In central Missouri, about hundred miles from St. Louis and right off of Route 66, sits the small town of St. James. Despite this town having only about four thousand people, it is proudly the location for the Tacony Corporation’s vacuum cleaner factory, a giant facility that produces cleaners for 13 different lines and brands, including for Maytag, Riccar, and […]
Read more
Linda P. asks: Why do we always use “x” for everything in math? For hundreds of years, x has been the go-to symbol for the unknown quantity in mathematical equations. So who started this practice? Algebra was born in the Middle East, during the Golden Age of medieval Islamic civilization (750 to 1258 AD), and its early form can be […]
Read more
This Day In History: November 11, 1926 Well if you ever plan to motor west Just take my way that’s the highway that’s the best Get your kicks on Route 66 – Bobby Troupe U.S. Route 66, also known as the Main Street of America, the Mother Road, and the Will Rogers Highway, was officially established on this day in […]
Read more
The Little Albert Experiment was a study conducted back in 1920 by famed psychologist, “the father of behaviorism”, John B. Watson. It essentially involved conditioning a baby, identified only as “Albert. B” to experience fear at the sight of anything fluffy. Putting aside the egregious methodology problems and questionable ethics exhibited during the experiment, the reported results of the study, […]
Read more
This is a video from MinuteEarth created by Henry Reich et al. If you like TodayIFoundOut, odds are you’ll also greatly enjoy their videos. So go check them out and subscribe to their channel here. If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: Bumblebee Flight Does Not Violate the Laws of Physics Why Nuclear Bombs Create Mushroom Clouds Why […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn whether European lords really ever practiced jus primae noctis (aka “First Night”)- sleeping with each of the peasant women on their lands on the women’s wedding nights. You’ll also learn where the first references to something like this occurred, and an interesting, and somewhat surprisingly, “Braveheart” fact. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of […]
Read more
This Day In History: November 10, 1969 “Sesame Street” was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them.” – author Malcolm Gladwell On November 10, 1969 “Sesame Street”, the ever-popular children’s TV show that has taught millions of kids their letters and numbers, made its debut on public television. […]
Read more
This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Did English Speakers Really Not Use Contractions in the 19th Century as Depicted in True Grit? Contractions in some form of English date back to Old English (450 AD – 1150 AD), a language that bears little resemblance to our English […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn the fascinating story of how Taco Bell evolved from a single hot dog stand to the multi-billion dollar company it is today. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
Read more
Embed This Infographic [Source: Today I Found Out] For Part 1 of this series go here: 10 Bizarre Facts For Part 2 of this series go here: 10 Bizarre Facts (Part-2) For Part 3 of this series go here: 10 Bizarre Facts (Part-3) For Part 4 of this series go here: 10 Bizarre Facts (Part-4) For Part 5 of this […]
Read more
This Day In History November 7, 1962 Long before former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt died on November 7, 1962, she made it perfectly clear she wished her funeral to be a quiet, no-frills affair. She requested a simple wooden coffin covered with pine boughs and asked that her passing not be announced until her memorial services had already been conducted. […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn about one of the greatest athletes of all time, an individual who played in Major League Baseball, the NFL, and won two Olympic Gold Medals, blowing the competition away in the grueling decathlon, during which he even once wore different sized shoes he found in a garbage bin at the Olympics. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t […]
Read more
Keith H. asks: When the police and media report crowd sizes of a parade or something, what do they base their numbers on? Although the task of determining how many people attend something as large as say, a political rally or a protest may seem like a daunting, almost impossible undertaking to do with any accuracy, with some basic information, […]
Read more
This Day In History: November 6, 1982 A 40 year-old woman named Shirley Allen from St. Charles Missouri was arrested on November 6, 1982 for the murder of her husband, Lloyd Allen, also 40. The murder weapon was ethylene glycol, commonly used in anti-freeze, which Mrs. Allen had been spiking her husband’s beverages with over the course of many months. […]
Read more
In this episode, you’re going to learn how a man struggling to support his family ultimately came up with, and started selling out of his basement, one of the most loved confectioneries in the world. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
Read more
In this video by Hank Green, he addresses the origin of the hashtag symbol and the many names it’s had over the years. If you like this video, be sure and subscribe to the Green brother’s YouTube channel here. If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: How “XOXO” Came to Mean “Hugs and Kisses” The Iconic “Live Long […]
Read more
Simon W. asks: What causes canker sores? The symptoms of canker sores are well known. In their minor form, canker sores are small, rounded or ovate, white or yellow bumps with red edges that usually clear up within a week or so. Major canker sores are less well defined with irregular edges and can take weeks to heal – sometimes […]
Read more
R. Lee asks: In Seven an obese man is made to stuff himself until his stomach bursts. Is this really possible? Wouldn’t you just naturally throw up? Although extremely rare, some people actually have ruptured their stomachs after eating too much, and, perhaps not surprisingly, many did not survive. When a stomach ruptures, the billions of bacteria that normally live […]
Read more