Today I found out the name for the dwarf planet Pluto was suggested by an 11 year old girl. The girl was Venetia Burney of Oxford, England. Venetia’s great uncle, Science Master of Eton Henry Madan, in 1877 suggested the name for the two dwarf moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos (fear/panic and dread/terror). This was referencing the fact that […]
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Today I found out Abraham Lincoln established the Secret Service on the day he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Unfortunately, even had the organization been instituted earlier, it wouldn’t have helped. The Secret Service in the beginning had no part in protecting the President, but rather were tasked with cutting down on the amazing amount of counterfeit money circulated […]
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Today I found out the cotton candy making machine was co-invented by a dentist, who later became the President of the Tennessee State Dental Association. Coincidence? While candy floss / cotton candy-like spun-sugar confectioneries have been around since at least the 15th century, if not earlier, it’s only been recently that cotton candy has been something practical to make and […]
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Today I found out the origin of the Olympic Flame tradition and the Nazi origin of the Olympic Torch Relay. The Olympic Flame tradition has its origins in the Ancient Greek Olympics where a fire was kept burning at an altar dedicated to Hera in a sanctuary in Olympia. Other fires were also lit in Zeus’ and Hera’s temples to […]
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Today I found out that uniform regulation in the British Army between the years 1860 and 1916 stipulated that every soldier should have a moustache. Command No. 1,695 of the King’s Regulations read: The hair of the head will be kept short. The chin and the under lip will be shaved, but not the upper lip… Although the act of […]
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Today I found out the origin of the Olympic Rings. The Olympic ring symbol was designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. The idea of using rings intertwined with one another came from the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), which had two interlaced rings as their symbol and which Pierre de Coubertin was for a time […]
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Today I found out the official Olympic salute strongly resembles the “Heil Hitler” or “Nazi” salute. In this Olympic salute, your right arm should be held out, slightly to the side, and pointing in an upward angle. Likewise, your palm should be out and your fingers touching. The Nazi salute is more or less performed the same way, except it […]
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Today I found out the original Olympic flag was missing for 77 years until 1920 Olympian Hal Haig Prieste revealed he’d had it the whole time. The year was 1920. The Summer Olympics were being held in Belgium in the city of Antwerp. At the end of the Olympic Games, the flag suddenly went missing. Fast-forward to 1997 and 101 […]
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Today I found out the Hollywood sign originally read “HOLLYWOODLAND” and was lit with about 4,000, 20 watt light bulbs, which would flash “HOLLY” then “WOOD” then “LAND” then “HOLLYWOODLAND” repeatedly. The sign was originally put up in 1923 to promote a housing development. The owner of Crescent Sign Company, Thomas Fisk Goff, designed the sign itself, making the letters […]
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Today I found out the most recent version of the United States’ flag was designed by a high school student who initially received only a B- for his proposed design. In his own words shortly before he died on Dec 12, 2009, Bob Heft recounted to StoryCorps the tale of his design being chosen among about 1,500 submitted to become […]
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The melody that would be borrowed for the Star Spangled Banner was extremely popular and well known at the time the future U.S. national anthem was penned. It is known to have been used for at least 84 popular songs in the United States alone, including Adams and Liberty – The Boston Patriotic Song and the subsequent tune Jefferson and […]
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Today I found out about the prostitute that rose to command a huge armada that controlled the South Chinese Sea and the Guangdong province. While female pirates weren’t uncommon off the coast of Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries, one woman stood above them all. Her birth name isn’t known, but this Cantonese pirate went by the name Ching […]
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Today I found out the can opener wasn’t invented until 48 years after the invention of the can. In 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte was having problems with his supply lines. Specifically, they were too long for the food preservation methods at the time, making it difficult to adequately supply his troops with needed food. Thus, he offered a 12,000 franc prize […]
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Today I found out Ben Franklin’s proposal of something like daylight saving time was written as a joke. In a comedic letter he wrote, An Economical Project (published in 1784), “to the authors of the journal of Paris”, Franklin mentions something like daylight saving time. Although, instead of changing clocks, he suggested ringing church bells and firing cannons, among other things, as […]
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Myth: John F. Kennedy blundered in one of his most famous speeches, saying in German “I am a jelly-filled doughnut” instead of what he meant (in the figurative sense) “I am a person from Berlin”. As German professor Reinhold Aman stated about this: “Ich bin ein Berliner means ‘I am a Berliner’ or ‘a male person/native of Berlin’ and absolutely […]
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Today I found out Mississippi didn’t officially outlaw slavery until 1995. While the Thirteenth Amendment was set into law, thus outlawing slavery anywhere in the United States, on December 6, 1865 when it secured the needed 27 of 36 states’ approval (3/4), it wasn’t until 130 years later on March 16, 1995 that Mississippi finally got around to ratifying the […]
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Today I found out there once was a little person who played in Major League Baseball. This man was 26 year old, 3 feet, 7 inch tall Eddie Gaedel. Gaedel was signed by Bill Veeck to a Major League contract of $15,400 ($100 per game), which was the set minimum one could pay a little person performance act, per event. […]
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The myth that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday has been widely spread since 1907 and even today is sometimes stated by such people as former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig. For instance, in 2010 he stated: “As a student of history, I know there is a great debate whether Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright really founded the game […]
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