From thedijuliusgroup.com We all have a company or two that we can’t fathom life without.  What are the few companies that you would be extremely upset if I told you, “You can no longer do business with them, ever again”?  When I ask my audiences this question, the same brands always get mentioned: Apple, Starbucks, Nordstrom, […]

By Jennie Cohen writing for History.com From the Middle Ages until the late the 19th century, pairs of quarreling men—and, in some cases, women—regularly settled their disputes with duels. Find out how a bitter rivalry cost a U.S. vice president his life, how a friendly spot of tea took a violent turn and how jealousy spelled […]

By Christopher Klein History.com On February 25, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the National Banking Act (originally known as the National Currency Act), which for the first time in American history established the federal dollar as the sole currency of the United States. On the law’s 150th anniversary, explore eight surprising facts about American money. 1. […]

Descendants of American Presidents From Smithsonian.com Earlier this year, Mental Floss published a brief article explaining how it is possible that the tenth president of the United States, born in 1790, has two grandsons who are still alive. President John Tyler (above) fathered a total of 15 children—more than any other president—with two wives, the […]

BY TANAY WARERKAR writing for Curbed The newest resident at the world’s tallest residential building, 432 Park Avenue, is none other than the chairman of Douglas Elliman, Howard Lorber, The Real Deal reports. His company is in charge of the sales and marketing of the supertall, and he’s not the first Douglas Elliman-related executive to purchase […]

This interview with Tobi Lütke,C.E.O. of Shopify, an e-commerce software company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Q. Tell me about your early years. A. I grew up in Koblenz, a small town in Germany. I got my first computer when I was 6, and I was part of that early generation of children […]

BY DREW DESILVER Pew Research Center Now that actual voting has started in the 2016 presidential campaign, there’s been more than the usual amount of chatter and speculation about whether this might be the year for a contested convention – particularly on the Republican side, given the large field of GOP candidates and the unpredictable nature of the contest […]

By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS This July, 2,472 people from across the country will meet in Cleveland to choose the Republican nominee, and a couple of days later, in Philadelphia 4,765 people will formally select the Democratic nominee. These are the delegates, and they’re about to become far more interesting and important (at least on […]

By J. L. Bell Journal of the American Revolution 1. Myth: Tarring and feathering could be fatal. Busted: The notion that hot tar caused severe, sometimes fatal burns is based on the assumption that “tar” meant the asphalt we use on roads, which is typically stored in liquid state at about 300°F (150°C). But in the […]

By: Lindsey Rupp writing for Bloomberg Scathing memo to employees calls for ‘massive’ culture shift ‘DELIGHT OUR CUSTOMERS’ or lose your job, CEO tells his staff Gary Friedman, head of Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc., painted a dire picture of the furniture chain in an internal memo to employees, comparing its operations to a burning building with people […]