I learned this today. Black Friday started in the 1950s when police in Philadelphia had to deal with the crowds and mayhem that came after Thanksgiving. Thousands of people came into the city for the Army-Navy football game that was held on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving every year. These days, Black Friday refers to […]
#55 Where does Black Friday originate? Read More »
I learned this today. Cats can jump up to 6 times their length because of their powerful hind legs and their flexible joints and vertebrae. Cats can jump 6 times their length, approximately 180cm. It is obviously not fair to make a straight comparison, but a human would have to jump a little over 10m
#54 Why can cats jump so high? Read More »
I learned this today. Blue cheeses (like stilton and gorgonzola) are blue because they have veins of penicillin running through them. Legend says that blue cheese was discovered in the 7th century in a cave outside the village of Roquefort in France. The story is that a shepherd was eating a lunch of bread and
#53 What are the blue bits in blue cheese? Read More »
I learned this today. The first ever Nobel Peace Prize was given to Henry Dunant in 1901. He was the man who founded the Red Cross. The Nobel Prize was created through the will of Alfred Nobel. He was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. He invented 355 things during his lifetime. The most famous thing
#52 Who won the first Nobel Peace Prize? Read More »
I learned this today. The symbol of the Red Cross is the Swiss flag reversed. The Red Cross was started by a Swiss businessman called Henry Dunant. He was born in 1828 and died in 1910. Dunant had started a business that operated in French-occupied Algeria, but the local government was not very helpful. Dunant
#51 Where did the symbol for the Red Cross come from? Read More »
I learned this today. White blood cells kill invading bacteria, germs, and viruses in your body by eating them. White blood cells are produced by bone marrow. They are produced by hematopoietic stem cells, and they are stored within the bone marrow or lymph tissue until they are needed. They are also called leukocytes. When
#50 How do white blood cells kill pathogens? Read More »
I learned this today. Butlers started out as the person who was in charge of the alcoholic drinks for a household. The word “butler” came into English from the Anglo-Norman word “buteler”, which came from the Old Norman “butelier”. This in turn came from the French “botellier”. The French word came from the medieval Latin
#49 Why are butlers called butlers? Read More »
I learned this today. Earl Grey tea is supposed to have been named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, prime minister of Britain from 1830 to 1834, but it is more likely that this story was invented for advertising purposes and the tea is actually named after William Grey & Co. tea merchant. Earl Grey
#48 Why is Earl Grey tea called Earl Grey? Read More »
I learned this today. Yogurt is neither a simple liquid nor a solid, it is a non-Newtonian fluid-gel. A gel is a colloid, and a colloid is a substance that has microscopically dispersed insoluble particles suspended throughout another substance. A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid that doesn’t follow Newton’s law of viscosity. This means viscosity
#47 What exactly is yogurt? Read More »
I learned this today. The teabag was a staggering invention in the world of tea drinking, but it was originally called the “tea leaf holder” and was invented to cut down on waste. Tea drinking began in China in about 2737 BC (according to legend). Teapots have been found in Chinese sites dating back to
#46 Why was the teabag invented? Read More »
