When were sunglasses invented? The first sunglasses were used by the Inuit people tens of thousands of years ago. The Inuit people lived, and still live, on the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. Snow blindness is a problem that they have always had to deal with. Snow blindness is not caused by the […]
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What were the moa and what happened to them? The South Island Giant Moa was a 3.6 m tall bird that were hunted to extinction by 1445. The Moa were flightless birds that lived in New Zealand. They were very similar to ostriches, but about a meter taller. When they stretched their necks up, the
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Why is oil measured in barrels? Oil is measured in barrels because that was the size of a wine barrel in 1866. Nobody really knows when barrels were invented, but there is a picture of a wooden barrel made to measure wheat on the wall of the tomb of the Egyptian high official, Hesy-Ra, from about
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Why is Christmas on December 25th? No one really knows, but there are several theories. Christmas is the day to celebrate the birth of Christ in a lot of the world. It is traditionally celebrated on December 25th, but there is no actual evidence for this date. The only accounts for the birth of Jesus
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When did people start having lawns outside their houses? Probably from the early 16th century. The first use of the word “laune” is in 1540. We need to differentiate between lawn and garden here because people have been gardening for thousands of years. A garden has basically been a space in front of a dwelling
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Was there really going to be a black Taj Mahal? The idea of a black Taj Mahal to go with the white one is probably just a myth as there is no actual evidence for it. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, and was finished in 1653. It is a
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Why are Quakers the reason we have fixed prices? Because Quakers believe in fairness. The Quaker religion began in Lancashire, England in the 1650s. George Fox, the son of a weaver, was fed up with the Church of England and the society that was going through large changes after the English Civil War. He started
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Why is the Gutenberg Bible special? Because it was the first mass-produced book made with movable type. The Gutenberg Bible is named for Johannes Gutenberg, who famously perfected movable type printing using interchangeable metal letters. Movable type means that all of the characters can be moved. Gutenberg used a set of about 290 characters. These
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When were pencils invented? The first pencil was invented in 1565. It is easy to think that something as simple as the pencil has been around for eons, but that is not actually true. Graphite was discovered in 1565, and the very first pencil was made very shortly after. Before pencils were invented, people used
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Why are katana blades curved? They are curved to make them more efficient at cutting. Katana are long, curved swords from Japan. Their name “katana” means one-sided blade. “Kata” means “side” and “na” means blade. Many swords are double-sided because it allows them to be more effective when thrust. They can also be used to
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