Today I

Found Out

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 [...]

Today I found out that toilet paper was first used by the Chinese about 1300 years before it caught on with the rest of the world.  The first references of people using toilet paper dates back to the 6th century AD in the Chinese Imperial courts and amongst the other wealthy citizens of China.  This [...]

Today I found out Simo Häyhä, arguably the greatest sniper to ever live, sniped over 542 invading Soviet soldiers in World War II using nothing but a bolt action rifle that had no scope.  He also has the distinction of having recorded the highest number of confirmed kills by any sniper in any major war; [...]

Today I found out why the toilet is also often called “The Crapper”.  It turns out, it all started with U.S. soldiers stationed in England during WWI.  The toilets in England at the time predominately were made by the company “Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd”, with the company’s name appearing on the toilets.  The soldiers [...]

Today I found out that the 7-11 Double Big Gulp holds about twice the amount of fluid than the average adult human’s stomach.  The average adult human’s stomach can hold comfortably about 32 ounces at any given time (edit: excepting Americans who apparently can hold about 138 times that amount despite science’s official averages).  The [...]

Today I found out cats of all sizes aren’t afraid of bears.

Today I found out how to survive being buried alive in a coffin.  Yesterday, I posted an article on taphophobia and I got an email from a reader wondering if I could write-up an article on the best ways to actually get out of a coffin, if you happen to find yourself buried alive in [...]

Today I found out that the word ‘whence’ is pretty much always used wrong, especially by modern day writers. For example, (from the Lord of the Rings, spoken by Elrond):  “The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom; only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back [...]

Today I found out that some Tibetan monks really 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 [...]

Today I found out that the medical term for the irrational fear of being buried alive is called Taphophobia, also occasionally spelled Tephephobia which means the same thing.    Taphophobia derives from the Greek “taphos” meaning “grave”. Today this would be considered a somewhat irrational fear.  However, it wasn’t too long ago historically when this wasn’t [...]