Karla asks: Is it true that once the Austrian army accidentally ended up fighting itself in a battle? If you ever feel like you’ve “made a huge mistake,” just remember: it’s probably not bigger than the Battle of Karansebes, during which the Austrian army broke into two and ended up mistakenly fighting itself. At least, that’s what supposedly happened. There […]
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Rachel M. asks: Was Colonel Sanders really a Colonel? Kentucky Colonel is the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. (Incidentally, if you’re curious: Why Colonel is Pronounced “Kernel”) To be named a “Colonel” is to be recognized for “outstanding service to community, state, and nation.” The sitting governor of Kentucky, or the Secretary of State […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. What Causes Pasta to Froth We’ve all done it: you put the pasta on to boil, turn your back for a few minutes to wipe off the counter or read the newest Today I Found Out article, and suddenly you hear that […]
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It seems like just about everyone knows someone with a thyroid condition. Their symptoms can sometimes be wide ranging. Much like the IRS and their tax code, it can leave you a little confused about what exactly it does and why it can cause so many problems. In an effort to put this ignorance to bed, let’s take a little […]
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Beer brewing and drinking are activities that have been part of the human experience seemingly since the dawn of civilization. Around 10,000 years ago, mankind began to move away from living life as nomadic hunter gatherers, and began settling down in one spot to farm the land. Grain, a vital ingredient in beer making, was cultivated by these new agricultural […]
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Samira asks: Why do we say “dressed to the nines” when someone’s dressed up? Like so many etymologies of expressions and words, we can only make educated guesses at the true origin of “dressed to the nines” or just “to the nines,” meaning more or less “to perfection.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded instance of dressing […]
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Jesse asks: What will happen when the earth’s magnetic field switches? The Earth’s magnetic field protects life on Earth, shielding it from damaging radiation and moderating our climate. So the idea that it could completely flip around, or collapse altogether, should cause us to worry, right? Well, yes and no. Magnetosphere Basics The result of electrical currents generated deep within […]
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On October 30, 1938, from the Mercury Theater in New York City, Orson Welles broadcasted a “modernized” radio play of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) 1898 novel “War of the Worlds.” For the last three quarters of the century, we’ve been told that this fictionalized CBS broadcast sent Americans into a panic; that citizens across the country did not realize that […]
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Mark asks: Will eating poppy seed muffins cause you to fail a drug test? When Elaine on Seinfeld failed a drug test after eating a poppy seed muffin back in the 1996 episode “The Shower Head,” the idea that you could fail a drug test after eating poppy seeds took off. Turns out, this wasn’t yet another Hollywood writer invention—you […]
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Today I found out Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France “ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them.” There are a number of monarchs throughout history who are believed to have been gay. Richard the Lionheart and Philip II are just a couple of kings […]
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Goro T asks: Why do the insides of apples turn brown when you cut the apple open? The insides of apples turn brown when exposed to air thanks to a built in defense mechanism against bacteria and fungus. The trigger for this is damage to the cells, such as when you cut the apple, which then results in certain enzymes […]
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Our resident medical expert, Scott, and a buddy of his recently started The Medicine Journal, where you can learn all sorts of interesting facts about all things medical related. Below is a sample article from their site. Much like bathroom-humor at the dinner table, hemorrhoids can be a taboo subject. The truth is, everyone has them. Their job is to […]
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Andrew M. asks: What causes Saint Elmo’s Fire? For those not familiar, “St. Elmo’s Fire” is a name for the glow that looks like blue/violet fire surrounding the top of pointed metal objects during a storm. This phenomenon can trace its name back to an Italian saint “Sant ‘Ermo” or “St. Erasmus” around 300 A.D., the patron saint of early […]
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Mike A. asks: What is the difference between bees, wasps, and hornets? There are many similarities and differences between our little wing-whipping friends. For starters, all can sting you. That said, you may derive some solace in the fact that when certain of them sting humans, they die- not so when they sting many other animals. The barbed stingers on […]
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In 1746 in Taunton, Somerset, England, Mary Hamilton was imprisoned and whipped for impersonating a man and marrying possibly as many as 14 women (not all at once). Few records of these events have survived; however, that same year Henry Fielding, “barrister, magistrate, founder of the first English detective force, and sometimes called father of the modern novel,” produced a […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Can Color Blind People See More Colors When They Take Hallucinogenic Drugs? First a little primer on colour blindness from the good people at ColorBlindAwareness.org: “Most color blind people are able to see things as clearly as other people but they unable […]
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Calie asks: Why is chickenpox called chickenpox? The name, “Chicken Pox” is vernacular for the Varicella Zoster Virus. While it has a name that evokes cuteness and is even silly, it is a disease that can, though rarely, claim the life of a child. Prior to the May 1995 introduction of the Varicella vaccine, over four million people would suffer […]
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Today I found out the origins of the names of the historic counties of Wales and Northern Ireland. WALES Anglesey Anglesey is believed to be a Viking place name. The Vikings denoted islands with the suffix “ey.” The best bet is that Anglesey started out as “Ongl’s Ey,” but no one knows who Ongl might have been. Brecknockshire Brecknockshire, as […]
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