Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. ~~Mark Twain
We’ve all had the experience of suddenly wondering why something is referred to into a particular way, how things work, or where something comes from. In this series, I’ve used the inter-tubes to find what I can about a particular nagging question.
I’ve always heard the wives tell that you count the seconds between seeing a lightening flash and the sound of the thunder to figure out how far away it is. Living here in Florida, we get lots of both. So is it true or an old wives tale?
Read moreEach year, a committee solicits nominations from thousands of select individuals (visit the page for a complete list of those eligible to submit nominations). These individuals must submit their nominations by February 1 of the year for which the nomination is being made.
Read moreEver since Elvis died in 1977, tribute artists have been filling the void. These men, women, and children walk the
Read moreIf human skin comes and goes like dust in the wind, why do tattoos stick around? The explanation is simple. The top layer of skin is called the epidermis. This page from A Moment of Science explains that while the epidermis is always regenerating, a tattoo needle actually penetrates through to the dermis, the second level of skin. It’s here that the tattoo makes its home for the rest of your natural life.
Read moreAccording to anecdotage.com, the aptly titled “Cure for Insomnia” is the longest film ever. It runs about 87 hours and features L.D. Groban reading a really looooong poem. Just in case you find that kind of boring, according to IMDb, the film slices in pornography and music video footage. Probably not the best “date movie.”
Read moreKidz World explains that beans contain sugars the human body simply cannot digest. Once these sugars (called oligosaccharides) reach a person’s lower intestines, “the bacteria go berserk, start feasting, and make loads of gas.” Before you know it — toxic fumes.
Read moreThe origin of the “bless you” tradition is not entirely clear. The urban legend experts at Snopes.com list an impressive number of possibilities. One involves the (hopefully) mistaken belief that a human’s soul might escape through a sneeze. Saying “God bless you” wards off Satan while the soul is temporarily vulnerable. I’ve also heard that it was thought, in Biblical times, that a sneeze was an attempt to rid the body of a demon.
Read moreWhen we think of a person saying “that’s all she wrote,” we usually picture someone who’s disappointed for some reason.
Read moreWhen bees need a new queen, special “queen cells” are made in the hive. Zoo.org describes these cells as extensions of the wax and shaped like a peanut. Young worker bees secrete a special food called “royal jelly,” and place it in the queen cells as food for the special larvae.
Read moreThanks to the basketball team’s success, many are eager to know more about the school — specifically, who was George Mason and why does he have a university named after him?
Read more“People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The four-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”
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