{"id":29271,"date":"2014-01-18T01:09:47","date_gmt":"2014-01-18T09:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=29271"},"modified":"2014-01-18T01:09:47","modified_gmt":"2014-01-18T09:09:47","slug":"weekly-wrap-volume-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/weekly-wrap-volume-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wrap Volume 22"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

\"pixar\"<\/a>From Dream to 3-D Reality: The Fascinating Origin of Pixar<\/a><\/p>\n

Before a story about toys, before monsters went corporate, before anyone went searching for Nemo<\/a>, and before twenty seven Academy Awards, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose \u00a0clients included the government and the medical community. \u00a0The story of Pixar isn\u2019t exactly full of superheroes<\/a>, adorable robots, or talking bugs. The tale of the most profitable and critically adored animation studio in the history of the world (yes, by sheer gross numbers, more so than Disney) is one filled with financial difficulties, fired Apple employees, digital printers, and an animated left hand. And it all started with a Mormon graduate student at the University of Utah. By the time Ed Catmull graduated from the computer science program at University of… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"ice-crack\"<\/a>What Happens When You Freeze Water in a Container So Strong the Water Can\u2019t Expand Into Ice?<\/a><\/p>\n

Some readers may recall a science class in which an excitable teacher walked to the front of the class to show off a small, cracked steel container, seemingly damaged by an incredibly powerful, but tiny force; only for said teacher to reveal that the damage had been done by nothing more than water. However, what would happen if you put the water in a container it couldn\u2019t break out of and then froze it? The short answer is that the water still turns into ice; however, if it genuinely cannot break the bonds of the container it is trapped inside, it turns into a very different kind of ice than we\u2019re used to seeing. We currently know of 15 different \u201csolid phases\u201d of water… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"cake\"<\/a>Have Your Cake and Eat it Too<\/a><\/p>\n

The idiom \u201cYou can\u2019t have your cake and eat it too\u201d deliciously illustrates the concept of making trade-offs and realizing that you can\u2019t have something if you have another. The phrase is often used when referring to compromises and alludes to making a choice between two options that could never be reconciled. In other words, the two options that are mutually exclusive. Other cultures have adopted the spirit of this phrase to fit into their own languages. For example, in Russian the (translated) phrase is \u201cYou can\u2019t sit on two chairs.\u201d In German,… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"skater\"<\/a>Why Figure Skaters Don\u2019t Seem Dizzy After Spinning<\/a><\/p>\n

To understand why, it\u2019s important to know why people get dizzy in the first place. Dizziness is controlled by the vestibular system in your upper inner ear. Within the vestibular system, there are three canals that contain fluid called endolymph, as well as sensory nerve cells that look sort of like little hairs. When you move your head, the endolymph resists change in motion and lags behind, stimulating the nerve cells. Those cells send messages to the brain, telling it which way the head moved. Now, when you spin, the endolymph lags behind at first, but then moves at the same… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"seagulls\"<\/a>Seagulls Will Not Blow Up if They Eat Alka-Seltzer<\/a><\/p>\n

Seagulls, or gulls depending on how much you dislike syllables, are considered a pest to many, a minor, avoidable annoyance to many more and the harbingers of death OH GOD LOOK AT THEIR COLD DEAD EYES! to my neighbour who doesn\u2019t get out much.\u00a0 Over the years, there has been a persistent and rather macabre urban myth circulating that gulls will explode if they\u2019re fed Alka-Seltzer. Sadly, we\u2019re here to inform you that this isn\u2019t true. Though the myth has many subtle variations depending on where exactly you\u2019re reading it, it basically reads as follows. If you feed a hungry gull an Alka-Seltzer tablet or a similar product (gulls aren\u2019t really that discerning when it comes to their choice of indigestion… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Bonus<\/span> (Martin Luther King Jr. Themed) Quick Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> His name was originally Michael, not Martin.\u00a0 His father was also Michael King, hence why Martin Luther King Jr. was originally named Michael King Jr.\u00a0 However, after a trip to Germany in 1931, Michael King Sr. changed his own name in homage to historic German theologian Martin Luther.\u00a0 Michael King Jr. was two years old at the time and King Sr. made the decision to change his son\u2019s name to Martin Luther as well.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> King wasn\u2019t the only one to die at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.\u00a0 After he was killed, one of the hotel workers, Lorraine Bailey (who was also the wife of the motel owner and who it was named after), upon seeing King get shot, had a heart attack and later died from this.\u00a0 This was partially why there was such a delay in getting an ambulance as Lorraine was also the switchboard operator and so when Reverend Samuel Kyles attempted to call an ambulance using the phone in the motel room, nobody was at the switchboard to make that happen.\u00a0 In Rev. Kyle\u2019s own words,<\/p>\n

I ran into the room and picked up the phone to call an operator or to call an ambulance. But, the operator had left the switchboard. There was nobody on the switchboard. I was saying, \u201cAnswer the phone, answer the phone, answer the phone.\u201d And there was nobody on the switchboard. So the phone was not answered. (I learned later that the operator had gone out into the courtyard to watch Dr. King. When she saw what happened, she had a heart attack. She was the motel owner\u2019s wife, and she died subsequently.) The police were coming with their guns drawn, and I hollered to the police, \u201cCall an ambulance on your police radio. Dr. King has been shot.\u201d They said, \u201cWhere did the shot come from?\u201d \u2026 While waiting for the ambulance to come, I took a spread from one of the beds and covered him from his neck down. \u2026 I cannot tell you the feelings I had seeing my friend there on that balcony bleeding to death. Finally the ambulance came and took him away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3)<\/strong> Martin Luther King Jr. was nearly assassinated a decade earlier than his ultimate death.\u00a0 While on a book tour, signing copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom<\/a>, on September 20, 1958, King was approached by Izola Ware Curry who asked him if he was Martin Luther King Jr., which he of course replied affirmatively.\u00a0 When he said he was, she said \u201cI\u2019ve been looking for you for five years.\u201d\u00a0 She then pulled out a letter opener and stabbed him in the chest.<\/p>\n

It took three full hours to remove the blade.\u00a0 The reason?\u00a0 The sharp point end of the blade was pressing against his aorta and the doctors had to be extremely careful while removing it because of this.\u00a0 The doctor, Dr. Maynard, told him after, \u201cIf you had sneezed during all those hours of waiting, your aorta would have been punctured and you would have drowned in your own blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> Although King today is often remembered as being an amazing public speaker, he got a C in public speaking during his first year at seminary.\u00a0 This likely isn\u2019t because he was actually bad at public speaking at this point.\u00a0 His father noted that even before going to seminary King Jr. was one of the best public speakers he\u2019d seen.\u00a0 Whatever caused his professor to give him a C, by his final year King had straight A\u2019s, was the valedictorian of his class, and the student body president.<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong>\u00a0 His honeymoon was spent at a funeral parlor\u2026 not because someone died, simply because a friend owned the parlor and offered to let him use it for his honeymoon.<\/p>\n

6)<\/strong> King convinced \u201cUhura\u201d on Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols (who incidentally later went on to work for NASA), to continue on with the role after the first season. Nichols stated he told her not to leave the show because she was not only playing a black person as a main character on TV, but she was also playing a character that didn\u2019t conform to the stereotypical black person of the day, usually portrayed.\u00a0 Rather, Uhura was portrayed as an intelligent member of the crew and an equal to those around her.<\/p>\n

This seems to have had the intended effect.\u00a0 Whoopi Goldberg once stated when she first saw the character of Uhura on TV<\/a>, she said \u201cMomma! There\u2019s a black lady on TV, and she ain\u2019t no maid!\u201d\u00a0 It was partially because of this that Goldberg became a huge Star Trek fan and later pushed so hard to get a character on Star Trek the Next Generation, despite the disbelief of the producers that she\u2019d actually want to be on the show.<\/p>\n

Astronaut Ronald McNair, the second black person in space (who also died in the Challenger explosion), was inspired to become an astronaut because of the character of Uhura<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0 McNair\u2019s brother stated,<\/p>\n

Now, Star Trek showed the future where there were black folk and white folk working together. I just looked at it as science fiction, \u2019cause that wasn\u2019t going to happen, really.\u2019 But Ronald saw it as science possibility. He came up during a time when there was Neil Armstrong and all of those guys; so how was a colored boy from South Carolina \u2013 wearing glasses, never flew a plane \u2013 how was he gonna become an astronaut? But Ron was one who didn\u2019t accept societal norms as being his norm, you know? That was for other people. And he got to be aboard his own Starship Enterprise.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

7)<\/strong> Besides winning a Congressional Gold Medal, a Medal of Freedom, and a Nobel Peace Prize, King won a Grammy.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 He won it in 1971 for Best Spoken Word Album for \u201cWhy I Oppose the War in Vietnam\u201d.<\/p>\n

8)<\/strong> His mother, Alberta Williams King, was also murdered.\u00a0 She was killed while attending church in Atlanta in 1974 by a 23 year old man, Marcus Wayne Chenault, who believed \u201call Christians are my enemies\u201d.\u00a0 He shot and killed her while she was playing organ at the church.<\/p>\n

9)<\/strong> It wasn\u2019t until the year 2000 that all 50 states in the U.S. officially observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\u00a0 The last states to join up where Arizona in 1992, New Hampshire in 1999, and Utah in 2000.\u00a0 The holiday itself was originally signed into federal law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, with the first MLK holiday on January 20, 1986.<\/p>\n

10)<\/strong> His \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech painted an even bigger target before on his back, not just with certain people in the general public, but with the FBI.\u00a0 This was a memo circulated throughout the FBI offices after the speech:<\/p>\n

In the light of King\u2019s powerful demagogic speech yesterday he stands heads and shoulders over all other Negro leaders put together when it comes to influencing great masses of Negros. We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro, and national security.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The FBI later discovered King was supposedly having numerous affairs and sent him various anonymous letters stating such things as \u201cYou are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that\u201d and threatening to blackmail him.\u00a0 In another anonymous letter supposedly from the FBI, they stated,<\/p>\n

The American public, the church organizations that have been helping\u2014Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are\u2014an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many of the FBI\u2019s surveillance records, written and audio records, concerning King are currently held in the National Archives, but are sealed from public access until 2027.<\/p>\n

Other Interesting Stuff:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"eye-340x226\"<\/a>Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment<\/a><\/p>\n

On April 4, 1968, Jane Elliot, a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa, turned on her television set to learn more about Martin Luther King\u2019s assassination and was appalled at what she heard from a white reporter. With microphone pointed toward a black leader, the white reporter asked, \u201cWhen our<\/i> leader (John F. Kennedy) was killed several years ago, his widow held us together. Who\u2019s going to control your<\/i> people?\u201d According to Jane Elliot herself, in an interview for\u00a0a Frontline documentary called \u201cA Class Divided<\/a>\u201c, her lesson plan for April 5, 1968 changed the night of April 4, 1968 after she heard that reporter talking. She stated,… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

This Week’s Podcast Episodes:<\/strong><\/p>\n