Today I found out what R.S.V.P. stands for, namely Répondez S’il Vous Plaît, which translates roughly as “please reply” or “reply if it pleases you”. So how did R.S.V.P. make its way into being used for wedding invitations and the like? This dates all the way back to around the 11th century when French became the fashion among the elite […]
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As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve now got a brand new site design for Today I Found Out. The new layout offers a lot more flexibility in terms of adding some different kinds of content we’re working on to compliment the articles. For instance, we’ve just launched This Day In History. Starting today and from now on, there will be a […]
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This Day In History: November 16th LSD, more technically known as Lysergic acid diethylamide was first synthesized on November 16th, 1938 by Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann. Dr. Hofmann was working at the Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland researching ergot alkaloid derivatives for use in pharmaceuticals. Ergot alkaloid’s are a type of ergoline alkaloid which is found in a certain type […]
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This Day In History: November 15, 1859 The first of the modern Olympic games were played in Athens, Greece on November 15, 1859. These were the first Greek Olympics in around 1450-ish years, with the original Olympic games beginning around 776 BC and ending around 393-426 AD. The revival of the Olympics was primarily thanks to Evangelos Zappas and Panagiotis […]
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Today I found out Elizabeth Taylor was at one time Carrie Fisher’s step-mother. Carrie Fisher, who’s best known for her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars, is the daughter of famed entertainers Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. At the height of Eddie Fisher’s fame as a singer and eventual TV show host in the 1950s, he married actress Debbie […]
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##EMBED## In the cartoon “Pinky and the Brain”, Brain’s name is an acronym for “Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus”. Pinky’s name is probably a reference to the fact that a “pinky” is another name for a baby mouse that has not yet grown fur. However, in the cartoon itself, the name was given to Pinky when Brain was referring to […]
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##EMBED## Before launching the Chef Boyardee line of products, Chef Boiardi, in 1915 at the age of 17 years old, supervised the catering for President Woodrow Wilson’s wedding reception. Source
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The story of Play-Doh began when Kutol, a Cincinnati based soap company, was about to go under in the late 1920s. Cleo McVicker, just 21 years old, was tasked with selling off the company’s remaining assets, which at the time comprised mainly of powdered hand soap. Once that was done, the company would be too. Cleo, however, managed to turn […]
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##EMBED## A good way to clear a stuffed up nose is to eat spicey foods. The capsaicin that causes the hot sensation on your tongue also has the same type of effect on the mucous membranes in your nose, causing them to become inflamed and overactive, resulting in your nose running. It can also cause your eyes to water, which […]
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##EMBED## If you run out of dryer sheets and fabric softener, white vinegar or hair conditioner can be used as a low-grade fabric softener and they have a mild anti-static effect. White vinegar also works well to get rid of mildew, if your clothes have mildewed. In either case, simply soak a small rag in the vinegar or hair conditioner […]
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##EMBED## Weird Al Yankovic has a degree in architecture. After graduating from college with that degree, Weird Al decided he didn’t like architecture and so applied for a job at McDonald’s, but was ultimately rejected due to being overqualified. He later got a job in a mail room. Source
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##EMBED## The name “tetris” derives from the Greek prefix “tetra-” (because the game pieces are all tetrominoes) and the latter “-is” is from “tennis”, which is the primary creator of Tetris’, Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov, favorite sport. Tetrominoes are four element polyominoes. Polyominoes are known to have been used in puzzle games for at least 90 years (and most likely much further […]
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Today I found out Post-It Notes were invented by accident. There were actually two accidents that lead to the invention of the Post-It note. The first was by Spencer Silver. According to the former Vice President of Technical Operations for 3M Geoff Nicholson (now retired), in 1968, Silver was working at 3M trying to create super strong adhesives for use […]
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##EMBED## “Stadium” originally meant “a foot race” or “an ancient measure of length”, which was about a furlong or 1/8 of a Roman mile. The name was also affixed to any track that was one stadium in length. This eventually became any running track and, finally, as we use it today to refer to any large structure used for sporting […]
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##EMBED## “Super Bowl” and “Super Sunday” are trademarked by the NFL. As a result of this, any advertisement, event, promotion, etc. that wants to refer to the Super Bowl has to come up with some colloquialism or be granted rights to do so by the NFL, which rarely happens. For the Super Bowl, the most popular colloquialism is “The Big […]
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##EMBED## The word “nougat” is French and comes from the Old Provencal word “nogat”, meaning “nut cake”. This, in turn, derives from the Latin “nux”, meaning “nut”. Nougat is known to have been around since around the 9th century in Greece. However, it was a generally unpopular sweet until the 17th century in France. Source
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Today I found out laminated glass, also known as “Safety Glass”, was invented by accident. Laminated glass can be found in car windshields, bank teller protective barriers, and a variety of other places where shatterproof glass is a necessity. This type of safety glass was invented by Frenchman Édouard Bénédictus. Bénédictus is probably more popularly remembered for his art, but […]
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##EMBED## “Comet” comes from the Latin “cometes”, which in turn comes from the Greek “kometes”, meaning “long-haired”. This all in turn comes from Aristotle using a derivation of the Greek “koun”, “kountng” (“stars with hair”), which eventually came to be “kometes” (long-haired) and then “cometes”, in Latin, and finally “comet” in English. Source
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