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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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Derek asks: Why were the two groups in WWII called the Axis and the Allies? Marking the two main groups of belligerents in the Second World War (1939-1945), the Axis and the Allies slugged out their differences from the beaches of Normandy to the islands of the South Pacific. The history of their epic battles, atrocities, heroes and villains is […]
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Today I found out about Princess Olga of Kiev, the saint who buried people alive and didn’t exactly take to heart the whole “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.” [Leviticus 19:18] thing- she hadn’t converted yet after all- when she burned down a city and had much […]
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According to a 2013 survey, over eighty three percent of Americans drink coffee in the morning and the average citizen drinks multiple cups per day. Between the dark brew, the flavored lattes, the frozen caffeinated treats, and the whirling gadgets, coffee is now a thirty billion dollar industry. Coffee is big business and companies like Starbucks, Peets, and Folgers have […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. What Causes Red Eyes In Photographs Today I Found Out what makes your eyes red in flash photographs. Simply put, that crazy zombie look people tend to get, as if they are about to use you as a pre-lunch snack, has to […]
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Karla asks: Why do we knock on wood for luck? You’ve probably said this phrase and performed this action countless times, without the slightest clue as to the meaning behind it. So why do we feel compelled to “knock on wood” as an insurance policy against bad luck? Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure and while you’ll often read detailed accounts […]
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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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Daniel asks: Who invented Jell-O? For over a century, Jell-O has been a part of American culture and, according to a 1904 edition of the Ladies Home Journal, “America’s Favorite Dessert” (conveniently enough named such in an advertisement paid for by Jell-O before anyone was really buying it all). That said, ever since then it really has been one of […]
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Today I found out why Dalmatians are commonly firehouse dogs. Dalmatians as firehouse dogs have become so common in books and movies that it’s practically a stereotype. It turns out that Dalmatians actually really do have a strong history in the firehouse, and they used to have some purpose, too. Before fire trucks, there were horse-drawn carriages. One of the […]
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The Bermuda Triangle is a large area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. Over the last few centuries, it’s thought that dozens of ships and planes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the area, earning it the nickname “The Devil’s Triangle.” People have even gone so far as to speculate that it’s an area of extra-terrestrial activity or […]
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Seth asks: Where does the expression “open a can of worms” come from? For the uninitiated, the expression “to open a can of worms” means to attempt to solve one problem, or to do something, that creates a whole litany of other problems that were not there in the first place. The idiom has become a journalistic and writing cliche […]
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Mike asks: Why does everyone say the U.S. is a Democracy when it’s really a Republic? Frequently, politicians, and many ordinary Americans, refer to the United States as a democracy. Others find this aggravating because, unlike in a democracy where citizens vote directly on laws, in the United States, elected representatives do – and, therefore, the U.S. is a republic. […]
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The world’s most commonly used spice, Piper nigrum, starts life as berries in a clump on a flowering vine (like grapes). Native to Southern India, today pepper is grown throughout the tropics. Archaeological evidence of people using pepper goes back to at least 2000 BC in India. It is known that pepper was exported, but to what extent remains a […]
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Today I found out about the man-eaters of Tsavo. In 1898, the British were in the process of building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Tsavo, Kenya. Over the next nine to ten months, the Indian railway workers hired by the British, as well as native Africans in the area, were terrorized by two lions. At the time, […]
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Today I found out about the Great Emu War of 1932. Emus are native to Australia, and as everyone knows, nearly everything in Australia seems capable of killing you. If the sun doesn’t do it, there are still redback spiders, funnel webs, and Taipans, and others to contend with. It should come as no surprise, then, that the emu—part ostrich, […]
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