In this episode, you’re going to learn the surprisingly recent origin of the sporting wave, also known as the “Mexican Wave” outside of the United States, which funny enough has little to nothing to do with Mexico. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily […]
Read more
Given that most have still heard of the Pony Express today, unlike so many other messaging companies long gone, you may think that the Pony Express was once an integral part of communication between the East and West in the United States. It turns out, this was never the case and the Pony Express was around only for an extremely […]
Read more
Kevin A. asks: I was just wondering how Felix Hernandez became known as “King”? The religious Abraham was commanded by God to leave his homeland and travel to a distant, already occupied, place in which Abraham would eventually rule with the aid of divine blessing. Maybe it was fate that Felix Abraham Hernandez, born in Venezuela, would come to baseball’s […]
Read more
Today in History: September 18, 1923 On September 18, 1923, Princess Anne Antoinette Francois Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma was born in Paris, France. The second child of Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma and princess Margrethe of Demark, she spent her early years with her parents and three brothers in France before they fled from the Nazis and headed for Spain in 1939. […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn how the Himalayas originally formed and how they are changing even today, along with some other interesting Himalaya related facts. [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
Read more
Matthew C. asks: Who made the first diet pop? In order to make a diet soda (at least one people would popularly drink), a sugar substitute was needed. The first such artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered by accident. In the late 19th century, Constantin Fahlberg, after a long day working at the lab of the famed chemist Ira Remsen in […]
Read more
Kay P. asks: Is spider blood really blue? When it comes to spiders, people generally know two facts about them- that you swallow around eight of them per year and that their blood is bright blue. Fortunately, the former is absolutely not true at all, the latter, on the other hand, is mostly correct. While it’s certainly true that spiders […]
Read more
This Day In History: September 17, 1630 Long before the Red Sox, Whitey Bulger, or Tom Brady, Boston’s first European settlers called the area Trimountaine in reference to its now non-existent three mountains. The name didn’t stick for very long. The land that was called Shawmut by the local Algonquin inhabitants was named Boston (after Boston, England) on September 17, […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn the origin of the now famous HOLLYWOOD sign and how it came to be such a famous landmark today. [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
Read more
This is a video from the very talented Brady Haran who, among other channels, produces phenomenal videos such as this one over at Numberphile, which you can subscribe to here. You can also follow Brady on Twitter here. If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: How to Fix a Wobbly Table With Nothing But Math An Explanation and […]
Read more
To this day, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a monumental civil engineering feat. Connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn and extending across the East River, the bridge is a New York City icon. When finally finished in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever constructed. It is said that today over 125,000 motor vehicles cross the 130 year […]
Read more
This Day In History: September 16, 1932 In the early days of Hollywood, many pretty girls, whether they had acting experience or not, decided to head out west to try and make a career in motion pictures. Competition was fierce, and most of them eventually went home to the Midwest or the East Coast – or where-ever – after facing […]
Read more
There is a long-standing belief that golf was invented by the Scottish, sometime in the 14th or 15th centuries. This maybe false, at least according to Chinese professors and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. In 2006, evidence was presented that the game may have originated from the ancient Chinese game “Chuiwan” – loosely translated to “hitting ball.” Two paintings, one […]
Read more
Mark K. asks: Cans of Diet Coke float. Cans of regular Coke don’t. The cans are the same size and they contain the same amount of liquid according to the label. What gives? Fun fact: If you put a can of Coca-Cola into a pool of water, it would sink. However, if you put a can of Diet Coke into […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the real origin of the phrase “Let them eat cake,” as well as how Marie Antoinette got connected to the phrase. You’re also going to learn why history remembers Antoinette as such a villain, and how this starkly contrasts with the real woman. [TRANSCRIPT] If you’re interested in learning more on the […]
Read more
This Day In History: September 15, 1963 The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama not only served as a house of worship for its predominately black congregation, but it also was a meeting place for organizers of the Civil Rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many of the 1960s Civil Rights marches in Birmingham began at the […]
Read more
This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Why a Gecko’s Feet Can Stick to Almost Anything It has been observed since the 4th century BC that geckos have the ability to climb walls, hang upside down, and apparently “stick” to anything. Aristotle was the first known to have commented […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about a drastically bigger structure commonly used for certain Roman games long before the now much more famous Colosseum was even a thought. You’re also going to learn some other interesting facts about the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You […]
Read more