Today I found out there once was a MLB player who stole first from second. We’ve all seen the occasional child playing football accidentally run the wrong way on the field, and if you watch enough T-ball, you might even occasionally see a kid run the wrong way on the base paths. It turns out, there was once a Major […]
Read more
Today I found out the origin of the word “lukewarm”. You’ve probably wondered why we have the word “lukewarm” for describing something that is only slightly warm. Why not “stevewarm” or “beckywarm”? Well if you didn’t before, hopefully you’re wondering now. It turns out, while today using “luke” to mean “warm” has gone out of fashion, possibly due to the […]
Read more
This Day In History: August 16, 1948 On this day in history, 1948, the Sultan of Swat died due to naso-pharyngeal cancer (often mistakenly said to have been throat cancer). While his historic years as a baseball player are well chronicled, less talked about are the Babe’s final years. George Herman “Babe” Ruth was one of the most popular and […]
Read more
Today I found out the difference between a donkey and a mule. Put simply, a donkey is the descendant of the African wild ass (of which there are only about 500 left in the wild today). Donkeys are a different species than a horse, but in the same family. They were originally bred in Egypt or Mesopotamia around 5,000 years […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Today I found out that uniform regulation in the British Army between the years 1860 and 1916 stipulated that every soldier should have a moustache. Command No. 1,695 of the King’s Regulations read: The hair of the head will be kept short. The chin and the under lip will be shaved, but not the upper lip… Although the act of […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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. […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic [Source: Today I Found Out]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Today I found out John Lennon once almost beat a man to death. Was John Lennon gay? “Why are you bringing up such a ridiculous question? Who cares if he was gay? I thought this article was about John Lennon almost beating a guy to death.” Well, it is, it is, keep reading and you will see all the pieces […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic [Source: Today I Found Out]
Read more