##EMBED## Pumpkin carving being associated with Halloween comes from a method used by the Celts to ward off evil spirits during Samuin (a festival where many of the traditions of Halloween come from). The Celts would hollow out turnips, then carve faces in them and place candles inside. The turnips were then either placed in the windows, to keep evil […]
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##EMBED## Keanu Reeves donated about 75 million dollars from his Matrix earnings to the costume and special effects teams who worked on the films. Sources and More Interesting Keanu Reeves Facts
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##EMBED## In Harry Potter, Ron’s patronus is a jack russel terrier, known for chasing otters; Hermione’s patronous is an otter. The otter was chosen for Hermione because it is part of the weasel family. Harry Potter
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##EMBED## The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair not only made Dr Pepper a national hit, but also was responsible for hamburgers, hot dog buns, and ice cream cones becoming national favorites. Sources and other Interesting Dr. Pepper Facts
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##EMBED## The name “dolphin” comes from the ancient Greek “delphis”, which means more or less “fish with a womb”. Sources and More Interesting Dolphin Facts
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Embed This Infographic Source: Today I found out 1) Pre-Sliced Bread was Once Banned in the United States In 1943, Claude R. Wickard, the head of the War Foods Administration as well as the Secretary of Agriculture, got the bright idea to ban pre-sliced bread in America, which he did on January 18, 1943. The specific reasons behind this aren’t […]
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Today I found out there once was a man was hit on the head by a falling baby… twice! According to Time Magazine (Miscellany, Oct. 17, 1938), the year of the first event was 1937. Joseph Figlock, a local street sweeper in Detroit, Michigan, was walking down the road when a baby fell from a 4th story window. The baby […]
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Today I found out that Dick Cheney likely doesn’t have a pulse. No, really! Dick has had several heart attacks since 1978. These heart attacks have made his heart extremely weak and he is currently in need of a new one. Technology has advanced to the point that we, as humans, have invented several mechanical devices that can help our […]
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Today I found out why leaves change color in the fall. The primary thing that triggers the changing of colors in leaves is the length of day. However, moisture and temperature play a role as well. For instance, an extreme drought in the summer can delay somewhat the changing of the colors in fall. Why this is the case is […]
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##EMBED## Click Here For Sources and for Interesting Facts About the Man Who Did the Voice for Yoda Text Version R2-D2’s name came from the movie-maker lingo “reel 2, dialog 2″.
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##EMBED## Click Here to Learn About Early Robots Text Version Leonardo Divinci designed and built the first known humanoid robot around 1495. This robot was an armored knight that could sit up, wave its arms, and move its head while opening and closing its jaw.
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##EMBED## While either mechanical pencils or regular pencils, with appropriately dark cores, will work on scantron forms, there is some evidence that mechanical pencils have an inherent disadvantage on timed tests that use scantron forms. This is because “regular” pencils have wider tips than mechanical pencils. Thus, the time it takes to fill in each bubble is significantly longer with […]
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##EMBED## Tootsie Rolls were named after creator Leo Hirshfield’s five year old daughter whose nickname was “Tootsie” (her real name was Clara Hirshfield). Hirshfield set out to create a chocolate that wouldn’t melt easily and eventually came up with the artificial “chocolate” candy the tootsie roll. This ability to not melt easily and to use artificial ingredients that weren’t being […]
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Today I found out what exactly is going on with the heart during a heart attack. We’ve all seen the 70 year old man on TV who suddenly clutches his chest and yells “Oh, my chest!!” and then falls over dead. Seems like a relatively easy way to die, certainly better than massive burns over your body then dying three […]
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Today I found out where the term “Going Postal” came from. It seems to be common knowledge that if you have a co-worker who appears they might take out a 9mm handgun and play target practice with all the panicking office help, you would say, “he’s about to go postal!” It also seems like common sense then, that this could […]
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Today I found out why salt enhances flavor. This is partially simply due to the fact that “saltiness” is one of the five primary basic tastes the human tongue can detect. Those five tastes being: salt, bitter, sweet, sour, and umami (if you’re not familiar with this one, it is from glutamic acid, which is found in many foods, particularly some meats, and is […]
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Today I found out what makes your eyes red in flash photographs. Simply put, that crazy zombie look people tend to get, as if they are about to use you as a pre-lunch snack, has to do with how light from a camera flash reflects off the eye, and the specific wavelengths at which it tends to do this. It […]
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Today I found out why inhaling helium can change the sound of your voice. The physics behind this little phenomenon, practiced in the back corners of parties everywhere, are actually fairly simple. What is going on in the voice tract however is not. The mechanics of a person’s voice is an awesome biological phenomenon born from the need of women […]
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