You probably already knew that Disney has a habit of taking dark, twisted children’s fairy tales and turning them into sickeningly sweet happily-ever-afters. Take Sleeping Beauty for example: it’s based on a story where a married king finds a girl asleep, and can’t wake her so rapes her instead. The 1940 version of Pinocchio is no exception. The movie is […]
Read more
Today in History: March 20, 1345 On March 20, 1345 a planetary alignment occurred that some medieval scholars believed caused the Black Death, otherwise known as the plague. At 1 p.m., a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars occurred in the 40th degree of Aquarius. Each of these planets were associated with specific bodily humors. These three planets in […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the surprising dominance of the electric car in the late 19th and early 20th century and what exactly caused the downfall of this type of automobile. 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
Today I found out they named Parkinson’s disease after a man who was involved in an assassination attempt on King George III. Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder characterized by tremors or shaking, with this particular symptom of the progressive disease resulting from dopamine generating cell death in a part of the substantia nigra region of the brain . The […]
Read more
Witty, prickly, bitter and brilliant, for 50 odd years, author and newspaperman Ambrose Bierce eloquently chronicled the latter half of the 19th, and first few years of the 20th, centuries. From moving descriptions of Civil War events, to scathing rebukes of the worst of the Gilded Age, all interspersed with tales of the supernatural, Bierce’s unique voice has left us […]
Read more
Amanda asks: What is gluten and why is it bad for you? These days, just casually strolling down a grocery aisle, one can find a multitude of gluten-free products. From gluten-free whole grain bread to gluten-free beer to gluten-free Betty Crocker chocolate brownie mix, the market for food items without gluten has exploded over the past decade. But is gluten […]
Read more
Today in History: March 19, 1953 On March 19, 1953, after almost 40 years of making movies, pioneering director Cecil B. DeMille was finally awarded an Oscar: “Best Picture” for his movie The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Charlton Heston and Betty Hutton. DeMille was one of the visionaries behind the creation of the motion picture. Along with Jesse Lasky […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the 17 year old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back, then promptly was kicked out of Minor and Major League baseball. [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
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 from their new site. Most of us have probably laughed at someone on television getting shocked by a stun gun. They tense up and fall to […]
Read more
Rouise asks: Why do we cross our fingers for luck and when we’re lying? It’s odd that the same gesture is used for both. Turns out, people have been crossing their fingers for luck for centuries. The exact origins of this practice aren’t definitively known, but historians have a couple theories as to how the modern practice came about, though […]
Read more
Today I found out about the year’s “free wages” that led to Harper Lee writing To Kill a Mockingbird. The book, which was Lee’s first and only published novel until recently, was heralded as an “instant classic” when it was published in 1960, and it is a staple in high school classrooms today. But it might not exist at all […]
Read more
Today in History March 18, 2005 On March 18, 2005, Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed 15 years after the 41 year-old woman had collapsed and her heart stopped beating, initially thought to be because of a severe potassium imbalance in her body owing to unhealthy dieting. Her brain was oxygen-deprived for ten minutes, causing massive and irreversible brain damage […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the origin of James Bond and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which it might surprise you to learn were written by the same author. This episode is brought you by lynda.com, which is actually where TodayIFoundOut’s video person, Verity, learned how to make the videos here in the first place. When we got […]
Read more
Despite the awesomeness that is the 300 film (and the sequel)- the epic battles, the amazing directing, the incredible cinematography by Zack Snyder, and all the impressive special effects- our mission in this site is very specific, and thus, this article focuses on the historical inaccuracies of this movie. Identifying some of these historical inaccuracies, starting from Sparta’s then-political system, […]
Read more
Originally, of course, nobody knew what caused the various forms of tuberculosis, and they certainly didn’t understand it was caused by what would eventually be called tubercle bacillus (usually the offending microbes are specifically Mycobacterium tuberculosis). The word “tuberculosis” was coined by Johann Lukas Schönle in 1839, from the Latin “tuberculum,” meaning “small, swelling bump or pimple.” However, it wouldn’t […]
Read more
Today in History: March 17, 1776 On this day in 1776, eight years of occupation by British troops in Boston was brought to an end -with minimal blood shed – when General George Washington successfully placed fortifications and cannons at Dorchester Heights, a strategic spot over-looking the city from the south. During the Siege on Boston, when the New England […]
Read more
This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Why Three Strikes in a Row in Bowling is Called a “Turkey” This is thought to have its origins in bowling tournament prizes. Late eighteenth and early nineteenth century prizes given out during these tournaments were often food items, such as a […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about the fascinating origin of high heel shoes, and just how they became popular despite being extremely impractical in every day life. [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