Noah asks: Why is Japan called the land of the rising sun? Ancient, China developed all of the hallmarks of advanced civilization, including written language, advanced cities, specialized labor and bronze technology, as much as 2000 years before Japan. As a result, China, and its culture, had an enormously large influence on the younger culture, sharing its philosophies, political structures, […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Myth: Electric “eels” exist. There are, however, electric fish: eight-foot long, 600 volt, mouth breathing, alligator-killing fish. Electrophorus electricus Although there are a number of fish that produce an electric charge, the species that is called “electric eel,” E. electricus, is a member of the fish order, ostariophysian. Mistaken for an eel due to its shape and lack of pelvic, […]
Read more
“Slush funds” has gotten many politicians and government officials in trouble over the years. The 19th and 20th century politics are riddled with fallen and, sometimes, corrupt individuals who were hit with the dreaded “they have a slush fund” tag. But what exactly is a slush fund? And how is a slush fund different from any other fund? The history […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Woman Who Survived All Three Disasters Aboard the Sister Ships: the Titanic, Britannic, and Olympic Violet Jessop enjoyed incredible “luck” from a young age. Born in 1887 in Argentina to Irish immigrants, she contracted tuberculosis as a young child and was […]
Read more
Katlen asks: Is it true that footballs used to be made of pigskin? What are they made of now? These days, footballs are typically made from cowhide or vulcanized rubber, making their nickname “pigskins” somewhat ironic. Football fans often perpetuate the idea that footballs used to be made of pigskin, which is how they got their nickname, but it turns […]
Read more
Ryan asks: Where did the phrase “let the cat out of the bag” come from? The famous humorist and writer Will Rogers once said, “Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.” But where did this expression come from and why is it used in this way? For those who aren’t […]
Read more
In 1933 and 1934, an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) by Wall Street Bankers may have happened. While contemporary newspapers called it a “gigantic hoax,” others, including the House’s Special Committee on Un-American Activities, found the allegations “credible.” You decide: The Bankers & Power Brokers During the campaign of 1932, FDR’s promise of jobs […]
Read more
Today I found out how the phrase “basket case” came to mean “someone who is insane.” At first, “basket case” didn’t mean someone who was crazy. Instead, it referred to someone who had a physical disability. The phrase has its origins in World War I. Funny enough, one of the earliest known documented instances of the phrase was actually in […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
Though you’ve likely never given it much thought, a universally accepted unit of measurement like the humble metre is an amazing thing. It lets scientists separated by culture, language, race and even thousands of miles of geography work together on equations and problems like they were sitting next to each other. So how did this unit of measurement come to […]
Read more
The modern bikini has a relatively short history only spanning a little over a half century or so, but bikini-like suits have been around and worn commonly for certain activities since at least the times of the Greco-Romans. In fact, the first known instance of any type of bikini goes back even further to around 5600 BC with a surviving […]
Read more
John K. asks: I heard that the NFL is tax-exempt. Why is this when they make billions every year? The NFL made over thirteen billion dollars this past year in gross revenue. That is over three billion dollars more than Major League Baseball, the next most profitable professional sports league. The Buffalo Bills, the NFL’s current least valuable team, is […]
Read more
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading Today I Found Out, and update you on a few kind of cool things that have happened the last month on the site. First, we published a book, The Wise Book of Whys (available in Print | Kindle | Nook | Audiobook), which has been steadily gaining on the […]
Read more
Today I found out about Violet Jessop, “Miss Unsinkable,” the woman who survived the sinking of the sister ships the Titanic and the Britannic, and was also aboard the third of the trio of Olympic class vessels, the Olympic, when it had a major accident. Violet Jessop enjoyed incredible “luck” from a young age. Born in 1887 in Argentina to […]
Read more
Dating back centuries, the names of our everyday colors have origins in the earliest known languages. According to linguists: There was a time when there were no color-names as such . . . and that not very remote in many cases, when the present color-words were terms that could be used in describing quite different qualities [including] gay, lively, smart, […]
Read more
Jason asks: Why is ketchup red and mustard yellow? Although in other food traditions, ketchup and mustard may be different colors, in classic American cuisine, ketchup is red and mustard is yellow. Here’s why: Ketchup This most “American” of condiments originated in Asia, where it dates back to the 6th century AD. In the beginning, ketchup (spelled ke-tchup) was a […]
Read more