Today I found out about one of the great practical jokes of the 19th century, the Berners Street Hoax. The year was 1809. Famed English author, Theodore Hook, made a bet with one of his close friends, the noted architect and writer, Samuel Beazley, that within one week, he could make any house in London the most talked about place […]
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##EMBED## The Origins of Halloween: Halloween, as we know it today, borrows traditions 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”, which comprises the bulk of the origins of Halloweedn traditions The Catholic Hallowmas period of “All Soul’s […]
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Today I found out caterpillars’ bodies “melt” almost completely before morphing into butterflies in the chrysalis. In order for the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly to take place within the pupa, the caterpillar begins releasing enzymes that literally digest nearly all of its own body. What’s left inside the chrysalis is mostly just a very nutrient rich soup […]
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##EMBED## The custom of wearing costumes or masks comes from the Celtic tradition of young men impersonating evil spirits by dressing up in white costumes with blackened faces or masks in an attempt to placate the spirits. Trick or treating comes from the Middle-Age practice of the poor dressing up in costumes and going around door to door during […]
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Today I found out a 61 year old potato and sheep farmer once won one of the world’s most grueling athletic competitions. The man was an Australian by the name of Albert Ernest Clifford “Cliff” Young, who decided to take up running as a sport at the age of 57. The competition was the Westfield run, which is an ultra-marathon that […]
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##EMBED## Today in North America around $3 billion is spent on Halloween costumes alone. Haunted house attractions bring in about half a billion dollars annually Around 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins were produced in the United States in 2009. They were valued at $141 million and the vast majority of those pumpkins were sold around Halloween. Halloween candy sales average […]
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##EMBED## Trick or Treating Stats Around 35 million children in the U.S. between 5 and 13 years old go trick or treating every year, which is around 90% of all children in that age group. Around 50% of adults in the U.S. will dress up for Halloween and about 67% will attend a Halloween party or go trick or treating […]
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Today I found out saying “ahoy-hoy” was at one time the preferred way to answer the phone. The very brief popularity of this telephone greeting stemmed from the fact the “ahoy-hoy” was Alexander Graham Bell’s preferred way to answer the phone. Ahoy-hoy derives from the term “ahoy”, which is generally associated with being a nautical term used for hailing ships. […]
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Myth: Aerosol sprays damage the Earth’s ozone layer. This misconception stems primarily from the fact that, originally, aerosol cans used chlorofluorocarbons as a propellant. Chlorofluorocarbons were also used commonly in refrigerators, air conditioners, and for many industrial applications. Chlorofluorocarbons were particularly popular because they are non-flammable, non-toxic, and non-reactive to most compounds. However, after scientists began to observe that the […]
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Today I found out Jimmy Stewart was a two star general in the United States military. In 1940, Jimmy Stewart was drafted into the United States Army, but ended up being rejected due to being five pounds under the required weight, given his height (at the time he weighed 143 pounds). Not to be dissuaded, Stewart then sought out the help […]
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Today I found out Randy and Sharon Marsh and Gerald and Shelia Broflovsky were named after Trey Parker’s and Matt Stone’s parents respectively. Trey Parker’s dad’s name is Randy Parker and, like Randy Marsh, he’s a geologist. Sharon Parker is an insurance broker, unlike Sharon Marsh, who is a receptionist at Tom’s Rhinoplasty. In addition to that, Shelley Marsh on […]
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Myth: Helen Keller was born blind and deaf. In fact, Helen Keller was born able to see and hear just fine and continued to be able to do so until she was about one and a half years old. At that time, she became sick with some type of illness. What that particular illness was isn’t entirely known. However, it […]
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Today I found out the first woman to cast a vote in Chicago did so with her feet. The woman was Kittie Smith. Smith lost her arms as a child, after having both her arms and hands burned badly on a kitchen stove. It is unclear exactly how her arms came to be burned so badly so that they needed […]
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##EMBED## Before her teacher first came to her, Helen Keller, in her autobiography, stated “My dreams have strangely changed during the past twelve years. Before and after my teacher first came to me, they were devoid of sound, of thought or emotion of any kind, except fear, and only came in the form of sensations. I would often dream that […]
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##EMBED## Honey Bees do usually die when stinging humans, but not when stinging many other things. The reason being that the barbs in the stinger get caught in our flesh and rip off the stinger and some of the bee’s insides attached to it, spelling certain doom for the bee. However, while stinging insects and many other things, this is […]
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##EMBED## Pumpkin carving being associated with Halloween comes from a method used by the Celts to ward off evil spirits during Samuin (a festival where many of the traditions of Halloween come from). The Celts would hollow out turnips, then carve faces in them and place candles inside. The turnips were then either placed in the windows, to keep evil […]
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##EMBED## Keanu Reeves donated about 75 million dollars from his Matrix earnings to the costume and special effects teams who worked on the films. Sources and More Interesting Keanu Reeves Facts
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##EMBED## In Harry Potter, Ron’s patronus is a jack russel terrier, known for chasing otters; Hermione’s patronous is an otter. The otter was chosen for Hermione because it is part of the weasel family. Harry Potter
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