In 1995, Pierre Omidyar wrote code for AuctionWeb as a personal project in a spare bedroom in his Silicon Valley town house. He had bought a $30 laser pointer for making flashy presentations, but ended up using it to make his cat chase the red dot. It broke after two weeks, so he listed it… Continue Reading What was the first item ever sold on eBay?
There is one location on Earth where you get about the same solar radiation as you would if you were on Venus, which is 28% closer to the sun. The Chajnantor Plateau in Chile has an altitude of 1,500 feet. The thin, broken clouds at this location can intensely focus the sun on the surface… Continue Reading What is the sunniest place on Earth?
People say that Pennsylvania was named after William Penn, who founded the Province of Pennsylvania. Nope. He wanted to name it “New Wales.” (New York, New Jersey…) But King Charles II “suggested” it be named after Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn. The admiral had loaned the king money, which was repaid with a grant of… Continue Reading What does Pennsylvania mean?
The Onandaga believe that the Creator gave them the sacred game called Deyhontsigwa’ehs, which roughly translates as “they bump hips.” Most schools call it Lacrosse. It is said to have healing power, which is why it is also known as the Medicine Game. Using hand-made sticks of hickory, the spirit of the tree connects the… Continue Reading What school sport has religious roots?
Turning your back to the Trevi Fountain in Rome then throwing a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder is supposed to bring you luck. The fountain receives about €1.4 million annually (around $1.6 million), and most of those funds go to the Caritas Association for help with its charitable work. The toss… Continue Reading Who gets the three coins in the fountain?
A book of Anglo-Saxon poetry from the 10th century includes what researchers believe could be the first recorded joke in the English language: “What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before?” The punchline? (Keep it clean.) “A key.” 3,000 years before that, the Sumerians had the… Continue Reading What is the Oldest Recorded Joke in English?
Clams and some other mollusks filter water to remove debris and pollutants. A water station in Poland has a setup wherein eight clams are monitoring the city’s drinking water. When they encounter heavy metals, pesticides or other pollutants, they close their shells. They are hooked up to computers that register whether their shells are open… Continue Reading How can clams save lives in Poland?
Every state has designations for things like state flower, state dog, even state dessert. But Washington is the only state to have a state monster. In 1970, Washington’s governor issued a proclamation declaring Sasquatch the state monster of Washington; he even affixed a lock of the legendary monster’s supposed hair to the document. However, the… Continue Reading What state has a “state monster?”
You would think that a grudge would end when an animal dies. Not so with a murder – a murder or group of crows, that is. Crows tend to live for 5-7 years. If one member of a murder has a serious grudge against someone, their murder has been known to display anger against them… Continue Reading What animals can hold a grudge longer than their lives?
Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County – UUCDC
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