Byron H. asks: When exactly does a speed limit come into effect? Is it when you see the sign or the instant you cross it? If it’s an increase in speed can you legally accelerate up to the speed so your speed matches the sign right when you get to it, or do you have to wait? On paper, speed […]
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Jacob M. asks: Does juicy fruit gum actually contain any fruit juice? With a brand recognition rate somewhere close to 99% in the States, it’s pretty safe to say that almost everyone reading this has at least heard of Juicy Fruit gum, if not also chewed it at some point. The question we’re looking at today is- exactly what fruit […]
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Nick C. asks: How did they settle on six feet deep for graves? If there’s one thing everyone knows about graves other than the fact that they’re really spooky at night, it’s that they’re always six feet deep. In truth, despite “six feet under” being synonymous with the very idea of death, it has little to no relevance in burial […]
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Bon-hwa S. asks: Worms drown in the water, so how do fish know they are food? Is the reason they like them just the movement? Thanks! Worms, or more specifically earthworms which are by far what most people mean when they use the term “worms” in the fishing scenario, don’t live in water. In fact, the reason you see so many on […]
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Melissa K. asks: Do high end wine makers really have people walk all over grapes with their bare feet? Perhaps no image is more synonymous with the act of wine making than that of a person smushing grapes with their bare feet to extract the precious juices contained therein (in the grapes, not the inevitably sweaty feet). But did winemakers […]
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Few things in childhood are more traumatising than waking up one morning to find your beloved pet fish, Michael Scofield, floating upside down in his tank (true story); his tiny fishy light cruelly extinguished before his time. But why do they float upside down when they decide it’s time to take a ride on the porcelain express? The answer to […]
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In March of 2008, the world lost one of the most fearless soldiers to have served during WWII; a man who single-handedly cleared five heavily fortified positions with nothing more than a knife, a few grenades, a rock, and a complete disregard for the bullets flying around him the whole time. This is the story of Bhanbhagta Gurung. First thing first, […]
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Jim R. asks: Is it true that the word jumbo came from the name of an elephant? The word “jumbo” can roughly be understood to mean “a large specimen of its kind” and it’s often posited that the word entered the English language thanks to an elephant. While this is certainly a nice story, the truth is a little more complicated. First […]
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Beyond being a staple of any self-respecting peace officer, thanks to the popularity of things like Movember, the humble moustache has made a glorious, bristly return to the faces of men all over the world in recent years. As a result, there is an almost endless supply of moustache related products one can buy, which means it’s only a matter […]
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Unless you didn’t quite get enough info from the title- yes, it is entirely possible for a chicken to lay an egg that contains another fully developed egg, what we now officially dub an Xzibit Egg. A wonderfully bizarre Matryoshka doll made of protein and disgusting (when you think about it) deliciousness. As you may or may not know, a […]
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Prior to his role as Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Willard Smith (yes, Willard) enjoyed a successful career as a rapper under the pseudonym, “The Fresh Prince” as part of a duo with Jeffrey “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes. The partnership, performing under the rather unimaginative name of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, made Smith a […]
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Mark R. asks: Why do drawn hearts look nothing like real hearts? Who first drew them this way? The heart symbol is one of the single most enduring and widely recognised symbols in modern culture. But where did it come from? Something like the familiar heart symbol goes back many thousands of years. Specifically, several pieces of pottery going back […]
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Oxford University is well known for being one of the most prestigious and elite places of learning in history. Over the years, it has seen some of the finest minds the world has ever known pass through its halls. It’s also the place where over six centuries ago a bunch of students and a fair number of townsfolk were killed […]
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Hollywood often makes up stories about nigh-unkillable, enemy-stomping individuals who laugh in the face of certain death, only to deliver that death to countless bad guys instead. In real life, if you put a single individual up against a large contingent of well armed soldiers, the soldiers tend to effortlessly dispatch said individual, no matter how much courage and determination […]
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Considering how most dogs in the Western world these days are treated as a member of the family, it’s often easy to forget that the vast majority of our furry friends up until very recently were bred for a specific purpose. Perhaps no dog was bred for a more specific purpose than the now extinct, turnspit. The turnspit was so named […]
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Noah A. asks: Why do roosters crow in the morning? Next to the bark of a dog or the gentle meowing of a cat, the crow of a rooster is one of the most recognisable animal noises on Earth; but why exactly do roosters feel the need to crow and is there any truth to the idea that they crow […]
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Abi K. asks: What does the postal service do when a package is mailed with no valid recipient’s address and no return address? According to the USPS, mail can be considered “undeliverable” due to a number of factors ranging from insufficient postage to the person it’s addressed to refusing to accept it. Regardless of the reason the mail cannot be […]
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Gracen R. asks: Why is someone who is lazy called a couch potato? If you want to call someone lazy, a time-honoured way to do so would be to call them a “couch potato”. But why is it we compare lazy people to potatoes and why on Earth did some random guy own the trademark rights to such a silly […]
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