##EMBED## The Origins of Halloween: Halloween, as we know it today, borrows traditions from four different festivals, namely: The Roman Feralia festival, commemorating the dead The Roman Pomona festival, honoring the goddess of fruit and trees The Celtic festival Samuin, meaning “summer’s end”, which comprises the bulk of the origins of Halloweedn traditions The Catholic Hallowmas period of “All Soul’s […]
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##EMBED## The custom of wearing costumes or masks comes from the Celtic tradition of young men impersonating evil spirits by dressing up in white costumes with blackened faces or masks in an attempt to placate the spirits. Trick or treating comes from the Middle-Age practice of the poor dressing up in costumes and going around door to door during […]
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##EMBED## Today in North America around $3 billion is spent on Halloween costumes alone. Haunted house attractions bring in about half a billion dollars annually Around 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins were produced in the United States in 2009. They were valued at $141 million and the vast majority of those pumpkins were sold around Halloween. Halloween candy sales average […]
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##EMBED## Trick or Treating Stats Around 35 million children in the U.S. between 5 and 13 years old go trick or treating every year, which is around 90% of all children in that age group. Around 50% of adults in the U.S. will dress up for Halloween and about 67% will attend a Halloween party or go trick or treating […]
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##EMBED## Before her teacher first came to her, Helen Keller, in her autobiography, stated “My dreams have strangely changed during the past twelve years. Before and after my teacher first came to me, they were devoid of sound, of thought or emotion of any kind, except fear, and only came in the form of sensations. I would often dream that […]
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##EMBED## Honey Bees do usually die when stinging humans, but not when stinging many other things. The reason being that the barbs in the stinger get caught in our flesh and rip off the stinger and some of the bee’s insides attached to it, spelling certain doom for the bee. However, while stinging insects and many other things, this is […]
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##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## 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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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Prohibition Related Facts Text Version The term “The Real McCoy” originated in the prohibition era. Captain William S. McCoy was a rum runner who coordinated most rum transported by ship during prohibition. He was known for never watering down his imports; thus, his product was “The Real McCoy”.
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##EMBED## Click Here to Learn More About What Makes Peppers Taste Hot Text Version Tarantula venom activates the same neural pathways as capsaicin, which is the thing that makes peppers hot; so getting bitten by a tarantula will feel much the same as being exposed to a high level of capsaicin.
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##EMBED## Click Here to Read More Interesting Facts About Jimmy Stewart Text Version Jimmy Stewart recieved the following medals while working his way up to two star General: 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 4 Air Medals, 1 Army Commendation Medal, 1 Armed Forces Reserve Medal, 1 Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1 French Croix de Guerre with Palm.
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