MyInteresting Facts13

  Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Email Although they’re called public servants, presidents don’t take on the job for free — they’re compensated with a substantial salary while in office. From the time of George Washington until today, the presidential salary has been established by Congress, with the total amount raised on several occasions. Here are six facts about presidential salaries and how they’ve changed since the earliest days of the country. Credit:  Fotosearch / Archive Photos via Getty Images Presidents Were Initially Paid To Help Discourage Outside Influence America’s first president, George Washington, apparently had  no desire to be paid  as commander in chief. Even prior to serving as POTUS, Washington never accepted money during his time as a military officer. However, the framers of the Constitution decided that the president should be properly compensated in order to prevent whoever held the role from falling victim to financial influen...

  Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Email Are you feeling lucky? It’s possible you just came across a patch of four-leaf clovers, or walked underneath a horseshoe. Maybe you were just given some lucky bamboo. But why are these things considered lucky? And what’s the story of the “lucky cat” next to your favorite Asian restaurant’s cash register? The number seven is supposedly lucky, too — so we’ve rounded up seven good luck charms and the stories behind them. Credit:  New Africa / Shutterstock Four-Leaf Clovers Part of the reason four-leaf clovers are lucky is pretty simple: They’re  exceedingly rare . Clovers have four copies of each chromosome in every cell, and all four copies need to carry the gene for the fourth leaf in order for the plant to produce one. Environmental factors can affect the expression of the trait, too. One survey in 2017 found that around 1 in 5,000 clovers have four leaves, although they tend to be found in patches. How clovers and ...

  Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Email Most of us are inundated with brand logos almost every day. And while their designs are often memorable for their original fonts, catchy slogans, or  cute mascots , some logos also have  hidden details  that make them even more interesting. Here are nine U.S. brand logos that have “hidden” messages you might not be aware of. Credit:  Marques Thomas / Unsplash Amazon When Amazon.com first launched in the 1990s, the company focused on books. Its initial logo had an image of the Amazon river, with a tagline  saying , “Earth’s biggest bookstore.” Of course, it’s been quite a while since Amazon sold only books. The company’s current logo debuted in 2000 and contains a message that reflects the company’s wide range of business interests. In the logo, which originally had “.com” appended to the end, an arrow swoops from the first “a” to the “z” to demonstrate that the company sells everything from A to Z. The arr...

  Despite being one of the film’s most oft-quoted lines, the words “Play it again, Sam” are never said in  Casablanca . It’s been called “ probably the most misquoted line in cinema history ,” not least because it’s usually attributed to the wrong character. The 1942 film’s protagonist, conflicted Morocco nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), is often imagined as the one saying the line, even though the closest equivalent — “Play it, Sam” — is actually said by Rick’s endangered ex, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman). (Rick does later instruct Sam, the piano player in question, to “play it,” however.) For all that,  Casablanca,  a noir classic set in WWII, still has many other memorable lines, including six on the American Film Institute’s  100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes  list, the most of any film. (That includes “Here’s looking at you, kid” and “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”) Of course,  Casablanca  is far from the only ...