Today I Found Out was started four years ago on January 1, 2010. In that span, just over 34 million people have visited the site, with about 14 million of those people visiting at least once in 2013. There are now over 2100 posts on Today I Found Out for you to feed your brain with, about 700 of which […]
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Human beings have suffered from many of the same chronic illnesses and conditions since the dawn of recorded history. In fact, many of the words we use to describe medical maladies today date back to the birth of classical civilization, when Greek and Roman physicians first began studying medicine. Asthma The original Greek word, aazein, meant to pant or exhale […]
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Today I found out about a man who fairly accurately estimated the circumference of the Earth well over 2,000 years ago: Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Born around 276 B.C. in Cyrene, Libya, Eratosthenes soon became one of the most famous mathematicians of his time. He is best known for making the first recorded measurement of the Earth’s circumference, which was also […]
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Today I found out how the 20/20 vision scale works. With more than 150 million people in the United States (nearly half of the population) requiring some form of corrective eyewear to compensate for visual impairment, chances are you have had your eyesight graded on the 20/20 scale before. If you haven’t, you have probably heard other people saying they […]
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Kara asks: A penguin’s feet are always on ice, so why don’t they freeze or have some sort of evolutionary built in insulation? There are many different species of penguin, and while our minds might take us to those living in the Antarctic tundras, freezing feet isn’t something every penguin has to contend with. In fact, there are some species […]
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France and Algeria have a long, disgruntled history with each other. The first major contact was made between the two countries in 1526. At the time, Algeria was still part of the Ottoman Empire.Various conflicts ensued between the two for the next few centuries. This brings us to 1830 when France decided to invade the country in order to set […]
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This is an excerpt from our book, The Wise Book of Whys, available on Kindle | Nook and in Print | Audiobook This tradition is mostly thanks to Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadian Band. While their work is largely unknown to those born in the last few decades, the band has sold over 300 million records to date. Guy […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. John Lennon and the Making of His Last Album When John Lennon and Yoko Ono stepped into New York’s “The Hit Factory” on August 7, 1980, it was quite the occasion. John was returning to the music-making game after a five year […]
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In the first century, after the death and ascension of Christ, his apostles carried on the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. At the forefront of this effort was Peter, chief of the apostles, fisher of men and the “rock” of the Roman Catholic Church. Simon the Fisherman Peter began life as Simon, and, together with his brother, earned his living […]
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There have been four assassinations of U.S. Presidents to date. Two are very famous and two not as well-known. The first assassination of a President is both well-known and well-documented. On April 14, 1865, actor and southern advocate John Wilkes Booth shot the 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s theater. Lincoln died from his wounds the next day. (Incidentally, […]
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Robert Osbourne David Denver was born in new Rochelle, New York, on January 9, 1935 (that is exactly one day after the birth of Elvis Presley.) Just as his “distinguished-sounding” real name seems a bit incongruous for the actor who was to achieve worldwide fame playing a perennial goofball named “Gilligan”, so the real-life Bob Denver was almost a direct […]
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Dorothy “Dot” Rhone, a quiet girl from Liverpool, England, was abused by her heavy drinker father. She also had a very emotionally distant mother. She grew up terribly shy, introverted and withdrawn and didn’t think she was at all pretty. As she said, I never thought I was pretty at school because my sister always said my nose would spread […]
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On a cold, late November Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crowd of 7,021 arrived to the Minneapolis Auditorium to watch an NBA game between the Fort Wayne Pistons and the Minneapolis Lakers. This was a new experience for many of the fans in the stands. The NBA had formed due to a merger between rival leagues, the Basketball Association of […]
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Today I found out that the British once planned to construct a massive aircraft carrier during World War II… made of ice. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as crazy as it sounds at first glance. Britain was taking a beating from the German ships and submarines and were looking for something to build a ship out of that couldn’t be destroyed by […]
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For four hot, humid July days, 56 delegates of the Second Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia with one purpose – to ratify the Declaration of Independence. The document, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson with the help of Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, ad Robert Livingston, declared that the thirteen American colonies were now independent and free of the tyranny […]
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When most of us think of secret groups, religious societies that flourished in the Middle Ages, like the Illuminati and Knights Templar, often come to mind. We shouldn’t forget that secret societies live among us today. Anonymous Back in 2008, without any clear central direction or control, individuals from across the globe, each vehemently against the idea of internet censorship, […]
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Recently I’ve been getting emails from people saying the ad unit to the left of the content is sometimes covering part of the content (as seen in the picture there to your right). Despite my sincerest efforts, I’ve not been able to replicate this issue on any computer / device and browser combination I’ve tried (and I’ve tried many). From […]
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When younger generations hear the word ‘dominoes,’ they usually associate it with the famous board game, while others–especially food lovers–might connect it with a delicious pizza. For those who are more politically aware, the word probably brings thoughts of the Cold War and the threat of the spread of communism. In addition, most economists today love to use the word […]
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