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Dogs and Cats are Typically Right or Left Pawed
Today I found out dogs and cats are typically right pawed or left pawed. This is according to two studies, one done at the Ataturk University in Turkey (in 1991) and another at the
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“Big Ben” is Not the Famous Clock Tower, but Rather the Name of the Great Bell Inside the Tower
If you’ve ever been to London, or even seen a picture of London, you’ve probably seen the giant clock tower at the corner of the Palace of Westminster. This tower is one of London’s
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High Heels Were Popular Among Men Before Women
Today I found out men wore high heel shoes long before women. The first high heel wearers are believed to have been Persian horseback warriors sometime around the ninth century. The extended heel was
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When the Canadian Government Used “Gay Detectors” to Try to Get Rid of Homosexual Government Employees
We are all familiar with the colloquialism “gaydar” which refers to a person’s intuitive, and often wildly inaccurate, ability to assess the sexual orientation of another person. In the 1960s, the Royal Canadian Mounted
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The Origin of the Phrase “Once in a Blue Moon”
Today I found out the origin of the phrase “once in a blue moon” and what a blue moon actually is. “Once in a blue moon” today means “very rarely,” though it used to
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The Man Who Survived Two Nuclear Bomb Attacks
Tsutomu Yamaguchi died from stomach cancer. The cancer part perhaps isn’t surprising given that Yamaguchi is currently the only person officially recognized by the Japanese government as having lived through the atomic bombings of
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How “XOXO” Came to Mean “Hugs and Kisses”
Dev asks: Why does XOXO mean hugs and kisses? You’ve seen XO as a sign-off representing love, affection, or friendship on letters, cards, emails, chat rooms and text messages. You may have even been
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The Makers of Barbie Used to Sell a Doll Whose Breasts Grew When Her Arm Rotated
Today I found out that the makers of Barbie used to sell a doll whose breasts grew when her arm rotated. Yes, you read that correctly. It was 1975 and the doll was called
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The Cicada Invasion is Here
They’re coming. If you live on the Eastern seaboard of North America, prepare this summer for a large-scale invasion of a species of cicada (“cicada” being the Latin for “tree cricket”) that hasn’t happened in
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10 Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin was a man of many and varied accomplishments- a Renaissance man in the grand tradition of Leonardo da Vinci. He was a writer, scientist, musician, inventor and innovator, despite only ever receiving
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