Mark R. asks: Why didn’t people in the middle ages ever bathe? To begin with, it is something of a common misconception to say people never bathed in the Middle Ages (or centuries around it). In fact, in some regions, bathing regularly (in some form or other) wasn’t really all that different than today. And even in regions where it […]
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Today I found out newborn babies cry without tears until they are several weeks old. Newborn babies are incapable of producing actual tears because their tear ducts haven’t fully formed yet. In many cases, their underdeveloped tear ducts can also be clogged with amniotic fluid for a time after birth. Every baby is born with basal tearing, which means that […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Echo Related Facts The word “echo”, as we use it, comes from Greek mythology. Echo was a Nymph whose job it was to talk to Hera constantly while Zeus was having affairs, thus distracting Hera. When Hera found out, she cursed Echo to only be able to repeat what someone […]
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Today I found out the pyramids of Giza were originally white. When the pyramids were originally finished, they were plated in and outer layer of white “casing stones”. These casing stones were cut with astounding precision to give a smooth slope to the pyramids, unlike how they appear today with the outer stones more or less forming very large “steps”. […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Earth and Sun Facts The energy required to stop the Earth orbiting the sun is about 2.6478 × 10^33 joules or 7.3551 × 10^29 watt hours or 6.3285*10^17 megatons of TNT. For reference, the largest nuclear explosion ever detonated (the Tsar Bomba by the Soviet Union) “only” produced 50 megatons […]
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Today I found out in 1899 ninety percent of New York City’s taxi cabs were electric vehicles. This fleet of electric cars was built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. Not only that, but in 1899 and 1900, electric cars outsold all other types of cars, such as gas and steam powered vehicles. In 1902 an electric […]
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Today I found out that Benjamin Franklin, through extensive study of the world’s major religions and various moral codes, came up with a list of thirteen main virtues that he felt every person should strive to live their life by. As such, he himself attempted to always live by this code and developed charts with which he charted his progress […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Einstein Facts Einstein got his wife to agree to divorce him by offering her the money he would hopefully some day receive if he ever won a Nobel Prize for one or more of his papers he wrote in 1905 (no lack of confidence there) 🙂 . Apparently, she must […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Bison Facts Before horses and guns were introduced to Native Americans, hunting bison was a dangerous affair, the bison being quite aggressive and hard to kill. One of the methods of hunting them that the Native Americans would then use was to attempt to herd a large group of bison […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Cockroach Facts The primary reason cockroaches and many types of insects are so resistant to ionizing radiation is that their cells don’t divide that much between molting cycles. Cells are most susceptible to damage by ionizing radiation when they are dividing. Given that a typical cockroach only molts about once […]
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Today I found out “Killer Whales”, or Orcas, are actually dolphins. In fact, they are the largest member of the dolphin family, Delphinidae. Now strictly speaking, whales are marine animals of the order of Cetacea and occasionally Cetacea is used to refer to not just whales, but also porpoises and dolphins. However, it generally excludes these latter mariner animals, which […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Myths and Facts About Suicide About four men will commit suicide for every one woman that commits suicide. Interestingly, despite this fact, nearly three times as many women as men will attempt to kill themselves.
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##EMBED## Click Here to Find Out Why Poop is Brown The word “poop” comes from the onomatopoeia poupen or popen, which originally meant “fart”. “Poop” came into its current meaning around 1900.
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn About How a 50% Stake in Domino’s Pizza Was Once Traded for a Volkswagen Beetle The dots in the Domino’s Pizza logo represent the first three Domino’s Pizza restaurants opened. Originally, Monaghan had planned on adding a dot for every store he opened. This quickly became impractical.
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn Why Turkeys are Called Turkeys A group of turkeys is technically called a “rafter”, though they are often incorrectly referred to as a “gobble” or simply a “flock”.
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Twinkie Facts Being a vegan and raw-foodist, Woody Harrelson did not actually eat any real Twinkies in the movie Zombieland. Rather, the “Twinkies” he was shown eating were made from cornmeal and were vegan-safe.
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Today I Found Out is now available on the Amazon Kindle. If you’re interested in getting the Kindle Edition of Today I Found Out, go here to subscribe: Today I Found Out Kindle Edition The Kindle edition of Today I Found Out is specifically formatted for the Kindle and has no advertisements. It is also automatically delivered wirelessly to your […]
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Today I found out what happens if a cat’s whiskers are damaged or clipped. It turns out, cat’s whiskers are an essential sensory mechanism. Damage a cat’s whiskers and it will cause them not only discomfort, but also to become confused and disorientated, among other negative side effects. Whiskers themselves are nothing more than a type of thick/long hair. The […]
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