Today I found out why doctors have men “turn their heads and cough” during a physical. Pretty much all guys have been there at some point or another. The doctor asks you to drop your drawers. They slap on their latex gloves, grab your junk, and ask you to turn your head and cough. One imagines this can’t exactly be […]
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Today I found out Mark Hamill currently holds the record for playing the Batman character of “Joker” longer than any other actor and in more spinoffs. “I’ve never seen him play the Joker”, you say? It’s because Mark Hamill has been doing the voice of the Joker on a variety of animated TV shows, movies, and video games for the […]
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Today I found out the male White-fronted Parrot will vomit in the female’s mouth during their mating ritual White-fronted Parrots, also known as “White-fronted Amazons” or “Spectacled Amazon Parrots”, begin their mating season around February and it lasts through June or July. (Although, this varies based on region. In some regions, their breeding season doesn’t even start until November.) After […]
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Today I found out the Beatles were once banned from playing in Israel until finally in 2008 a formal letter of apology was sent out to the two surviving members and certain relatives of the deceased members, including an invite for Paul and Ringo to come play at Israel’s 60th birthday bash. This may come as something of a surprise […]
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J.Kaus asks: Why are Grandfather clocks called Grandfather clocks? At first glance, the answer seems obvious. Think about it- when was the last time you saw a grandfather clock in the house of anyone under the age of 70? Grandfather clocks- with their long cases, pendulums, echoing chimes, and Roman numerals- seem to belong to the world of courting parlors, […]
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Today I found out it is possible for your muscles and other connective soft tissues to turn to bone. The condition is known as Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) or “Stone Man Syndrome”. It affects an estimated 1 out of every 2 million people beginning when they are children, and to date there is no cure. The telltale sign of someone […]
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Today I found out the name for the dwarf planet Pluto was suggested by an 11 year old girl. The girl was Venetia Burney of Oxford, England. Venetia’s great uncle, Science Master of Eton Henry Madan, in 1877 suggested the name for the two dwarf moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos (fear/panic and dread/terror). This was referencing the fact that […]
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Today I found out Abraham Lincoln established the Secret Service on the day he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Unfortunately, even had the organization been instituted earlier, it wouldn’t have helped. The Secret Service in the beginning had no part in protecting the President, but rather were tasked with cutting down on the amazing amount of counterfeit money circulated […]
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Today I found out Kurt Russell was a minor league baseball player until an injury ended his career. While the Russell family is mostly known for their acting, “Baseball is really the family business that nobody knows about because our other business was sort of out there in the public and seen by a lot more people,” said Kurt Russell. […]
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Today I found out the man responsible for the modern Frisbee design and the “Father of Disc Golf” was cremated and had his ashes molded into Frisbees to give to friends and family. While man has been throwing Frisbee-like objects around for many thousands of years, the Frisbee itself is something of a modern “invention”. The tale of the Frisbee […]
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Today I found out the cotton candy making machine was co-invented by a dentist, who later became the President of the Tennessee State Dental Association. Coincidence? While candy floss / cotton candy-like spun-sugar confectioneries have been around since at least the 15th century, if not earlier, it’s only been recently that cotton candy has been something practical to make and […]
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Rinni asks: Why are women sometimes called “sluts”, “dames”, and “broads”? Where did these words come from? Origin of the Word “Slut” “Slut” originally didn’t mean at all what it means today. For instance, in a diary from 1664, Samuel Pepys writes, “Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily, doing more service than both […]
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Today I found out the United States doesn’t have an official language. President Theodore Roosevelt stated in 1907, “We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house.” […]
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Myth: You shouldn’t throw rice at weddings because birds’ stomachs will rupture if they eat it. In fact, birds can eat as much rice as they want (and some do, such as the bobolink, waterfowl, and shorebirds) without any internal problems. This shouldn’t be too surprising given rice is just a seed and birds eat a lot of seeds with […]
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Today I found out a man once tried to raise his son as a native speaker in Klingon. The man in question is computational linguist Dr. d’Armond Speers. Speers is actually not a huge Start Trek fan himself. Indeed, many Klingon language enthusiasts aren’t, contrary to popular perception. They tend to be language lovers fascinated by constructed languages, of which […]
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Today I found out the Stephen King short story Children of the Corn was originally published in Penthouse Magazine. While to date Stephen King has managed to sell about 350 million copies of his novels, he started out with quite humble beginnings as an author. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in English in 1970, Stephen […]
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Today I found out many public toilets used to be pay as you use. Or, for those of you like me who’ve been around for more than a few decades, “Today I found out what happened to pay toilets.” Going to the bathroom might be the one and only activity in America that’s cheaper than it used to be. Pay […]
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Today I found out the James Bond movie Goldfinger was once banned in Israel. Ask most any James Bond fan to name his or her favorite James Bond film and chances are they’ll reply with “Goldfinger”. (Steven Spielberg has even called it his favorite Bond film). Goldfinger is also quite probably the most widely seen of any Bond movie. It […]
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