people drop the first "r", replacing it with , as if it were spelled "Febuary". This comes about by analogy with "January" (), as well as by a dissimilation effect whereby having two "r"s close to each other causes one to change. The ending of the word is pronounced in the US and in the UK. History The Roman month was named after the Latin term , which means "purification", via the purificatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Morley
Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' page for Christopher Morley Accessed March 27, 2023. Biography Morley was born in . His father, , was a mathematics professor at |
