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Vincent Kosuga and His Onions
Remember that scene in the movie Trading Places where Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd bankrupted those two old rich guys by cornering the frozen orange juice market? It turns out that a guy actually
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What Makes a Vowel a Vowel and a Consonant a Consonant
Mark asks: Why is “y” only sometimes a vowel? When is it a vowel and when is it a consonant? You already know that vowels in the English alphabet are a, e, i, o,
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Was Colonel Sanders Actually a Colonel?
Rachel M. asks: Was Colonel Sanders really a Colonel? Kentucky Colonel is the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. (Incidentally, if you’re curious: Why Colonel is Pronounced “Kernel”) To
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Where The Expression “Dressed to the Nines” Came From
Samira asks: Why do we say “dressed to the nines” when someone’s dressed up? Like so many etymologies of expressions and words, we can only make educated guesses at the true origin of “dressed
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The “War of the Worlds” Mass Panic That Never Really Happened
On October 30, 1938, from the Mercury Theater in New York City, Orson Welles broadcasted a “modernized” radio play of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) 1898 novel “War of the Worlds.” For the last three
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The Curious Relationship Between Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II of France
Today I Found Out Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France “ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them.” There
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Yet Another 10 Quick Facts
lev radin / Shutterstock.com Featureflash / Shutterstock.com Image via @SirPatStew 1. According to the Florentine Codex, among other sources, it is believed that the Ancient Aztecs were clean freaks, particularly compared to Europeans at
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Podcast Episode #90: How Hot Dogs Got Their Name and Why Soft Drinks are Called That
In this episode, you’re going to learn how hot dogs got their name- and note, it has nothing to do with anything that happened at a baseball game, contrary to popular belief. You’re also
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Do Cow Farts Really Significantly Contribute to Global Warming?
Shawn asks: Do cow farts really significantly contribute to global warming? There are currently approximately 1.3 to 1.5 billion cows grazing, sleeping, and chewing their cud at any given time on planet Earth. And
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Was the Character of Sherlock Holmes Based on a Real Person?
Sue T. asks: My sister told me Sherlock Holmes was based on a real person. Is this true? In 1887, Doyle published the novel “A Study in Scarlet.” It was the first work to
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The Good and the Bad of Vaporizing and Inhaling Alcohol
Our resident medical expert, Scott, and a buddy of his recently started The Medicine Journal, where you can learn all sorts of interesting facts about all things medical related. Below is a sample article
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The U.S. Army’s Camel Corps
Today I Found Out that camels were acquired by the United States military and played a role in the settlement of the American west. Camels are no strangers to war. They have been used
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Can Color Blind People See More Colors When They Take Hallucinogenic Drugs?
Sam asks: If you gave a color blind person something like LSD or some other sort of hallucinogenic drug, would they see colors they couldn’t before? First a little primer on colour blindness from
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How a Donkey and an Elephant Came to Represent Democrats and Republicans
Jennifer asks: Why is a donkey and an elephant associated with the Democrats and the Republicans? The donkey is stereotypically bumbling, slow, and stubborn; the elephant- big and clumsy. Being compared to one of
Read More »Podcast Episode #79: Spoons, Knives, and Forks
In this episode, you’re going to learn how and when humans came up with the idea for spoons, knives, and forks, and the surprising resistance to the adoption of forks which were seen by
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The True Story Behind The Appalling Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Controversial research programs, unethical experimentation, and human trials have been part of the medical field for centuries. It doesn’t make it any less wrong, but certain scientists with questionable ethics have gotten away with
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The North’s Air Force During the American Civil War
Today I Found Out about the Union Army Balloon Corps. If you thought that air warfare was reserved for a time after airplanes were invented, you thought wrong. During the American Civil War, the
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Why There is an Area of New York Called “The Bronx” and Why Ambulances are Called That
Why There is an Area of New York Called “The Bronx” This is thanks to a seventeenth century Scandinavian man by the name of Jonas Bronck, originally from Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. In
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