{"id":46936,"date":"2016-04-22T14:51:22","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T21:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=46936"},"modified":"2016-04-24T01:51:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T08:51:18","slug":"weekly-wrap-volume-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/weekly-wrap-volume-96\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wrap Volume 96"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

\"yuri-gagarin\"<\/a>The Traditions of Going to Space<\/a><\/p>\n

Although you\u2019d expect people tasked with going to space to be a fairly rational lot, astronauts and cosmonauts are noted as being an exceptionally superstitious group, many of whom conform to a number of seemingly arbitrary and often unusual rituals before each flight. While there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for most, if not all, of these traditions and customs, usually dating back to the early days of the space race, many of them can seem quite peculiar without context.\u00a0For example, every time the workers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (usually abbreviated to JPL) launch a probe or satellite, they will eat peanuts…(more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"mad-hatter\"<\/a>Why are Crazy People Called Mad as a Hatter?<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the phrase \u201cmad as a hatter\u201d is, and will likely long be, associated with Charles Dodgson\u2019s (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll\u2019s) 1865 novel, Alice in Wonderland, contrary to popular belief, Carroll neither coined the phrase nor did he use it in his works. (The Hatter is referred to as \u201cmad\u201d, along with his little tea party, but he is never explicitly called \u201cMad Hatter\u201d in Carroll\u2019s works nor is the phrase \u201cmad as a hatter\u201d used.) So where did the phrase \u201cmad as a hatter\u201d actually come from?\u00a0The first documented instance of the phrase can be found in the 1829 short story, Noctes Ambrocian\u00e6, published in Blackwood\u2019s Edinburgh Magazine:..(more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"bible\"<\/a>Why are Bibles Printed with the Text in Two Columns Instead of One?<\/a><\/p>\n

The practice of using two columns with compact texts dates back to at least the fifteenth century, which in turn was just a continuation of an older tradition of narrow columns in horizontally opened scrolls. Both the Gutenberg Bible and the original King James Version (see: How the King James Bible Came About) used two columns, and many Bibles are still printed this way today. But why?\u00a0In part, this is simply tradition, as mentioned first being borrowed from the scrolls which the Biblical text was copied from. Today, many people have come to expect Bibles to have two columns and can\u2019t imagine one with any other layout. But there\u2019s a little more to this formatting choice than just tradition.\u00a0The decision of how to format a book depends highly on how…(more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"boxing-ring\"<\/a>Why are Boxing Rings Called Rings When they are Square?<\/a><\/p>\n

The earliest known instances of fist fighting as a type of sport date back to around 4000 \u2013 3000 BC, but these historical fights don\u2019t resemble the boxing we know today. They seem to have leaned more toward the \u201canything goes\u201d method of unarmed fighting. The modern form of more regimented bouts didn\u2019t begin until the early 18th century.\u00a0At this time, boxing matches had no mandated boxing ring, no gloves, no referee, and no scantily clad women announcing the next round. Spectators tended to crowd around the fighters in a roughly circular ring, which may or may not have been drawn out on the ground before the match. In 1713, Sir Thomas Parkyns described a typical match as including eye-gouging, choking…(more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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