Featured Facts

Category Archives: Featured Facts

The Fascinating Origin of Pong and Atari + Interview with the Creators of Quest for Glory and the Upcoming Hero-U (The BrainFood Show Episode 4)

March 15, 2018 Daven Hiskey Leave a comment

In episode 4 of The BrainFood Show podcast, we discuss the fascinating origin of Atari and the game that more or less gave birth to an industry- Pong. Next up, we talk with award winning computer game designers Lori and Corey Cole, most notably creators of one of the greatest game series in history, the groundbreaking Quest for Glory (which […]

Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley, Ruth Ellis and Banning the Death Penalty

March 15, 2018 Melissa Leave a comment

Timothy Evans was no saint and there was good reason for the police to suspect him of murdering his pregnant wife and baby daughter. He and said wife, Beryl, had a long history of angry quarrels including witnesses stating that the couple occasional came to blows with one another. Seemingly a constant source of argument was Beryl being upset with […]

The Preposterous Pyramid (The BrainFood Show Episode 3)

March 9, 2018 Daven Hiskey 2 comments

In episode 3 of The BrainFood Show podcast, we discuss the fascinating origins of the Food Pyramid and why that is a horribly unhealthy way to eat (and why the USDA made it that way even though they knew well it wasn’t a healthy recommendation at the time). We also discuss whether eating too much salt is actually bad for […]

Why Do the Village People Dress Like That?

March 6, 2018 Karl Smallwood 3 comments

Tanya G. asks: Why did the Village People dress up in those outfits? The creation of the Village People is directly attributed to French composer and producer Jacques Morali, a gay man who wanted to create disco music gay men would appreciate. Moreli, a legendary disco beat-smith who was responsible for producing a string of disco hits in the early […]

The White Feather (The BrainFood Show Episode 2)

February 28, 2018 Daven Hiskey 2 comments

In episode 2 of The BrainFood Show podcast, we discuss what actually started WWI, with the motivations there not quite what most people think, some rather interesting things the soldiers on both sides got up to in the early days of the war, and the absolutely bizarre, but effective, Order of the White Feather. We wrap up this section discussing […]

Did People Ever Really Put Crocodiles In Moats?

February 25, 2018 Karl Smallwood One comment

John A. asks: Are there any real examples of medieval castles having alligators in the moat to keep out intruders? A common image in pop-culture is that of a castle moat filled to the brim with water and hungry crocodiles. So did anyone ever actually do this? The short answer is that it doesn’t appear so. That said, while there’s […]

The BrainFood Show Episode 1: Throwing Tomatoes

February 19, 2018 Daven Hiskey 4 comments

In this debut episode of our new The BrainFood Show podcast, we discuss the surprising similarities between online commenters and audiences throughout history, as well as how the practice of throwing tomatoes at performers got started. We’ll also be looking at the various ways to monetize on youtube and websites and just generally explaining how all that works. Finally, we […]

Does the President Get Sick Days?

February 10, 2018 Karl Smallwood 2 comments

Joseph R.asks: What happens if the president is too sick to work? The president of the United States never technically takes a day off. Even when they’re ostensibly “on vacation” they are still very much the leader of the country and have many duties to fulfill on a daily basis. For example, even while on vacation, they need to continue […]

The Origin of Valentine’s Day

February 1, 2018 Matt Blitz Leave a comment

While not thought to be directly related to modern Valentine’s Day traditions, the beginnings of celebrating love (of a sort) in February date back to the Romans. The feast of Lupercalia was a pagan fertility and health festival, observed from February 13th through the 15th, that was celebrated at least as far back as 44 BCE (the year Julius Caesar […]

Will Hospitals Give Back an Amputated Limb if You Ask For It?

January 23, 2018 Karl Smallwood 5 comments

Ron G. asks: Your donating bodies to science article left me wondering. What do hospitals do with limbs of people they amputate? Like, if I have a limb amputated, can I ask for it back? It’s standard procedure in most hospitals to incinerate any limbs, organs or tissue they remove from a non-organ donor patient. However, just because this is […]

Stabbing Bed Bugs, Lloyd Christmas, Cliff from CliffsNotes and More in Yet Another 10 Quick Facts

January 16, 2018 Daven Hiskey 4 comments

1026: Bed bugs reproduce via the male bed bug literally stabbing the female in the abdomen with his hypodermic genitalia rather than using the female’s reproductive tract. Once he’s stabbed the female, he then releases his sperm insider her body cavity. The sperm ultimately travel via the female’s blood to sperm storage structures in her body. The males also are […]

What Happens When You Donate Your Body to Science and How Do You Do This?

January 8, 2018 Karl Smallwood 6 comments

Ian asks: When someone leaves their body to science, what happens to it and how does a person opt into this? As you might expect, the rules surrounding how one goes about donating one’s body FOR SCIENCE varies a little from region to region, though the general process and what happens after you donate seems to be relatively consistent. For […]

The British Plan to Cover Germany with Anthrax- Operation Vegetarian

December 26, 2017 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Leave a comment

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader How deadly could a secret program code-named “Operation Vegetarian” be? So deadly that had it ever been implemented, millions would have died and thousands of square miles of European soil might still be unoccupied today. ALONE On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler set World War II in motion when he […]

Charles Dickens’ “Sledge Hammer” for the Poor Man’s Child- The Fascinating Story Behind “A Christmas Carol”

December 24, 2017 Matt Blitz 2 comments

For all the things that Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is known for, Tiny Tim, a relatively minor character in terms of appearances in the story (but, importantly, one of wholesome heart despite his physical condition), was one of the characters that Dickens wanted people to pay the most attention to. After all, he wrote “A Christmas Carol” to bring […]

Why are There “12 Days” of Christmas in the Song?

December 21, 2017 Matt Blitz Leave a comment

Karla B. asks: Why is there twelve days of Christmas in that song? Does anyone really celebrate Christmas for twelve days? Even the most ardent fans of Christmas will agree – the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” does not make a whole lot of sense. What is a partridge doing in a pear tree? Partridges are ground-nesting birds! So […]

Apparently We’ve All Been Saying “UFO” Wrong?

December 19, 2017 Karl Smallwood 10 comments

We here at TodayIFoundOut are firmly in the camp that language is constantly evolving and grammar lives to serve language and effective communication, not the other way around. Putting aside the issue of unintentional mistakes, intentional use of atypical grammar isn’t really something to get inherently upset or high and mighty about. And certainly those who claim some word, like […]

What Ever Happened to Everyone’s Friend, MySpace Tom?

December 15, 2017 Karl Smallwood Leave a comment

Derrick H. asks: Whatever happened to Tom from MySpace and why was he the first friend of everyone on the site? Tom Anderson, better known online as MySpace Tom, was, for a brief period in the early 2000s, arguably the most popular man on the internet. Boasting over 200 million friends at the apex of MySpace’s popularity, Tom was everybody […]

The McDonald’s Monopoly Scam: Operation Final Answer

December 6, 2017 Melissa Leave a comment

McDonald’s first started the Monopoly promotion in 1987, and its premise was simple: attach Monopoly pieces to food cartons and cups, with each piece signifying a Monopoly property or a small prize. One out of every four pieces would be a small prize, such as a medium fry or soda, and a very few of the prizes would be significantly […]

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