This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Difference Between “Regular”, Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oils Generally speaking, olive oils fall into one of two broad categories: refined and unrefined, with virgin and extra virgin fitting in the latter category, and pure and light olive oils in […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Traditions of Going to Space Although you’d expect people tasked with going to space to be a fairly rational lot, astronauts and cosmonauts are noted as being an exceptionally superstitious group, many of whom conform to a number of seemingly […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. What is the Hottest Temperature Possible? The idea of absolute hot springs from its better-known cousin, absolute zero, which, as you may recall, is 0 K, -273.15° C or -459.67° F. And although abridged definitions of the lowest temperature will frequently state […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. WHY DO THEY SAY “MUSH” TO MAKE SLED 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 […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Who Invented the Emoticon? “Emoticons,” short for “emotive Icons,” (emotive meaning “appealing to or expression emotion” hence “icons that express emotions”) have been around in vertical form for some time. However, sideways emoticons seem to be a surprisingly recent invention, going […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. How Do They Get the “Ms” on “M&Ms”? Most of us have probably wondered how each M&M is so perfectly marked with that signature white m. The production of the candy that “melts in your mouth and not in your hand” […]

The Mystery of the Kentucky Meat Shower On March 3, 1876, one Mrs. Crouch was working in her yard in Bath County, Kentucky, making soap, when suddenly “meat which looked like beef began to fall all around her. The sky was perfectly clear at the time.” Falling like large snowflakes and settling all around the 5000 square foot yard, pieces […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Bonsai! Long before the bonsai art form of creating miniature trees came to Japan, the wealthy in China were perfecting their craft known as “penzai” and “penjing.” The former means “tray plant” and the latter “tray scenery.” It is from the […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Truth About Your Flammable Farts Contrary to popular belief, it’s probably not methane leaking from behind that reckless “bros” light on fire (known as pyroflatulence); rather, it’s most likely primarily hydrogen. In a typical, healthy body, human farts are comprised […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Why Some Cheeses Come in Wheels and Others in Blocks Whether a block, a wheel, a cylinder or a pyramid, a cheese’s shape is dictated by concerns with pressure, salt absorption, ripening, economics and/or tradition. Cheeses that are made in wheels, […]

For those in the United States celebrating Independence Day and looking to have something interesting to talk to your friends and relatives about at your respective barbeques, here is some conversation fodder to both make yourself look smarter and avoid having to discuss once again how your cousin’s three year old daughter is already showing every sign of being the […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Dollars to Doughnuts The word “doughnut” is American in origin and traces its roots to the early 19th century. It is presumed to have been a combination of the words dough and nut. It first appeared in print in Washington Irving’s […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Heroic Death of Chariots of Fire’s Eric Liddell Imagine you dedicated your adult life to helping those less fortunate than yourself -that you spent your entire adult life trying to make the world a better place, and when you died […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Story Behind the Miranda Warning In 1966, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona, made it clear that the Constitution requires the police to warn criminal suspects in custody that they have the right to remain silent, that […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Surprising Truth About the Difference Between Hardwoods and Softwoods Generally speaking, wood is often put into one of two categories- hardwood and softwood. But what exactly makes a given piece of wood qualify as either hard or soft and how […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Flotsam and Jetsam Bumping into a rock or a reef, war, swamped by rough weather or high waves, pilot error or pirates, there are a variety of ways a ship can sink. After it does, depending on whether it floated out […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Truth About the Surprisingly Recent Invention of the Tea Bag, and the Women Who Really Invented It Legend says that brewing tea dates back to around 2737 BC, when tea leaves fell into water being boiled for Emperor Shennong of […]

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. How the Practice of Pricing Fuel with 9/10th of a Penny Got Started The practice of pricing fuel with a fraction of a penny is thought to have started around the 1930s.  While we can’t be sure who was the first […]