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EVER BOUGHT Kingsford charcoal briquettes? They're another Ford-orchestrated invention. By 1923, Henry Ford had developed several lumbering plants and sawmills in the Iron Mountain area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The area was incorporated as the Village of Kingsford that year, after E.G. Kingsford, Iron Mountain's authorized Ford dealer -- who happened to be married to Ford's cousin, according to Ford Bryan, author of "Beyond the Model T, The Other Ventures of Henry Ford." Leftover hardwood chips were processed with starch and compressed into about 100 tons per day of charcoal briquettes. They were sold by Ford dealers all over the United States. The briquettes are still made and sold by Kingsford Product Co. of Oakland, Calif. The company is now owned by the Clorox Corp.

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"It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit - but none to be offended by them." -- Johnny Hart ("BC", cartoonist, 2000)
"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog: Nobody really enjoys it and the frog generally dies as a result." -- E. B. White