This Day in History: January 21st

Today in History: January 21, 1959 Carl Switzer was best known as Alfalfa, the freckled-faced character with the uncontrollable cowlick from the popular Hal Roach “Our Gang” films. Switzer joined the cast when he was seven years old, and appeared in over 75 of the classic shorts. Alfalfa had many stand-out moments during the series, but the one he is […]

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Did Unicorns Ever Exist?

Kara asks: Did unicorns ever exist? On November 30, 2012, the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s government “news” agency, reported that scientists had “reconfirmed” the existence and location of the final resting place of the unicorn ridden by King Dongmyeong, the founding father of Goguryeo of an ancient Korean kingdom. The unicorn’s grave was located under a rock near […]

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This Day in History: January Twentieth

Today in History: January 20, 1949 J. Edgar Hoover founded the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ran it with an iron fist (and quite possibly prettily painted fingernails) for 48 years. During the early days, Hoover and his G-men were looked upon as America’s guardian angels – keeping the U.S. safe from plotting radicals, cross-country bank robbers/thrill killers, and Nazi […]

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Weekly Wrap Volume 22

This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. From Dream to 3-D Reality: The Fascinating Origin of Pixar Before a story about toys, before monsters went corporate, before anyone went searching for Nemo, and before twenty seven Academy Awards, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose  clients included the […]

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Why People on Planes and Ships Use the Word “Mayday” When in Extreme Distress

This is an excerpt from our new book: The Wise Book of Whys, available in: Print | Kindle | Nook | Audiobook Today I found out why those aboard planes and ships use the word “Mayday” to indicate they are in extreme distress. In 1923, a senior radio officer, Frederick Stanley Mockford, in Croydon Airport in London, England was asked to […]

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The Most Dangerous Profession: The Human Cannonball

Whenever there is a list released of the world’s most dangerous jobs, tree loggers, steelworkers, electrical power-line installers, and fisherman usually are the professions that populate the list.  But none of those things are nearly as dangerous as being propelled out of a long cylinder tube, flown through the air completely untethered, and attempting to land safely on the ground. […]

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Seagulls Will Not Blow Up if They Eat Alka-Seltzer

Seagulls, or gulls depending on how much you dislike syllables, are considered a pest to many, a minor, avoidable annoyance to many more and the harbingers of death OH GOD LOOK AT THEIR COLD DEAD EYES! to my neighbour who doesn’t get out much.  Over the years, there has been a persistent and rather macabre urban myth circulating that gulls […]

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Why Figure Skaters Don’t Seem Dizzy After Spinning

Justina asks: Why don’t figure skaters get dizzy after they spin? To understand why, it’s important to know why people get dizzy in the first place. Dizziness is controlled by the vestibular system in your upper inner ear. Within the vestibular system, there are three canals that contain fluid called endolymph, as well as sensory nerve cells that look sort […]

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Podcast Episode #23: Beam Me Up, Scotty

In this episode, you’re going to learn about how “Beam Me Up, Scotty” became a popular phrase despite the fact that it’s never actually uttered in the original Star Trek, as well as a few other interesting Star Trek facts. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by […]

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