Today I found out why we throw coins into fountains and how the tradition got started. People have been throwing coins into fountains seemingly as long as there have been coins and fountains. The tradition all started with water. Water, of course, is vital to sustain human life. While many people in the developed world today have clean, drinkable water readily […]
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Depending on where you live, you may have noticed that coupons have small print stating they are worth some fraction of a penny, usually something like 1/100th or 1/20th of a penny. In truth, the coupons really are worth this and if you wanted, you could redeem them for their cash value. Of course, you’d need a large quantity of […]
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Ashley asks: Why do people have grass lawns? They are so expensive and a lot of work, not to mention bad for the environment. Whose brilliant idea was this? Maintaining the perfect lawn takes a lot of work. There’s mowing, fertilizing, aerating, and watering. Having a trimmed green field leading up to your front door is something of a status […]
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English folklore is filled with green people – the Green Knight, green fairies, the Green Man and Jack-in-the-Green. Two of the smallest were the Green Children of Woolpit. It’s not precisely known when they first appeared, but it seems to have been around the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) or that of Henry II (1154-1189). One year during the harvest in […]
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Imagine for a moment that it’s 40,000 years in the future in a solar system far, far, away on a planet thriving with intelligent life. Extraterrestrial beings inhabit this place. Perhaps they look like the cuddly ET, the blob, ALF, or maybe even like the dreadlocked beings from Predator; but either way, they are not human. An approaching speck in […]
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David vs. Goliath. Burr vs. Hamilton. Ali vs. Frazier. These fights have captured the public’s imagination like few others. On March 20, 1992, another battle entered this conversation. Herwald vs. Kelleher. Okay, so most likely, you probably don’t have any clue who Kurt Herwald and Herb Kelleher are and why they decided to match up against one another, but you […]
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This article is from our friends over at The Medicine Journal– the TodayIFoundOut of medical related sites. Also, don’t forget to check out their awesome videos on YouTube. Anyone retiring from the coal-mines of life, might have noticed an ever growing defacement. Their noses and ears appear to be bigger. In fact, they are. There is a common misconception this […]
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BR522 asks: Why aren’t commercial airplanes have parachutes? Seatbelts and airbags in cars save passengers lives. Parachutes save people who, for a variety of reasons, exit a plane in mid-flight. So why aren’t parachutes provided to passengers on commercial airline flights, in case of emergencies? Because they almost certainly would not save anyone’s life. Parachuting Basics When your average daredevil […]
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When it comes to war, innovation is key and WWII saw more insane ideas and weapons of war developed than perhaps any before it. One of the more surreal was the Antonov A-40, colloquially known as the tank that could fly! Known in Russia as the, крылья танка (literally, “Winged Tank”), the Antonov A-40 was the end result of one, […]
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Find more from this author at All That is Interesting a part of the PBH Network. Subscribe to their newsletter here. Sam Patch: Before Evel Knievel was a twinkle in his father’s eye, Sam Patch was thrilling audiences across America. As a child laborer in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Patch would entertain his friends by jumping off the mill dam. By […]
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This is something a little different, which I nevertheless thought was an entertaining, and more than a little humorous, story. (Although, to be fair, I have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. ;-)) So I asked if my brother, Jon, wouldn’t mind writing it up and letting me publish it. So here’s a guest post by Jon, the […]
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Making copies of architectural drawings hasn’t always been the easiest thing in the world to do. For the majority of human history, the most economical solution was simply to have someone make a tracing of the original plans. In the mid-nineteenth century, the process abruptly became much quicker and easier thanks to famed polymath Sir John Herschel. In 1842, Herschel […]
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Today I found out why Ferris wheels are called that. A necessity at any county fair or festival, Ferris wheels stand out like a beacon on the horizon leading eager fair-goers to crowded rides and overpriced popcorn and funnel cake. But before there were Ferris wheels, there were simply “pleasure wheels.” These wheels weren’t nearly as large as most Ferris […]
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Pirate radio, kidnapping, battles- the principality of Sealand has seen all of these things and more, despite only being a tiny micronation lying about 7 nautical miles the coast from Suffolk, England. If you haven’t heard of Sealand before, it is the site of one of Britain’s Maunsell Naval Sea Forts that were utilized during WWII. This particular one was originally […]
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This is an excerpt from our new book, The Wise Book of Whys, available in: Print | Kindle | Nook | Audiobook While today breaking a bottle of champagne over the hull of a ship is considered tradition before launching a vessel in certain countries, particularly Britain and the United States, people have been performing ceremonies at launches seemingly as long […]
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Shany asks: Why is there no E in the grading scale? Some schools do hand out E letter grades instead of an F, but they are in the minority. A majority of schools in the United States, particularly beyond primary age, give grades of A, B, C, D, or F. Rather than a failure on the part of academic institutions […]
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Jamie asks: Why is New Year’s day January 1st? Because Julius Caesar said so. Early Roman Calendar Since long before Caesar’s time, date keeping was dicey. In fact, the 355-day Roman calendar that immediately preceded Caesar’s Julian, worked on a four year cycle where every other year, an additional month was inserted between February (Februarius), the last month of that […]
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Duane asks: Why/how can a person be held in contempt of court after taking the 5th amendment? I read about this taking place quite often. Most Americans know they cannot be forced to incriminate themselves. Yet, many are unaware that this privilege is limited, and some have even been held in contempt of court when they tried to “take the […]
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