Next week will be accidental inventions week part two. This means all the full articles will be themed towards accidental inventions, though the quick facts will still be on random topics. If you happen to know of any popular products that were invented by accident, feel free to email me here and let me know. If the history of […]
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##EMBED## Along with the fact that eating KFC at Christmas is a tradition in Japan, Colonel Sanders is somewhat of a cult figure there. Not only is there a life-sized statue of the Colonel in front of most KFCs in Japan, but his memorabilia, like wind-up toys and figurines, can be found at many toy stores throughout Japan. Sources
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##EMBED## Wil Wheaton did voices for various romulans in the 2009 movie Star Trek. This was kept a secret until fairly close to when the movie came out. In his own words: “JJ Abrams called me. It was an entertaining conversation; I couldn’t believe he wanted me to do work on his film, and he couldn’t believe that I wanted […]
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##EMBED## One pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories. So if you were to eat around 350 calories more per day than your body uses, in just ten days, you’d gain one pound of fat. If you kept that amount of excess every day, you’d continue to gain weight until your body reached an equilibrium where the extra fat it’s […]
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##EMBED## When Michael J Fox auditioned for the role of Alex on Family Ties, he was completely broke. At that point, he had sold almost everything her owned to make ends meet and had canceled his phone service. He told his agent only to call at a certain time in the afternoon because he was busy. The number he gave […]
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Today I found out about the Tunguska Event, which was a 1908 explosion estimated to have been nearly 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and about 1/3 as powerful as the largest ever detonated atomic bomb, the Tsar Bomba. The Tunguska event occurred around 7:00 a.m. local time on June 30, 1908 near […]
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Today I found out the Bluetooth standard is named after a 10th century Scandinavian king. The man was Harald I of Denmark. “Bluetooth” is the English translation of “Blåtand”, which was an epithet of Harald I (Harald Blåtand Gormsson). Legend has it, he received this name due to being extremely fond of blueberries and consuming them so regularly and in […]
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Today I found out why your nose gets runny when it is cold. On an average day, a typical person’s nose will produce about one quart of mucus/fluid (just under one liter). Most all of this snot generally gets passed back into your throat and swallowed, often without you even really being too conscious of it. When you’re breathing cold […]
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Today I found out about one of the great practical jokes of the 19th century, the Berners Street Hoax. The year was 1809. Famed English author, Theodore Hook, made a bet with one of his close friends, the noted architect and writer, Samuel Beazley, that within one week, he could make any house in London the most talked about place […]
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##EMBED## The Origins of Halloween: Halloween, as we know it today, borrows traditions from four different festivals, namely: The Roman Feralia festival, commemorating the dead The Roman Pomona festival, honoring the goddess of fruit and trees The Celtic festival Samuin, meaning “summer’s end”, which comprises the bulk of the origins of Halloweedn traditions The Catholic Hallowmas period of “All Soul’s […]
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Today I found out caterpillars’ bodies “melt” almost completely before morphing into butterflies in the chrysalis. In order for the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly to take place within the pupa, the caterpillar begins releasing enzymes that literally digest nearly all of its own body. What’s left inside the chrysalis is mostly just a very nutrient rich soup […]
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##EMBED## The custom of wearing costumes or masks comes from the Celtic tradition of young men impersonating evil spirits by dressing up in white costumes with blackened faces or masks in an attempt to placate the spirits. Trick or treating comes from the Middle-Age practice of the poor dressing up in costumes and going around door to door during […]
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Today I found out a 61 year old potato and sheep farmer once won one of the world’s most grueling athletic competitions. The man was an Australian by the name of Albert Ernest Clifford “Cliff” Young, who decided to take up running as a sport at the age of 57. The competition was the Westfield run, which is an ultra-marathon that […]
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Today I found what causes birthmarks. There are several different types of birthmarks. What causes them is an excess of pigment cells (Melanoctyes), or an excess of blood vessels confined to one area of the skin. Birthmarks caused by an excess of pigment in certain areas of the skin are known as pigmented birthmarks. The color of your skin is […]
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##EMBED## Today in North America around $3 billion is spent on Halloween costumes alone. Haunted house attractions bring in about half a billion dollars annually Around 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins were produced in the United States in 2009. They were valued at $141 million and the vast majority of those pumpkins were sold around Halloween. Halloween candy sales average […]
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##EMBED## Trick or Treating Stats Around 35 million children in the U.S. between 5 and 13 years old go trick or treating every year, which is around 90% of all children in that age group. Around 50% of adults in the U.S. will dress up for Halloween and about 67% will attend a Halloween party or go trick or treating […]
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Today I found out why people’s voices sometimes crack during puberty. The mechanics of a person’s voice is an awesome biological phenomenon. It all starts with the air in the lungs. As air passes from your lungs to the outside of your mouth, it can be manipulated in several ways. Should you decide a vow of silence is appropriate and […]
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Today I found out saying “ahoy-hoy” was at one time the preferred way to answer the phone. The very brief popularity of this telephone greeting stemmed from the fact the “ahoy-hoy” was Alexander Graham Bell’s preferred way to answer the phone. Ahoy-hoy derives from the term “ahoy”, which is generally associated with being a nautical term used for hailing ships. […]
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