Today I found out the origin of the Olympic Flame tradition and the Nazi origin of the Olympic Torch Relay. The Olympic Flame tradition has its origins in the Ancient Greek Olympics where a fire was kept burning at an altar dedicated to Hera in a sanctuary in Olympia. Other fires were also lit in Zeus’ and Hera’s temples to […]
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Today I found out the origin of the Olympic Rings. The Olympic ring symbol was designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. The idea of using rings intertwined with one another came from the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), which had two interlaced rings as their symbol and which Pierre de Coubertin was for a time […]
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J.Temple asks: Why are the Olympians wearing colored tape on random parts of their bodies? The colored tape the Olympians and other athletes wear is called “Kinesio® Tex Tape”, which is essentially just an elastic cotton strip with an acrylic, heat activated adhesive. The tape was designed in the 1970s by a Japanese chiropractic and acupuncture specialist, Kenzo Kase. To […]
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Today I found out the official Olympic salute strongly resembles the “Heil Hitler” or “Nazi” salute. In this Olympic salute, your right arm should be held out, slightly to the side, and pointing in an upward angle. Likewise, your palm should be out and your fingers touching. The Nazi salute is more or less performed the same way, except it […]
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Kelly asks: Why do Olympians bite their medals? According to four time Olympic medalist Summer Sanders, mainly because the photographers incessantly ask them to until they do it, usually at the end of the podium photo shoot sessions. The tradition probably stems from the age old practice of testing whether something was really solid gold or not by biting it. […]
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Kelly asks: Do Olympic medalists receive cash prizes with their medals? Some are awarded cash prizes by their respective local Olympic committees or governments. Also, sometimes private businessmen will match values given, such as in Armenia where a man donated $700,000 to be added to the cash given by the Olympic committee for medals. Another similar thing occurred for Belarus […]
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Today I found out the original Olympic flag was missing for 77 years until 1920 Olympian Hal Haig Prieste revealed he’d had it the whole time. The year was 1920. The Summer Olympics were being held in Belgium in the city of Antwerp. At the end of the Olympic Games, the flag suddenly went missing. Fast-forward to 1997 and 101 […]
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Kelly asks: How much are Olympic gold medals worth? As far as the value of the raw materials in them, this varies from Olympiad to Olympiad. For the recent 2012 Olympics in London, the medals were the largest of any in Summer Olympic history up to that point, weighing in at 400g for the gold medal. Of this 400g, 394g […]
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Today I found out male giraffes take a mouthful of the female’s urine to determine if she’d be a good mate. This is known as the “Flehmen sequence”, where the male giraffe will approach the female and then rub against her backside until she pees. When/if she does, he’ll taste it to tell whether she’s in heat or not. If […]
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I’m very excited to announce that Eddie Deezen will now be contributing articles to Today I Fount Out. Besides appearing in or doing voice acting for a myriad of major motion pictures and TV shows including Grease; WarGames (one of my personal favorites growing up); Kim Possible; Dexter’s Laboratory; What’s New, Scooby-Doo; and Polar Express, Deezen also occasionally writes interesting […]
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Rebecca S. asks: The other day you answered why the Oscars are called the Oscars, now why are the Emmy Awards called “Emmy”? This one’s got a more succinct and well documented answer than the Oscar question. Pioneering TV engineer (and third American Academy of Television Arts President) Harry Lubcke suggested that the name “Immy” be used, named after the […]
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This Day In History: July 25, 1978 On this day in history, 1978, the first “test tube” baby, Louise Brown, was born weighing 5 lb. 12 oz. (2.6 kg) to Leslie and John Brown who had up to this point been unable to have a child due to Leslie’s lack of proper fallopian tubes. The couple eventually learned of and […]
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vipman.g asks: Why is there a light in my refrigerator and not in my freezer? While your freezer doesn’t have a light (or is perhaps just burnt out; you should check! ;-)), in fact, many freezers do have a light or lights. As to why it seems somewhat common for a lot of freezers not to have lights, there are […]
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Jesse L. asks: Why are the Oscars called the Oscars? No one is 100% sure, though the popular theory is that the nickname for the “The Academy Award of Merit”, as it is actually named, was coined by Academy Award librarian and future Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick. Supposedly she bestowed the nickname […]
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Today I found out the Hollywood sign originally read “HOLLYWOODLAND” and was lit with about 4,000, 20 watt light bulbs, which would flash “HOLLY” then “WOOD” then “LAND” then “HOLLYWOODLAND” repeatedly. The sign was originally put up in 1923 to promote a housing development. The owner of Crescent Sign Company, Thomas Fisk Goff, designed the sign itself, making the letters […]
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Nathan asks: Why does itching a mosquito bite make it itch more? It all comes down to your body’s histamine response to the female mosquito’s saliva. After the mosquito has drunk her fill of your blood, she leaves behind the cocktail that is her saliva. Your body’s response to this foreign substance is to produce a variety of antibodies to […]
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Today I found out thermostat controls in large buildings, such as many office buildings, don’t usually do anything. These placebo controls for large HVAC systems do nothing but make you think you are adjusting the temperature. In some cases, the system even includes white noise generators to make you think that the temperature controls are working, when in fact the […]
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You should know the difference between “farther” and “further”. Many people use “further” and “farther” interchangeable, but, in fact, they mean slightly different things. “Farther” refers to a physical distance, while “further” refers to a figurative distance. So, when wondering how many more miles or kilometers to a particular destination, you’d say, “How much farther to the gas station?” On […]
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