The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Here’s our look at one of the best-kept secrets of the Cold War…or was it? It depends on how you look at it. COOKING THE BOOKS In 1980 a hotel executive named Ted Kleisner landed a job as the general manager of the Greenbrier, a five-star luxury resort in the […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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