At nearly twice the size of its nearest relatives and holding enough venom to kill a man, the Asian Giant Hornet is a menace to people, bees and wasps alike. Eusocial, like other stinging insects, Vespa mandarinia live in well-organized colonies with a single queen and a host of drones and female workers. Habitat The Asian Giant Hornet is found […]
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Image via Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com Image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com 741: Golden Globe winner Richard Harris, today perhaps best known for his role as Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films before his death preceding the release of The Chamber of Secrets, wasn’t just an extremely accomplished actor, but also a successful musician. He even had a […]
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This Day In History: May 23, 1934 On May 23, 1934, the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, who spent over a year playing a game of cat-and-mouse with law enforcement, ended in a barrage of bullets during a police ambush. In spite of the horrific nature of their crimes, including murder, Bonnie and Clyde have become romanticized folk heroes […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the one-legged woman who was considered “the most dangerous of all allied spies” during WWII. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Dustin asks: Where did the expression “dead ringer” come from? You have probably heard the often-repeated story about how the original “dead ringer” was a person believed to be dead who was then buried alive. For various reasons, there is a good amount of evidence that being buried alive wasn’t the most uncommon thing in the world until relatively recently […]
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U.S. Presidents and sports have always been connected. Gerald Ford played football as a University of Michigan undergrad. George H.W. Bush played in the first two College World Series. George W. Bush was part owner of the Texas Rangers’ baseball franchise. Barack Obama frequently plays pickup basketball games with his staff (no doubt all terrified of accidentally hurting the Commander-in-Chief […]
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This Day In History: May 22, 1856 On May 22, 1856, an angry young Congressman from South Carolina entered the Senate chamber searching for a certain older Senator from Massachusetts. When the younger man honed in on the man in question, he beat him brutally with a gold tipped cane until it broke into pieces. Then he calmly walked away, […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the somewhat humorous tale of a nuclear physicist who decided to invade the island of Sark, by himself. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Saccharin is noted as being the first artificial sweetener, outside of the toxic Lead(II) acetate, and the first product to offer a cheap alternative to cane sugar. Interestingly enough, like the Chocolate Chip Cookie, it was also discovered entirely by accident. The chemical was discovered in 1878/9 in a small lab at Johns Hopkins University. The lab belonged to professor […]
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“When the outside world, with all its material wealth, suddenly descend[ed],” on remote cultures whose technology was limited to stone and wood, new belief systems often arose. On many of the islands of the southwest Pacific, the affluence and power of Western explorers, missionaries and colonists led to the creation of a number of religious sects that all shared a […]
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This is yet another great article from our friends over at The Medicine Journal– Jessica asks: Is it true there are ways to target losing the fat around your stomach? If so, how? A quick internet search will yield countless claims of ways to remove the unwanted fat from around your mid-section. From over-hyped diet pills promising to reduce levels […]
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This Day In History: May 21, 1999 On May 21, 1999, Susan Lucci, who’d been portraying “All My Children’s” legendary femme fatale Erica Kane for just shy of three decades, finally won an Emmy Award after being nominated an astounding 19 times. Having been nominated so many times to no avail, Lucci hadn’t even bothered to prepare an acceptance speech. […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about how one of the greatest philosophers and enlightenment thinkers only was able to exclusively spend his time on such endeavors because earlier he’d exploited a flaw in the French lottery, making himself and a few others vastly wealthy. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You […]
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Very little is known about Lance-Corporal James Welch prior to his actions during WWI. However, we do know some basic details. According to Welch’s grave in Bournemouth crematorium, he was born in 1889 on July 7th in the small English village of Stratfield Saye. Welch must have had a fairly boring childhood because literally the next thing recorded about his […]
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Warning: By necessity, this one contains profanity and vulgar references. So you may or may not want to read through it first if you normally share these articles with humans of the particularly youthful persuasion. 😉 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is famously known for being a child prodigy and one of the greatest musical composers of all time. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is one […]
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This Day In History May 20, 2005 On May 20, 2005, The Simpsons aired its 400th episode, earning the distinction of being the longest running series in television history. Not bad for a show that started as a cartoon used between sketches for a comedy series. Simpson’s creator Matt Groening got the gig on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987 […]
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In this episode, you’re going to to learn the incredible tale of Colonel William Rankin and his harrowing journey through a cumulonimbus cloud. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Image via Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com Image via catwalker / Shutterstock.com Image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com 731: In 1799, a young boy named Conrad Reed found a 17-pound “rock” while playing at a creek on his family farm in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. He and his family kept it as a doorstop for three years. His father, John Reed, impressed […]
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