There have to date been 43 people who’ve held the highest political position in the United States since the founding of this republic under the current constitution. (And quite a few more Presidents under the old system, but we’ll ignore them in this piece.) Here now is a variety of interesting “President Facts” you may not know about every […]
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Four wings I have, Which swiftly mount on high On sturdy pinions, Yet I never fly! And tho’ my body often moves around, Upon the same spot I’m always found; And, like a nurse who chews the infants meat, I chew for man before that he can eat. I am a precious gift. I have no beginning or end. In […]
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I was walking across a bridge one day and happened to see a boat full of people. And yet, there was not a single person on the boat. I am silent as the dawn I move steadily without thought Those who winter’s chill has touched My presence they have sought. Though I ask no permission, I’ll pass through your door […]
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Today I found out the “ye” as in “Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe” should be pronounced “the”. The “Ye” here is not the “ye” as in “Judge not, that ye (you) be not judged”, but is rather a remnant of the letter “thorn” or “þorn” (Þ, þ). The letter thorn was used in Old Norse, Old English-Middle English, Gothic, and Icelandic […]
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The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it, never uses it. The person who uses it doesn’t know they are. With words unnumber’d I abound, In me mankind take much delight, In me great store of learning’s found, Yet I can neither read nor write What gets wetter the more it dries? Tho’ good fellows we […]
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Special thanks to Justin V. from North Carolina for the idea to start putting up brain teasers on TIFO Though big my belly, long my nose, And with one arm I strut; I make the fair their foes expose, And keep my own mouth shut: Before me they their secrets tell, The news of all the day; And for my […]
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As mentioned about a week and a half ago, starting today we’re going to be doing a lot more daily posts here on Today I Found Out than previously. We’ll still be doing the normal 5-6-ish full articles per week like always, but we’ll also be adding a few other posts daily and a variety of new series of posts […]
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This is a fantastic educational video by Henry Reich from MinutePhysics (with Bonus Sun Facts below written by me). MinutePhysics also sells a few t-shirts here, if you’re interested. If you’ve got an educational video you’d like featured on Today I Found Out, you can contact me here. Bonus Sun Facts: The energy required to stop the Earth orbiting the […]
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Jack asks: Why do the British pronounce “Z” as “Zed”? It’s not just the British that pronounce “z” as “zed”. The vast majority of the English speaking world does this. The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, […]
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Today I found out Sleeping Beauty is based on a story where a married king finds a girl asleep and can’t wake her, so rapes her instead. The story is called The Sun, the Moon, and Talia, written, or at the least collected and composed, by the Italian poet Giambattista Basile. It was published in 1634 in his “Pentamerone” collection […]
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Today I Found Out has teamed up with Jeremiah Warren to show his awesome “trivia” related videos here, along with Bonus Facts included after the video by me. I hope you enjoy his videos as much as I have. “Of all the public men that I have known, on both sides of the Atlantic (and there are few that I […]
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Today I found out the Colossal Squid, which is the largest known squid in terms of mass on Earth, has a doughnut shaped brain with their esophagus running through the hole in the center. This hole through their brain isn’t very large at all with their esophagus diameter at just around 10 mm (.39 inches). Their brain itself isn’t that […]
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Today I found out the only victim of the Tacoma Narrows, “Galloping Gertie”, bridge collapse was a three legged dog. The three legged dog in question was a black Cocker Spaniel left in the back seat of the lone car abandoned on the galloping bridge. The dog was owned by reporter Leonard Coatsworth, though his wife stated in an interview […]
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Stevo asks: Is “racking your brain” or “wracking your brain” the correct way to write that expression? There are some language guides, generally the ones that pay a lot of attention to the etymology of “rack” and “wrack”, that will still say it is “racking your brain” not “wracking your brain”, but these are becoming few and far between. In […]
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This post is sponsored by Chucker & Reibach Today I found out the first gas/electric hybrid vehicle was invented in 1900. While hybrid and electric cars are often touted by the media and automobile companies as the wave of the future, in fact, we’re more just re-hashing the wave of the past with them, but with updated technologies. Before gas […]
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Starting November 1st, we’ll be trying something a little different on Today I Found Out, more posts per day… a boatload more. We’ll still have the normal 5-6 regular article / infographic type posts per week that you’re used to, but in addition to that, we’ve been working extremely hard recently to be able to add a lot more other […]
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Amit Bhatnagar asks: Where did the American tradition of trick or treating come from? The vast majority of the traditions commonly associated with Halloween today are borrowed or adapted from four different festivals, namely: The Roman Feralia festival, commemorating the dead The Roman Pomona festival, honoring the goddess of fruit and trees The Celtic festival Samuin, meaning “summer’s end”, (also […]
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Today I found out where the expression “I for one welcome our new X overlords” came from. For those not familiar with this now popular funny meme, the basic idea is to substitute X with any perceived extremely powerful entity that it would be futile to resist. A somewhat recent example of this can be seen when Ken Jennings, after […]
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