{"id":38542,"date":"2015-01-17T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=38542"},"modified":"2015-01-16T00:47:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T08:47:26","slug":"weekly-wrap-volume-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/weekly-wrap-volume-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wrap Volume 71"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

\"popcorn\"<\/a>Why Popcorn Pops<\/a><\/p>\n

First a little background, Popcorn or \u201czea mays everta\u201d is a special kind of Flint corn, also known as \u201cIndian corn\u201d and sometimes \u201cCalico corn\u201d.\u00a0 Flint corn is readily recognizable as the kernels have a hard outer shell, likened to flint, hence the name.\u00a0 This hard outer shell is essential in making popcorn kernels pop.\u00a0 In fact, popcorn is the only type of corn that will pop. So why does popcorn pop?\u00a0 There are three main elements of popcorn that have to come together to produce popcorn kernels that are good for popping.\u00a0 Those… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"area-51\"<\/a>Why is it Called Area 51?<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the CIA\u2019s release of previously classified documents in 2013 that acknowledged the existence of Area 51 as a top-secret U.S. government research facility, many questions about the site remain unanswered. One of the most innocuous, but nonetheless puzzling, is its choice of name. Although theories abound, one plausible explanation is that the moniker derives from its designation as a nuclear weapons testing site. Situated in the desert in southern Nevada, within the boundaries of the Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR) and just outside of the northeast corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 51 and its neighbors, which also includes the… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Eiffel-tower\"<\/a>The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower<\/a><\/p>\n

It was in May of 1925 when Victor Lustig first conceived the scheme that would make him a legend. With documents and letterheads proclaiming him the Deputy Director of the Ministere de Postes et Telegraphes (the Ministry of Postal Services and Telecommunications), Lustig had sent out notes to prominent Paris scrap metal businesses urgently asking them to meet him at the Hotel de Crillon. Six dealers came, curious what the French government wanted with them. After an expensive meal and plenty of wine, Lustig declared, in his typical charismatic fashion, that the city of Paris was going to knock down the Eiffel Tower and sell it for scrap metal. This was a huge secret and the public could not know at this point, of course, but he wanted the scrap metal businesses to bid against one another to see who would get this extremely valuable government contract. Negotiations began in earnest with Andre Poisson winning the bid for seventy thousand dollars (about a million dollars today). It was a lot of money, but to Poisson, who was new in town and wanted to establish a reputation, it was worth the huge contract. Of course… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"paperclip-340x509\"<\/a>The Origin of the Paperclip<\/a><\/p>\n

One very popular false origin of the paperclip was that it was invented by Norwegian patent office manager, Johan Vaaler. He was even granted patents in Germany and the U.S. for a paperclip of similar design as the Gem style paperclip, which is the most commonly used paperclip today, but which came after the Gem paperclip was already popular throughout Europe. His design was slightly different than the Gem paperclip in that it didn\u2019t include the all too critical second loop that makes the Gem style much more functional. His paperclip had the papers inserted by lifting the outer wire slightly and pushing the papers into the clip such that the rest of the clip stood out from the paper at a 90 degree angle, which was necessary because of the lack of the critical second loop to allow the papers to be more or less embedded in the clip flatly. This also made it so the papers wouldn\u2019t be held together very well as they relied only on how bendable the wire used was to hold the papers. The Gem style paperclip, on the other hand… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"phosphenes-e1283932818376\"<\/a>What the Things You See When You Rub Your Eyes Are Called<\/a><\/p>\n

A phosphene is characterized by perceiving some form of light when there is little or no light actually entering the eye, making it an entopic phenomenon (meaning the source of the phenomenon is within the eye itself).\u00a0 Phosphenes are most commonly introduced by simply closing your eyes and rubbing them or squeezing them shut, tightly;\u00a0 generally the harder you rub or squeeze, the more phosphenes you\u2019ll see.\u00a0 This pressure stimulates the cells of the retina and, thus, makes your brain think you are seeing light.\u00a0 Specifically, Gr\u00fcsser et al. demonstrated that pressure in the eye results in activation of retinal ganglion cells in a very similar way to how they activate as a response to light. There are also… (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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