Who We Are
Editor:
Daven Hiskey, Daven has a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science as well as a fairly significant background in mathematics, physics, astronomy, history, literature, electrical engineering, and music, spending much of his time in college seeing if he could set a record for course credits, student loans, and years spent to achieve a single B.S. degree that had little to do with a good portion of the classes he took. 😉 Check out Daven’s articles here.Administrator:
Alexis DeStout-Hiskey, Alexis has vast experience in running and administering a variety of companies in a few different fields, working every facet of the companies from sales to marketing to managing overall operations and strategy. Here at TodayIFoundOut and our parent company, Vacca Foeda Media, she does a little bit of everything, as well as making sure we all stay on track and continue to churn out as much great and high quality content as possible with the team and resources available.Authors:
Eddie Deezen Besides appearing in or doing voice acting for a myriad of major motion pictures and TV shows including Grease, WarGames, Kim Possible, Dexter’s Laboratory, What’s New, Scooby-Doo, and Polar Express, Deezen also occasionally writes interesting informational/trivia type articles for Today I Found Out. You can read Eddie’s articles here.
Julia, Ph.D. Julia has a PhD in Sociology and has over eight years of teaching experience at the University of Dnipropetrovsk in the Ukraine. Check out Julia’s articles here.
Theodoros II, J.D.-M.A. Theodoros has a “cum laude” degree in Law from the University of Athens, a Master’s Degree in Legal History from the University of Pisa, and a First Certificate in English from Cambridge University. When called upon to do so, he can explain in Greek, French, Italian, and English. He is legally to blame for his new blog here, and in his spare time he fools around trying to shirk meeting the overwhelming demand for his freelance work, some of which can be read here. Check out all of Theodoros’ articles on TodayIFoundOut here.
Noreen: Noreen is a talented writer, graphic designer, and chef. Noreen primarily lends her considerable and wide-ranging talents on Today I Found Out to creating the infographics you’ll see pop up every few weeks here. She also occasionally contributes articles. Check out Noreen’s infographics and articles on Today I Found Out and her work on here own website Picture the Recipe.
Deborah Honeycutt: Deborah is a morning radio personality in Indianapolis, where she’s been waking for work at 3 am for nearly 20 years. Sleep-deprived and addicted to Starbucks, she has a passion for writing and also blogs at aMomandaMicrophone.wordpress.com. Deborah spends hours searching for her car keys and has been named the CMA and ACM Large Market Personality of the Year.
Emily Upton, B.A. Emily is a recent graduate of Hollins University with a B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing. She has worked in a bookstore, as a secretarial assistant, as a publishing intern, and most recently as a nanny. In her free time, she likes to read, travel, cuddle koalas, and pat kangaroos. Check out Emily’s articles here.
Tegan Jones, M.A. With an Honours degree in English Literature and History, and a Masters in Museums Studies, Tegan is a sucker for all things old and dead. Previously a corporate robot for an up-market chocolate company, she is now a freelance writer who enjoys working from home in her pajamas and 1-Up mushroom beanie. Her other passions include food, books, games and her cat Scully. She currently maintains her own food history blog called Delicious History. You can check out Tegan’s TIFO articles here.
Matt Blitz, B.A. Matt is a writer, comedian, and winner of multiple “good effort” ribbons. After finishing 53rd in the world in rock, paper, scissors, he went into hiding due to the fame such a distinction brings. He has since come out from hiding to find the world hasn’t changed much in those 16 hours. Matt is also a field agent/writer/traveler for atlasobscura.com and Obscura Society LA. He currently resides in Los Angeles and he likes putting pictures up on Facebook. You can checkout Matt’s TIFO articles here.
Staci Lehman, B.A. Staci Lehman is a mild mannered civil servant by day with a repressed writer inside that comes out at night. Staci has a journalism degree that she originally used as a television news producer until one day she was forced to lead her show with a story about a duck at a local park that had a misshapen head. At that point it was clear to her that her TV days were behind her and she might as well get a government job with good benefits at least. Staci contributes monthly articles to Today I Found Out, which you can check out here.
Scott: Scott is a long time paramedic and fire fighter who has obviously particular expertise in the medical field and the human body in general. He also has an extensive background in physics, specializing in the fundamental forces. Check out Scott’s Today I Found Out articles here.
Melissa, B.A., J.D. Melissa has a B.A. and a J.D. but law is a vicious business, so she writes. Although particularly interested in all things Fortean, Melissa also loves history and cooking. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two sons and a cat. Check out Melissa’s Today I Found Out articles here.
Jeremy Megraw, M.L.S. Jeremy Megraw is a photograph librarian and blogger for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. When not helping researchers find pictures, he writes Noted and Blogged for NYPL and tweets about random wonders of the universe. He also contributes to Crime Fiction Lover. His passions include frolicking with his family, reading Scandinavian crime fiction, and tending his pet iguana. Check out Jeremy’s Today I Found Out articles here.
Terynn Boulton B.S., B.E. Terynn has a B.S., as well as a B.E. degree. Her writing career began in elementary school with adventure stories starring her pet hamster, Montgomery. Now with three daughters of her own in elementary school, Terynn continues to write children’s fiction and has entered the realm of blogging. She currently runs three blogs: deardaughters.ca, musingsofamom.net and themotherlists.com. She also, of course, writes articles for TodayIFoundOut.com. Check out Terynn’s Today I Found Out articles here.
Karl Smallwood Karl Smallwood is a freelance writer who graduated from university in 2012 with a degree in Media. Since then he’s been making ends meet writing articles on a range of topics across the web, including Man Cave Daily, Cracked, Listverse and Toptenz. He’s currently the lead researcher and writer over at Factfiend.com and can be contacted via both Twitter and Tumblr.Check out Karl’s Today I Found Out articles here.
Sarah Stone, BA Sarah earned her B.A. in History and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She worked in an office, in a clothing store, and a supermarket before settling on dog training during the day and freelance writing at night. She spends her limited free time reading and hanging out with her dogs. Check out Sarah’s Today I Found Out articles here.Frequent Guest Contributor
Jon: Jon is the owner of DumpADay.com, which currently pulls in 11-12 million page views per month. When he’s not Dump a Day, Jon occasionally contributes guest articles to Today I Found Out. Check out Jon’s articles here.
Hi, can i translate yours articles in Russian language and post on my website?
@XAYS: We do allow people to occasionally copy articles and post them on their websites, but not all. If you want to copy one every now and again, simply give prominent credit back to this website in the form of a link and the original author.
this moron hiskey believes NUKEULER is an acceptable pronunciation, depending where you are from. I’m from the english-speaking world and NO DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH HAS YOUR GEORGE W BUSH’S IDIOTIC PRONUNCIATION!
@Mike Archer: You can take my “nukular” when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. 😉 (And a lot more people than Bush pronounce it that way. ;-)) Just wait until you hear me say “breafkast”. I do apologize for growing up in a region where we spoke certain words ever so slightly different than where you grew up. Must be so irritating for you to deal with. 😉
It drives me nuts when I read these articles and bump into a misspelling for the past tense of the verb “to lead.” The past tense of lead is NOT spelled lead. Proofing or education is called for here, please.
@ralph seifer: Both proofing (multiple levels of it) and a massive amount of education are present here. Typos happen. Accept it, don’t let it hinder your enjoyment of reading something (you’ll have precious little to read if your rubric for enjoying written works includes requiring said work be free of typos or grammatical errors), and remember that the purpose of language is to communicate ideas. With the vast majority of typos, or even blatant so-called misuse of language or grammar, the typo or evolution/ignorance of some grammatical convention does not hinder this. As the great Stephen Fry said in his excellent little rant on Grammar Nazis, “There is no right language or wrong language any more than there are right or wrong clothes.” This is a good thing, particularly in the case of typos, because there has never been a single published work of any great length written by humans that doesn’t have typos. For reference, there are currently about 4 to 5 million words written on this website. There are also probably many typos still present despite some 50 million or so people reading through the articles here to date.
Now, to be clear, I do very much appreciate when people point out typos in the articles so they can, potentially, be fixed. But expecting a written work of any great length to not have typos just isn’t realistic, nor does it say anything about the relative education levels or intelligence of the authors in question, particularly in the context of TodayIFoundOut, which is something of an edutainment website, and where you can well see the education levels of said authors to debunk the notion. Once we move beyond that education fallacy, you could then, perhaps, still infer that we just don’t care about typos, and it is very true that we care far more about accuracy in facts than grammar (being an “interesting fact” site, rather than a grammar site). But, in truth, we do very much care about typos for a variety of reasons including to avoid having to daily look at snarky and generally condescending comments from Grammar Nazis. 😉 Although, you will find on this site several instances of me writing “Grammar Nazi’s,” just for the reaction it gets every single time. 😉
I don’t care if there are misspled or missused words I love your articles.
@Daven_Hiskey: Wow, I could not disagree more. I don’t consider myself a Grammar Nazi (in fact, I’m pretty lax with my own grammar in common conversation), but you can’t convey facts effectively without making an effort towards phrasing and spelling correctly. Accidents do happen (I’m not sure how frequently here, as I’ve only just discovered your website), but the way you’ve phrased your response to @ralph_seifer makes it clear that you don’t seem to care about phrasing or typos in the least compared to the ideas your site is (according to ralph) attempting to convey without these key factors. Furthermore, it was just an incredibly rude response to one of your readers, who was just trying to point out an (apparent) repeated problem in the articles on your site (admittedly in a frustrated tone) – your customer/consumer is always right, and with this mocking attitude towards a slight frustration from a reader, you will lose readers fast. I was very excited about potentially applying as a writer for this site in the future, but now I’m not so sure I want to work with those who don’t value the pieces themselves for anything other than their credibility (which is undermined by your so called unimportant typos), and who don’t value their consumers. You can count on me to pass the word along.
This lady doth protest entirely too much. She aspires to write for this site? Perhaps she should concentrate on learning to read it first, starting with Daven’s initial response.
@Daven cc(Kimberley). I understand your sentiment about typos and the amount of time and effort to prevent it. I know that with age the fingers do not always do what they are supposed to. (Including haste).
However, name calling and branding is normally the last refuge of a person not able to rebuttal (nearly made a mistake … rebuttle) with facts. It is a tendency in the world currently. The typos being mentioned are not accidental. E.g. to vs too, loose vs lose, lead vs led. People are not able to express themselves clearly due to the fact that they do not read books. Reading on the internet does not constitute reading as the old scholars have done. A further problem is the language used on social networks. Appalling!!!
“There is no right language or wrong language any more than there are right or wrong clothes.”
Does this apply to mathematics, physics and programming??
You see Daven, in nature there is order. Inherently we sense this and act accordingly. We structure our lives and thoughts in very much the same way. We are unable to process correctly when unclear messages are sent. Language is one of the tools we use to communicate. Writing is another tool we use to communicate language.
The crunch now comes ….. Rules were set long ago to standardise these communications. That is why we were taught grammar and spelling at school. To simplify and avoid confusion.
What is seen in many posts on many sites is simply seen as a lack of education due to the fact that the poster of said post is not able to spell correctly or is grammatically impaired.
This is not necessarily true, for great people have been dyslexic and this would cause them to be seen as uneducated. The problem with this statement is that you can actually see that the person has this condition when you analise it.
Our problem is actually the deliberate dumbing down of students through unworkable curriculi that have no benefit except cultivating uneducated slaves for future abuse. It is difficult to abuse enlightened and educated people. Hence the programme of ……….
There are standards in any society, be it High Tech or Amazon bush living. When these standards are violated, there is an uneasyness in that society. You can not seriously tell me that you wish your children to see a thing walking in a mall with his pants half down and his underwear sticking out. That is NOT the norm of a healthy society. It is an aggressive invasion of public civility whithout remorse or accountability.
IN SHORT: There are rules. There are norms. Language is as scientific as the natural sciences. How else could old scripts be decoded. Building your perception of language and the rules that determine it, on emotions and the IDEA of human rights and freedom of speeeeeech, is soooo illogical. Ideas and Facts are not compatible, especially when a maddened crowd of illiterate idiots demand their own destruction.
BOTTOM LINE: Many people are perfectionistst. They wish to have it their way. I understand. What upsets many of those people is that the purity of the language and all its facets are being defiled. Is it wrong to protect something that may in future times, and even now, be vital to the survival of our offspring? No sir. We have to protect the base of our education and the elements thereof. To mock and subject a culture that has brought us the standard of civilisation that we currently enjoy, is suicide and total stupidity perpetrated by rights.
Nobody has any rights. It does not exist. It never has. Making it a law is stupid and idiotic. It is a control mechanism to control mindless uneducatable masses to revolt against their own survival. Do apples have a right to grow?? Does a gazelle have a right not to be eaten by a predator??
I do not wish to make any statement against (formally) uneducated people. I myself have been subject to that, in the sense of a lowly educated person showing me, unintentionally, that wisdom is so much more than my education. I was ashamed of myself and I carry this with me every day.
My protest sir, is that the bastion of our existence is being broken down by uninformed illiterate beings with access to the media, where the media gives those beings more coverage than any logical and natural information that is fundamental to our existence.
Stephen Fry says there are no rights or wrongs. Study his profile and see that he has no morals and has no intention of protecting your offspring. If you wish to live by that and agree with his obvious attempt at the destruction of our current society and the foundations thereof, go for it. Your offspring deserve it. You deserve the guilt come too late.
If you wish this once beautiful world to transform into the quagmire of money, lies and deceipt, as you obviously indicated in your response to Ralph, do so. Think about your grand children and the legacy of your reckless actions and words. Look at history, as you do, and see. REALLY ??++
It is not wrong for some of us to want to protect the sanctity of language and spelling. We are not averse to mistakes. We do understand.
We are concerned that illiteracy becomes the norm and that illiterate uneducated beings dominate reason and structure through the desecration of what they are unable to comprehend. Please do not follow the Media and their determined agenda to make everything equal. There has NEVER been any form of aquality anywhere. Never EVER.
Masses are stupid and ignorant. Treat them with the contempt they deserve. Please don’t give them the “right” to judge or refute the Bastion of our existence as well as our culture of Being where we excelled in the advancement of ourselves. None of those librated voices, as well as their liberal politicians, have EVER produced ANY positive results for the advancement of humankind. They are parasites and feed on your money to destroy values and norms that actually work in our everyday society.
I enjoy your articles and appreciate them. I thank you for your trouble and effort and I think you are actually rendering a service to communities of people who really want to broaden their horizons and views. This is not a personal attack. It is only a perception and a view from my perspective.
@Leon Fick: I cannot say how much i appreciated to find ‘a brother in arms’, so to speak. Spelling and grammar is there for a reason, to help us being understood, and just as importantly, help against being misunderstood, which may lead to unpleasant things and situations.
English is not my first language, but i can see from commentaries to articles and other things on websites on both sides of ‘the pond’, that you struggle as much with bad English as we do in Norwegian when it comes to writing your own language. (The language in the commertaries on this site is actually very good compared to what one has to suffer through at other websites)
I do wonder what has happened to the good old language teachers… Too many cutbacks or they simply don’t care anymore?
Daven Hiskey seemingly admires the intellect of Stephen Fry enough to quote some idiotic frase he once said, as if being a celebrity in general, and Stephen fry in particular, is a gold standard for anything but being a celebrity. If you or I had said the same, no one would take note. But when a celebrity said it, it must be something to remember for future generations. I wonder if the same Stephen Fry would take heed of his words and meet with the queen in a t-shirt and cut-out jeans? According to his ‘wise’ words he should as nothing really matters. Everything goes…
So, Mr. Daven, following your logic, wouldn’t it be enough to just teach children the letters and how to write them and otherwise do and write as they see fit? Actually, when one reads the comments on various sites, that must be what is going on around us already. So this is the new (equality) goal, everyone equally stupid…
Are you sure you agree with everything Leon said, didn’t you notice the excessive tone, non sequiturs, digressions and derailing?
Leon: sorry, dude, but it’s just “rebut”. And “aquality”? You’ve just made Daven’s point.
Otherwise, yeah.
David: “Dude.” Note that Silvester is Norwegian. I wonder how well you spell in Norwegian? Or any other language than English? I always cut slack for (and give a lot of credit to) people who try (and do surprisingly well) at getting their point across to people in another language.
Conversely, this site is supposedly written by native English speakers. I’ve complained about the misuse of the words “is comprised of” and “decimate” several times. The fact that so many people learned their language incorrectly (or were taught correctly but didn’t bother to pay attention) does NOT make these errors somehow “correct.”
A huge part of my job is to troubleshoot problems in my company, to “get into the mind of the criminal,” as it were and figure out why a problem happens and how to make it go away, whenever possible.
So instead of just complaining about the state of affairs here, I propose that the writers of this site allow volunteer editors to come in, proofread their work and re-submit it to the writers with the changes indicated so that they can sign off on it before publishing it. I bet a lot of people would volunteer for this. I’d gladly proofread an article every day.
@ Leon, Silvester & Jake – Hear, hear!!! It is such a relief to read others speak out about the defilement of our language encountered all too often. I just wanted to lend my support.
Even if such people say “Nobody has any rights. It does not exist. It never has. Making it a law is stupid and idiotic. It is a control mechanism to control mindless uneducatable masses to revolt against their own survival. Do apples have a right to grow?? Does a gazelle have a right not to be eaten by a predator??”
what does it have to do with it, I think he might be defending the right to be educated.
“None of those librated voices, as well as their liberal politicians, have EVER produced ANY positive results for the advancement of humankind. They are parasites and feed on your money to destroy values and norms that actually work in our everyday society. ”
I mean he think it’s coming liberals, the appeal to ignorance and the idea that all opinions are alike, isn’t the antiintellectualism populist? Which liberals does he mean?
And how is contempt to uneducated masses useful? And isn’t what populists accuse liberals of doing, often wrongly so?
“Masses are stupid and ignorant. Treat them with the contempt they deserve. Please don’t give them the “right” to judge or refute the Bastion of our existence as well as our culture of Being where we excelled in the advancement of ourselves. None of those librated voices, as well as their liberal politicians, have EVER produced ANY positive results for the advancement of humankind. They are parasites and feed on your money to destroy values and norms that actually work in our everyday society. ”
How anvily, you must be fun at parties. And I agreed with the need of order and language to communicate, but it doesn’t imply any of your elitist screed. And weren’t the liberal the elitist?
I don’t understand that’s so contrattitory, you go from “we need to preserve grammar” to “there are no rights” to liberals destroying civilization, what’s next, Hollywood satanists?
That Cricket flash popup you’ve had up for months now is really obnoxious and ultimately keeping me from enjoying your website.
I cant always use adblock plus, such as now at my local library. Where flash loads as fast as old people f***.
@random: There should be no popups on this site. What “Cricket flash” popup are you seeing?
I truly love your articles! They are informative, well written, interesting and I always learn something. Today I was very surprised to learn I am almost “elderly” having just turned 47. Too bad my daughter who is just starting high school will have elderly parents to worry about before she’s a senior!!
@Almost elderly: I’m glad you could get past your no doubt arthritic hands to type that comment. 😉 Seriously though, I see your point and am surprised I missed that one in the editing process. Although, “technically” according to Webster’s “elderly” just means “past middle age”. Then technically taken literally “middle age” might well be the likely mid-point of one’s life, so around the early 40s-ish. Technically… 😉
I have tried numerous times to subscribe to your daily and weekly articles and have never received the e-mail I was told would come to verify my e-mail. Could you please help?
Chris
I believe the “Pissing like a race horse” may go back much further. I seem to recall my grandfather using the term, never in the house, but when talking with other men. That would be around 1960. The term also may refer to whenever race horses were tested for drug use. After a race the first three and sometimes other horses are tested for drugs by taking a urine sample following the race. My ex-wife did this urine catching in the late 1970s. Later I talked with a college administrators wife who said she did the same thing and that would have been early in the 1970s.
Hi,
I love your website, but some of your advertising seems to cause browser issues. Specifically, video ads using Adobe Flash.
What happens is that the ad will automatically try to place itself at the top of the page, scrolling everything away from where I was reading. It does this over and over which makes the page impossible to read. The only way I’ve found around it is to go into browser debugging and remove the sidebar from the page while I’m reading it.
The issue is intermittent. It sometimes takes a minute before it starts happening and, obviously, if there’s no flash content in the advertisements, it won’t happen at all.
I’m using the latest version of Google Chrome. Version 44.0.2403.125. I haven’t checked for this happening in other browsers.
@Nick: Thanks for the info. I don’t suppose you have a screenshot? Obviously that isn’t supposed to be happening. Tracking down which advertising company is causing the issue so I can ban them from the site is notoriously tricky, even with a screenshot, but seeing it makes it much easier. Adobe really does just need to do the world a favor and kill Flash. 🙂
@Nick: I think I have located the offending ad. I’ve notified my ad people to ban the campaign, so it should be gone from the site within a few hours.
Thank you! Sorry I didn’t get back with the screenshot. I’ll post back here if it’s happening again.
I have to cite an article from your website for a class. What do I use as the publisher? Thank you!
TodayIFoundOut is fine. You could also use Vacca Foeda Media, which is the actual name of the company.
Thank you! I have been looking for this also.
First, I absolutely love the website as it is a great way of learning about new topics in an entertaining manner. That being said, I am saddened to see the lack of individuals with non-European based cultures based on the images of “Who We Are”. If possible, it would be greatly appreciated if you can try to include articles from an African-American perspective.
@John Ramos: Thanks, I’m glad you like the site. That’s always great to hear. 🙂
On the latter point, I’d actually need to ask one’s racial background to make that work, which I don’t think I’d legally be allowed to do, even if I wanted to. No portion of the general hiring process here has me knowing anything about a particular writer’s background other than work-related. And, honestly, sometimes people submit articles, rather than resumes, so then I don’t even necessarily know their work background or really anything about them. Sometimes even deducing their sex via their name isn’t possible. 🙂 And, of course, working online, I never actually meet any of them in person, nor have I ever done any online video chatting with any author here.
This is all fine with me, as in the end, I only care about quality of work, not where a person is from or ethnic background or sex or anything like that. I don’t even really care about their educational background, so long as their work is consistently up to par.
If someone’s a great researcher and writer and is fluent in English (this being an English-based website, though I don’t care if it’s UK English or American they prefer to write in), I’m happy to hire them if I have an opening no matter if they’re from Guinea Bissau, the UK, or Greenland. 🙂 This is why the authors you see above span the globe. Beyond America, TIFO’s had regular authors (so far) from Greece, Australia, India, the Ukraine, and the UK, and one-off or just a few articles from authors from many more places, though they aren’t listed above. I only put regular authors in the “Who We Are” section, and even then only people who want to be put there. In a couple cases in the above, people also haven’t wanted to use their real name, and for all I know didn’t use their real picture either. 🙂
thank you for your articles .
I want to ask about the nationalty of “today I found out” because I need to write the country in my research.
@msi: The company is based in the United States. Authors who write here are from all over the world. 🙂
Karl I LOVE this from your Bob Ross article:
“(It would seem a missed opportunity that the pair never created a show: Artist Deathmatch, pitting themselves against one another in episodic paint-offs. Viewers could then call in to vote on whose painting was the best on a given episode- master or apprentice- with the winner getting to destroy the other’s losing painting in ever more elaborate ways at the start of the next episode where fans would learn who won on the previous show. This thing basically writes itself. ;-))”
You are a little bit awesome.
What happened to Theodoros II? I have not seen any new articles from him. He is my favorite! His historical articles were always so informative, and I was hoping to see more from him.
Hi, David! I tried to send a message through the Submit a Question or Fact, but it failed several times. I would like to ask your permission to use a paragraph in one of your articles. It will appear in a textbook for Grade 11 students in our country. I can give you more details about this request; can you send an email where I could send it? Will wait for your reply. Thanks a lot.
i am a U.S. History II student. I used the article ” how did the cold war start and end?” in my final report, but i cant find an author to cite in my report. if you could email me this information i would greatly appreciate it. also if you could add a “cite this article” icon or easier access to that information in each of your articles im sure many future students would very much appreciate it too. Thank you in advance.
Jason Garner
Eddie looks wierd! lol
Hello,
I’ve really enjoyed reading the articles on this site, which have clearly been carefully researched.
As it’s a factual website I wonder whether you should consider including references. This would enhance the credibility of the posts and make it easier to do further reading on particularly interesting topics.
Kind regards,
Chris Klinger
Sorry, I accidentally pressed send…
How do I delete or edit a comment I posted on Today I Found Out without going to Facebook
May I ask who’s this website’s publisher is? Thank you 🙂
@Sarah Houck: The official business entity that owns TIFO is Vacca Foeda Media
Just a quick note for Amy on her article on George Washington. In it she said that the Potomac river is a mile wide and no one could have thrown a silver dollar across it (agree on her point that silver dollars didn’t even exist in Washington’s time). Indeed, there is a place where one could toss a silver dollar across the Potomac….and this almost 70 year old woman can step across it without difficulty. Check out the area of Fairfax Stone in West Virginia where you can, indeed, step across the mighty Potomac river. Loved the article though… I wonder if Washington’s intake of mercurous chloride might not have affected his brain though.
I am using a Doc Holliday article of yours for my essay and I am in the process of citing my sources, may I ask who the publisher of this website is? I dont know if I am looking in the wrong place for it or if it is right in front of my eyes but I can’t seem to find it
@Samantha: You can either just cite TodayIFoundOut.com directly or Vacca Foeda Media is the parent company. Authors’ names are listed on every article under the title. Thanks!
From the marvelos article 2016-01-18, by Melissa on The Opera Ain’t Over Until the Fat Lady Sings: “Don’t count your eggs until they’re hatched.” Shouldn’t that one be: “Don’t count your chicks until they’re hatched”? You can count eggs all day long, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have the same number of chicks.
Thanks for the myriad of fascinating articles.
@Carole Dose: Yep! Good catch! That will teach me to edit at 3am. 😉
Although, the correct phrase is “Don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched”, you still did 3am editing a solid for the devising of a new idiom!
“Don’t count your eggs until they’re hatched”, works as well- maybe the motive is an insatiable breakfast feast. In that aspect- we are now referring to the eating of eggs, not chicks.
It’s a skosh hard to gorge on eggs turned into chicks! 😉
Or, that will be on an upcoming episode of Bizarre Foods if Zimmern survives his Midwest crisis…
Hey guys,
I am trying to use some of your articles for a research paper and was wondering who your online sponser was because I can’t fairly cite you without it
@Carson: Vacca Foeda Media is the official name of the company that owns TodayIFoundOut.com
Hi i was wondering what Julia’s last name is, i need to know cause i want to use a citation in a paper i’m writing for school and i’m not allowed to right Julia as my school believes that using just a first name proves the source isn’t reliable. I would love to use one of her articles on hygiene in the middle ages. Please help!
Emilia, I’m not sure if you received a private answer to your question on Julia’s last name, but I would think that saying something like “a writer who identifies herself only as ‘Julia’ [and then give a link to the article] reported that…” should be acceptable. This should actually be sufficient to whomever’s grading the paper, as you did your best to cite your source.
In addition, you could actually print the article and hand that in as your source as well.
Hi! I’m not here to bully any one particular writer on your site; I love it and am always entertained and enlightened by it.
However, I see the following type of error made with alarming frequency:
” In a typical American outlet, the circuit is comprised of a right vertical slot connected to the “hot” wire and a larger left vertical slot connected to the “neutral” wire. ”
The circuit is not “comprised of a right vertical slot…” The circuit “comprises” a right vertical slot…”
This is a typical misuse of the verb “comprise.”
The phrase “is composed of” means exactly the same as “comprises.” It’s redundant to say “is comprised of.”
Thanks for an otherwise stellar site!
Can I know where you guys are from, I need know the city or country of origin to properly cite an article from your website.
Wa, USA is where the headquarters of TIFO are.
Hi there,
Loving some of the articles written by Melissa.
Wanted to cite her as a reference in an essay I am producing on the link between genetics and crime but cannot find her last name!
What is Melissas surname please?
Thanks
@Ella: Melissa would prefer that not be made public. Sorry I can’t be more helpful on this one.
Hi Team @ Today I Found Out!
Tim Spencer here from 4KQ Breakfast Brisbane radio, Australia here!
Was hoping there might be a chance spokesperson or writer would be willing to help us for an upcoming story series we are doing here on breakfast radio Australia! Currently we are doing a series called ‘Why Is It So?!’ – a series where we unveil to our audiences common traditions, sayings and items that everyday people have never really thought twice about as to where the item or tradition or word originated from.
We currently have been bombarded with a few requests from our listeners inquiring the origin of the traffic light colours and why.
I came across your article and thought it was a great, insightful explanation that would be a perfect example of what we are wanting to highlight for our segment.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/03/the-origin-of-the-green-yellow-and-red-color-scheme-for-traffic-lights/
Is there a chance anyone might be available upcoming for a quick pre-record chat with my breakfast crew to discuss your findings and comment on the background to Traffic Lights? We would be happy to also highlight any other project or happenings Today I Found Out are involved with too if wanting to discuss.
Briefly, 4KQ is an iconic Australian station with almost 70 years of broadcasting – and a favourite with baby boomers (we rated as their number 1 station in the most recent GFK survey). In our hometown of Brisbane, we’re known as the leading Classic Hits station, playing the best of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
Thank you so much for your time reading this email and please let me know your thoughts and if able to assist.
Cheers.
Tim Spencer
4KQ Breakfast Producer – 4KQ693
.
[email protected]
+61733940668
444 Logan Rd, Stones Corner, Qld 4120
@4kqbrisbane @iHeartRadioAU
ARN Signature Version 2016.04.1
The article about Presidential pardons was incorrect stating that President Ford pardoned the Viet Nam Draft Dodgers, it was President Carter – the pardon also applied to Carter’s draft dodging son.
Wow. I’ve just discovered your site. I love the concept and I’m impressed by the diversity and range of topics and all of your expertise. However, I’m a bit disappointed that diversity seems to be lacking in other ways – just looking at your pictures, it appears that you’re all of a similar hue, if you know what I mean. Perhaps you could tackle that.
where is Simon Whistler!?! :'(
I really like Simon on YouTube and am even more impressed now that I see all the work he puts into it. However I never realized how hard you work at it. A video I saw with you on it was also very good and entertaining as well. Thanks and keep up the good work
Nice site! I look forward to exploring it further. But I must concur with some of the commenters above that the articles often need the review of a good copy editor. The spelling and grammar errors ARE distracting from what would otherwise be a well-written article. Perhaps they are invisible to many, but to the rest of us, it diminishes the credibility of the author, and consequently the veracity of the material. It also makes it less likely that it will be referenced, for the same reasons.
Please consider adding another layer of proofing before posting; I think it will bring your site up a notch professionally.
Why isn’t Simon listed on this “Who We Are” page?