Featured Facts

Category Archives: Featured Facts

What Really Happens When Someone Enters the Witness Protection Program, How to Avoid Being Sued with the “Small Penis Rule”, That Time the U.S. Accidentally Nuked Britain’s First Satellite and More

March 15, 2016 Dusti

In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we discuss what really happens when someone enters the witness protection program, why breathing helium changes the sound of your voice, do road hazard signs like deer crossing and falling rocks actually prevent accidents, that time the U.S. accidentally nuked Britain’s first satellite, how to avoid being sued with the “small penis […]

To Boldly Go Where No Fecal Matter Has Gone Before

March 14, 2016 Karl Smallwood

Officially the Apollo 10 mission of 1969 was a dress rehearsal for the more famous Apollo 11- designed to test all of procedures and equipment needed to land on the Moon save for the actual act of the landing itself. (To assure it was just a practice run, they did not put enough fuel in the LM to land and […]

Why is Cheddar Orange When Milk Is White?

March 11, 2016 Melissa

Karl G. asks: Why does cheddar cheese turn orange when the milk used to make it is white? Milk is made up of about 87% water and 13% solids, such as fat and various proteins. Chief among these proteins is something called casein, four types of which make up about 80% of the proteins in milk. The casein protein molecules […]

The Biggest TV Talk Show Flop of All Time

March 8, 2016 Eddie Deezen

In 1962, Jack Paar, the controversial but popular host of The Tonight Show, unexpectedly quit and Johnny Carson was chosen to be the NBC show’s new host. In the interim, several temporary guest hosts took over, including Art Linkletter, Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Jan Murray, and Jerry Lewis. Jerry did a stellar job as a guest host and ABC had […]

How Did Harry Houdini Die?

March 7, 2016 Eddie Deezen

Kevin G. asks: Is it true Houdini died performing a water tank trick? Few people in any field of human endeavor rise to become the unquestioned “top-dog” in their profession in their generation, let alone of all time. But ask almost anyone who the greatest illusionist / escape artist in history was and take the proverbial “dollars to doughnuts” wager […]

How Much is an Oscar Worth?

March 4, 2016 Eddie Deezen

As we all know, acting is a precarious, roller-coaster type business. The Meryl Streeps, Jack Nicholsons, and Brad Pitts are few and far between. Most actors or actress will hit at least an occasional “dry spell,” if not a permanent one. For a very select few, a seemingly easy solution to help get them through the dry spell financially might […]

The Story of Bob.com

March 1, 2016 Karl Smallwood

In 1983, Paul Mockapetris proposed a distributed database of internet name and address pairs, now known as the Domain Name System (DNS). This is essentially a distributed “phone book” linking a domain’s name to its address, allowing you to type in something like todayifoundout.com instead of the IP address of the website. The distributed version of this system allowed for […]

Why is U.S. Paper Money Green?

February 29, 2016 Melissa

Walter K. asks: Why is U.S. paper money mostly green when other countries use different colors for different bills? In Article I of the U.S. Constitution, ratified on June 21, 1788, Congress was granted the power to “coin money” and “regulate” its value, but not to issue paper money. The result of the near complete devaluation of the paper money […]

Who Started the Red Carpet Tradition?

February 24, 2016 Melissa

David asks: When did the tradition of rolling out a red carpet for celebrities start? Throughout history, red carpets have led luminaries to momentous events, both good and bad. Aeschylus (525 BC – 455 BC), the “father of tragedy,” wrote various plays where his heroes fell from grace due to a combination of unwinnable circumstances, arrogance and/or simply stepping on […]

The King of the Dudes

February 23, 2016 Karl Smallwood

If we learned anything from the excellent Bill and Ted movies, it’s that the word “dude” is a remarkably versatile utterance that can either be used to refer to any male acquaintance or as a general vocalisation of surprise or confusion. Go back a hundred years or so to the 1800s and the word dude could actually roughly be understood […]

Dustbin of History: Aero-Nuts

February 22, 2016 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader From our “Dustbin of History” files, here’s the harrowing tale of a little-known milestone in aviation history. LOADED It was January 7, 1785, and two men were preparing for the first ever balloon crossing of the English Channel. The one who financed the adventure was John Jeffries, a well-to-do American […]

Stigler and “His” Law of Eponymy

February 17, 2016 Karl Smallwood

Back in 1968, one of the fathers of modern sociology and National Medal of Science award winner Robert K. Merton explored the phenomenon of what he called the “Matthew Effect” while writing a paper discussing how seniority or perceived prestige seemed to be the deciding factor in who would be given credit for a scientific discovery or breakthrough, regardless of […]

Why a Final Performance is Called a “Swan Song”

February 16, 2016 Karl Smallwood

Gideon S. asks: Why is a final performance called a swansong? When someone performs for the last time, we often refer to it as a “swan song” which seems odd given that swans aren’t particularly known for their stage presence… So where exactly did this phrase come from? This expression is generally thought to have its genesis in the over […]

Can Lobsters Really Not Die of Old Age?

February 15, 2016 Sarah Stone

Laura asks: Is it true that lobsters can’t die of old age? You’ll often hear it claimed that lobsters are biologically immortal. So is it true? Not really, though this is partially an argument in semantics as you’ll soon see. (And while we’re on the topic of lobster myths, no: Lobsters do not mate for life. In fact, the male […]

How Valentine’s Day Got Started

February 10, 2016 Matt Blitz

While not thought to be directly related to modern Valentine’s Day traditions, the beginnings of celebrating love (of a sort) in February date back to the Romans. The feast of Lupercalia was a pagan fertility and health festival, observed from February 13th through the 15th, that was celebrated at least as far back as 44 BCE (the year Julius Caesar […]

Why Do They Say “Mush” to Make Sled Dogs Go?

February 8, 2016 Samantha

M. Matthews asks: Why do people with dogs pulling sleds say mush to make the dogs go? If we relied on Yukon Cornelius from the 1964 Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to teach us about dog sledding, we might be slightly misled. In multiple instances throughout the movie, Cornelius cracks the whip and hollers, “Mush, mush!!” to his dog […]

Has There Ever Been an Actual Case of Someone Being Pelted With Tomatoes During a Performance?

February 4, 2016 Karl Smallwood

Andthen2 asks: Has there ever been a real case of someone being pelted with tomatoes during a performance? As we’ve discussed in detail before (see: The Curious Case of the Claque), audiences haven’t always been kind to performers throughout history as evidenced by the fact that there was a thriving industry of people who made a rather lucrative living during […]

The Famous “Crying Indian” Who Wasn’t

February 3, 2016 Melissa

Known to many as the “Crying Indian,” Oscar “Iron Eyes” Cody had a successful career portraying Native Americans in more than 200 films and countless television shows over his 64-year career, culminating in one of the most famous and successful ad campaigns of all time in which he was depicted as a Native American shedding a tear over the rampant […]

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