Gimly16 asks: What did people use for pain during surgery before modern anesthesia? Other than ingesting alcohol and narcotics in sufficient doses to induce a state of analgesia, for most of its history, people in the West got through surgery with the aid of little more than forcible restraint and grit. Drugs and alcohol were well known in the ancient […]
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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 Rooted in the basic Christian tenet that Sunday is to be reserved as “the Lord’s day,” blue laws were originally enacted across the United States to encourage church attendance and restrict activity only to that worthy (at least according to some) of observation on the Sabbath.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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For the quick answer to your question: no and sometimes. While not all molds are bad for you to eat, many are, and unless you want to whip out a microscope and meticulously identify the mold present on your food (note: there are 300,000 known types and counting), as a general rule it’s better to avoid moldy foods. Not all […]
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When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the Moon all those years ago during the Apollo 11 mission, literally everything they did became a record because everything they did that day was the first time in human history someone had done that thing on the Moon, which it turns out wasn’t made of cheese after all. While Armstrong’s first words […]
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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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Jeremy R. asks: Why did America stop using the gold standard? To begin with, if you’re not familiar, “the gold standard” is a monetary standard where the basic unit of currency is gold. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that gold is directly used in the transaction (though, it could be and that is known as a pure gold standard). […]
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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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Throughout the history of modern warfare, the record for longest confirmed sniper kill is one that has steadily gotten more and more extreme as technology has progressed. At the time of writing this, the holder of that record is British sniper Craig Harrison, who notably broke the previous record twice on the same day by hitting two enemy targets on two consecutive […]
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Jeremy R. asks: Was Scotch tape invented by the Scottish? Despite the name, Scotch tape wasn’t invented by the Scottish. It was invented by a college dropout named Richard Drew from Minnesota who worked for a small sandpaper company founded in 1902 called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, later known as 3M. The name “Scotch” itself has an origin story almost […]
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James I. asks: I was at Lowes and noticed mailboxes say “approved by the postmaster general”. What specifications do a mailbox need to reach to be approved in this way? I mean, it’s a box with a little door and a flag. Are those the requirements? What’s the process here? Thanks! While the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the […]
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Jason H. asks: Here’s one for you I’ve never found a satisfactory answer on. Why don’t hot dogs and hot dog buns come in packs of the same number? Has it always been this way? Yes, finally today we are going to answer perhaps the most oft asked question we get in our inbox, a question that has been perplexing […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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U. Grening asks: What happens to your social security number when you die? Does it get used again? Since 1935, the Social Security Administration has been issuing numbers to permanent residents of the United States. Nine simple digits distinguish each American from his or her fellow residents. Today, assigned randomly and never recycled, a social security number is as unique […]
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If we were to play a word association game where I said a word and you had to yell out the first color that came to mind, it would probably go something like this: Banana- Yellow; Apple- Red; Boy- Blue; Girl- Pink. We can all understand why yellow and red are associated with bananas and apples, but boys are not […]
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Mark R. asks: Was there a real “McDonald” that started McDonald’s or is it like the fictitious Betty Crocker? McDonald’s is, without question, the most successful, popular, and influential fast-food restaurant chain in recorded history. The name most commonly associated with McDonald’s is Ray Kroc. Kroc was the entrepreneur who founded the McDonald’s corporation. So how did it come to […]
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