Note: This is a guest article contributed by frequent TIFO visitor and owner of DumpADay, Jon. Today I Found Out that Dolph Lundgren (A.K.A. Ivan Drago) is a real life genius. I guess the phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is true. Just looking at Mr. Lundgren, I’d think he was a fun guy to hang out […]
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Today I found out the world’s most fearless creature is the Honey Badger, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Honey Badgers have many reasons to be fearless. They have very thick (about 1/4 inches), rubbery skin, which is so tough that it’s been shown to be nearly impervious to traditionally made arrows and spears. Further, their skin can […]
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Today I found out how the “I’m going to Disneyland/Disney World” saying got started. In January of 1987, CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner, and his wife were having dinner with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. Rutan and Yeager had just recently become the first to fly an aircraft around the world without re-fueling or stopping. At a certain point in […]
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Today I found out Robert Downey Jr. modeled his portrayal of Tony Stark after Elon Musk, one of the founds of Zip2, Paypal, Tesla Motors, Solar City, and SpaceX. During the planning stages of Iron Man, after Downey Jr. had been cast, director Jon Favreau and Downey Jr. sat down to discuss how to make a really believable Tony Stark […]
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Note: This is a guest article contributed by frequent TIFO visitor and owner of DumpADay, Jon. Today I found out that in the 1960s, the CIA spent 5 years and over $20 million training spy cats. I guess it’s not as strange as it might first seem. Cats are stealthy, smart, fast, can jump tall objects, and most people when […]
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Today I found out the origin of the lolcat meme. It turns out, the oldest known reference to an lolcat style picture/caption dates all the way back to 1903 from photographer Harry Whittier Frees, who would take photos of small animals, including cats, dressed up in various outfits. These photos were then often sold in postcards by Rotograph, the company […]
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Today I found out making tires black, instead of the natural white color of rubber, produces a much stronger and longer lasting tire. Originally rubber tires were white, which is the natural color of rubber. In the early 1900s, Binney & Smith began selling their carbon black chemicals to Goodrich Tire Company, as it was found that the use of […]
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Today I found out, before becoming one of the world’s most famous TV chefs, Julia Child was a top secret research assistant for the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the CIA. After graduating from college with a degree in English, Julia Child, then named Julia McWilliams, worked in the advertising department for W. & J. Sloane in New […]
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Today I found out that dolphins don’t breathe automatically, rather it is always consciously done. An interesting consequence of the fact that they need to be conscious to control their breathing is that they can never be truly unconscious, even when they sleep. However, being mammals, their brains do need to enter a type of unconscious state every now and […]
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Today I found out AstroTurf was originally named “ChemGrass” before being used by the Houston Astros Major League Baseball team in the Astrodome. Contrary to popular belief, AstroTurf was not first used or invented for the Houston Astros. For instance, before being used by the Astros, it was used at such sporting venues as Moses Brown School in Rhode Island, […]
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Today I found out Charles Osborne (1894-1991) had the hiccups non-stop for approximately 68 years, from 1922 to June 5th, 1990. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this is the longest bout of the hiccups ever recorded. His hiccups first started in 1922 while weighing a hog for slaughter. As he says, “I was hanging a 350 pound […]
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Today I found out that the correct term for referring to a group of cats is ‘clowder’. Interestingly, there are also two other valid ways to refer to a group of cats, other than just saying “group of cats” or “cats”. Those other two terms are ‘clutter’ and ‘glaring’. In addition to this, if one wants to refer to a group of […]
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Today I found out Nicolas Cage was originally offered the part of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Cage stated in an interview that he turned down the offer due to the around three year time commitment. Cage also stated in the same interview that he was offered the role of Neo in The Matrix, but turned that one down […]
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Today I found out that some Tibetan monks can control the temperature of their skin through meditation. Specifically, they have been shown to be able to raise their skin temperature, measured from their toes and fingers, as much as 17 degrees Fahrenheit, while their core temperature stays normal. Scientists from Harvard University, lead by Herbert Benson, were first able to […]
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Today I found out the French word for “paperclip” is “trombone”. The word trombone originally comes from the Italian “tromba”, which comes from the same Latin word, “tromba”, both retaining the same meaning: trumpet. In this case, the ending with the added “one” (tromb-one), indicates “large”. So, essentially, trombone means “large trumpet”. This has been the name of the instrument […]
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Today I found out that the Jewel Wasp, also known as the “Emerald Cockroach Wasp”, is a parasitic wasp that injects various mind controlling toxins into a cockroach’s brain then leads the roach back to its burrow where its hatched larva ultimately slowly eat the still living cockroach’s body from the inside out. So basically, a lot like my brother’s […]
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Today I found out why flavored carbonated beverages are called “soft drinks”. It turns out, soft drinks aren’t just flavored carbonated beverages. “Soft Drink” refers to nearly all beverages that do not contain significant amounts of alcohol (hard drinks). The term “soft drink” though is now typically used exclusively for flavored carbonated beverages. This is actually due to advertising. Flavored […]
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Today I found out about the “nocebo effect” which is more or less the evil twin of the placebo effect. The nocebo effect is an effect where a patient is given or told something that should make no difference whatsoever to their health, but ends up causing negative side effects because of what they believe about the thing they are […]
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