Mark C. asks: Where did the expression “a penny for your thoughts” come from? The word “penny” may have come from the English ruler Penda, King of Mencia (an Anglo-Saxton kingdom in today’s English midlands). During his reign from 626 AD to 655 AD, he issued coins that were called “pending.” To further this theory along, the old English word […]
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The history books (and Hollywood) often describe the famous lawman, Wyatt Earp, as many things: brave, courageous, moral, law-abiding, and honorable. In the story of the “Gunfight at the OK Corral,” Earp is often portrayed as the hero, the good guy we all should be rooting for. In truth, Wyatt Earp was a much more complicated individual who, among other […]
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Our very good friends over at Neatorama are currently running a Cyber Week Christmas sale in their popular NeatoShop. They are also offering free world wide shipping (yes, world-wide). The sale runs now until Sunday the 7th at 11:59pm. So if you’re looking for some neato inexpensive gifts for people, go check it out now before this promo ends!
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In case you ever wondered how your relatives came to be called what they are, here’s a brief history. The modern English word for a parent’s sister, “aunt,” is a direct descendant of the Modern French word of the same meaning, tante. Both derive from the Latin word, amita, meaning “paternal aunt,” and the word is associated with the Greek […]
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Jeremy R. asks: Who were the richest people in history? Wealth transcends time. It is also extremely hard to evaluate. There have been more than a few studies and lists that have tried to figure out who are the richest people of all time. This task has been proven to be nearly impossible. Accurately adjusting for inflation is just one […]
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Throughout the history of modern warfare, the record for longest confirmed sniper kill is one that has steadily gotten more and more extreme as technology has progressed. At the time of writing this, the holder of that record is British sniper Craig Harrison, who notably broke the previous record twice on the same day by hitting two enemy targets on two consecutive […]
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Jeremy R. asks: Was Scotch tape invented by the Scottish? Despite the name, Scotch tape wasn’t invented by the Scottish. It was invented by a college dropout named Richard Drew from Minnesota who worked for a small sandpaper company founded in 1902 called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, later known as 3M. The name “Scotch” itself has an origin story almost […]
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Auschwitz was the most notorious and horrible of the concentration camps during World War II. Over a million innocent people were murdered at the camp located in Southern Poland (which was “annexed” by Nazi German forces at the beginning of the war). Survivors, of which there were only about 200,000 of the 1.3 million that were sent there, reported that […]
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Karen C. asks: True or false, you should suck the venom out of a snakebite after someone gets bitten? There are a number of productive things you can do to help a snakebite victim; trying to suck out the venom isn’t one of them. Actually having a negative effect, potentially further damaging the tissue around the bite and thus helping […]
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John A. asks: When did people start smoking tobacco? While who exactly was the first to smoke tobacco has been lost to history, Jordan Goodman, in his book Tobacco in History, theorizes that tobacco was first cultivated thousands of years ago in the Americas, around the regions that have become known as Mexico and Brazil. The populations grew the plant […]
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Our very good friends over at Neatorama are currently running a Black Friday weekend sale in their popular NeatoShop. They are offering all their awesome shirts for just $14.95 each and are also giving free world wide shipping (yes, world-wide) on orders over $75. The sale runs now until Sunday the 30th at 11:59pm. So if you’re looking for some […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Truth About Prepositions and the End of Sentences A great man once said, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” Eloquently highlighting the ridiculousness of strictly adhering to the rule against ending a sentence […]
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Little pearls swimming in a creamy custard flavored with vanilla or lemon, many of us have fond (and others not so fond) childhood memories of tapioca pudding. Although this staple dessert of the 1970s went out of vogue for a while, today it’s making a comeback. You may not know, however, that the tapioca we use is a refined product […]
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Jill A. asks: Why does the panama canal have locks? Isn’t the ocean the same level on both sides? Rising 85 feet above the surface of one ocean, and then descending again to be gently floated on another one, ships that traverse the Panama Canal shave nearly 8,000 miles off of their voyage to the other side by investing a […]
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For those of you in the United States who are about to celebrate Thanksgiving and want to look particularly knowledgey at your family get-together tomorrow, here is a roundup of all the Thanksgiving related articles we’ve made here at TodayIFoundOut for you to peruse. Or, you know- don’t. But when there are awkward pauses in the conversation at your Thanksgiving […]
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James I. asks: I was at Lowes and noticed mailboxes say “approved by the postmaster general”. What specifications do a mailbox need to reach to be approved in this way? I mean, it’s a box with a little door and a flag. Are those the requirements? What’s the process here? Thanks! While the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the […]
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Andy L. asks: Who first said “penny wise and a pound foolish”? The person credited with coining the phrase, “penny wise and pound foolish,” Robert Burton, also said about writers, “They lard their lean books with the fat of others’ works,” and “We can say nothing but what hath been said.” So, with Robert Burton’s insight in mind, here’s a […]
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John Dalton (1766-1844) was a distinguished scientist who is known for, among many other things, his theories about atoms, his law of partial pressures of gases and liquids (published in 1803), and being one of the first scientists to study color blindness. In fact, because of his work, for some time a common term for color blindness was “Daltonism,” and […]
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