Developed from game theory and a key tactic of his early administration, President Richard Nixon came into office with a clear plan – scare the hell out of other world leaders to get them to do what he wanted. Called the “madman theory,” it depended on possessing a massive nuclear arsenal, then simply acting sufficiently erratic and unbalanced to convince […]
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Karl A. asks: In the movie True Grit, they don’t use contractions. Is it true that people back then didn’t use them? Won’t, don’t, wouldn’t, isn’t and even ain’t- where would we be without our contractions? Prevalent in spoken English and increasingly accepted in written pieces, contractions enable brevity and make written works more accessible and friendly. Contractions in some […]
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This Day In History: November 3, 1926 On November 3, 1926, legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley died of natural causes in Greenville Ohio. To escape her poverty-stricken childhood, she capitalized on her extraordinary marksmanship and later joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. Annie was the first female superstar in the once male-dominated profession. Phoebe Ann Moses, who later changed her […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. How Birds Grip Things When They Sleep Everyone needs sleep, but for many birds, by necessity this has to happen while perched on a branch or other place that must be gripped. Anyone who has ever fallen asleep reading and found her […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn where the holiday of Halloween came from and why we celebrate it by dressing up and having kids go door to door collecting candy. [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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Mark D. asks: How do they make real silk from worms? One of the softest fabrics on the planet, shiny, breathable and comfortable, silk has been a highly prized cloth since it was first harvested thousands of years ago. And despite advances in production methods and new possibilities for cultivation, still today the only reasonable way to glean the thread in […]
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In 1893, Dr. Robert Buchanan was convicted of killing his wife with a lethal amount of morphine. Without any clear physical evidence tying him to her death, the prosecution relied on eyewitness and expert witness testimony, as well as a courtroom demonstration involving a cat, a needle, eye drops and a deadly dose of opiate, to show how Buchanan could […]
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This Day In History October 31, 1992 On October 31, 1992, the Roman Catholic Church admitted it had been wrong to condemn Galileo Galilei for promoting the Copernican astronomical theory. After a 13 year investigation into the persecution of Galileo that led to his official condemnation in 1633, Pope John Paul II rectified a wrong that forced the Italian astronomer […]
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We’ve covered quite a few Halloween related facts here on TodayIFoundOut over the years. Here’s a list of all of them, as well as some interesting facts about various candies. Happy Halloween! 🙂 Halloween Related Facts: Why are Carved Pumpkins Called “Jack O’ Lanterns”? The name “Jack O’ Lantern” was originally one of the numerous names given to ignis fatuus […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the truth about the often repeated idea that people have put razor blades in or poisoned Halloween candy. [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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Drew F. asks: Why is there so much mercury in fish? Was this always a problem and we only just now know about it, or is it really a recent thing? Toxic to humans, to cause damage mercury must first get inside our bodies, either when we inhale it, get it into an open wound or eat it. While it […]
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Born into acting, by the age of five Jackie Coogan, Jr. was a veteran stage performer when Charlie Chaplin first spotted him in 1919. Immediately cast in Chaplin’s A Day’s Pleasure, the hard-working Coogan went on to star in The Kid (1919), Daddy (1923), Long Live the King (1923), Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931). As a child, he […]
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This Day In History: October 30, 1534 The Act of Supremacy, passed by English Parliament on this day in history, 1534, declared King Henry VIII head of the newly minted Church of England, had a lot more to do with politics than it had to do with theology. It also was influenced by Henry’s complicated personal life, which was rendered […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn why we call Autumn (or Fall), Winter, Spring, and Summer by those names. [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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The Beatles vs. “The Monkees”… Well, that’s really no contest, is it? Isn’t that rather like comparing Marilyn Monroe to J. Lo? Jim Carrey to Pauly Shore? As we all well know and readily concede- fame-wise, talent-wise, popularity-wise, music-wise, and immortality-wise, it’s no contest. But did you know The Monkees’ records outsold both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined […]
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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. If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: The “Pull and Pray” Method Works About as Well as a Condom for Preventing Pregnancy Why […]
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U. Grening asks: What happens to your social security number when you die? Does it get used again? Since 1935, the Social Security Administration has been issuing numbers to permanent residents of the United States. Nine simple digits distinguish each American from his or her fellow residents. Today, assigned randomly and never recycled, a social security number is as unique […]
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This Day In History: October 29, 539 B.C.E. On October 29, 539 B.C.E., Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, entered the city of Babylon and proclaimed himself “King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the four corners of the world.” He came bearing the Cyrus Cylinder, the first Charter of Human Rights, which he placed under the […]
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