Page 58 – Today I Found Out

Do Athletes Really go to Disneyland After a Big Win, Who was Miranda of the Miranda Warning, Whatever Happened to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and More

February 14, 2017 Dusti

In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, Do athletes really go to Disneyland after saying they will when winning a big sporting event? Why is the Miranda warning called that? Why we sometimes refer to the toilet as a crapper and much more. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for many more videos like this. Do Athletes […]

Educational Videos

An Astronomical Flop

February 13, 2017 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? In 1985, Bary Bertiger, an engineer with the high-tech giant Motorola, had an intriguing idea: If a company could put enough low-orbit satellites in the air to attain direct access to the entire surface of the Earth, and use that network to support a satellite […]

Weekly Wrap Volume 137

February 11, 2017 Dusti

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Origin of Gatorade and How the Tradition of the “Gatorade Shower” Got Started During a typical sticky, unbearable August weekend in 1965 in Gainesville- the home of the University of Florida Gators- football practices were well underway in anticipation for […]

Forgotten History: Walter Hunt and the Safety Pin

February 10, 2017 Karl Smallwood

Walter Hunt is a man who is simultaneously considered to have possessed one of the finest inventive minds in all of American history while also being an individual almost no one has ever heard. This is despite the fact that it’s almost guaranteed that one of his inventions is currently lying somewhere in your home, the safety pin. This was […]

How Does a Muslim Face Mecca When Praying in Space?

February 8, 2017 Karl Smallwood

Jason H. asks: How does an Islamic person know where to face when they’re in space and supposed to be praying towards Mecca? The first Muslim person in space was Royal Saudi Air Force pilot Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1985 aboard the United States shuttle Discovery. He was followed up by the first Muslimah in space, […]

Couch Potatoes, Why Red Meat Turns Brown When Cooking, Where Lincoln’s Bodyguard was During the Assassination and More

February 7, 2017 Dusti

In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we look at why lazy people are sometimes called couch potatoes, why red meat turns brown when cooked, why you can’t tickle yourself, the fascinating story of the King of the Dudes, and why we drive on parkways and park on driveways. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for many […]

Educational Videos

Stuart Little and the Missing Masterpiece

February 6, 2017 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader It’s a good bet that after you read this article, you’ll start paying more attention to background props in movies. A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE It was Christmas Eve 2009. Gergely Barki, an art historian and researcher with the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, had settled in with his daughter Lola to […]

Weekly Wrap Volume 136

February 6, 2017 Dusti

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Can Fish Get Thirsty and Why Can’t Freshwater Fish Live in Saltwater and Vice Versa? For fish, or at least teleost fish (which make up about 96% of all fish), the desire to drink is an urge that originates from the […]

The Origin of Gatorade and How the Tradition of the “Gatorade Shower” Got Started

February 5, 2017 Matt Blitz

chastitydetori. asks: Why do athletes dump Gatorade on their coaches after winning a game? During a typical sticky, unbearable August weekend in 1965 in Gainesville- the home of the University of Florida Gators- football practices were well underway in anticipation for the upcoming season. However, the weather had wreaked havoc on the freshman football team over the weekend. 25 players […]

From a Hot Dog Stand to Taco Bell, Why Coupons Sometimes Say They Are Worth a Fraction of a Penny, Ahoy hoy, and More

February 4, 2017 Dusti

In this week’s “best of” our YouTube channel, we look at how a business that sold hot dogs grew into Taco Bell, how the gun on the original Duck Hunt worked, when we used to say “Ahoy hoy” when answering a phone, what started the cops eating doughnuts stereotype, and how the crop circles phenomenon got started. Click here to […]

Educational Videos

The Origin of Nachos and How Football Helped Popularize Them Surprisingly Recently

February 4, 2017 Matt Blitz

Americans eat a lot on Super Bowl Sunday, according to one 2015 study consuming triple the amount of their daily allowance of calories per serving during the Super Bowl. In fact, it’s the second largest food consumption day of the year in the country (behind Thanksgiving). Of the many millions of pounds of snacks eaten in honor of America’s (still) […]

Why “Yellow” Can Mean “Cowardly”

February 1, 2017 Melissa

Becky G. asks: Why are cowardly people called “yellow bellied”? The color of warning signals, smiley faces, rubber duckies and the Sun (at least from our perspective- in fact the Sun is white if viewed from space), for many of us yellow has a favorable connotation; yet, at various points throughout human history, yellow has decidedly been a symbolism of, […]

Why Special Days Are Called “Red Letter Days”

February 1, 2017 Melissa

Kevin A. asks: Why are significant days called red letter days? While it’s commonly stated that the practice of marking important dates in red didn’t begin until the Middle Ages, in fact, in ancient Rome red ink was sometimes used on calendars to identify significant dates, as well as occasionally used on important text in documents, with the underlying reason […]

Can Fish Get Thirsty and Why Can’t Freshwater Fish Live in Saltwater and Vice Versa?

January 31, 2017 Karl Smallwood

Helen W. asks: Is it possible for a fish to get thirsty or do they always get the water they need automatically? For fish, or at least teleost fish (which make up about 96% of all fish), the desire to drink is an urge that originates from the hindbrain, whereas in land-based animals it originates in the forebrain. It is […]

Weekly Wrap Volume 135

January 30, 2017 Dusti

This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Curious Case of the Pillownauts Today we take it for granted that astronauts can function in the weightlessness of spaceflight, but at the dawn of the space age in the early 1960s, scientists weren’t sure that was possible. Some experts […]

The Restoration Fabrication

January 30, 2017 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Here’s the bizarre story of an anonymous artist so desperate to receive credit for his work that he took himself to court. THE MIRACLE OF MARIENKIRCHE On March 28, 1942, the German port city of Lübeck was nearly obliterated by Allied bombers during World War II. More than 230 British […]

The Bizarre First Super Bowl Halftime Show

January 26, 2017 Matt Blitz

These days, Super Bowl halftime shows are star-studded affairs that can eclipse the game itself. More people watched Madonna’s 2012 halftime performance than the Patriots and Giants matchup (despite it being thrilling). In 2007, everyone remembers Prince crooning “Purple Rain” during an actual torrential rainstorm. Also, the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears in a rather uneventful game. In 1993, […]

The Hand of Faith

January 25, 2017 Matt Blitz

Sitting in the back of a dark, old-fashioned Las Vegas casino sits, rather unremarkably, the largest gold nugget on display in the world. Slowly spinning on a table in a place not uncoincidentally named “The Golden Nugget,” the so-called “Hand of Faith” gold nugget is not as glamorous nor as shiny as cartoon gold nuggets would have you believe. While […]

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