For more Halloween related information, be sure and check out: 15 Facts About Halloween [Infographic]. Today I found out where the word “witch” came from. The word “witch” derives from the Old English words “wicca” and “wicce” (masculine and feminine forms, respectively). This later became “wicche”, in Middle English, which meant the same thing as “wicca” and “wicce”, but didn’t […]
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Myth: Vikings warriors wore horned or winged helmets. To date, there is no evidence that any Viking warrior wore a horned helmet and there is significant evidence that they didn’t wear such impractical headgear. So how did this myth get started? A probable source is found in romanticized versions of the Vikings appearing around the mid17th century to 18th century, […]
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Today I found out what causes a hangover. There are several things that contribute to hangovers, but one of the principal factors is simple dehydration. Alcohol has a dehydrating effect by inhibiting the release of vasopressin, which is an anti-diuretic hormone. So, in layman’s terms, the result of alcohol inhibiting the vasopressin is that your body produces a lot more […]
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Today I found out the first known robot was created around 400-350 BC by the mathematician Archytas and was an artificial bird. Archytas, who is known as the “father of mechanical engineering,” constructed his bird out of wood and used steam to power the movements of the robot. This bird was then suspended from a pivot bar. In its best […]
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Myth: Microwaves cook from the inside out. Microwave ovens do not “cook from the inside out”, as many people say. Microwaves actually heat from the outside in, very similar to other heating methods. Microwaves are actually pretty simple devices. The core components needed for a microwave are simply a magnetron and a high voltage source. If you want to make […]
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Today I found out Harry Houdini piloted the first controlled airplane flight over Australia. Houdini initially became fascinated by aviation in 1909, purchasing a French Voisin biplane for $5000 and subsequently hiring a full time mechanic to maintain it. In his first flight attempt, he crashed the plane, but with the help of his mechanic, fixed it up and made […]
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Myth: Goldfish have a three second memory. In fact, goldfish actually have very good memories for fish. They can be trained to respond various ways to certain colors of light; different kinds of music; and other sensory cues. Not only that, but they seem to be able to remember things they are taught as much as a year later. Researchers […]
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Today I found out what the dot over the lower case letter “i” is called, namely a “tittle”. While this isn’t a commonly used word any longer, the expression “jot or tittle” still endures in some places, meaning something to the effect of “a very small amount” or “iota”. A classic example of this expression can be seen in the […]
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Today I found out why the Moon looks bigger on the horizon than when it is higher in the sky. This is a question that has been debated for several thousand years. One popular myth, dating all the way back to Aristotle in the 4th century BC and which still endures somewhat today, is that it is simply a case […]
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Today I found out Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Voyde Harrelson, was a contract killer. Charles Harrelson is most noted for having been convicted of assassinating U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr. outside of a parking lot in San Antonio, Texas, as well as being convicted of killing a grain dealer, Sam Degalia, Jr., for money. In the latter case, […]
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Myth: Lemmings commit mass suicide. So when did this myth get started? Well, nobody knows exactly, but it was a 1958 documentary by Disney, which won an Academy Award, by the way, that appears to have popularized the myth. In the wildlife documentary White Wilderness, a few dozen lemmings were imported to Alberta, Canada so that they could be filmed […]
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Today I found out where the word “wiki” comes from. Howard G. Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki which was launched in 1995 called WikiWikiWeb, upon his first visit to Hawaii was informed by an airport employee that he needed to take the wiki wiki bus between the air port’s terminals. Not understanding what the person was telling him, […]
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Myth: “Hot dog” was coined at a New York Giants baseball game. You’ll often hear that the name “hot dog” comes from a cartoon drawn by T.A. Dorgan during a New York Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds around 1902-1906 (date varies depending on who’s telling the story). At this game, he supposedly observed a vendor, Harry Stevens, selling […]
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Today I found out why the hottest part of the summer is called the “Dog Days”. The earliest reference to some aspect of this expression goes all the way back to the Ancient Egyptians. They noted that the heliacal rising of the star Sirius heralded the hottest part of the summer. However, it isn’t exactly known why the ancient Egyptians […]
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Myth: It has been 823 years since the last time October had 5 Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays You may have seen this spread about in little cartoon pictures and on twitter/facebook/etc. In fact, it’s actually not rare at all for this to happen (last time it happened was 2004). It actually happens in the following pattern for months containing 31 days, not just […]
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Today I found out where the word “lego” comes from. In 1934, Danish carpenter Ol Kirk Kristiansen, the founder of what we now know of as Lego®, asked his staff to come up with a good name for his growing toy company. The two names that ended up being finalists were “Legio” and “Lego”. The first was a reference to […]
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Myth: The reason there is no Nobel Price for Mathematics is because Alfred Nobel’s fiancée wife had an affair with a mathematician. You’d be hard pressed to take any upper level university level mathematics course and not hear some variation of this story at least once per term from your mathematics professor (I personally have heard it from three different […]
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Today I found out why milk is white. Milk is made up of about 87% water and 13% solids, such as fat and various proteins. Chief among these proteins is something called casein, four types of which make up about 80% of the proteins in milk. The casein protein molecules are typically suspended somewhat uniformly throughout the milk and are […]
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