{"id":31552,"date":"2014-04-05T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T07:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=31552"},"modified":"2014-04-05T02:12:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T09:12:21","slug":"weekly-wrap-volume-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/weekly-wrap-volume-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wrap Volume 33"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

\"bronx\"<\/a>Why There is an Area of New York Called \u201cThe Bronx\u201d and Why Ambulances are Called That<\/a><\/p>\n

This is thanks to a seventeenth century Scandinavian man by the name of Jonas Bronck, originally from T\u00f3rshavn in the Faroe Islands. In 1639, Bronck immigrated to New Amsterdam in New Netherland, which was right next to what is today called Bronx River, named after Jonas Bronck. Why? In New Amsterdam, Bronck owned a 680 acre farm which was called, unimaginatively, \u201cBronck\u2019s Land\u201d and the river abutting it \u201cBronck\u2019s River.\u201d He held this land for just four years before… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Balloon_barge\"<\/a>The North\u2019s Air Force During the American Civil War<\/a><\/p>\n

If you thought that air warfare was reserved for a time after airplanes were invented, you thought wrong. During the American Civil War, the Union troops used hot air balloons to spy on Confederate troops. The idea to use balloons was the brainchild of Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Joseph Henry, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. They suggested that the military should create the balloon corps under the command of Thaddeus Lowe to do some \u201caerial reconnaissance\u201d for the Union. On June 17, 1861, Lowe demonstrated his balloon in front of President Abraham Lincoln. He went up to the lofty height… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"julia-louis-dreyfus\"<\/a>The Actress Who Played Elaine on Seinfeld is the Daughter of a Billionaire<\/a><\/p>\n

Seinfeld would have been a lot different with another actress playing Elaine, and that\u2019s what would have happened if Julia Louis-Dreyfus had decided to live the life of an heiress rather than pursue acting. And that wasn\u2019t out of the realm of possibility. Julia\u2019s father is multi-billionaire Gerard Louis-Dreyfus and her family tree is littered with extremely wealthy and successful (in business) individuals going back over a century- as such Julia probably didn\u2019t need to work a day in her life. You wouldn\u2019t know it from listening to her, though. In an interview conducted on the Howard Stern Show in 2003, Julia… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"caffeine2-340x226\"<\/a>How Much Caffeine Would It Take to Kill You?<\/a><\/p>\n

There are several factors that make this a tricky question. Not everyone reacts the same way to caffeine. People also become tolerant to it and so the effects can be different from person to person. Lastly, there would be no respectable researcher who would dare perform a study on humans, if the goal of that study is death to that same person. All that being said, there are some very good studies that have allowed doctors to understand what\u2019s going on inside the body in caffeine overdoses. They also have been able to presume the approximate dose that would prove fatal for the average person. So while the exact dose is… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Donkey-and-elephant\"<\/a>How a Donkey and an Elephant Came to Represent Democrats and Republicans<\/a><\/p>\n

The donkey<\/a> is stereotypically bumbling, slow, and stubborn; the elephant<\/a>– big and clumsy. Being compared to one of these animals is not exactly flattering in this sense. Yet, for well over a century, they have been the popular symbols of America\u2019s major political parties \u2013 the donkey for Democrats and the elephant for Republicans. So how did the donkey and elephant enter into our political lexicon? As one could imagine, it all started with an insult. The 1828 presidential election between Republican (not to be confused with the modern Republican Party which was formed a few decades later<\/a>) John Quincy Adams and Democrat Andrew Jackson is still considered one of the dirtiest campaigns ever run in American politics. Jackson and his supporters called Adams corrupt, spoiled, and a \u201clibertine\u201d \u2013 someone who lacked… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Bonus<\/span> Quick Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n