Jen asks: What are “Blue Laws” and how did they come to be? Rooted in the basic Christian tenet that Sunday is to be reserved as “the Lord’s day,” blue laws were originally enacted across the United States to encourage church attendance and restrict activity only to that worthy (at least according to some) of observation on the Sabbath. Transformed […]
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On the morning of April 5, 1943, about ten miles off the coast of Brazil, a fishing family in their small boat spotted a Chinese man on a much smaller wooden raft bobbing up and down in the Atlantic Ocean. Waving a shirt and jumping, the man was clearly in distress, so the Brazilian family turned their boat around and […]
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Krampus, the Christmas Demon Santa Claus has long been the symbol of Christmas, bringing joy and presents to all the good girls and boys. But if you are child in Germany, Austria, and other parts of the Alps region, there may be something much more dark, mischievous, and grumpy hidden in the shadows next to dear old St. Nick. That […]
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When Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, he declared that one of the missions of the modern Olympiad would be “to reunite in the bonds of legitimate wedlock a long-divorced couple — Muscle and Mind.” To the Baron, Olympic competition wasn’t just going to be about physical athletics, but sports of the mind as […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Anonymous Publishing of “The Night Before Christmas,” and Other Interesting Christmas Staple Origins On December 23, 1823, the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, better known today as The Night Before Christmas was first published. The poem first appeared in […]
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An average American child eats about 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches prior to graduating from high school. That is about a sandwich every four or five days. Americans eat a lot of peanut butter. Besides it being popular and delicious, peanut butter also has had a tremendous impact on how foods are made and labeled today. Thanks to the […]
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Quick Fact 841: If you’ve ever felt like your friends are more popular, happier, and wealthier than you… well, on average, you’re probably right. This all comes down to something known as the Generalized Friendship Paradox. The Friendship Paradox was first proposed in 1991 by sociologist Scott L. Feld, who demonstrated that your friends, on average, will have more friends […]
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Mark. K. asks: Why does peanut butter stick to the top of my mouth? Arachibutyrophobia is a proposed humorous name for the fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the top of your mouth, coined by Charles M. Schulz in a 1982 edition of his famed Peanuts comic strip. But why does peanut butter have such a tendency to get […]
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Aiko S. asks: Who wrote Twas the Night Before Christmas? On December 23, 1823, the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, better known today as The Night Before Christmas was first published. The poem first appeared in the New York Sentinel with no author listed, having been delivered for publication by a friend of Clement Clarke Moore, who was a […]
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Quick Fact 831: A few years ago a man from Singapore became an Internet sensation thanks to his unique name, “Batman bin Suparman” which in English would translate as “Batman son of Suparman.” So what happened after? He was arrested in 2013 for robbing a store. He also had previously stolen his brother’s (Nurazman Suparman) ATM card, using it to […]
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Rene I. asks: What makes the new car smell and is it true that it is toxic to humans? That “new car smell” is romanticized and beloved by many people. In fact, it is so desired that there is even an air freshener that is scented as “new car smell. ” But what produces this distinct scent and are the […]
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Mar.W asks: Why are zombies always depicted liking to eat brains? Zombies have been a pop culture staple for decades, and in that time the concept of the dead coming back to life somehow to feast on the living has proliferated virtually every form of media that exists. One trait that is seemingly synonymous with zombies is their apparent need to feed […]
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The history books (and Hollywood) often describe the famous lawman, Wyatt Earp, as many things: brave, courageous, moral, law-abiding, and honorable. In the story of the “Gunfight at the OK Corral,” Earp is often portrayed as the hero, the good guy we all should be rooting for. In truth, Wyatt Earp was a much more complicated individual who, among other […]
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Jeremy R. asks: Who were the richest people in history? Wealth transcends time. It is also extremely hard to evaluate. There have been more than a few studies and lists that have tried to figure out who are the richest people of all time. This task has been proven to be nearly impossible. Accurately adjusting for inflation is just one […]
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Auschwitz was the most notorious and horrible of the concentration camps during World War II. Over a million innocent people were murdered at the camp located in Southern Poland (which was “annexed” by Nazi German forces at the beginning of the war). Survivors, of which there were only about 200,000 of the 1.3 million that were sent there, reported that […]
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John A. asks: When did people start smoking tobacco? While who exactly was the first to smoke tobacco has been lost to history, Jordan Goodman, in his book Tobacco in History, theorizes that tobacco was first cultivated thousands of years ago in the Americas, around the regions that have become known as Mexico and Brazil. The populations grew the plant […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Truth About Prepositions and the End of Sentences A great man once said, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” Eloquently highlighting the ridiculousness of strictly adhering to the rule against ending a sentence […]
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Jill A. asks: Why does the panama canal have locks? Isn’t the ocean the same level on both sides? Rising 85 feet above the surface of one ocean, and then descending again to be gently floated on another one, ships that traverse the Panama Canal shave nearly 8,000 miles off of their voyage to the other side by investing a […]
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