In this video from MinuteEarth, they look at how learned behavior can get passed on to one’s offspring genetically. If you like TodayIFoundOut, odds are you’ll also greatly enjoy their videos. So go check them out and subscribe to their channel here. You can also join us in supporting their efforts to make more videos like this by donating via […]
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This Day In History: December 8, 1542 On December 8, 1542, Mary, Queen of Scots, renowned for her beauty and quick wit as well as her sad fate, was born at Linlithgow Palace. Her father, James V, was away fighting the English at the time of her birth. He had suffered a crushing defeat to Henry VIII at Solway Moss […]
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David S. asks: Here’s one for you, why exactly does Bond, James Bond, like his Martinis shaken and not stirred? A properly made martini is mostly dry gin with a bit of dry vermouth and ice (Epicurious recommends 5 parts gin to 1 part vermouth). All three should be placed into a cocktail shaker, but rather than shaking, they should […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader To some people, the word “corporation” has negative connotations, and not without reason—names like Enron and Lehman Brothers come to mind. But it’s also one of the greatest tools for economic growth ever invented. Here’s a brief, fascinating history of the corporation. BACKGROUND Most of us have a simple understanding […]
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According to the National Christmas Tree Association each year in the U.S. alone between 25 and 30 million live Christmas trees are sold. To accommodate this annual chopping fest, at any given time there are around 350 million trees growing on various Christmas tree farms in the United States. As for the other side of things, it’s not clear how […]
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For those of you interested in nerding up your wardrobe or otherwise finding a great inexpensive gift for someone, our good friends over at Neatorama are wrapping up their Cyber Week sale at their NeatoShop (ending tomorrow) including free world-wide shipping on all their shirts. They have a pretty ridiculous number of designs to pick from, so you’re sure to […]
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Today I found out the “ye” as in “Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe” should be pronounced “the”. The “Ye” here is not the “ye” as in “Judge not, that ye (you) be not judged”, but is rather a remnant of the letter “thorn” or “þorn” (Þ, þ). The letter thorn was used in Old Norse, Old English-Middle English, Gothic, and Icelandic […]
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As of 2014, the SpongeBob SquarePants brand has generated in excess of $13 billion since the pilot episode was released about a decade and a half ago. But have you ever stopped to wonder how on Earth a cartoon about an anthropomorphic kitchen sponge came to exist in the first place and how networks were convinced that it could not […]
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This Day In History: December 4, 1956 On December 4, 1956, one of the most famous and awe inspiring jam session in history occurred at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Four legendary performers happened to bump into one another, and, as musicians tend to do, sat down to play some tunes. They met completely by chance, the jam session was […]
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In this video from our YouTube channel (click here to subscribe), we take a look at the real story behind Krampus, the Christmas Demon. “May Krampus not take your child away in a basket!” To make sure you don’t miss out on many more videos like this, be sure and subscribe to our new daily channel! [TRANSCRIPT]
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You are most likely aware that a palindrome is a word or phrase that is spelled the same regardless of whether it’s read forward or backward. A few simple examples are noon, race car, dad, mom, and wow. But what happens when a word read backward creates a different word altogether? Welcome to the wonderful world of the semordnilap. One […]
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This Day In History: December 2, 1845 James K. Polk is one of those presidents that most people draw a complete blank on, like Fillmore or Hayes. He may not be high on the recognition scale, but Polk got things done- perhaps the only U.S. president to accomplish every major point he promised when campaigning for office, doing it all […]
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Reuel Colt Gridley was born and raised in Hannibal, Missouri in 1829, and lived there contemporaneously with Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), with Clemens claiming Gridley was a schoolmate of his. Leaving Missouri for greater adventure out west as a teenager, Gridley served in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and later joined the great California Gold Rush in 1852. (See: What […]
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Chris G. asks: Why are there so many countries that have a name that ends in stan? I was also wondering why we call people from many countries the name of their country ended with an, like Canada and Canadian? Denoting that it is a piece of the earth associated with a particular group of people, the suffix -stan simply […]
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Ryan L. asks: What makes Mexican jumping beans move around? Not actually a bean at all (beans being seeds from the family Fabaceae, also known as Leguminosae), the Mexican Jumping Bean is the seed pod of a shrub called Sebastiania pavoniana that has been implanted with larva from the Laspeyresia saltitans (also called Cydia deshaisiana) moth. When S. pavoniana begins […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Question: How many intelligence agencies does the U.S. have? Let’s see…there’s the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, and maybe…the DEA—that’s four, right? Wrong. How many do we really have? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! Just kidding. Correct answer: 17. Here’s the history of the whole—mostly secret—business. SPY STORY In January 1790, […]
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Jon A. asks: Has there ever been an example of a word being spelled incorrectly in the dictionary and did that then become the new accepted spelling? Despite my sincerest efforts, I could find no documented instance of a misspelled entry name (the word being defined) ever found in a widely circulated, non-user generated English dictionary. (I’m still skeptical it’s […]
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This Day In History: November 30, 1924 “Apparently all they know here in Washington about Brooklyn is that a tree grew there.” – Shirley Chisholm Congresswoman, civil rights activist, social reformer, and educator, Shirley Chisholm broke down racial and gender barriers in the 1960s and 1970s. She made history not only as the first black Congresswoman but also as the […]
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