What Exactly is Malt?

Ryan asks: What exactly is malt? For millions of drinkers, it is perhaps the most important ingredient in the world. Malt, Exactly  Malt is the product that is left over after a cereal grain has been dried, allowed to sprout, air dried again, then heated in an oven. Any of a variety of cereal grains, including rice, wheat, oats and […]

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This Day in History: February 5th

Today in History: February 5, 1919 By 1919, the motion picture business was a multi-million dollar enterprise, but most of the profits were going to the studio heads who kept the stars under contract, drastically limiting their earning power in most cases. That’s why some the major movie stars of the day such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, her husband […]

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Why Japan is Called the Land of the Rising Sun

Noah asks: Why is Japan called the land of the rising sun? Ancient, China developed all of the hallmarks of advanced civilization, including written language, advanced cities, specialized labor and bronze technology, as much as 2000 years before Japan. As a result, China, and its culture, had an enormously large influence on the younger culture, sharing its philosophies, political structures, […]

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This Day in History: February 4th

Today in History: February 4, 1938 “Magic Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” This simple question kicks off the world’s first full-length animated feature film, released across the United States on this day in 1938. An adaptation of a fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm collections, the evil queen, clearly having a mid-life crisis, is […]

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Podcast Episode #36: Who was Mother Goose

In this episode you’re going to learn just who was “Mother Goose” and how a collection of children’s stories got attributed to “her”. We’re also happy to say that Squarespace is offering a 10% discount to all our listeners, which you can get by going to squarespace.com and signing up with the offer code: DailyKnowledge For those not familiar, Squarespace […]

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There Is Technically No Such Thing as an Electric Eel

Myth: Electric “eels” exist. There are, however, electric fish: eight-foot long, 600 volt, mouth breathing, alligator-killing fish. Electrophorus electricus Although there are a number of fish that produce an electric charge, the species that is called “electric eel,” E. electricus, is a member of the fish order, ostariophysian. Mistaken for an eel due to its shape and lack of pelvic, […]

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This Day in History: February 3rd

Today in History: February 3, 1780 Just as the clock was striking midnight in Litchfield County, Connecticut on February 3, 1780, a young man brutally bludgeoned to death his landlord Caleb Mallory, Caleb’s wife Jane and their nine-year-old granddaughter. After the murderer robbed the home, he burned it down with two of the couple’s other sleeping grandchildren still inside, two […]

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Weekly Wrap Volume 24

This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Woman Who Survived All Three Disasters Aboard the Sister Ships: the Titanic, Britannic, and Olympic Violet Jessop enjoyed incredible “luck” from a young age. Born in 1887 in Argentina to Irish immigrants, she contracted tuberculosis as a young child and was […]

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Smedley Butler and the Business Plot

In 1933 and 1934, an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) by Wall Street Bankers may have happened. While contemporary newspapers called it a “gigantic hoax,” others, including the House’s Special Committee on Un-American Activities, found the allegations “credible.” You decide: The Bankers & Power Brokers During the campaign of 1932, FDR’s promise of jobs […]

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