{"id":38263,"date":"2015-01-03T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=38263"},"modified":"2015-01-02T22:24:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-03T06:24:39","slug":"weekly-wrap-volume-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/weekly-wrap-volume-69\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wrap Volume 69"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

\"golden_record_cover-340x311\"<\/a>A Celestial Message in a Bottle<\/a><\/p>\n

Imagine for a moment that it\u2019s 40,000 years in the future in a solar system far, far, away on a planet thriving with intelligent life. Extraterrestrial beings inhabit this place.\u00a0 Perhaps they look like the cuddly ET, the blob, ALF, or maybe even\u00a0 like the dreadlocked beings from Predator;\u00a0 but either way, they are not human. An approaching speck in space catches the beings\u2019 eyes (assuming they have them). Upon sending a craft to retrieve it, they find a probe containing a disk. Using instructions on the disk, they manage to play it. What they are about to hear and see are the sounds and images from an ancient alien civilization \u2013 1977 Earth. Flashback about 40 millenia to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Earth in January, 1977. A brilliant, 43… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"redband\"<\/a>A Brief History of the Movie Rating System<\/a><\/p>\n

When you were a kid, sneaking into a rated R movie was a big deal. Everyone had their own tricks, but this author\u2019s was to buy a ticket to a rated G Disney movie, say, Mulan; when the usher turned their back, I would run into a rated R movie like, for example American History X. But it wasn\u2019t always this way \u2013 not kids sneaking into movies deemed only for adults, but rather the movie rating system. There was a time when movies didn\u2019t have ratings. So how did we get from there to the current system? Thomas Edison is credited for building the first film production studio nearby his home and lab in West Orange, New Jersey in 1893. It was called Black Maria, or the \u201cDoghouse\u201d by Edison himself. That is where he shot… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Daniel-fahrenheit\"<\/a>Who Invented the Fahrenheit and Celsius Temperature Scales and What Zero Degrees Fahrenheit Signifies<\/a><\/p>\n

Firmly entrenched in American society, the seemingly capricious nature of the Fahrenheit temperature scale could lead one to think that its Dutch inventor, Daniel Fahrenheit, pulled the number for the freezing point (32\u00b0F) of water out of his hat. But, in fact, its designation, as well as that of 0\u00b0F were precisely (for the early 18th century) calculated based upon deliberate choices about how to establish fixed points of temperature. Engineer, physicist and glass blower, Fahrenheit (1686-1736) decided to create a temperature scale based upon three fixed temperature points \u2013 that of freezing water, human body temperature, and the coldest point that he… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"guy-lombardo21\"<\/a>Why We Sing Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve<\/a><\/p>\n

This tradition is mostly thanks to Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadian Band. While their work is largely unknown to those born in the last few decades, the band has sold over 300 million records to date. Guy Lombardo himself has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he was once the \u201cDick Clark\u201d of New Years before Clark and his \u201cNew Year\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Eve,\u201d attempting to appeal to younger audiences, started supplanting \u201cMr. New Year\u2019s Eve,\u201d Guy Lombardo. It was in 1929 that Guy Lombardo and his band took the stage at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on New Year\u2019s Eve. Their performance that night was being broadcast on the radio, before midnight.. (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"d-day\"<\/a>What Does the “D” in “D-Day” stand for?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Battle of Normandy, also known as D-Day, started on June 6, 1944 and was the beginning of the major invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. But why was it called \u201cD-Day\u201d? You might at first be inclined to think the abbreviation is similar to V-Day (Victory Day).\u00a0 Indeed, one commonly touted explanation given for the meaning of the \u201cD\u201d in D-Day is that it stands for \u201cdesignated day.\u201d Others claim it stands for \u201cdecision day\u201d, \u201cdebarkation\u201d, or even \u201cdeliverance day.\u201d Even General Dwight Eisenhower, or at the least his assistant, weighed in when… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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