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Fact of the Day - TINY DOORS Did you know.... While they’re quite minuscule and often painted to blend in with their surroundings, you may notice several strange, tiny doors with decorative trim should you ever wander the halls of the U.S. Capitol. Those doors appear to be more appropriately sized for small creatures than for any congressperson, as they measure roughly 30 inches tall. However, they were never meant to be used as entryways or exits; rather, they concealed hidden water sources that once aided in fire prevention and cleaning. Behind each mini door is a pipe and spout that used to carry fresh water directly from the Washington Aqueduct into the Capitol. The system was implemented in the wake of a devastating fire on Christmas Eve in 1851, which destroyed 35,000 volumes preserved by the Library of Congress. An investigation showed the fire could’ve been extinguished with ease had there been an available water supply nearby, and engineer Montgomery C. Meigs was subsequently tasked with developing a solution. Meigs installed these on-demand water sources throughout the Capitol, concealing them behind miniature doors that could be easily opened in the event of future fires. Not only did the water aid in fire prevention, but janitorial crews also used those hidden faucets to fill their pails for cleaning purposes. Today, the doors and water sources no longer serve an essential purpose, as the Capitol is outfitted with modern fire suppression systems. But those doors remain an eye-catching relic of yesteryear and are a popular talking point among visitors. The U.S. Capitol used to have a smaller green dome. Although the U.S. Capitol opened for business in 1800, its original dome wasn’t finished until 1824. That dome was smaller than the current one, rising to 140 feet above the rotunda, compared to 180 feet today. It was also built from wood and covered with copper, giving the dome a green color far different from its now-familiar white hue. The wood material, however, posed a fire hazard and necessitated frequent repairs. There were aesthetic issues as well, as large-scale expansions to the rest of the Capitol made its dome appear disproportionately small. A bigger and more durable replacement was approved in March 1855, with construction beginning the following year and lasting until January 1866. Source: The U.S. Capitol has strange tiny doors.

What's the Word: VOLUTE pronunciation: [vəl-YOOT] Part of speech: adjective Origin: French, mid-16th century Meaning: 1. Forming a spiral curve or curves. Examples: "Both sea and land snails have similarly volute shells." "Greek architecture is easily recognizable by the volutes on top of columns." About About Volute While "volute" developed in French, it originated from the Latin word "volvere" (which means "to roll"). Did you Know? The adjective "volute" describes scroll shapes, but the noun "volute" is an architectural term. The decorative spiral scrolls on the tops of columns on Ionic and Corinthian-style buildings are called "volutes." Many U.S. state capitol buildings, as well as the U.S Capitol, use this design.

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Fact of the Day - KILLER WHALES Did you know.... When they aren’t busy attacking yachts or starring in beloved children’s movies, killer whales have an even more impressive hobby: making their own tools. Scientists were initially unfazed by footage of the imposing creatures rubbing against one another for up to 15 minutes at a time because “whales do weird things,” as behavioral ecologist Michael Weiss told CNN. But a closer look revealed the animals were actually rubbing strands of kelp between their bodies. Researchers observed at least 30 instances of a behavior they dubbed “allokelping,” in which orcas detach bull kelp from the seafloor and manipulate it with their teeth before rubbing it between themselves, which scientists expect is a form of grooming, social bonding, or both. Cetaceans (a group of mammals that includes dolphins, whales, and porpoises) keep their bodies smooth and aerodynamic by frequently shedding dead skin, and allokelping could aid in that process. The discovery marks the first time any cetacean has been observed using tools, but it isn’t altogether surprising — in addition to being, well, a little unusual, orcas in particular are known for their high intelligence and close social bonds. Killer whales are found in every ocean. Though best known for residing in the cold waters of locales such as Antarctica, orcas are found in every ocean: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic (also known as Southern), and Arctic. This makes them the most widespread cetacean. Of the approximately 50,000 killer whales in the wild, roughly half of them live in the waters near Antarctica. Other large population centers include such far-flung locations as Alaska, Argentina, Norway, and New Zealand. Source: Killer whales make their own tools.

What's the Word: WINKLE pronunciation: [WINK-əl] Part of speech: verb Origin: British, late 16th century Meaning: 1. Extract or obtain something with difficulty. Examples: "The interrogator was used to winkling confessions out of the most hard-boiled subjects." "I had to winkle the button out of the too-tight buttonhole on my new shirt." About About Winkle This word originated from a shortening of the word "periwinkle" — a mollusk with a spiral shell usually found along shores and beaches. Did you Know? The verb form of "winkle" means "to extract something with great difficulty," but there's a noun form of "winkle" as well. Seafood lovers might recognize a winkle as a tiny mollusk with a spiral shell. These edible mollusks are usually around the size of a pinkie nail.

Fact of the Day - SHRIMP FISHING Did you know.... On the western tip of Belgium’s coast, the town of Oostduinkerke keeps alive a tradition more than twice as old as Belgium itself. Since the late 15th century, seaside communities that line the North Sea have practiced a form of shrimp fishing in which horse-riding fishermen, or paardenvisser, trawl the coast’s shallow waters to capture tasty crustaceans. About 500 years after it began, the tradition was recognized by UNESCO as part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. But what was once a common sight in the sea’s shallow waters is now a rarity, as only a handful of known paardenvissers still exist. Although the method at its most basic is simply dragging a net behind a Brabant draft horse, the process actually employs some clever physics and mechanics. Attached to each net are two metal-and-wood boards that, thanks to water pressure, keep the net continuously open. A metal chain attached to the front of the net sends shockwaves through the sand, causing shrimp to jump into the trap. As the horse drags the net through the surf, water pressure pushes the catch to the back of the net, which makes room for yet more shrimp. Adorned in their typical bright-yellow oilskin jackets, paardenvissers are often seen along Oostduinkerke’s coast during shrimp fishing seasons (from March to May and from September to November), as well as in June when the entire town gathers for the Shrimp Festival. This two-day event is filled with elaborate floats, costumes, and a parade celebrating the town’s crustaceous cultural heritage. In 2020, Belgium broke its own world record for the longest time without a government. On September 30, 2020, Belgium formed a coalition government 652 days after the last one had collapsed — setting the record for the longest time any country has been without a government during peacetime. This doesn’t mean lawlessness reigned during the long political crisis, however. Instead, an interim caretaker government ran things until an official government took the helm. This not-exactly-laudable world record surpassed the previous record by only 63 days — and that previous record was also held by Belgium, which experienced a similar crisis in 2010 and 2011. Although somewhat small, Belgium is notoriously difficult to govern, in part because wealthier, Dutch-speaking northerners and poorer, French-speaking southerners each have their own political parties and views. Source: Belgium has a 500-year-old tradition of shrimp fishing on horseback.

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Fact of the Day - BEN AND JERRY'S ICECREAM Did you know..... The founders of one of the country’s leading ice cream brands spent only a pint-sized sum learning how to make their product. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became friends in seventh grade, back in 1963. Originally, they set their sights on being a doctor (Greenfield) and an artist (Cohen). But once they reached their 20s — a rejected medical school applicant and a potter who dropped out of college — they decided to enter the food industry instead. The duo came close to becoming bagel makers, but they realized that producing ice cream was cheaper (bagel-making equipment can be pretty pricey). Their dessert education arrived through a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences correspondence course, which sent them a textbook in the mail and required only open-book tests. The course has since been replaced by a weeklong series of workshops, the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, which bills itself as the country’s “oldest, best-known, and largest educational program dealing with the science and technology of ice cream.” Established in 1925, the program has attracted representatives from Baskin-Robbins, Haagen-Dazs, and Blue Bell Creamery who want to improve their knowledge of research and development, quality control, sales strategies, and more. To prepare to run Ben & Jerry’s, Cohen and Greenfield also purchased various brochures from the Small Business Administration, sold for 20 cents each at the post office. Next, they decided to open a shop in bucolic Burlington, Vermont, home to the University of Vermont’s campus (and thousands of hungry students). Their doors opened in 1978 in a former gas station with unsightly holes in the roof that Cohen attempted to patch up with tin sheets and tar. Cohen and Greenfield secured the location by combining a $4,000 bank loan with their pooled $8,000 (including $2,000 supplied by Cohen’s dad). All of the ice cream was made in a 5-gallon machine, and the shop originally sold eight flavors: Oreo Mint, French Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge, Wild Blueberry, Mocha Walnut, Maple Walnut, Honey Coffee, and Honey Orange. However, as the flavors got wilder — think Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, and Phish Food — many more outposts and a wholesale delivery business followed, as did an IPO. In 2000, Unilever — the parent company of Breyers and Klondike — paid $326 million to acquire Ben & Jerry’s. One of Ben & Jerry’s namesake co-founders can barely taste food. As a kid, Ben Cohen was diagnosed with anosmia, a rare sinus condition that renders him unable to smell. In addition, he has a very limited sense of taste. When eating, Cohen has long derived pleasure from textures. Before helming a business, it was second nature for him to add pieces of cookies or candy to his bowls of ice cream. In recent decades, the signature Ben & Jerry’s item has become a scoop of ice cream brimming with ingredients like chunky fudge, airy marshmallows, and swirly caramel. The company even pioneered cookie dough ice cream, knowing that pearls of batter would result in a satisfying mouthfeel for everyone. Source: Ben and Jerry learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course.

Fact of the Day - MUSIC PERFORMANCE UNTIL 2640 Did you know.... For one organ concert currently being played at a German church, every chord change makes international news. That’s because this performance of avant-garde composer John Cage’s “Organ²/ASLSP” is slated to last centuries. In 1985, when Cage (1912–1992) wrote a piano version of what later became “Organ²/ASLSP,” he directed musicians to play his notes “as slowly as possible.” They’ve complied. The performance began on what would have been Cage’s 89th birthday: September 5, 2001. A collection of music aficionados, scholars, and former collaborators planned a one-of-a-kind tribute to Cage in Halberstadt, Germany, where the first modern keyboard organ is thought to have originated. They dreamed up a performance that would last as long as the Halberstadt instrument, believed to have been built in the city’s cathedral in 1361. Since that was 639 years before the turn of the millennium in 2000, the group settled on a 639-year concert. A custom organ was constructed at the medieval church of St. Burchardi in Halberstadt. The performance opened with a 17-month pause, and one chord lasted nearly seven years. (Sandbags, moved by human hands, weigh down the pedals to engage the organ’s pipes.) As of press time, only 16 chord changes have occurred; the next is scheduled for August 2026. Private donors have raised money to fund the project, but more is needed for the concert to continue uninterrupted all the way through its scheduled end — in 2640. “Organ²/ASLSP” isn’t the world’s longest performance. While “Organ²/ASLSP” is slow, it is not the longest music composition or the longest recital. English banjoist Jem Finer — a founding member of the Celtic punk band the Pogues — holds those world records for his original work “Longplayer.” With help from a bank of London computers, Finer has sequenced six of his short pieces to play simultaneously on a set of Tibetan singing bowls located in the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf, overlooking the River Thames. The concert started in the first moment of January 1, 2000, and no sound combination will repeat until the final second of December 31, 2999. Source: An ongoing music performance at a German church is scheduled to continue until 2640.

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Fact of the Day - IT MUST BE BOILED! Did you know... Whether you prefer yours plain, covered in sesame seeds, or colored like a rainbow, all bagels share one common characteristic: the dough is boiled prior to baking. Boiling is a crucial step that helps gelatinize the dough so it achieves the ideal density; it also partially deactivates the yeast so the bagel doesn’t rise quite as high as other bread rolls. During a typical boiling period — about 30 to 60 seconds — bagels also absorb salts, sugars, or other seasonings that are added to the water, thus enhancing the dough’s flavor. For these reasons, culinary experts agree that it’s inaccurate to refer to bialys or any other unboiled, torus-shaped baked goods as “bagels.” Experts trace the origins of boiled bagels to Jewish communities in 13th-century Eastern Europe (specifically modern Poland); the technique was brought to New York City in the 19th century by Jewish immigrants. In 1907, local bakers in NYC formed the International Beigel Bakers Union, which worked to guard the boiling and baking process as a trade secret. The union was successful in doing so until the 1960s, when the invention of a new bagel-making machine helped popularize bagels nationwide. There’s a unique style of bagel native to Montréal, Canada. While many Americans are likely familiar with New York-style bagels, their neighbors to the north have a special variant of their own whose origins date to the early 20th century. What makes Montréal’s bagels unique is they’re always handmade and boiled in honey water to lend the dough a sweet flavor. The dough also lacks salt, which produces less crumbliness and more chewiness. Additionally, Montréal-style bagels are cooked in a wood-fired oven, giving them a soft and fluffy interior with a crispier crust. The bagels also are rolled thinner than their NYC counterparts, resulting in a larger central hole. Source: A bagel isn’t a bagel unless it’s boiled.

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Fact of the Day - ALASKA'S FLAG Did you know..... Every flag has a story, but few are as endearing as Alaska’s. One of the rare places to have a flag before it was actually a state, the Last Frontier held a contest to design its territorial standard in 1926 — and a 13-year-old won. (The contest was open only to Alaskan children in grades seven to 12, but it’s still impressive.) Benny Benson lived in an orphanage known as the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, Alaska, when he came up with the winning design, which included a description he wrote himself: “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.” His design also featured “1867” in commemoration of the year the United States bought Alaska from Russia, although the numbers didn’t make the final cut. In addition to being hailed as a local hero, Benson won a watch with his design on it and a $1,000 scholarship. He eventually used that money to attend Hemphill Diesel Engineering School after moving to Seattle in 1936. He was 45 when Alaska became a state in 1959, fulfilling the hopeful description of his design. Alaska kept its flag instead of adopting a new one, and Benson’s work lives on today. Paraguay is the only country with a two-sided flag. Just as most (but not all) flags are quadrilateral, most countries’ standards are also one-sided, meaning they have designs only on their fronts. The exception that proves the rule is Paraguay, whose flag has both an obverse (front) and reverse (back). The front features red, white, and blue horizontal stripes and the country’s coat of arms in the center, while the back has the same stripes but the seal of the treasury in the center instead. Some countries used to have two-sided flags, including Lithuania and the Philippines, as did countries that no longer exist (the Republic of Formosa, in what is now Taiwan, had an especially nice one in 1895), but Paraguay is the only present country with one. Here in the U.S., Oregon also has a two-sided flag. Source: Alaska’s flag was created by a 13-year-old.

Fact of the Day - AGATHA CHRISTIE Did you know.... Agatha Christie’s characters have done it all — survived attempted murder, traveled to far-off lands, and solved mystery after mystery. But the bestselling author didn’t just write about adventure; she also sought it out, sometimes on a surfboard. Two years after publishing her first novel, Christie embarked on an international trip with her first husband, Archibald. Their 1922 stop in South Africa included an attempt at surfing, where it’s possible she may have become the first Western woman to stand up on a surfboard. The globetrotting couple quickly fell in love with the sport and went on to catch swelling waves off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Christie, in letters to her mother, recounted the tricky experience of learning to surf, describing the sport as “occasionally painful” thanks to a “nosedive down into the sand.” But the writer eventually became more skilled, detailing in her 1977 autobiography that nothing could compete with the rush of approaching shore at high speeds. She also wrote about surfing in her novel The Man in the Brown Suit, in which her protagonist, nicknamed “Anna the Adventuress,” goes surfing in Cape Town. Christie’s pursuit of the perfect wave was unusual for an English woman of her time. The Museum of British Surfing suggests she and her husband may have been two of the earliest Brits to attempt the activity. However, they did have regal company: Prince Edward, the British royal who would eventually abdicate the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, was photographed surfing in Hawaii two years before Christie rented her first surfboard. Agatha Christie’s first novel was rejected six times. Despite her literary success, Agatha Christie’s writing career took some time to launch; her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was rejected six times before publication. Christie, who had an interest in storytelling as a child, took her first stab at writing thanks to a bet with her sister, Madge. In The Mysterious Affair, her long-featured detective Hercule Poirot made his entrance, investigating a poisoning. It wasn’t until 1920, some four years after she began writing, that Christie’s thriller was finally printed; her description and use of poisons from knowledge gained as a World War I nurse even landed the novel a favorable review in a pharmaceutical journal. Christie’s first book made such an impact that she even named her home Styles after the story’s setting. Source: Agatha Christie helped popularize surfing.

Fact of the Day - EARTHS INSIDE THE SUN Did you know..... From 93 million miles away, it can be easy to forget just how big the sun is. With a diameter of 864,938 miles and a circumference of about 2,715,396 miles, the brilliant ball of hydrogen and helium at the center of our solar system is large enough to fit about 1 million Earths inside of it. It’s also some 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface and, thanks to nuclear reactions, 27 million degrees in its core, producing the same amount of energy every second as 100 billion tons of dynamite. Don’t let that give you earthlings an inferiority complex, however — in about 5 billion years, the sun will run out of hydrogen, and eventually collapse into a white dwarf roughly the same size as the Earth. (Earth won’t survive that, but luckily we don’t need to worry about it for quite some time.) In the meantime, the sun will remain almost unfathomably larger than anything orbiting it — about 1,000 Jupiters could fit inside it, for instance, as could 64.3 million of Earth’s moons. Some stars are hundreds of times larger than the sun. Though the sun is obviously massive from our earthbound perspective, it’s not especially large in the (very) grand scheme of things. In fact, it’s fairly average. The sun pales in comparison to Betelgeuse (no relation to the Michael Keaton character), a red giant that’s approximately 700 times larger and 14,000 times brighter. Because it’s 724 light-years away from us, however, Betelgeuse is only around the 10th-brightest star in our night sky. If you want to feel really small, there are a number of videos showing the relative sizes of different heavenly bodies that may just leave your head spinning. Source: About 1 million Earths could fit inside the sun.

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Fact of the Day - ANTS AT WAR Did you know.... In addition to invading picnics in the park, ants stage full-on conflicts with other ant colonies. Take the aptly named army ants — a term that applies to around 150 distinct species — which are among the many ant species, along with leafcutter ants and marauder ants, that fight each other for the purpose of territory or resource control. Research has shown those battles share striking similarities to human skirmishes, with ants relying on a combination of force, strategy, and chemical warfare to achieve victory. Army ants have been observed advancing in tight phalanx formations that overwhelm opposing colonies with their sheer size. Some colonies send smaller numbers of scouts beforehand in search of food; those scouts then return to assemble a fighting force. Some species, such as the Matabele ant, even have some ants who essentially act like wartime medics, carrying injured ants away from the fight and tending to their wounds. There’s also evidence of ants strategically deploying “weaponry” in battles with other ant colonies. For example, the Raspberry crazy ant secretes a substance that neutralizes fire ant venom, while door ants explode when threatened and spew toxins on enemies. Other species, such as leafcutter ants, craft armor from magnesium calcite that helps them withstand oncoming attacks. Many ants also instinctively know when it’s time to retreat and fight another day, displaying an unwillingness to fight to the death in a losing situation — unless it’s for the purpose of defending their nest. A bullet ant’s sting is ranked among the most painful in the world. The Schmidt sting pain index, created by entomologist Justin O. Schmidt, is a ranking of the most excruciatingly painful insect stings. Pain level one includes the sting of red, tropical, and southern fire ants, which Schmidt equated to being shocked by a light switch, as well as the sting of a bee. At the highest end of the spectrum is the bullet ant, which is the only ranked insect to hold a notorious four-plus pain rating. Schmidt described the sting in his 2016 book The Sting of the Wild as “like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.” Unlike other ant venom, which is commonly delivered by bite, a bullet ant delivers its venom using a wasplike stinger. While the sting isn’t fatal, it can lead to intense pain, muscle paralysis, and hallucinations that can last for up to 24 hours. Source: Ants go to war with other colonies.

Fact of the Day - FIRE POPPY Did you know..... Wildfire can be devastating for humans and wildlife, yet some plant species rely on fire as a vital part of their life cycle. Known as fire followers, those species have evolved to take advantage of landscapes cleared by flames. Take, for example, the fire poppy (Papaver californicum), a delicate orange-red wildflower that emerges almost exclusively after wildfires in California’s chaparral and foothills. Its seeds can lie dormant in the soil for decades, waiting for the precise combination of heat, smoke, and mineral-rich ash that only fire provides. When those conditions align, fire poppies bloom briefly and brilliantly, turning barren slopes into living proof that destruction can also bring renewal. But that poppy isn’t the only plant to thrive in a fire-ravaged environment; fire followers exist in dry ecosystems around the world, from Australia’s savannas to the Mediterranean basin and South Africa’s fynbos biome. Fire removes dense vegetation, returns nutrients to the soil in the form of ash, and alters the chemistry of the ground and air in ways that signal it’s finally safe to grow. Some fire-following plants respond to heat that cracks open tough seed coats, while others are triggered by compounds found in smoke. In the months after a burn, when competition for growing space lessens and sunlight floods the ground, those plants can suddenly appear in extraordinary numbers, transforming charred land into fields of colorful growth. Ecologists have studied the relationship between fire and plant life for more than a century. In the early 1920s, botanists observed that certain chaparral shrubs in California only sprout and produce fruit after a wildfire, uncovering the evolutionary connection between fire and plant reproduction. Those early studies helped lay the groundwork for fire ecology, the scientific field dedicated to understanding how fire influences ecosystems. Fire ecologists examine how burns affect plant growth, nutrient cycling, seed dispersal, and interactions between species, revealing that fire is not just a destructive force but also a vital process for many landscapes around the world. Since those early observations, fire ecology has developed into a structured field of research. By the mid-20th century, scientists had begun studying how fire shapes vegetation patterns, soil chemistry, and ecosystem recovery. Source: There’s a California flower that only grows after fires.

Fact of the Day - MESSENGER PIGEONS Did you know.... Pigeons tend to have poor reputations, treated as winged pests that are shooed away from park benches and windowsills. However, these sometimes-annoying avians — which were first domesticated by humans at least 5,000 years ago — are also known for being adept messengers. That’s why police in Odisha, a coastal state in eastern India, have used pigeons to relay important messages in situations where modern lines of communication no longer work. About 150 homing, racing, and carrier pigeons make up the region’s pigeon patrol. They begin their training at just 5 to 6 weeks old, and can fly up to 500 miles at a time, at top speeds of 34 miles per hour. Fleets of carrier pigeons aren’t at all new to India. The feathered couriers were used throughout the country for centuries, and in more recent history by police stations during British colonial rule. Odisha launched its official bird messaging service in 1946 as an experiment, since the region had no telephone access. The program’s earliest pigeons were tasked with regularly transporting messages written on lightweight onion-skin paper between police stations in a state that spanned more than 60,000 square miles. Even with today’s accessible phone and internet services, there’s been no rush to retire the courier pigeons. While the birds tend to serve a ceremonial role during functions of state, handlers keep the pigeons trained and ready to respond in natural disasters when communication towers are wiped out, and the birds are believed to have helped save lives during catastrophic flooding in 1982 and in the aftermath of a super cyclone in 1999. The last known passenger pigeon was named for Martha Washington. The demise of the passenger pigeon has served as a century-long warning about the role humans play in the natural world. At one time, the species dominated the skies of North America, accounting for 25% to 40% of the entire American bird population. But by the early 1900s — following decades of overhunting and habitat destruction — only a few passenger pigeons survived in captivity. One in particular gained notoriety: Martha. Named for the nation’s original first lady, Martha Washington, the pigeon was housed at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, where crowds regularly gathered to view the bird that would eventually become the last living passenger pigeon. Amazingly (and likely with the help of regular medical attention) Martha far surpassed her winged counterparts’ average lifespan of 15 years, living to the ripe age of 29. Today, it’s possible to still get a glimpse of her at the Smithsonian, where she has been taxidermized and is occasionally on display. Source: Police in India still use pigeons to relay messages.

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Fact of the Day - THE OLYMPIC TORCH Did you know... Is it the same flame from Greece to the games? One of the exciting traditions leading up to the Summer and Winter Olympics is the torch relay, when people can go out and see the Olympic torch as it travels from Greece, where it is lit by the sun and a parabolic mirror, to the Olympic flame in the host city. The relay is prepared for potential bad weather, like rain and wind, or other conditions that could cause the flame to go out. But there are still rare times when the flame does go out. So how do Olympic organizers ensure that the flame lit in Greece is still the same one that arrives in the host city for the Olympics? From Greece to Gold The Olympic flame is lit during a traditional ceremony in Greece that includes women dressed as ancient priestesses lighting the first flame with sunlight reflected on a parabolic mirror. That same flame will be carried by torch bearers throughout the torch relay until it makes its way to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, only to finally be extinguished at the end of the event. The Olympics make it a point to ensure that the same flame that was ignited during the ceremony in Greece is the one that lights the Olympic flame in the host city, which can be a bit of a challenge when carrying it through a relay with such a large number of participants. In 2024, for example, the torch relay for the Summer Games in Paris included around 10,000 torch bearers. The flame, however, always travels with a backup just in case. Officials carry specially-designed containers similar to a miner's lamp that house the original flame and a backup for everything from air travel (on a private plane, of course) to get the flame from Greece to the relay and then keep the flame lit throughout its journey. If the flame goes out for a torch bearer during the journey, the backup container is used to relight the flame. Needing a Backup The backup flame has actually been important during relays when circumstances caused the flame to go out for a torch bearer during the relay. In the 1970s, there was a problem with the torch as it made its way to the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. A rainstorm caused the flame to go out during the relay, causing an official along the route to relight it with a cigarette lighter. That's actually not allowed, as it doesn't keep with the tradition of using the original flame. So, the re-lit torch was extinguished and lit again with the backup that started in Greece. A report during the 2014 Winter Games relay in Russia said the torch had gone out multiple times during its travels. A spokesman for the relay at the time claimed that it was normal to have that number of incidents. In 2016, a man tried to extinguish the torch during the relay in Brazil by throwing water at it. Luckily, it missed the torch, which stayed lit. The relay also has typical issues with the flame that could necessitate relighting it during the relay, such as bad weather, of course, or a runner taking too long during the relay and using up all the fuel in a torch before it can be passed on. The 2026 Winter Games, taking place in Italy, run from February 6 to February 22. See the full schedule here. Source: How the Olympics Keep the Torch Lit—And What Happens When It Goes Out

Fact of the Day - ASTEROIDS Did you know... There are more than a million known asteroids in our humble solar system, most of which are fairly small and irregularly shaped. There are some outliers, however. Some asteroids are nearly spherical, and some are so big they have their own moons — around 150 of them are in this category, in fact. There are even binary and trinary asteroids that orbit one another like celestial twins and triplets, which surely makes hurtling through the vacuum of space less lonely than it would be otherwise. (In February 2022, astronomers even discovered a quaternary asteroid — 130 Elektra, which has three moons.) Like their moonless counterparts, the majority of these asteroids can be found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and are believed to be remnants from the creation of the solar system. The first asteroid moon discovered was Dactyl, a mile-wide natural satellite orbiting the asteroid Ida and initially spotted in 1994. Other asteroids with moons include 45 Eugenia, 3122 Florence (which has two moons), and 87 Sylvia, which is roughly the same size as West Virginia and was the first trinary asteroid discovered. It’s also among the largest known asteroids in our solar system. As for the largest asteroid to ever hit Earth, it wasn’t the one that killed the dinosaurs (RIP). That distinction may belong to the asteroid that caused the Vredefort crater in South Africa, which once may have been around twice as large as it is now. A recent study concluded that the asteroid that made the crater may have been between 12.4 and 15.5 miles across when it made impact some 2 billion years ago. Hopefully, we won’t see one like it again any time soon. The first asteroid ever discovered is now considered a dwarf planet. If you find Pluto’s unjust trajectory from planet to dwarf planet hard to follow, wait until you hear about Ceres. Discovered on New Year’s Day 1801 by Guiseppe Piazzi at Sicily’s Palermo Astronomical Observatory, it was originally considered a planet before being reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s — the first time we mere mortals realized that asteroids were a distinct class. Other early asteroids include Pallas (1802), Juno (1804), and Vesta (1807), all of which are smaller than Ceres — which is why the latter was reclassified again, this time as a dwarf planet, in 2006. In addition to Pluto and Ceres, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognizes three other dwarf planets: Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. Source: Some asteroids have moons.

What's the Word: CAMBER pronunciation: [KAM-bər] Part of speech: noun Origin: Late Middle English, unknown Meaning: 1. The slightly convex or arched shape of a road or other horizontal surface. Examples: "The camber of the sidewalk allowed for easy drainage after it rained." "You'll notice that the new highway was built with a camber to its surface." About Camber Camber developed in Middle English but finds its roots in the Old French word "chambre" ("arched") and the Latin word "camurus" ("curved inward"). Did you Know? Isn't a road supposed to be flat? Many paths are; however, modern roads are built with a camber for several important reasons, including easy drainage during rainstorms.

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Fact of the Day - MIGRATION Did you know.... No animal on Earth travels quite like the eastern monarch butterfly. Its journey begins in the early days of spring on a few mountains in central Mexico. Millions of the monarchs (Danaus plexippus plexippus) fill the branches of oyamel firs, and as the temperature warms up, they soak in the sun and begin their epic journey northward — a 3,000-mile trip that looks more like a bird’s migration than an insect’s. But it’s not only the miles that make the butterfly’s journey so remarkable — it’s also the means. A typical monarch butterfly lives for only about four weeks, not nearly long enough to complete the journey to the northern U.S. and Canada. So the migration becomes a multigenerational one. In a typical year, it will take four generations for monarch butterflies to finish the seasonal quest their great-grandparents started. To return south in the fall, a “super generation” — also known as the Methuselah generation (after the long-lived biblical patriarch) because it can live eight times longer than its ancestors — will travel 50 miles a day by riding thermal currents southward before finally resting in the same oyamel firs in central Mexico. All hail the monarch! Mexican scientists are trying to move a forest to save the monarch butterfly. Despite the monarch butterfly’s amazing resiliency, life isn’t easy for the 4-inch fluttering creature. Over the past 20 years, the number of eastern monarchs spending the winter in central Mexico has declined 80%, due to habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. To combat this decline, researchers are planting saplings of the oyamel fir — the tree preferred by the butterflies while overwintering — some 1,300 feet higher than the current range in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico. The process is known as “assisted migration” or “assisted colonization,” and the hope is that cooler temperatures at higher elevations will help the trees survive a warming climate and secure a safe place for monarchs to hibernate and prosper. Source: Some monarch butterflies migrate 3,000 miles.

What's the Word: HOUSEWRIGHT pronunciation: [HAUS-rite] Part of speech: noun Origin: North America, mid-16th century Meaning: 1. A builder of houses, especially those constructed largely of timber; a house carpenter. Examples: "After working with Habitat for Humanity, Rachel felt like a bona fide housewright." "We hired a housewright to help us rehab our 19th-century wooden cottage." About Housewright Housewright developed as an American word in the 16th century through the combination of the words "house" and "wright" (an old Germanic word that means "maker or builder"). Did you Know? You could hire a handyman to do general repairs around your house, but if you have a historic wooden home, you'll want a housewright. This term was popular in 18th-century colonial America to refer to craftsmen who cut timber and assembled it into houses.

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Lol... well, I bought a month's supply of baby diapers... I have a newborn.

Fact of the day - FOMO Did you know.... You've felt it. You've probably said it. Here's what "fomo" really means and where it came from. It's Friday night, pillows fluffed, pajamas on, and pizza on the way. Then your phone flashes—and so do images of your friends having the best night of their lives, the new bar you haven't tried, or even a potential love interest waiting in plain sight. That anxious feeling that everyone else is having fun without you is called "fomo," short for "fear of missing out." Side effects can include compulsively scrolling through social media, second-guessing your relationships, heightened stress, and lower self-esteem. Give in to the doomscroll devil on your shoulder, and you'll likely find exactly what you feared: a nonstop highlight reel of everyone you know, every night, like clockwork. Spot a pattern? If you guessed social media, you'd be right. The Origins of "Fomo" "Fomo" was coined in 2004 by Harvard Business School student Patrick J. McGinnis, around the time social networking was taking off. It starts with the awareness that you might be missing out, followed by a compulsive urge to stay socially connected. As platforms like Facebook and Twitter became part of everyday life, the term quickly spread beyond academic circles. In 2013, "fomo" was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary, defined as the "fear of missing out: anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website." Factor in the rise of Instagram, livestreams, and group chat culture, and the definition has expanded beyond missed parties: it now captures the anxiety of being left out, out of touch, or out of the online conversation. Today, "fomo" perfectly describes the modern unease of watching others' lives unfold online—and feeling like you're always a step behind. The Psychology Behind Fomo Social media keeps us connected 24/7, but instead of strengthening relationships, it often does the opposite. Constantly scrolling through friends' highlight reels can make gaps in your social life feel bigger, emphasizing missed events, unshared experiences, and even perceived social shortcomings. Psychologists say this cycle of comparison fuels "fomo," driving compulsive behaviors like obsessively checking notifications or overcommitting to social events out of fear of being left out. "Fomo" thrives in the digital age, but it’s rooted in a timeless human need: connection. And while everyone craves connection, some are more vulnerable to "fomo" than others. Those with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, or concerns about body image may feel it more often and more intensely. The trick is satisfying that need offline instead of letting every notification dictate your sense of worth. So go ahead—put down the phone, enjoy your Friday night, and maybe let "jomo" (the "joy of missing out") take over instead. Source: What "Fomo" Means—And Where the Term Came From

What's the Word: MERINO pronunciation: [mə-REE-no] Part of speech: noun Origin: Spanish, late 18th century Meaning: 1. A breed of sheep with long, fine wool. 2. A soft woolen or wool-and-cotton material resembling cashmere, originally of merino wool. Examples: "The merino grazed peacefully on the side of the hill." "Frank wears that merino wool sweater every time the weather gets chilly." About Merino While "merino" comes from 18th-century Spanish, its exact origins are a mystery. You can use the word "merino" to refer to a sheep or your sweater and be completely correct in both cases. Did you Know? A single merino sheep produces a lot of wool in its lifetime — around 227 pounds, in fact. The wool is not only cozy for sweaters and blankets, but also wicks up to 30% of its weight in moisture without getting damp, so it's perfect for socks, scarves, and other outerwear.

Fact of the Day - IT GLOWS! Did you know.... Tonic water is best known for adding a little bite to cocktails, though it has a hidden talent: It glows when exposed to ultraviolet light. While modern tonic waters often include citrus flavors or sweeteners to ease their bitter taste, the mix is traditionally crafted from just two ingredients — carbonated water and quinine, the second of which is capable of illumination. Quinine’s ability to glow, technically called fluorescence, occurs only when the substance is exposed to the right conditions, particularly when its molecules absorb invisible ultraviolet light (such as that projected by a black light). The excited molecules then quickly release that energy, which appears as a blue hue to the human eye in a darkened room. Though tonic water is now a bar cart staple, its initial purpose wasn’t enjoyment — it was to prevent and treat malaria. Quinine, which comes from the bark of the South American cinchona tree, was first used by the Indigenous Quechua people as a cure-all for stomach ailments; by the 1600s, Europeans had documented its fever-reducing properties. In the 1700s, Scottish doctor George Cleghorn discovered it could also effectively treat malaria. As the only known treatment for nearly 300 years, quinine was paired with water to create a “tonic” and distributed to British soldiers stationed in India and other malaria-prone regions. Some historians believe soldiers began adding the medication to gin and other alcohols to make the bitter flavor more palatable, eventually creating the “gin and tonic” drink we know today. However, other researchers suggest it wasn’t until the 1860s that the classic drink emerged, served to victorious patrons at horse racing tracks in India. The search for a quinine alternative created the first synthetic dye. Quinine’s legacy isn’t just in the beverages we drink, but also in the clothes we wear. The medicine led one scientist to discover mauveine, a synthetic dye that lends its name to the shade of purple we call mauve. In the 19th century, getting ahold of quinine was costly, since the compound was created from cinchona tree bark imported from South America. Some researchers, like chemist William Perkin, attempted to create bark-free synthetic versions. One of Perkin’s attempts, using a chemical called aniline, resulted in a goopy dark substance that didn’t easily wash away. Realizing its staining abilities, Perkin patented the substance as the world’s first synthetic dye — easier to use than natural dyes, and with the benefit of being more colorfast. Shortly after his discovery, Perkin opened his own textile dyeing factory, helping to launch a fashion craze that featured his newly created hue. Even Queen Victoria got in on the act, wearing a mauve-colored dress at the International Exhibition of 1862. Source: Tonic water can glow in the dark.

What's the Word: AVANT-GARDE pronunciation: [ah-vant-GARD] Part of speech: adjective Origin: French, early 20th century Meaning: 1. Favoring or introducing experimental or unusual ideas. Examples: "The student art show was sure to include many avant-garde pieces." "The fashion show was a little too avant-garde for my tastes." About Avant-Garde Avant-garde is used as an adjective to describe something unusual or experimental. It can also be used as a noun to refer to certain out-there ideas, or the people introducing them. You might meet the avant-garde at an avant-garde art gallery. Did you Know? The adjective "avant-garde" — commonly used to refer to the arts — can also describe cultural change. Social change and shifting values can be considered avant-garde in one decade, then accepted as the norm in the next.

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