Showing results by author "Dan Lewis" in All Categories

Richard Feynman was one of modern history's greatest scientists. A well-respected academic, Feynman won the Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1965 and later served as a member of the commission that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

At the close of World War II, the victorious Allies split Germany into four parts—one controlled by France, another by the United Kingdom, another by the United States and another by the Soviet Union. And Berlin, although it was embedded within the Soviet-controlled sector, was itself divided into four similarly managed parts.

Times Square is the tourist trap center of New York City. You can tell because there are billboards the size of small aircraft plastered on virtually every vertical square inch.

From the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union nearly fifty years later, the happenings of those nations behind the Iron Curtain were hidden in the shroud of communism. Many of the goings-on came to light in subsequent years, with most being stories of abuses under communist dictators. But some of the revelations unveiled in the 1990s were secrets about the Nazis. For example, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, someone discovered a swastika made of trees.

Scotland and England (and Wales, too, but that's another story) share the island typically known as Great Britain.

As of this writing, the Gobi Desert in northern China/southern Mongolia encompasses about half a million square miles (about 1.3 million square kilometers) – and that's "as of this writing" because the Gobi Desert is growing.

If you ask a musician about flying with their instruments, what you'll invariably hear is how bad of an idea it is to check one's instrument-carrying luggage. Lost baggage, a relative lack of climate control, a less-than-gentle inspection process, and the often haphazard way bags are handled when loaded and unloaded from the airplane are among the common concerns.

Beginning in December 1968, whenever the United States sent a manned spacecraft into space, it did so from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the flight directed by the Kennedy Space Center located on nearby Merritt Island. Both the launch site and the Space Center are located an hour east of Orlando, on the Atlantic Ocean.

[Contains explicit content] When it comes to sex, nothing is harder than talking about sexually transmitted infections. Get it?! And STIs are even more difficult to make funny—look how hard we just tried! But on this episode of Hot Mic with Dan Savage, a bunch of brave souls break the stigma with hilarious STI stories and scenarios. Rob Penty shares a story from RISK! about genital warts, and members of the famous improv troupe The Groundlings conjure up ridiculous STI-ridden, fully-improvised scenes.

Typically, when a cat owner dies and leaves a pet behind, there's someone willing to adopt the now-homeless animal. But when the cat is older—say, age 10 or older—that's not always the case.

Today, the United States celebrates the fake holiday known as Groundhog Day. The tradition, which dates back to the 18th or 19th century, is pseudoscience, but probably the harmless variety. People gather around in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, waiting for a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil to emerge. (And yes, there are other Groundhog Day groundhogs, too, but Phil's the OG, assuming the "G" stands for "groundhog".)

The village of Kalachi is located in the center of Kazakhstan – the world's largest landlocked country – toward the north. The village is home to about 600 people – many of which have been known to suddenly fall asleep, sometimes for days at a time.

Winnie the Pooh is a fictional cartoon bear, created by writer A.A. Milne in 1924. He likes honey, his red T-shirt and his friends (Piglet, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Roo and – on most days – Tigger).

Did you know that San Diego’s Frozen Zoo is home to preserved DNA samples from over 8,000 endangered or threatened species, or that the tell-tale smell of freshly mowed grass is actually the plant’s version of a distress call? And what about Henrietta Lacks, the “immortal woman” whose cancer cells have been divided and multiplied for research purposes for over 60 years? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know: Science.

In 1984, a Michigan man named Donald Magett won the big one – the Michigan Lottery's $1,000 Cash for Life scratch off game. He was 41 or 42 years old at the time, and while the monthly prize (paid in $12,000 annual chunks) wasn't quite "quit your job" money, it certainly sounded like he was on his way to financial security. Alas, that was not the case. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor sued Magett.

Did you know that the CIA once made use of a “spy cat”, or that, although delicious, eating the flesh of an armadillo can give you leprosy? And what about Terry, the small black Cairn Terrier from Kansas who was paid today’s equivalent of $2,000 a week for her work in The Wizard of Oz? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know: Animals.

On the evening of December 2, 1984, a chemical manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India owned by Union Carbide began leaking toxic gas into the residential areas surrounding the plant, and the resulting tragedy is considered one of the worst such disasters in history.

In April 1939, DuPont Chemical introduced nylon stockings to the world at the World's Fair in New York City.

Van Morrison is a legend of the music world. He has won six Grammys to date, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and gets a fraction of a cent whenever you stream 'Brown Eyed Girl' on Spotify (when it plays in your head, however, that one's free).

Take out a loan and you may have to offer up something as collateral – an item of value that, if you fail to pay back the money owed, your creditor gets to take from you.