Series: Deep Questions

A penny per thought hardly seems worth it these days. However in the 1500s and earlier, it may have been a fair trade.

According to GeoHive.com, a site specializing in population statistics, there are around 3,248,080,000 males on the planet and around 3,214,983,000 females. That translates to men accounting for 50.25% of the population.

It’s looking that way. According to a recent article from IT Facts, last year more digital cameras were sold in the United States than film cameras. Just over 40 percent of U.S. households now have a digital camera.

No one invented the piggy bank. The piggy banks’ origin owes more to the history of language, than to an individual inventor. In old english (around the 15th century) there was a word “pygg” which referred to a type of orange clay. People made all kinds of useful objects out of clay, including dishes and jars to hold spare change. Around the 18th century, the word “pygg” now sounded the same as the word for the animal “pig”. An unknown person(s) thought to shape a “pygg” jar, to look just like a real “pig”. Perhaps an order came in for a “pygg” jar and the potter misunderstood.

DNA. Carpet fibers. Fingerprints. Given the wealth of forensic information, you’d think police would solve each and every murder. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2004, 62.6% of homicides were “cleared,” leaving a substantial portion of murder cases unresolved.

The United States Football League is one of history’s more interesting failures. It was founded by entrepreneur David Dixon in

We’ve heard it’s because pants and shorts have two legs. But shirts have two sleeves, and you don’t have a “pair of shirts.” Hmm, so much for that theory.