In March of 2008, the world lost one of the most fearless soldiers to have served during WWII; a man who single-handedly cleared five heavily fortified positions with nothing more than a knife, a few grenades, a rock, and a complete disregard for the bullets flying around him the whole time. This is the story of Bhanbhagta Gurung. First thing first, […]
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In this video, produced by the very talented Brady Haran over at Numberphile, which you can subscribe to here, Dr. James Grime and Professor Roger Bowley answer the question of whether or not zero is an even number, along with talking about a lot of other interesting things about the history of zero. This is my new favorite video so […]
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This Day In History: February 24, 1807 Just a few days before Christmas 1806, a 34 year-old woman named Elizabeth Godfrey rented a room in a house of ill-repute (tsk-tsk) in the Marylebone section of London. Living next door was a coachman named Richard Price, who resided with a woman named Emily Bisset. Elizabeth was very angry at Richard, apparently […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the fascinating story behind how the “temporary insanity” defense became established in U.S. law, and what all this has to do with the creator of the Star Spangled Banner’s son. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily […]
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Jeremy R. asks: Is it true that more words break the I before E rule than follow it? If so, how come this is taught at all? If you ever want to start a fight among a group of linguists and orthographers, bring up the grammar school rule: “I before E, except after C,” which has been around since at […]
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On a field about fifty miles from Boston, Strawberry Hill, on the evening of September 3, 1880, history was made. It is unlikely the department store employees who were tossing around a ball knew that this game would still be talked about 135 years later. As the crowd took their seats, the ball players took their positions; the Sun dipped […]
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This Day In History: February 23, 1954 On February 23, 1954, a group of children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania helped make history by being the first inoculated with the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. The children were first, second, and third grade students attending local public and parochial schools. In the 1950s, Poliomyelitis was still an extremely contagious disease. […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Surprisingly Poor Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Prior to his role as Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Willard Smith (yes, Willard) enjoyed a successful career as a rapper under the pseudonym, “The Fresh Prince” as part of a […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the bizarre and very rare phenomenon of the “stone baby,” as well as about a woman who carried one of these fetuses in her body for about six decades. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily […]
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Denny G. asks: Why do baseball managers wear the team’s uniform instead of a suit or something like that like you see in other sports? It especially seems weird because managers in baseball seem to universally let themselves go after their playing days are over and tubby old men do not look good in sports uniforms! Football coaches wear clothes […]
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This Day In History: February 20, 1985 Amid a storm of controversy, the Irish government won initial approval for the sale of contraceptives on February 20, 1985. The bill, which narrowly passed by a vote of 83-80, was actively opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, a powerful conservative force in Ireland. The decision was described as the first defeat ever […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the gruesome origin of the expression “run amok”. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Jim R. asks: Is it true that the word jumbo came from the name of an elephant? The word “jumbo” can roughly be understood to mean “a large specimen of its kind” and it’s often posited that the word entered the English language thanks to an elephant. While this is certainly a nice story, the truth is a little more complicated. First […]
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Beyond being a staple of any self-respecting peace officer, thanks to the popularity of things like Movember, the humble moustache has made a glorious, bristly return to the faces of men all over the world in recent years. As a result, there is an almost endless supply of moustache related products one can buy, which means it’s only a matter […]
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This Day In History: February 19, 1910 On February 19, 1910 “Typhoid Mary” regained her freedom, albeit briefly. After years of being forced to live in isolation, Mary gladly agreed to never work as a cook again if she was allowed to live among the public. Mary signed an affidavit stating that she “is prepared to change her occupation (that […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about why you used to have to use #2 pencils on Scantron tests, as well as a boatload of fascinating facts about pencils and their surprisingly interesting history. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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This is a video from MinuteEarth created by Henry Reich et al. If you like TodayIFoundOut, odds are you’ll also greatly enjoy their videos. So go check them out and subscribe to their channel here. You can also join us in supporting their efforts to make more videos like this by donating via their Patreon page here. If you liked […]
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Kyle H. asks: Who wrote rockaby-baby and how did it become a nursery rhyme? Seems kind of morbid to sing to a baby. First found in print in 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody (see: Who was the Real Mother Goose?), the lyrics in this first printed version are essentially the same as today: Mush-a-bybaby On the tree top, When the […]
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