|
|
Post by BillG on Oct 28, 2024 6:10:36 GMT -5
Who Knew??? October 28TH is "National Chocolate Day"!
 
|
|
soutxed
Champion Member
Posts: 5,190
|
Post by soutxed on Oct 28, 2024 8:44:55 GMT -5
October 28, The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886 and represents a grand interpretation of an abstract ideal of liberty, born out of an age of revolutions—particularly the American and French Revolutions1.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnmori on Oct 28, 2024 9:45:18 GMT -5
Who knew???
October 28, 1726
The novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift is published.
|
|
|
|
Post by VanIsleRover on Oct 28, 2024 10:43:51 GMT -5
Who Knew??
1971: Great Britain launched Prospero, its first Earth satellite.
1965: The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, designed by Finnish-born American architect Eero Saarinen to commemorate St. Louis's historic role as “Gateway to the West,” was completed.
1636: Harvard University, the oldest institute of higher learning in the United States, was founded by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
|
|
|
|
Post by MidnightSun on Oct 28, 2024 19:38:36 GMT -5
Apples, pears, peaches, plums, strawberries, cherries, and almonds all belong to the rose family. While it might not shock you to find out that fruits such as apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, cherries, and plums are related, you might be surprised by the fact that they're also related to almonds. And you’ll probably be amazed to discover that they all belong to the rose family Rosaceae, which includes more than 2,500 species in more than 90 genera.
Who knew?
|
|
|
|
Post by VanIsleRover on Oct 28, 2024 23:10:43 GMT -5
Who Knew??
Quicksand was probably the number-one hazard faced by silver-screen adventurers, followed by decaying rope bridges and giant clams that could hold a diver underwater..
Given how often quicksand deaths and near-deaths occur in film, you would think we would be seeing news about quicksand tragedies in real life. But an Internet search for deaths by quicksand won’t turn up much.
Is quicksand actually as dangerous as advertised?
Nope. Quicksand—that is, sand that behaves as a liquid because it is saturated with water—can be a mucky nuisance, but it’s basically impossible to die in the way that is depicted in movies. That’s because quicksand is denser than the human body. People and animals can get stuck in it, but they don’t get sucked down to the bottom—they float on the surface. Our legs are pretty dense, so they may sink, but the torso contains the lungs, and thus is buoyant enough to stay out of trouble.
If you do find yourself stuck in quicksand, the best idea is to lean back so that the weight of your body is distributed over a wider area. Moving won’t cause you to sink. In fact, slow back-and-forth movements can actually let water into the cavity around a trapped limb, loosening the quicksand’s hold. Getting out will take a while, though. Physicists have calculated that the force required to extract your foot from quicksand at a rate of one centimeter per second is roughly equal to the force needed to lift a medium-sized car. One genuine danger is that a person who is immobilized in quicksand could be engulfed and drowned by an incoming tide—quicksands often occur in tidal areas—but even these types of accidents are very rare.
|
|
|
|
Post by VanIsleRover on Oct 28, 2024 23:45:09 GMT -5
Who Knew??   Why Do We Carve Pumpkins at Halloween? The jack-o’-lantern has a long history with Halloween, although our favorite demonic faces haven’t always been carved out of pumpkins. Their origin comes from an Irish myth about Stingy Jack, who tricked the Devil for his own monetary gain. When Jack died, God didn’t allow him into heaven, and the Devil didn’t let him into hell, so Jack was sentenced to roam the earth for eternity. In Ireland, people started to carve demonic faces out of turnips to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul. When Irish immigrants moved to the U.S., they began carving jack-o’-lanterns from pumpkins, as these were native to the region. But how did jack-o’-lanterns become associated with Halloween? Halloween is based on the Celtic festival Samhain, a celebration in ancient Britain and Ireland that marked the end of summer and the beginning of the new year on November 1. It was believed that during Samhain the souls of those who had died that year traveled to the otherworld and that other souls would return to visit their homes. In the 8th century CE, the Roman Catholic Church moved All Saints’ Day, a day celebrating the church’s saints, to November 1. This meant that All Hallows’ Eve (or Halloween) fell on October 31. Traditions from Samhain remained, such as wearing disguises to hide yourself from the souls wandering around your home. The folklore about Stingy Jack was quickly incorporated into Halloween, and we’ve been carving pumpkins—or turnips—ever since. |
|
|
|
Post by johnmori on Oct 29, 2024 6:21:48 GMT -5
Who knew???
October 29, 1964
Biggest jewel heist; involving the Star of India in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City by Murph the Surf and gang.
|
|
|
|
Post by BillG on Oct 29, 2024 7:09:25 GMT -5
Who Knew??? October 29TH is ""National Cat Day!
 
|
|
soutxed
Champion Member
Posts: 5,190
|
Post by soutxed on Oct 29, 2024 8:25:37 GMT -5
October 29, 1929, The Great Depression begins with a terrible crash. Panic has gripped Wall Street since October 24, and now the bottom has fallen out, as market losses rise to $30 billion. The unparalleled crash ends a bull market riding high on 1920s optimism and ushers in what will be a worldwide, and decade-long, Great Depression.
|
|
|
|
Post by VanIsleRover on Oct 29, 2024 20:20:08 GMT -5
Who Knew??
29 October
2015: It was announced that China was ending its one-child policy; beginning in 2016, couples could have two children.
|
|
|
|
Post by MidnightSun on Oct 29, 2024 23:07:30 GMT -5
Ocean-dwelling species are disappearing twice as quickly as land animals. Climate change is wreaking all kinds of havoc on our planet, including altering habitats, threatening the creatures that live in them. And while every organism on Earth will be affected in one way or another, a 2019 study published in the journal Nature found that species that live in the ocean are disappearing twice as fast as those who spend their time on land. That's because they can't adapt to or escape the rising water temperatures effectively.
Who knew?
|
|
|
|
Post by sandipaws on Oct 30, 2024 0:53:48 GMT -5
Who Knew???
On October 30th, the country celebrates its favorite vegetable with National Candy Corn Day.
In the late 1800s, George Renninger of Wunderle Candy Company created candy corn.
His sweet treat represented the bright colors of corn kernels. Originally, candy corn was yellow, orange and white.
However, it wasn't until1889 that the Goelitz Candy Company made the candy popular.
Later, other candy makers developed a variety of popular colors and flavors as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by BillG on Oct 30, 2024 6:47:01 GMT -5
Who Knew??? October 30TH is "National WICKED Day"!
 
|
|
soutxed
Champion Member
Posts: 5,190
|
Post by soutxed on Oct 30, 2024 8:10:16 GMT -5
October 30, 1974, Ali and Foreman 'Rumble in the Jungle. Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali challenges reigning champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, for a $5 million purse. In the heavily promoted fight, Ali introduces his 'rope-a-dope' style, taking punches against the ropes to wear Foreman down before Ali knocks him out in the eighth round.
|
|
