Leaderboard

Fact of the Day - NEW COLOR Did you know.... If you’ve never heard of olo, there’s a good reason for that: You’ve almost certainly never seen it either. The new color, described as a “blue-green of unprecedented saturation,” has been seen by only five people in a laboratory setting, as it’s beyond the range of normal human visibility. Researchers discovered the teal-like hue by stimulating the M cone in subjects’ retinas with a laser device called an Oz, which allowed them to see a color said to be more saturated than any found in the natural world. The retina has three cones — L detects long wavelengths, M detects medium wavelengths, and S detects short wavelengths — that typically overlap to a certain degree. By using the Oz, scientists were able to activate the M cone in isolation, making it possible to see a color never perceived by humans before. “It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated,” said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who both co-authored and participated in the study, in an interview with The Guardian. “We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented color signal, but we didn’t know what the brain would do with it.” Researchers believe, or at least hope, that the science that enabled the participants to see olo could one day help people with red-green colorblindness experience the full spectrum of color. Source: Scientists have discovered a new color only five people have seen.

What's the Word: LABILITY pronunciation: [lə-BIL-ə-dee] Part of speech: noun Origin: Middle French, 14th century Meaning: 1. Liability to change; ease of alteration. Examples: "The lability of children’s moods makes planning their birthday parties a challenge." "Chloe has been surprised by the lability of her musical tastes over the years." About Lability “Lability” is derived from the Middle French term “labilité,” itself based on the Latin “lābilis,” meaning “apt to slip.” Did you Know? In its original form at the beginning of the Renaissance, the word “lability” didn’t just refer to the potential for a person or thing to change. Instead, in the 16th century, “lability” denoted a person’s likelihood of slipping into error, sin, irrationality, or bad behavior. By the 1700s, the term had come to mean simply “instability.” The neutral definition of “lability” (referring to transience or changeability) won out in the ensuing centuries. Today, “lability” is most often used in psychology as a term for emotional fluctuation and responsiveness.

Fact of the Day - NORTH ALWAYS AT THE TOP ON MAP Did you know.... If anyone is responsible for modern maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy. North doesn’t always mean “up” when it comes to geophysics. Scientists have known for decades that magnetic north, a spot once located in Arctic Canada, is moving toward Siberia. And magnetic north is different from geographic north, a place where all the meridians of longitude intersect in the Northern Hemisphere. But even these facts don't quite explain why modern maps always feature north at the top. There’s nothing inherently upward about north. Some ancient Egyptian maps put south on top; in medieval Europe, Christian cartographers tended to give that distinction to east, since you had to turn that way to face Jerusalem. Others placed east on top because of the rising sun (that’s why we “orient” ourselves). And early American settlers sometimes used maps with west on top, because that was the direction they often traveled. If anyone is responsible for maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy. His Geographia, written in the 2nd century CE, featured a map of the known world with north on top. Why he positioned it that way is not clear, but it may be that the Library of Alexandria, where he did his research, just didn’t have much information on the Southern Hemisphere. Renaissance scholars revived Ptolemy’s work, and by then, the phenomenon of magnetic north had been discovered, making his layout even more appealing to mapmakers. The magnetic north pole, however, was not located until 1831. On an otherwise disastrous expedition to Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage, British explorer James Clark Ross discovered the pole—the spot where a compass needle on a horizontal axis points straight down—on the west coast of Canada's Boothia peninsula. "I must leave it to others to imagine the elation of mind with which we found ourselves now at length arrived at this great object of our ambition," Ross wrote. "Nothing now remained for us but to return home and be happy for the rest of our days." Source: Why is North Always At the Top on a Map?

What's the Word: EBULLITION pronunciation: [eb-ə-LIH-shən] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, late 16th century Meaning: 1. The action of bubbling or boiling. 2. A sudden outburst of emotion or violence. Examples: "The professor asked lab students to heat hydrochloric acid to its ebullition point." "When I got my college acceptance letter, I had an ebullition of tears of joy." About Ebullition “Ebullition” is based on the Latin “ēbullītiō,” meaning “bubbling up.” Did you Know? Making candy at home requires close attention to the temperature of ebullition. Most candies begin as sugar syrups, which are then boiled to precise temperatures in order to achieve certain characteristics of clarity versus cloudiness, or hardness versus chewiness. High-temperature ebullition is necessary to turn sugar syrup into hard candy, and it requires a gentle touch, since boiling sugar syrup risks splashing back at the chef.

Fact of the Day - SPUD WRENCH Did you know... Wrenches get the best nicknames out of virtually any tool. Casual home improvement projects don’t usually call for a spud wrench, a tool that turns fasteners on one end and features a long, tapered spike on the other. It’s a curious design, albeit one that still occupies the equipment collection of specialty workers. In the tradition of many other wrenches—the monkey wrench, the Allen wrench, and the Crescent wrench—it also sports a strange name. So why is it called a “spud wrench”? And what exactly is it used for? The Origin of Spud Wrench The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation for the term spud wrench in print occurred in 1939 (though we were able to actually date a reference back to 1906). Per the OED, a book with the high-octane title of Steam and Hot Water Fitting described the spud wrench as “another handy tool … made to fit the spuds of the different sizes of the union radiator valves and traps.” In this instance, spud appears to refer to a plumbing component, hence the need for a specialty wrench. Another OED citation, this one coming in 1960, provides a different perspective with some regrettable language. The wrench “is so called because the handle is formed into a long, heavy pin (or spud) that is thrust through and used by the erection men for matching up holes in connections to be fastened together.” In one case, the spud is a part. In the latter, it’s the handle itself—a piercing tool used by “erection men” to line up holes in steelwork so that a bolt or other securing hardware can be threaded through. But the OED omits any etymology for the term. One possible explanation comes with the slang term for food. Spud was used to describe a potato as far back as the 1800s. The tool used to uproot the potato was also known as a spud. The most likely explanation is that a spud wrench may have reminded someone of such a tool, though its purpose was to align holes, not to be used for farming work. Why People Reach for a Spud Wrench The spud wrench grew popular with the growth of high-rise construction in the 20th century when workers had to secure iron or steel beams and girders and needed a tool that could perform several functions at once. The tool became known as an ironworker’s spud wrench for this reason, though it also had applications in automotive assembly. The appeal was in the versatility: Line up two holes with the tapered end, then flip it to use the wrench to secure a bolt. But the wrench isn’t relegated strictly to steelwork. As the OED noted, plumbers use a spud wrench to loosen specific components (bolts, collars) in older toilets, which connect the toilet with the refill water tank. This version of the spud wrench, however, is considerably different in design than the construction spud wrench, with two adjustable heads meant to circumvent the tight space of plumbing fasteners. Spud wrenches are still part of the ironworker’s tool belt. They’re emblematic enough of the trade that in 2003, a gathering of workers involved a spud wrench tossing competition in which players scored points by landing the wrench’s spiked end on a bull’s eye 25 feet away. Tossing, dropping, or otherwise mishandling a heavy tool of impalement can have consequences. In 1979, a Missourian worker named Al Shaw was sitting on a beam when a spud wrench fell 125 feet, plunging into his back. It missed his spinal column by just 2 inches. Source: Why Is It Called a “Spud Wrench”?

What's the Word: NOCUOUS pronunciation: [NAHK-yoo-əs] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, mid-17th century Meaning: 1. Noxious, harmful, or poisonous. Examples: "The lab techs wore close-fitting face masks to protect them from the nocuous liquids they were mixing." "Removing the nocuous plants growing behind the garden was a complicated job." About Nocuous “Nocuous” is based on the Latin “nocuus,” an adjective based on the verb “nocere,” meaning “to hurt.” Did you Know? The definition for “nocuous” in the Oxford English Dictionary includes the words “poisonous” and “venomous.” But talk to a veterinarian or park ranger, and they’ll tell you that those two words are not synonyms. A poison is a toxin that enters the body by inhalation, swallowing, or absorption through the skin (think: poison ivy). Venom is a toxin that enters the body through injection: snake bites, bee stings, spider bites, etc. So, while both venom and poison are nocuous in that they are harmful, they are not synonymous with each other.

Fact of the Day - DEFECTIVE CARS Did you know... Having your engine burst into flames after driving off the car lot is a sour experience. But where did the association with lemons come from? Shopping for a car, new or used, can be a nerve-wracking experience. If you buy new, you risk sticker shock and dealer add-ons. Purchase used cars and you’re never quite sure if your new vehicle will turn into a headache 10 miles down the road. In the latter case, we sometimes refer to defective cars as “lemons.” States even refer to their consumer protection bills against crummy cars as “lemon laws.” But why do we associate a death trap with a tangy fruit? The Connection Between Cars and Lemons According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, using lemon to denote a fraudulent or worthless purchase dates back to 1909; its use in reference to cars specifically goes back to 1923, when one used car dealer profiled in The Oakland Tribune is said to have “congratulated himself upon having rid himself of a lemon finally.” Lemon as a noun or adjective has often been associated with something unpleasant or unpalatable—as some people find the tartness of the lemon to be—or something that’s turned sour. The car-lemon connection may have been cemented with an ad Volkswagen ran in the 1960s. Like most of their minimalist advertising from the period, it consisted of a photo of a car and a stark caption: “lemon.” The copy goes on to say that Volkswagen’s quality inspectors had caught several flaws with this particular car, ensuring it didn’t arrive to a dealership with those blemishes intact. “We pluck the lemons,” the ad concluded. “You get the plums.” The Origin of Lemon Laws It wasn’t until 1975, though, that consumers had federal lemon protection. The Magnuson Moss Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act guaranteed consumers wouldn’t be stuck with a faulty consumer product, including cars, or suffer unreasonable warranty terms. The law applies to consumer items of all types, though cars were of particular concern as they’re often the most expensive item prone to mechanical failure a person can buy. It quickly became known as “the lemon law,” though it really refers more to the warranty of the vehicle than the vehicle itself. In New York, for example, state law says that a new car must conform to the manufacturer’s warranty and that, if repair cannot be made within a reasonable number of attempts, the purchaser is due a refund. The lemon laws can vary by state and by vehicle condition, so it’s important to know which rules apply. It’s also crucial to get an inspection and pull a motor vehicle history report when buying used and to pay attention to what a dealer’s window sticker might say about a vehicle being sold with a guarantee or as-is. There is one situation where having a lemon can pay off—sort of. According to analysts at iSeeCars, who examined used car prices against the MSRP of a new car, one color had the lowest depreciation at 4.5 percent, far lower than the average of 15 percent. That color? Yellow. Source: Why Do We Call Defective Cars “Lemons”?

What's the Word: SERRIED pronunciation: [SAIR-eed] Part of speech: adjective Origin: French, mid-17th century Meaning: 1. (Of rows of people or things) Standing close together. Examples: "The doors opened to reveal the elevator was already full of serried passengers." "I wanted to stay for the last band of the night, but the crowd was so serried, I could barely breathe." About Serried The adjective “serried” is based on the related verb “serry” (meaning “press close”), a loanword from the French “serré,” meaning “tight,” “cramped,” or “locked.” Did you Know? One of the places most famously full of serried travelers is the Tokyo subway system, which moves 9 million people every day. During off-hours, Tokyo’s subways are rarely crowded, but as rush hour begins, a Tokyo train has a more tightly serried population than most spots on Earth. The crowds are so heavy that the subway authority employs white-gloved attendants (known as “passenger pushers”) to squeeze riders into cars in a serried formation in order to allow the doors to close.

Fact of the day - STONE TOOLS Did you know... Humans are often thought of as the smartest animals, and one of the perks of our top-notch brains (with a little help from our opposable thumbs) is supposedly that we’re the only species that can use tools. That’s what we used to think, anyway. More recently, research has shown that our tool-use ability is not as unique as we once believed. Take, for instance, the capuchin monkey. Research published in 2019 showed that these pint-sized creatures, native to Central and South America — and sometimes known as “organ grinder” monkeys — have been using stone tools to process food for more than 3,000 years. Archaeologists analyzing a site in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park discovered that the monkeys had used rounded quartzite stones to smash open cashew husks against tree roots or stone “anvils.” After digging through layers of sediment in four phases of excavation, the scientists found stone tools that had been used by the capuchins dating back around 3,000 years. The researchers also found signs that the monkeys’ tool use had changed over time — the creatures first used smaller stone tools, and then around 560 years ago, switched to larger ones, which may have meant they were eating harder foods, according to National Geographic. This evolution could have occurred due to different groups of capuchins moving into the area, or a change in the local plants. Either way, the study marked the first time such an evolution in tool use had been seen in a nonhuman species. Scientists suspect that further exploration of this site, and others like it, could give an unprecedented look at humanity’s own tool-use evolution, which began millions of years ago. Furthermore, primates — the taxonomic order to which humans also belong — aren’t the only ones gifted with brains capable of using tools. Elephants, dolphins, and a variety of birds are only a few of the other species that use tools — whether sticks, rocks, or tree limbs — to survive and thrive on planet Earth. Orangutans know how to make instruments. When it comes to primitive tools, instruments don’t usually count — that is, unless you’re an orangutan. In 2009, scientists revealed that orangutans use folded leaves to make sounds that may trick predators into thinking they’re bigger than they actually are. These musical noises, called “kiss squeaks,” were even used by wild orangutans who sensed the human researchers as a threat. This discovery is the first known nonhuman instrument and nonhuman tool used for communication. It’s also not even the extent of the orangutans’ impressive, tool-making abilities. A 2018 study revealed that orangutans were better at making tools than human children up to age 8. This growing body of scholarship only shows that complex intelligence is not a trait exclusively enjoyed by Homo sapiens. Source: Monkeys have been using stone tools for thousands of years.

What's the Word: PENTIMENTO pronunciation: [pen-tə-MEN-toh] Part of speech: noun Origin: Italian, 19th century Meaning: 1. A visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas. Examples: "Beneath the image of the bull in the center of the painting, there was a pentimento of a ship’s mast." "Robyn left a pentimento of the image he had painted over peeking out from beneath his painting." About Pentimento The Italian “pentimento” means “to repent,” or “to make a correction or update.” In English, it describes the visible memory of a previous image beneath a more recent painting as an artifact of artistic correction or update to the previous work of art. Did you Know? Often, a pentimento (“pentimenti” is the plural form) is the product of correction in a painting. In some cases, a painting may be entirely painted over with a new work, leaving behind the ghost of the original image as a pentimento. However, pentimenti may reveal aspects of the artist’s process. Works by most of the great masters rarely contain these remnants, but Caravaggio and Rembrandt tended to paint more experimentally, with less prior planning. They more frequently made changes on canvas as they worked, sometimes leaving pentimenti.

Fact of the Day - THE TOOTH FAIRY Did you know... While the Tooth Fairy herself may be surprisingly modern, the bits of folklore that went into her creation are hundreds of years old. The Tooth Fairy is a familiar figure to millions of children around the world. The mythical character is most popular in English-speaking countries, with kids knowing that if they put a lost baby tooth under their pillow at night, the elusive Tooth Fairy will sneak in and replace it with money. Although not as big of a deal as a visit from the other two major fictional gift-givers—Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny—a visit from the Tooth Fairy is still highly anticipated. But compared to jolly St. Nick and the egg-bearing bunny, both of whom have roots that date back hundreds of years, the Tooth Fairy is a relatively modern invention. Here’s the strange—and surprisingly rodent-filled—origin story of the winged figure. The Tooth Fairy Takes Flight The Tooth Fairy has been swapping milk teeth for money for generations. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that the history behind the folklore started being uncovered. In 1972, Rosemary Wells, a professor at Chicago’s Northwestern University Dental School, was asked by a student about the history of the Tooth Fairy. “I thought I’d simply go to the library, get the information and bring it back,” she explained in a 1992 interview. But Wells couldn’t find anything about the mythological fairy and so decided to conduct her own investigation. After years of research, she became the foremost Tooth Fairy expert—her business card even identified her as the “Tooth Fairy consultant.” While the myth of the Tooth Fairy may seem like a tale as old as time, the story’s first mention in print is surprisingly recent. In a September 1908 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune, the Household Hints column featured a tip from reader Lillian Brown: “Many a refractory child will allow a loose tooth to be removed if he knows about the tooth fairy. If he takes his little tooth and puts it under the pillow when he goes to bed the tooth fairy will come in the night and take it away, and in its place will leave some little gift.” Tales of the Tooth Fairy were likely being shared orally around the time Brown wrote in with her tip, but the figure doesn’t pop up again in print until 1927, in Esther Watkins Arnold’s short children’s play The Tooth Fairy. The myth then continued to spread its wings throughout the 20th century—particularly after World War II. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests three reasons for the Tooth Fairy’s rise in popularity during the mid-20th century. Firstly, people experienced greater prosperity after the war, which meant many parents could now afford to give their kids a little bit of money. It was also around this time that the traditional family set up became more child-orientated; this led to parents being more likely to soothe their children’s small anxieties (for instance, over losing a tooth). Finally, there was the popularity and influence of fairy-filled Disney films—from the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950) to Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan (1953). There’s usually a general consensus about what mythical characters look like—for instance, Santa is typically bearded, rotund, and red-suited—but the lines are a little more blurred with the Tooth Fairy. In 1984, Wells conducted a survey and found that 74 percent of participants believed the Tooth Fairy was female, while 12 percent thought the figure was male (the remaining 8 percent thought they could be either gender). Some children don’t even picture the Tooth Fairy as a humanoid being at all: Wells documented one kid who imagined a Tooth Fairy Dragon. In today’s culture, the Tooth Fairy is most often depicted as a small female fairy, but there are also some more creative modern interpretations, such as half-hummingbird Toothiana from Rise of the Guardians (2012). It All Started with a Mouse Although the Tooth Fairy is typically anthropomorphic, the myth may have originated from older Continental European stories of a Tooth Mouse. To this day, in many counties, the tooth-for-money swap is said to be performed by a small rodent rather than a winged fairy. It’s thought this mouse-based myth may have been blended together with the numerous children’s tales about fairies to produce the Tooth Fairy that we know today. In France, baby teeth are collected by La Petite Souris (The Little Mouse), who can be traced back to Madame d’Aulnoy’s 1697 fairy tale La bonne petite souris (The Little Good Mouse). The story features a fairy who can turn into a mouse and who knocks out an evil king’s teeth (but doesn’t exchange them for money). This tale was translated into English in 1890—less than two decades before the Tooth Fairy first appeared in print. In Spain, the tooth-collecting mouse is El Ratoncito Pérez (Pérez the Little Mouse), who first appeared in Fernán Caballero’s Cuentos, oraciones, adivinanzas y refranes populares (1877). But Pérez didn’t become the Tooth Mouse until 1894, when Luis Coloma was asked to write a story for Alfonso XIII, the child King of Spain who had just lost his first milk tooth. Rather than cash, Pérez left a present fit for a king—the Order of the Golden Fleece—under the fictional monarch’s pillow. The story was first published in English in 1914, when tales of the Tooth Fairy were starting to take root. Stories of a Tooth Mouse weren’t the first time that myths and rituals had been created around childhood tooth loss, though. In the Old Norse poem Grímnismál, it’s said that Álfheimr—the Land of the Elves—was a “tooth gift” for the god Freyr. In New Guinea and Senegal, it was tradition to bury baby teeth, while in South Korea kids would throw their pearly whites onto the roof. But the ritual of offering teeth to a mouse is the most prevalent and enduring practice (although it’s now rivaled by the Tooth Fairy), having been documented in cultures around the world. Along with various countries in Europe, folklore about a Tooth Mouse ranges from Ukraine and South Africa to numerous Latin American countries. Children don’t always receive money; in some countries the tooth is offered in a sympathetic magic exchange, with the belief being that it’ll make their adult gnashers grow in as strongly as a rodent’s teeth. Source: The Strange Origins of the Tooth Fairy

Fact of the Day - BIRDS Did you know.... South America is known for its stunning avian diversity, with colorful toucans, ubiquitous parrots, and an untold number of other feathered friends. (Seriously, there are new species being discovered every year.) But no country in South America — or the world, for that matter — compares to Colombia. With around 1,900 bird species within its borders, the country hosts nearly 20% of all avian species in the world, which is more than any other nation. Although some of the most common varieties — like sparrows, tanagers, and finches — may be recognizable to birders in more northern climates, the critically endangered blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti) and the rare Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) are just a few of the dozens of species endemic to Colombia. And the country takes its natural wonders seriously. As one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, with the Amazon taking up 35% of the country’s landmass, Colombia committed to declaring 30% of its land a protected area by 2030 — and got it done eight years early. A 2023 study also found that Colombia takes an unusual approach to conserving its natural areas by adding biodiversity protection as a secondary goal of many other policy initiatives, such as ones addressing poverty and civil strife. That doesn’t mean Colombia is immune to threats of deforestation and climate change, but the country is working hard to protect its bounty — which includes 10% of the world’s total species. Colombia is home to a world-famous river known as the “liquid rainbow.” Some of the world’s rivers are known for historical reasons (Italy’s Rubicon) or their proximity to major centers of power (London’s Thames), but one of the most amazing rivers in the world lies in the backwoods of Colombia. In fact, it was so well hidden that the river was only discovered by non-Indigenous people a little more than 50 years ago. Called Caño Cristales, or the “Crystal Channel,” the river is located in central Colombia’s Sierra de La Macarena National Natural Park and is known for its vibrant display of colors, earning it the nickname “liquid rainbow.” The river gets its mixture of yellows, greens, blues, blacks, and especially reds from the reproductive process of aquatic plants (Macarenia clavigera) that live in the riverbed. Because water levels are affected by the country’s wet and dry seasons, the best time to glimpse this river is from May until November. Source: Colombia has more bird species than any other country.

Fact of the Day - MONKEY BREAD Did you know... The beloved pastry has a whimsical—yet undoubtedly odd—name. Monkey bread—a sticky pull-apart pastry that’s typically made from canned biscuit dough—is a sugary, cinnamony treat. Perhaps it’s a traditional part of your family’s Christmas feasts. Or maybe grandma was known for whipping it up for special brunches. Despite its seemingly silly name, monkey bread has nothing to do with actual monkeys. So why is this sweet pastry named after primates? Let’s dig into the history of monkey bread, starting from the very beginning. Monkey Bread’s Hungarian Roots Before it became a centerpiece on Americans’ tables, this dish was known as something else entirely. Food historians trace its roots to aranygaluska, a Hungarian dessert that translates to “golden dumpling.” This pull-apart sweet bread was brought to the U.S. by Hungarian Jewish immigrants in the late 19th century. Aranygaluska was a bakery staple in immigrant communities, especially in California, for several decades. In the 1970s, Betty Crocker even featured it in a cookbook; the book labeled the sweet dish as “Hungarian Coffee Cake.” Eventually, the dish became known as “monkey bread”—a name that has stuck around to this day. And thanks to actress and first lady Nancy Reagan (a big fan of the treat), monkey bread made it to the White House Christmas table, cementing its status as a classic. The pastry has continued to evolve; now, there are seemingly countless recipes floating around the internet for traditional monkey bread, other sweet versions, and even savory spins on the dish. The Many Theories Behind Monkey Bread’s Name There’s no clear answer as to how monkey bread got its name. But, like most good mysteries, there are several theories at play. The most common explanation is that it’s named after the way it’s eaten: with your fingers, pulling apart the sticky pieces of dough one by one, much like a monkey might eat something. Some also trace it back to 20th-century slang. In the 1940s, monkey food was Southern slang for casual snacks you could pick at. That, combined with jumble bread—another old-timey term for breads made from small pieces of dough—could have led to monkey bread. Another theory credits silent film star ZaSu Pitts, who reportedly used the term in a 1945 cooking column after bringing the recipe home from Nashville. Pitts was known for her lavish Hollywood parties; and apparently, her monkey bread was a hit. In the end, monkey bread might just be one of those names that stuck, literally and figuratively. Like the dessert itself, it’s a little weird and oddly delightful. Source: Why Is It Called “Monkey Bread”?

Fact of the Day - MOVIE "TRAILERS" Did you know.... In the early days of moviegoing, you didn’t just buy a ticket for one feature-length film and leave once the credits started rolling. You were instead treated to a mix of shorts, newsreels, cartoons, and, eventually, trailers — which, per their name, played after the movie rather than before — with people coming and going throughout the day. The idea for trailers came from Nils Granlund, who in addition to being a business manager for movie theaters worked as a producer on Broadway, which explains why the first trailer was actually for a play: 1913’s The Pleasure Seekers. Chicago producer William Selig took the idea further that same year by ending each installment of his serialized action-adventure short films with a tantalizing preview of the next chapter — a precursor to ending movies and TV shows on a cliffhanger. Today there are production houses that exclusively make trailers and are handsomely rewarded for their efforts, sometimes to the tune of millions of dollars. One company made almost every trailer for 40 years. Between 1919 and 1960, almost every movie trailer was produced by the National Screen Service (NSS) — a near-monopoly that also included posters and other marketing materials. As is the case for a lot of cinematic innovations from the era, we have Alfred Hitchcock to thank for changing that: The “master of suspense” began making his own trailers, including a six-and-a-half-minute preview of Psycho, and other filmmakers followed suit. Trailers have long been recognized as an art form unto themselves, with many moviegoers arriving to theaters early just to see them. Source: Movie previews are called “trailers” because they were originally shown after the movie.

Fact of the Day - WORST ANIMAL DADDIES Did you know... These dads won’t be getting any Father’s Day cards this June. In addition to getting your dad a card or new tie this Father’s Day, be sure to thank him for not trying to eat you when you were young. Devouring babies may sound savage and strange, but when it comes to certain species, kids becoming a meal for their fathers is just par for the course. Lions You may already know that a male lion that recently became head of his pride will usually kill all the cubs sired by the previous leader. But while that makes lions terrible step-dads, it doesn’t make them terrible fathers. What makes lions bad dads is a combination of greed and laziness. Papa lions spend most of their day lying in the shade, waiting for one of their mates to bring home dinner. The female does the majority of the hunting and pretty much all of the parenting; the male’s job is to protect his territory from other prides and scavengers like hyenas. Once the mama brings home her kill, the male lion is always the first one to eat and he often leaves only scraps for the rest of the pride—including any of his recently weaned children. Grizzly Bears It’s rare for any animal-kingdom father to eat his own young when he isn’t desperate for food, but the male grizzly bear will do just that. These creatures are extremely protective of their territories—which can range all the way up to 1500 miles—and are opportunistic hunters, willing to kill and eat anything that happens to enter their home turf. Even cubs, whether they’ve sired them or not. Males may also kill cubs to force their mother to go into estrus so he can breed with her. Bass There are a lot of bad aquatic fathers. In fact, even those that are highly protective of their spawn, like male bass, are still prone to eating their own children. In the case of the bass, this occurs after most of the newborns have swum away and a few stragglers remain. Suddenly daddy stops protecting his kids from predators and becomes a predator himself, swallowing up all of the stragglers as a reward to himself for helping the strong ones stay alive. Sand Goby Similarly, the male sand goby is relentless about guarding his eggs from predators, but even if he has plenty of extra food available, he will still eat about a third of his brood. Research into how he decides which eggs to keep and which to eat reveals that size matters: male gobies tend to eat the largest eggs. In many species, large babies mean a higher chance for survival—and thus, they are the most protected members of the family—but the sand goby knows that the largest eggs take longest to hatch. Pops snacks on the eggs that would take the longest to develop so he can get out of there and back to mating as soon as possible. Assassin Bug With a name like “assassin bug” you’d hardly expect this insect to be sweet, but filial cannibalism is still pretty gruesome. The male assassin bug is tasked with protecting his eggs until they hatch. His tactic mostly involves eating the eggs on the outside edges of the brood, which are otherwise most likely to fall victim to parasitic wasps. This defensive strategy is so hardwired that the bugs do it even in laboratory settings completely devoid of any potential parasites. Scientists believe this is because eating the eggs doesn’t only protect the insects against possible parasites, but also provides the male assassin bug with ample nutrients when his guard duty leaves him unable to forage. Interestingly, assassin bugs do have a bit of a soft spot—the males are some of the only insects that are willing to adopt broods from other fathers. (They don’t eat any extra eggs when their kids are adopted.) Source: 5 of the Worst Fathers In the Animal Kingdom

Fact of the Day - HOT DOG Did you know... You’ve probably wondered what’s really inside a hot dog before. We have the answer—though we don’t recommend reading it before your next cook-out. At baseball stadiums, holiday cookouts, and in the dorm rooms of broke college students everywhere, hot dogs have become a staple meal. Each time we wield a wiener, however, rumors and innuendo over the food’s manufacturing integrity come flooding to the surface. Is this tubed meat made from monkey brains? Is there an underground network of hot dog companies that slip in cows’ feet as a filler? Why are hot dogs so nutritionally suspect? Fortunately, most of your worst fears may be unfounded. Except for the feet. More on that in a moment ... What Goes into a Hot Dog Ever since Upton Sinclair uncovered the misdeeds of the meat industry in the early 1900s, the government has kept a close eye on animal product manufacturing methods. Gone were the sawdust and dog and horse parts that previously made up hot dogs and other highly-processed meats. Companies had to obey strict preparation guidelines that significantly reduced the chances of foodborne illness and forced them into using transparent food labels. Hot dogs are no exception, though you might have to decipher some of the language on the label to understand what you’re really biting into. Beef, pork, turkey, or chicken dogs originate with trimmings, a fanciful word for the discards of meat cuts that are left on the slaughterhouse table. That usually means fatty tissue, sinewy muscle, meat from an animal’s head—not typically a choice cut at Morton’s—and the occasional liver. This heap of unappetizing gristle is pre-cooked to kill bacteria and transformed into an even more unappetizing meat paste via emulsion, then ground up and pushed through a sieve so that it takes on a hamburger-like texture. A number of things could be added at this point, including ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to aid in curing, water, corn syrup, and various spices for taste. Less appetizing ingredients can also include sodium erythorbate, which the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council swears is not actually ground-up earthworms: “In contrast to a popular urban legend, erythorbate is NOT made from earthworms, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports receiving many inquiries about erythorbate’s source. It is speculated that the similarity in the spelling of the words 'erythorbate' and 'earthworms' has led to this confusion.” Got that? No worms. After another puree, the meat paste is pumped into casings to get that familiar tubular shape and is then fully cooked. After a water rinse, the hot dog has the cellulose casing removed and is packaged for consumption. While not exactly fine dining, it’s all USDA-approved. Hot Dog Labeling More skittish consumers should pay attention to packaging labels. If you see variety meats or meat by-products, that means the hot dog probably has heart or other organ material in the meat batter. Additives like MSG and nitrates are also common, though all-natural dogs usually skip any objectionable ingredients. If it’s labeled “all beef or “all pork,” you can be assured it's coming from muscle tissue of that animal, not organs. But those trimmings? By definition, they can contain a lot of things that come off an animal, including blood, skin, and even feet. It’s all edible, though some might object to the very idea of eating random cow or pig parts. At least none of it is actual human meat, as some people feared when a Clear Lab food advocacy test in 2015 showed 2 percent of hot dog samples contained human DNA. That was more likely due to human error and trace amounts of hair or fingernails making their way into the batch, not a worker falling into the vat. Enjoy! Source: What’s Really Inside a Hot Dog?

Fact of the Day - THIRD EYELID Did you know... If you look closely in the mirror at the inside corner of either of your eyes, you’ll notice a pinkish protuberance. This thin, curved membrane sits directly adjacent to the eyeball and is called the plica semilunaris, which is an evolutionary remnant of the nictitating membrane, known colloquially as the “third eyelid.” (This is not to be confused with the lacrimal caruncle, a tiny bump at the very edge of the eye that helps keep the eye moist.) Though the third eyelid is useless for us modern humans, it once served a purpose for our prehistoric ancestors. Many animals, including dogs, cats, and some birds, reptiles, and fish, still have a functioning nictitating membrane. This translucent membrane protects the eye while still allowing the animal to see, and also essentially acts like windshield wipers by removing debris and maintaining moisture. Birds rely on their nictitating membrane while in flight and fish while swimming. Its purpose in prehistoric humans remains unclear due to the lack of definitive fossil records. Charles Darwin waited more than two decades to publish his theory of evolution. From 1831 to 1836, naturalist Charles Darwin traveled the world researching evolution — but even after his return to England, he didn’t reveal his findings to the public for another two decades. Some claim Darwin feared a negative reaction from scientific and religious communities, while others suggest he used the gap to ensure his theory was irrefutable, hoping to compose an extensive, unassailable treatise before informing the world. In 1858, Darwin received an essay from naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that proposed similar evolutionary theories to his own. This unexpected development prompted Darwin to divulge his findings to the scientific community alongside Wallace. In 1859, he introduced his theory of natural selection in his work On the Origin of Species. Later, in 1871, Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he first publicly posited that humans descended from apes. Source: You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Fact of the Day - DAKOTAS AND CAROLINAS Did you know.... We have an even 50 states thanks to these geographic decisions. If the colony of Carolina and the Dakota Territory hadn’t decided to split themselves up a few hundred years ago, we’d have only 48 states right now. But why did these particular places become geographic variants of each other? Here are the answers. Why Is there a North and South Carolina? John White’s painting of an Indigenous village at the time of the English settlers’ arrival at Roanoke Island, in present-day North Carolina, 1585. | Print Collector/GettyImages Though French officials had attempted to establish forts along the coast, permanent European settlement of the Carolinas began with Juan Ponce de León claiming most of the present-day southeastern U.S. for Spain in 1513 and calling it La Florida. Indigenous peoples resisted the Spanish incursion for decades and Spain eventually abandoned its efforts to settle the region. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh convinced a group of English settlers to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, but by 1590, their fort had been abandoned and the people had mysteriously disappeared. Then, England’s Attorney General Sir Robert Heath managed the Carolina territory for King Charles I of England. Heath made no attempts at colonizing the area and, following the king’s execution in 1649, Heath fled to France. Heath’s heirs would eventually try to reassert their claim to the territory, but King Charles II ruled the claim invalid and gave ownership to a group of eight noblemen known as the Lords Proprietors. The Lords—helmed primarily by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, who was influenced and assisted by the philosopher John Locke—retained control of the area from 1663 to 1729, with members of the eight-man group being replaced as necessary with other lords. A 1676 map of Carolina prior to the split. | Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain The Lords Proprietors set up a framework for governance and settlement of Carolina and dispatched an expedition of colonists. Mostly, though, they fought constantly and were unable to make decisions that made sense for the economic development of the enormous territory. None of the original eight lords ever set foot in North America. They hired and fired a laundry list of governors, noted in their papers: “John Jenkins was deposed,” “Thomas Miller was overthrown and jailed by ... ‘armed rebels,’ ” “Thomas Eastchurch was forbidden to enter the colony,” and “Seth Sothel was accused ... of numerous crimes for which he was tried, convicted, and banished.” On top of all that, wars broke out with the Tuscarora and Yamasee tribes. The lords, realizing that this strategy wasn't working, appointed a governor to oversee the entire territory and a deputy governor to handle the northern half in 1710. Two years later Carolina was permanently divided into north and south territories. The English Crown eventually took back South Carolina from the Lords Proprietors and made it a royal colony; the Crown also convinced the reluctant Lords to sell back their shares of North Carolina, and it was made a royal colony in 1729. Both retained this status until they ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788 (South Carolina) and 1789 (North Carolina). The Origins of North and South Dakota A flotilla of covered wagons and military equipment accompanies George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 expedition to the Black Hills. | Historical/GettyImages Most of the land that would become North and South Dakota was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. After Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858 and the federal government and Sioux officials signed the Yankton Treaty the same year, the remaining land and ceded territory was organized into the Dakota Territory. But it wasn’t until the 1874 discovery of gold in the Black Hills, the sacred land of the Sioux, did prospectors and the military really begin invading the area. (Ironically, Dakota means “friend” or “ally” in the Dakota language.) Railroads followed the gold rush; settlers poured into the upper Great Plains. Until 1883, Yankton in the far southeastern corner served as the capital of the whole territory, but northern settlers refused to recognize the remote town as the center of governance. They declared their own capital, Bismarck, in 1872. This caused enough tension to require a split down the 46th parallel into two territories—but there were other factors in play. President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, and the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives resisted giving the Dakotas statehood, since the overwhelmingly Republican states would likely elect Republicans to Congress. The situation changed when Republican Benjamin Harrison was elected president and Republicans gained majorities in both houses of Congress, paving the way for a statehood bill to pass. On November 2, 1889, North and South Dakota were admitted to the union, becoming the 39th and 40th states, respectively. Source: Why Are There Two Dakotas and Two Carolinas?

Fact of the Day - COSMIC LATTE Did you know..... We tend to think of space as cold and dark, but that’s only because most stars are light-years away from the pale blue dot we call home. The universe is actually quite bright on the whole, and its color has been given an appropriately celestial name: “cosmic latte.” In 2002, astronomers at Johns Hopkins University determined the shade after studying the light emitted by 200,000 different galaxies. They held a contest to give the result — a kind of creamy beige — its evocative moniker. (Other entries in the contest included “univeige” and “skyvory.”) As with just about everything in the universe, however, the color isn’t fixed: It’s become less blue and more red over the last 10 billion years, likely as a result of redder stars becoming more prevalent. In another 10 billion years, we may even need to rename the color entirely. NASA didn’t really spend millions of dollars developing a pen that could write in space. The second half of this oft-cited myth contrasts NASA’s supposed approach with that of the Soviet Union, who are said to have simply given their cosmonauts pencils. American astronauts did likewise, though NASA wasn’t always thrilled about it — pencils are flammable, and their tips breaking off could lead to damage on sensitive equipment. The so-called space pens actually came from the Fisher Pen Company, which offered its AG-7 “Anti-Gravity” pen to NASA in 1965. None of the investment money came from the government, however, and astronauts and cosmonauts alike ended up using the writing tools at a cost of $2.39 per pen. Source: According to astronomers at Johns Hopkins, the color of the universe is “cosmic latte.”