Category Archives: Fun Facts

The Invention of the Table Knife

Recently we passed a major milestone of Western civilization — the birthday of the table knife was May 13, 1637.  According to The Writers’ Almanac of that date (this year, of course), its father is considered to be Cardinal Richelieu of France. (http://writersalmanac.org/page/16/)   The Cardinal ordered his kitchen staff to file off the sharp

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Are Tears a Luxury?

Every once in awhile, I read something that gives me pause.  The latest was on the New York magazine’s “Science of Us” page on its website.  An article entitled “Tears Are a Luxury Item” discusses recent research on an unlikely topic — why we cry.  http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/03/tears-are-a-luxury-item.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Science%20of%20Us%20-%20May%2013%2C%202016&utm_term=Subscription%20List%20-%20Science%20of%20Us%20%281%20Year%29 This question goes back to Charles Darwin.  He tried

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Another View of Immigration

I recently ran across a more positive way to look at immigration.  Viewing this from the perspective of the individuals who are making the journey, many are girls and young women who are vulnerable to exploitation along the way. But there is an organization that’s trying to protect them.   The Tahirih Justice Center, named after

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Top Four Questions About Tornadoes

Spring is always a bad time for tornadoes in the Midwest.  I remember the devastating storm that hit Xenia, Ohio in the 1970s.  Which is why a feature in the May 19th edition of EarthSky News caught my eye.  I’m copying the basic information here.  The complete article can be found at http://earthsky.org/earth/4-basic-questions-about-tornadoes?  The photo

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Naming Your Fears

Last time I wrote about the origins of Friday the 13th.   This leads to another subject — fears, or phobias. Fear is actually a normal protection, to keep us from doing really dumb things.  The Psychology Today website puts it this way — Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t

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Happy Friday the 13th

I trust everyone has survived Friday the 13th?  I’ve never been very superstitious, but I’ve been wondering how we got to fear this particular day.  So I dug out the book An Uncommon History of Common Things (National Geographic, 2009, page 118).  As one might suspect, the answer isn’t very straightforward. First, the Friday component.

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Growing From Trauma

For the past several years, we’ve heard a lot about post-traumatic stress and how it has ruined many lives, especially service people who have been through combat.  But have you ever heard of post-traumatic growth (PTG)? Yes, there is such a thing.  Psychologists Richard G. Tedeschi and Lawrence G. Calhoun at the University of North

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The Most Popular Dog Breeds

Do you have a dog?  If so, do you care about its ancestry? Actually, I don’t have any pets, but I do love dogs.  So a blurb entitled “King of the Canines” recently caught my eye.  It’s in the “Explore” section of the February 2016 National Geographic magazine and it lists the 10 most popular

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Humans Aren’t the Only Vaccinators

I suppose everyone knows about vaccination, but what I didn’t realize is that other species  can practice a form of vaccination too. In the February 2016 issue of National Geographic, an “Explore Science” entry is entitled “Immunity For Insects”.  Apparently vaccinations can also be passed from mother to young.  We knew higher animals could do

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