Today I found out the origin of the sport basketball. Surprisingly, unlike most sports whose origins are somewhat obscure, often being the combination of other sports and developed gradually through time, basketball has a very precise and fully known origin (the inventor himself wrote an account of it, published after his death; see the “Sources and Further Reading” below). Even […]
Read more
Today I found out navel orange trees are all perfect clones of one another and all originate from a single tree in Brazil. In 1820, a mutation occurred in a group of sweet orange trees growing on the grounds of a monastery in Bahia, Brazil. The mutation created a seedless orange that was much sweeter than the original citrus fruit. […]
Read more
This Day In History: January 19, 1661 On this day in history, 1661, Thomas Venner was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Venner was originally a wine-cooper (someone who makes casks) before taking over leadership of the radical group, The Fifth Monarchy Men, after General Thomas Harrison, the previous leader of the group, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason himself in […]
Read more
Today I found out marshmallows were once made from the sap of marshmallow plants. Whether they are a hot chocolate topping treat, in the form of a sugar-coated critter, or roasting over a campfire, marshmallows are a favorite treat for many people. Marshmallows date back to as early as 2000 BC and were considered a delicacy deemed worthy only for […]
Read more
This Day In History: January 18, 2012 This day in history thousands of websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, TheOatmeal (which gives the most amusing of all the protests, though slightly inappropriate for younger audiences), WordPress, Makezine, Mozilla, and the entire O’Reilly Media network went black (complete list of confirmed websites that are participating), their owners voluntarily taking the sites […]
Read more
This Day In History: January 17, 1966 On this day in history, 1966, at around 10:30 a.m. a B-52G Bomber collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker, accidentally scattering its payload of four nuclear bombs, 70-kilotons each. Three of the bombs fell near the fishing village of Palomares, Spain, and the fourth landed in the Mediterranean Sea, taking a full 80 days […]
Read more
Today I found out Clifford the Big Red Dog was originally going to be named “Tiny”. Most of us know the story of Clifford the Big Red Dog: being born the runt of a litter of puppies; no one expected him to grow very big, but when Emily Elizabeth chose him as her friend, she gave so much love to […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic: Source: Today I Found Out For Part I, Part II & Part III: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Read more
Today I found out the origin of the term “Goodbye”. “Goodbye” comes from the term “Godbwye” a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye”. Depending on the source, the contraction seems to have first popped up somewhere between 1565 and 1575. The first documented use of the “Godbwye” appeared in a letter English writer and scholar Gabriel Harvey wrote […]
Read more
Today I found out Julius Caesar was once kidnapped by pirates and convinced them to up their ransom demand. A 25 year old Julius Caesar was sailing the Aegean Sea when he was kidnapped by Sicilian pirates. The pirates who captured him initially asked for a ransom of 20 talents of silver (which is about 620 kg of silver or […]
Read more
This Day In History: January 13, 1842 On this day in history, 1842, Dr. William Brydon, who had part of his skull sheared off at the time, rode an exhausted horse into the British garrison at Jalalabad, Afghanistan. When asked where the rest of the army was, he replied “I am the army”. In fact, he wasn’t actually the sole […]
Read more
Myth: Cats and dogs can only see in black and white The myth that cats and dogs are fully colorblind has been around for quite some time, despite the fact that it has been proven false for nearly half a century. Before this time, though, many thought that cats and dogs could only see in black and white. This myth […]
Read more
Embed This Infographic: [Source: Today I Found Out] For Part I and Part II: Part 1 Part 2
Read more
Today I found out the difference between The United Kingdom, England, and Great Britain. The actual name of the sovereign state we are talking about is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The United Kingdom is made up of the countries England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The confusion of the terms seems to revolve around […]
Read more
This Day In History: January 10, 49 BC On this day in history, 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with a legion of his soldiers, which was against Roman law. Specifically, Governors of Roman provinces (promagistrates) were not allowed to bring any part of their army within Italy itself and, if they tried, they automatically forfeited their right to […]
Read more
Myth: The “Big Dipper” is a constellation. In fact, the Big Dipper is an asterism. A constellation is an officially recognized group of stars as defined by the International Astronomical Union. Constellations are used to split the celestial sphere into different sections that aid in locating objects in the sky, kind of like landmarks on a map. An asterism, on […]
Read more
Today I found out the origin of the QWERTY keyboard. The first typewriter was introduced to the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. His first attempt to build a typing device consisted of a crude and sluggish machine that was far from perfect. The design used letters and characters on the ends of rods which were called typebars. […]
Read more
Today I found out what causes headaches. There are approximately 200 different types of headaches, classified in two main groups: primary and secondary. There are in the neighborhood of 42 types of primary headaches and 157 secondary headaches (unless I lost count, but should you want to verify those numbers, or just need a sleep-aid, feel free to review the […]
Read more