Whether you’re Irish or not, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today’s the day when people around the world get decked out in green to flaunt their Irish pride & celebrate the legacy of St. Patrick. But take a look at the earliest depictions of the famous Christian missionary and you’ll notice something strange: He’s typically shown…
With the arrival of another St. Patrick’s Day, let’s investigate one of the all-time biggest bits of lore surrounding the Emerald Isle: why are there no snakes in Ireland? Legend says St. Patrick used the power of his faith to drive all of Ireland’s snakes into the sea…which would’ve been impressive image, if it had…
I’ve always been fascinated by the audio that comes from a plane’s cockpit. But have you ever wondered…“Why is it called a ‘cockpit’ in the first place?” In aviation terms, the cockpit is the control center from which the pilot directs the functions & flight path of an aircraft. Commercial planes have them, as do…
Anyone who’s ever been behind the wheel of a vehicle driving down a given thoroughfare has most likely noticed the skinny black tubes that seem to appear across the asphalt seemingly at random. What are those little black tubes? And why are they there? Those little black baby speed-bumps (actually rubber cords) are officially known…
Happy Groundhog Day! Punxsutawny, PA, saw another record-breaking crowd at their annual festivities this year, with more & more people attending each & every year since the release of the 1993 Bill Murray comedy, “Groundhog Day”. Some 30,000 people braved sub-freezing temperatures in Gobbler’s Knob to witness Phil come out of his burrow to ultimately…
Cheap costume jewelry can really make an ensemble pop…but it can also leave you red-faced by staining your skin green. And unless you were going for the Statue of Liberty look, then that’s not a good thing. Lady Liberty’s dye job occurred naturally, though, as she’s made of copper, and copper turns greenish when it…
Some folks might be able to pull off a Scottish accent every now & then whenever they try to quote something from Braveheart. But is it possible for someone to ever truly lose his or her native accent & replace it with a new one? Actually…no. The way you speak now will most likely going…
You & I most likely don’t have the exact same automobile. In fact, pretty much everybody’s vehicle is different, with various options & features included (or not included). But one thing that pretty much anyone who has a 4-door passenger car has are rear windows that don’t roll all the way down. Why is that? Why…
At midnight on New Year’s Eve, right on the cusp of New Year’s Day, maybe you were one of the millions of folks who partook in the tradition of kissing someone. Why do we do that? Why do we, traditionally, kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve? It actually goes back, in part, to the…
Christmastime…the time of year when everyone seems to be busy buying, wrapping, and giving items to people that we’d like for them to have. What are they called again? Gifts! Or…is it presents? Is there even really a difference between “gifts” & “presents”? Each word arose from a different language family. “Gift” was derived from…