On this day in history, November 22nd… 1963 : President John F. Kennedy, was fatally shot while traveling with his wife and others in a Presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The President was traveling in Dallas in an open-top convertible along with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, the Texas Governor John Connally, and his wife, on a route that was planned to give […]
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Text Version: Humans enjoy five or more different tastes namely: sour, bitter, salty, umami (associated with meat), and sweet. We can taste sweet things thanks to two proteins generated by two separate genes. Cats, on the other hand, have a mutant chemoreceptor in their taste buds that prevents them from tasting sweet things, which is actually a trait shared by […]
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The real name of the “Birdman” was Robert Franklin Stroud. Seattle born Stroud ran away from home at the age of 13 and was first arrested in 1909 at the age of 19 after turning himself in for murder. He shot and killed a bartender, F. K. Von Dahmer, who had allegedly failed to pay a prostitute for whom Stroud was […]
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On this day in history, November 21st… 1877 : Thomas Edison announced the first of his inventions, the phonograph, a tinfoil cylindrical device that could not only record sounds, but could also re-play the recorded sound. While experimenting with a way to record telephone communications at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison developed a device using a stylus on […]
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Romi asks: How did the “pie in the face” gag get its start? The very first known “pie in the face” gag, also known as “pieing”, was in a movie- which movie is a matter of dispute. It is definitely agreed that the first film “pie in the face” was thrown in a silent comedy in the early days of […]
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Text Version: The Bowhead Whale is also known as the Arctic whale, because it lives only in Arctic waters unlike other whales that migrate to feed. The Bowhead whale is by far the longest living mammal on the planet. Some Bowhead whales have been seen with ivory spears still lodged in them from failed attempts by whalers over 200 years […]
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Text Version: – The average age of a Nobel Peace prize recipient is 62 years old. The oldest recipient was Joseph Rotblat, he was 87 years old when he received his Nobel Peace prize for his worldwide campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons. – Mahatma Gandhi surprisingly never won a Nobel Peace prize, despite being nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, […]
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On this day in history, November 20th… 1820 : An estimated 80 ton sperm whale attacked and destroyed the whaling ship, Essex, an event that partly inspired the novel Moby Dick. (Read more about this story here) 1873 : The two rival cities occupying the banks of the river Danube, “Buda” on the west-bank and “Pest” on the east-bank, were united to form […]
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This is a guest post by Noah Wass- Plastics Engineer, bicycle expert, and owner of BikeInReview.com where you will find professional bike related reviews and interesting biking news. Subscribe to his newsletter here. The bicycle was invented all the way back in 1817. A certain Baron Karl von Drais needed to get around easier while working in the Royal Gardens […]
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Text Version: The growth rate of your fingernails (and toenails) is related to the length of the outermost finger bones. Which is why your middle finger grows faster than that of your pinkey or any of your other fingernails for that matter. The same applies to your toenails. That is why fingernails grow up to four times faster than your […]
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Text Version: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” Album was the first CD ever released in the United States. Bruce Springsteen began recording the album in January 1982 and didn’t finish it until March 1984. The CD was released on June 4, 1984and the album went on to become the best selling album of 1985 in the U.S. The album […]
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Felix K asks: Is white chocolate actually chocolate? That depends on who you ask, but on the whole most chocolate connoisseurs would say no. Chocolate is a range of products made with chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa solids, among other ingredients. Depending on the proportions of the cocoa, there are several types of chocolate like dark chocolate, milk chocolate, […]
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It was a cloudy, overcast Saturday morning on May 1, 1920. Pitcher Joe Oeschger (pronounced esh-ker) didn’t even think the game would be played, as it had rained most of the morning. And even if it was played, he didn’t think he would be the starting pitcher. “Manager (George) Stallings usually pitched me on Sundays because I went to church”, […]
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On this day in history, November 19th… 1863 : American President Abraham Lincoln, gives the one of the best-known speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Around four and a half months prior to the address, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil war took place in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Often described as the turning point in the American Civil war, […]
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On October 9, 1985, the great director and actor, Orson Welles, was scheduled to appear on “The Merv Griffin Show”, one of TV’s most popular talk shows. Griffin had actually met Welles years before at his Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow. “I was right outside his bungalow”, recalled Griffin. “I introduced myself, and he said ‘I know who you are and […]
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