Today I Found Out was started on January 1, 2010 and today reached its 1000 post including: 554 regular articles, 56 This Day In History articles, 324 Quick Facts, 44 Infographics, 13 Answers, and 8 You Should Know articles, the latter two being new sections launched just this month.

I thought I’d use this 1000th post to share the most popular posts on Today I Found Out since its inception:

Top 10 Regular Articles:

1. Origin of the Word “Soccer”
2. Carrots Used to Be Purple Before the 17th Century
3. 12 Best Ways to Remove Stripped Screws
4. Woody Harrelson’s Father was a Contract Killer
5. The American Government Once Intentionally Poisoned Certain Alcohol Supplies, Resulting in the Death of Over 10,000 American Citizens
6. The Sun is White, Not Yellow
7. What Happens When You Stick Your Head Into a Particle Accelerator
8. The United States Once Planned on Nuking the Moon
9. How Deaf People Think
10. How Blind People Dream

Top 10 Infographics:

1. How To…
2. 10 Common Misconceptions Dispelled
3. 10 Amazzzzzzing Bee Facts
4. 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bananas
5. 12 Fascinating Food Facts
6. The Origins and Meanings of 12 Pirate Words and Expressions
7. 8 Interesting Famous Business Facts
8. 10 Interesting Celebrity Facts
9. How 10 Popular Brands Got Started
10. 10 Interesting Junk Food Facts

Top 10 Quick Facts:

1. Johnny Carson Once Caused a Month Long Toilet Paper Shortage in the U.S.
2. The Twinkies in the Movie Zombieland Were Not Real Twinkies
3. The Incredible Relative Speed of the Earth
4. Daylight Saving Time Once Thwarted a Terrorist Attack
5. Chef Boyardee Catered President Woodrow Wilson’s Wedding at the Age of 17 
6. How Einstein Got His Wife to Agree to Divorce Him
7. Alcohol Consumption in the U.S. Tripled Once Prohibition Went Into Effect
8. Pop Rocks Were Invented by the Same Guy Who Invented Tang, Cool Whip, and Quick Setting Jell-O
9. The Energy Required to Stop the Earth Orbiting the Sun
10. Mike Myers Really Did Have an Ex Give Him a Gun Rack to Try to Win Him Back

Top 10 This Day In History Articles:

1. A Man Calling Himself Dan Cooper Hijacks a Plane, Collects His Ransom, Then Parachutes from It and Is Never Heard from Again
2. Christopher Columbus Tricks Native Jamaicans Into Giving Him Supplies by Using His Knowledge of an Upcoming Lunar Eclipse
3. A Meteorite Hits a Woman Napping in Her Home, Making Her the First Known Human to be Struck by an Extraterrestrial Object
4. Alexandre Dumas Fights in His First Duel, During Which His Pants Fall Down
5. A Proposal by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Suggesting That the U.S. Military Should Commit Acts of Terrorism in the U.S. and Blame it on Cuba is Presented to the Secretary of State 
6. Samuel Byck Hijacks an Airliner with the Intent of Flying it Into the White House to Kill President Nixon
7. Dr. William Byrdon, One of the Only Survivors of the Massacre of Elphinstone’s Army That Included Over 16,000 People Killed, Safely Makes it to the Garrison in Jalalabad, Afganistan
8. The Mary Celeste is Found Completely Abandoned Yet Still Containing All Its Cargo, Plenty of Food and Water, and Still Under Sail.  The Crew were Never Seen Again
9. Civil War Veteran and Morphine Addict John Pemberton Invents Coca-Cola
10. Julius Caesar Makes His Historic, Illegal crossing of the Rubicon at the Head of a Legion of Soldiers, Starting a Civil War Within Rome

My Personal Favorites That Didn’t Make the List:

1. What Causes Red Hair
2. How Maple Syrup is Made
3. Robert Downey Jr. Modeled His Portrayal of Tony Stark After Elon Musk, One of the Founders of Zip2, Paypal, Tesla Motors, Solar City, and SpaceX
4. The Only Member of ZZ Top That Doesn’t Have a Beard is Frank Beard
5. Julius Caesar was Once Kidnapped by Pirates Who Demanded a Ransom of 20 Talents of Silver, Caesar Insisted They Ask for 50
6. Sullivan Balou’s Letter
7. Sarah Hale, Author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, Was Largely Responsible for the Establishment and Traditions of the United States’ Thanksgiving Holiday 
8. Why We are Supposed to Take Our Hats Off for the National Anthem
9. Marie Antoinette Never Said “Let Them Eat Cake”
10. Everything I Thought I Knew About Velociraptors was a Lie
11. In 1842, Ada Lovelace Wrote the World’s First Computer Program
12. Listening to Mozart Won’t Make You Smarter
13. Honey can be Used for a Variety of Medicinal Purposes
14. Why Getting Kicked in the Balls Causes Pain in the Abdomen
15. The Real Life “George Bailey” Who Founded Bank of Italy, Which Became Bank of America
16. John Wilke’s Booth’s Brother Saved Abraham Lincoln’s Son’s Life Shortly Before Lincoln was Assassinated
17. Dr. Seuss Wrote “Green Eggs and Ham” on a Bet that He Couldn’t Write a Book with 50 or Fewer Unique Words
18. Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn Once Struck a Spectator with Foul Balls Twice in the Same At Bat, the Second Time as She was Being Carried Off on a Stretcher
19. The CIA Once Tried Using Cats as Spies
20. The Woman Eric Clapton Thought was His Sister was Actually His Mother