Daily Curio – College of Curiosity: Recent Episodes
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The Adventure Begins September 15, 2020! Jeff is heading out in his van, Pagurus, and he’s asking YOU to tell him where to go. You have sent Jeff TO THE DEVIL.You have told Jeff to eat STUFF FOUND IN THE WOODS, and SOUP DUMPINGS and WELSH RAREBIT. Now tell him what to do next: THIRD […]
Take one old swimming pool, add common objects from 1940s, and fill it with an inert gas. Then cover it with a seven foot stone slab, and you’ve created “The Crypt of Civilization."
People read headlines and think they know the story. They often know less than they knew before.
Bottle messages are icons in our culture, and interest in them continues unabated. Here are some facts about messages in bottles that add to the romance.
Captain Cook named it Christmas Island, despite the fact that he actually arrived on Christmas Eve.
Fire up a Google for a moment. Type in the words “How do you pronounce…” and then look at the autofill results. If you get the results I did, the first hit will be “gyro.’ Or is that “gyro” or “gyro”? The second hit will be “GIF.” An acronym is a word that’s made out […]
Most history buffs know that Japanese suicide pilots, know as Kamikaze, were devastating to allied vessels. The word “Kamikaze” means “divine wind,” and refers to a series of typhoons that wiped out invading Mongols off the Japanese coast in the 13th century. When the tide turned against the Japanese during World War II, they called […]
Ahh Bermuda, that beautiful Caribbean island filled where natives in grass skirts offer you exotic drinks under palm trees by a waterfall and where planes and ships suddenly disappear in vast numbers! Well, hopefully you picked up on the fact that everything in that sentence is wrong, except for the occasional palm tree. Let’s take […]
I made my wife a cup of coffee this morning, and an image of totem poles came to mind. You’re due an explanation. About ten years ago, James “The Amazing” Randi and I were in the small kitchen at the former James Randi Educational Foundation headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Most mornings, this rooms was […]
There’s a routine that’s been done only once, and it is arguably the greatest magic trick ever performed.
Chicago has a long history of fire. While the Chicago Fire is well known, there were several other fires that made national headlines, and none was deadlier than the Iroquois Theater fire of 1903. And this one changed your life. In an all too familiar story, something the “newest and best” was promoted as being […]
If I say “polka dots” you likely imagine dots of the exact same size evenly spaced on a highly contrasting background. And I’ll bet you’ve never thought of them like that before. But why do we call them that? In medieval times, dots were sometimes considered taboo, or sinister. Remember the black spot of Treasure […]
I’ve made a concerted effort not to bring up political views in anything the College of Curiosity does. Of course, my own political views will seep in from time to time, but my goal in producing this content is not to sway opinions, but to create more questions. Today, I have the same question on […]
Winter is coming. For those that live in the snow belt, it’s time to think about switching over to snow tires or at least check the all-seasons to make sure there’s enough tread there. Most modern tires have tread-wear indicators, but there’s always the tried and true Lincoln test…. stick an upside down US penny […]
We have bluebirds and blue jays. We have blue and hyacinth macaws, and even blue parakeets. Some swallows are blue, and visitors to the Pacific Northwest of the United States can find Steller Jays. And all of these birds have this one thing in common: They’re not blue. And now you’re saying “Of course, they […]
If you are wearing hat, you’re unusual in this day and age. (What does that mean, anyway? Day and age? I’ll have to do that one another time.) Look at a picture of any public gathering before, say, 1955, and you’ll find most men and women wearing hats. Often, the men would be wearing the […]
You can call it a “deuce,” a “Tom,” or even a “whore note,” but chances are you won’t spend one. The $2 bill is an oddity in US currency, despite the fact that it’s legal tender good for all debts public and private. But why won’t we use them? Other countries have a $2 denomination […]
Time for an update. (And another below!) Back in January 2014, the Daily Curio reported on the strange case of Benjaman Kyle, a name chosen by a man with dissociative amnesia. From that article: If you ask him his name, he’ll tell you it’s “Ben.” At least he thinks it is, because he doesn’t really […]
The early 1600s saw the pre-Columbian tribes of what would become the Northeastern United States at the height of their civilization. Dozens if not hundreds of groups, each with their own culture and languages, competed for resources while at the same time maintaining a complex trading network that crossed hundreds of miles. When European fishermen […]
A recent viral video shows a weather man pronouncing the name of an impossibly long Welsh town on a newscast. I will not attempt it. But it calls to mind the “longest place name in the United States,” Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg found in Webster, Massachusetts. The story goes that two tribes (one of them English settlers) […]
Language is a virus, from outer space. ~ William S. Burroughs. I had a friendly argument with a friend today about the term “most unique.” Since the word “unique” means “the only one of its kind,” the term “most unique” doesn’t make sense. There can be no degrees of uniqueness since that state of being […]
A few weeks ago, I was touring Ausable Chasm with my kids. Called the Grand Canyon of the East, which might be just a bit too strong, the chasm is nonetheless impressive with its waterfalls and 500’ cliffs. There is hiking, rafting and rope climbing for the adventurous, and for the nature watcher, there’s a […]
Another live episode, so there’s no transcript. We’ll be back next week with our normal format. Part 2 of our walk on the beach, which concludes with an unexpected encounter. We’ve added some photos so you can see what we is being talked about.
Another live episode, so there’s no transcript. We’ll be back next week with our normal format. A walk on the beach is never just sand between your toes on Sanibel. This morning, we encountered some creatures that most people never see in the wild.
This is something new we’re trying: a live Daily Curio. We’re on a sub-tropical island, and you’ll have to listen to hear about where we are, who was here before us, and what’s going on around us. Today, we visited the Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum, the world’s largest shell museum. It holds a number […]
This is something new we’re trying: a live Daily Curio. We’re on a sub-tropical island, and you’ll have to listen to hear about where we are, who was here before us, and what’s going on around us. And if you can’t listen, at least take a look at this short, silent video by Noel […]
I’m in the fortunate position of having people come up to me and say, “Hey, have you ever seen one of these before?” Hmm, usually it’s not as creepy as that sounds. Last week, my good friend Mark Graunke came over and handed me something for the curiosity collection. It’s a very small metal cage, […]
It’s something many of us do. You see a post on Facebook, feel a bit of outrage, and post a snarky comment. I did this a few days ago when I saw a post about a girl sent home from school with a note saying that her Wonder Woman lunchbox was against the schools “anti-violence” […]
I sat down to write about a new marsupial that was found in South America. I wanted to check some facts before I wrote, and I’m glad I did because I was wrong about some basic things. Here are some things I thought I knew… 1) Marsupials come from Australia, except for the Opossum. I […]
On a whim, I drove up to St. Alban’s, Vermont and visited their excellent historical society. I love these small town museums, and their eclectic collections of things that are only connected by proximity. If you’vre read or listened to the Daily Curio, you probably also know that the College of Curiosity has a Mystery […]
After our last episode with ghosts and glass, I got thinking about the nature of glass itself and how interesting it is. But I also came across some “facts” about glass that aren’t actually true. Here are five common facts or myths about glass: 1) You can shatter a glass with your voice. Maybe you […]
It started with a bang! At first, I wasn’t sure what happened. As I was sitting alone and quietly on a couch 17 stories in the air, I couldn’t imagine what glass had broken. I could tell it was tempered glass by the sound. It was dull, and didn’t ring. But the only tempered glass […]
Tumbleweeds have become an icon of film. When one rolls across the screen, the viewer knows that they’re looking at a desolate place where hope is lost and the future is bleak. But it wasn’t until well after the Civil War that Americans even knew what a tumbleweed was. Tumbleweeds are produced by many plants, […]
Travelers from New York and New England have long headed to Maine to escape the summer heat. Maine license plates read “Vacationland” as if that wasn’t made obvious by the line of cars heading north every Friday night. Most of those folks are heading for mountains, pine trees and rocky shores. But one attraction hopes […]
People have known for centuries that watches can do more than tell time without adding special gizmos. For example, you can tell which general direction you’re facing if you point the small hand at the sun, and then look down the line between the the small hand and Noon. That line points to South if […]
As a teenager, there was nothing I loved more than camping. I spent many summers away from home at Boy Scout camps in New Hampshire. Most Boy Scouts go to camp with their troops, so they already know who they’re camping with. For kids who came alone, they were put together in a temporary troop […]
By now, you’ve probably heard of Bluetooth. And you can probably recognize its little symbol on your phone or headset or car or whatever. You may not know about King Harald. King Harald Blâtan was a viking and King of Denmark and Sweden over 1000 years ago. He was truly known as just Harald—Blâtan was […]
About 15 years ago, I had occasion to stay at the famous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV. This sprawling resort has been a play land for the nation’s wealthy since 1778, and is famous for housing a secret bunker that was intended to be used by Congress in the event of a nuclear […]
While it may sound like part of an old West town where drifters were discouraged from visiting, the term “driftless” actually means an area without glacial debris, or drift. This is the rocks, silt, clay, stones, etc. left behind when the glaciers retreated from North America a bit over 10,000 years ago. Starting nearly 100,000 […]
In 1939, Ernest Vincent Wright finished his difficult novel, “Gadsby.” Not to be confused with “The Great Gatsby,” which was written earlier but didn’t become popular until later, “Gadsby” was a novel about a man who rallies a town’s youth to civic improvement. It sold well and received literary praise, despite the fact that it […]
I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend traveling with my wife, and saw many wondrous things. But now that I’m home, I find my mind wandering to two distinct events. The first occurred in Galena, Illinois a town named for its historic lead mines and the ore found there. Ulysses S. Grant lived here […]
Recently, there was an “unexplained” sighting at the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum in Titusville. In their small library, a security camera caught a “glowing orb” floating around the room, as if under its own volition. This has happened twice, suggesting that the phenomenon is real. What could it be? Predictably, the president of […]
It’s July 21, 1969. Two American men are on the surface of the moon, preparing to leave it. This is the first time in history that humans have landed on this satellite, and they’re hoping to make it back home, something that’s never been done before. Above them, a single man waits for their return […]
Remember the “Chinese Telephone Game?” Fortunately, an awareness of linguistic racism has changed this to just the “Telephone Game.” The idea is that one person tells another a sentence. That person tells the sentence to someone else, and so on. After a few people, a sentence like “The fish is in the water” turns into […]
We had travelled to the other side of the globe, and found ourselves on a fantastic beach on the Isle of Pines, part of New Caledonia. The beach was sandy, the sky was blue, and the water was comfy. Strange limestone structures rose out of the sea, and odd trees covered the dune behind us. […]
Today’s Daily Curio is based on Mystery Object 265: Bold Book. We suggest you listen to if if you can. If you can’t, check out the link and see if you can solve the mystery.
When you hear the term “Rat King” the first time, your mind may go immediately to the villain from the Nutcracker Suite, or perhaps you’re just thinking of a very large rat that no other rat wishes to challenge. In fact, rat kings are something quite different. Imagine a group of rats with their tails […]
Long before the blue screen of death and the unhappy Mac face, there was the Guru Meditation. You’d normally see this when you were in the middle of one of the fantastic games that were available for the late Commodore Computer’s Amiga system. Seeing the black screen with the red flashing message meant you were […]
It seems obvious that for railways to work, the distance between tracks must be standardized. In the United States, that standard is four feet, 8 1/2 inches, or about 144 centimeters. This seems an oddly precise measurement, so how did it come to be? The legend goes like this: US rail systems are based […]
For the past few months, I’ve been working with Atlas Obscura. If you haven’t heard of Atlas Obscura, I encourage you to head over to atlasobscura.com right now and take a look. We’ll wait. Ok, enough waiting. The Atlas Obscura is the definitive guide to the world’s wondrous and curious places. And it truly is… […]
As I was idly thinking about future College of Curiosity events, my mind wandered to potential speakers and contributors I might invite. I put together a mental list of qualifications and desirable characteristics and went down the folks I knew who seem to meet the metrics I was looking for. A name popped up. It […]
My e-mail is full of invitations to do things. Come to this conference! Travel to this place! Try this restaurant! I find it easy to weed through most of them with the thought “never heard of it.” And while most things of this nature are spam, sometimes it’s a good idea to take a closer […]
Dude, that band sucks. How can you listen to that garbage? That’s a pretty common way to describe something you don’t like. But isn’t there a difference between quality and preference? Do they really “suck,” or do you just not like them? It really doesn’t matter what band or artist we’re talking about, if you […]
She was born Charlotte Beysser, and if I showed you her picture, you’d say “Well of course, everyone knows her.” And yet you don’t know her name. There are a few faces that most people in the world know, but there are only a very few that belong to 19th century women. Can you think […]
Brian Lazzaro is a curious man, and when he first heard about the earthen mound located in his home town of Park Ridge, Illinois, he was curious why it was there. Illinois is the second flattest state in the US, and as the town’s name suggests, any elevation at all generates interest. The unassuming mound […]
One travels for many reasons, but experiencing other cultures is usually found among them. And while driving in other countries is always a bit difficult, it’s well known that former colonies of the British Empire present a greater challenge as they drive on the left. I’ve made the decision not to drive in countries where […]
Start with this clip from Batman: The Animated Series episode called “Perchance to Dream.” In the episode, recurring villain Scarecrow Mad Hatter places Batman in a dream state, but Batman figures this out when he tries to read a newspaper… and can’t. Until very recently, and by very recently I mean this morning, I thought it […]
One aspect of being curious is asking simple questions. For example, if there is an England, surely there must be “Engs.” And is Ireland really a land of anger? The answer, it turns out, is yes, there were people called the “Engs,” roughly, who came from a land shaped like a fish hook, and no, […]
There were no tours that day, and all I had to go on was an Internet post that said “Go to the cave. It’s behind the church.” Sure, why not? We walked down the island’s only road and found the church easy enough. The door was open, and inside was a smattering of Catholicism, with […]
Magic, that is conjuring illusions, has been a popular form of entertainment since the beginning of entertainment. It’s true purpose isn’t to fool people; it’s to show them a what a world with actual magic would look like. Some have abused their abilities and proclaimed themselves to be actually “magic.” These folks can be found […]
We’re back after an epic journey across Oceania. After touring parts of Australia and New Caledonia, some of us went on to the south island of New Zealand. This is a wild land, covered with forests, mountain ranges, and glaciers, which they pronounce as glass-ee-ers. Base camp for the most popular glacier is in Franz […]
While wandering the streets of San Antonio recently, I was delighted to find so many purple prisms embedded in the sidewalks, especially in the area near Alamo Plaza. Most people probably think these are old decorative tiles as they walk over them without noticing, but they’re actually sidewalk lights or vault lights for allowing sunlight […]
There was a time when vending machines were chic. Entire restaurants called automats featured complete meals vended course by course from coin operated glass doors. Today, soda and snack machines are common, and weird Japanese machines get a lot of press. But the big moneymaker in vending was cigarettes, especially from machines found in bars. […]
Note: it has been pointed out to me that this article can give the impression that there is only one, all-inclusive shellfish allergy. That is not the case: one can be allergic to just crustaceans or just mollusks. Never assume that someone isn’t allergic to “shellfish” because you see them eating some. Way back in […]
Henry Ford is quoted as saying “You can have any color you want so long as it’s black.” And like so many quotes, there is dispute that it was ever said. Fortunately, no one is ascribing it to Mark Twain. But whether Ford said it or not, he certainly did write it. It’s in his book My […]
The first “Flying Saucer” was reported in 1947 when pilot Ken Arnold reported seeing something in air shaped like a “saucer,” “disc,” or “pie-plate.” The media picked it up, and soon there were thousands of sightings across the world. Countless movies and TV series have been made on the subject, and reports still come in, […]
Mother and Child Reunion was Paul Simon’s first release as a Garfunkel-less solo artist more than forty years ago, and it has a number of strange elements that aren’t apparent at a first listen. Paul said he wrote this song in response to the loss of his pet dog in a traffic accident. He had […]
The lottery has been called a “tax on people who can’t do math.” The odds of winning the lottery are terrible. But, as they say, you can’t win if you don’t play! You pretty much can’t win if you do play, either. New Jersey and many other states use a parimutuel wagering system. For every […]
Our fascination with pirates continues unabated. Most people are aware that our fantasized notion of peg-legs and parrots is the construct of 18th and 19th century authors. People don’t romanticize aboutmuggers, but that’s essentially what most pirates were: people who would use force to take your property, often with grave violence.And they weren’t always found […]
You’ve heard the term “Begs the Question” before. Taken at face value, it seems to mean… “You’ve made a statement that forces me to ask this question.” As in, you’re “begging for a questionto be asked.” For example, stating that I brought a zebra to work the other day “begs the question” of “Why did […]
Last week’s theme was…. TERRORISM. Yes, the Boston Tea Party was an act of terrorism. While it didn’t result in any direct deaths, it did contribute to two bloody wars and it was certainly an illegal act. And that’s enough of themes for a while. Let’s try something new. Let’s try more curiosity and less […]
The British are taxing our tea! We’ll show them! Over the side with it boys! Let’s turn Boston Harbor into the biggest cup o’ tea in history!And so the story goes, and unlike many legends, this one is true. American colonists did raid several ships full of tea for the East India Company and throw […]
There’s a reason why you see Guy Fawkes masks everywhere, and that’s quite simply: the movie V For Vendetta. In the film, the maskswere used as a sign of opposition to the government—which makes a lot of sense, since Guy Fawkes—who preferred his nom de guerre Guido Fawkes—literally tried to blow up the British government […]
Back in 1927, Time magazine wanted to find a way to honor Charles Lindbergh, the 67th man to cross the Atlantic by air. (See my Robert Ripley article on Skeptoid for why he was 67th.) They created the “Man of the Year” edition, and the tradition has stuck with us. It was no surprise when […]
Last week’s theme was “Nature wants to kill you.” See if you can figure out this week’s. Nothing will increase your curiosity more than thinking about the TSA. And by curiosity, we mean… rage. But if you can put aside your frustration for a moment, we might find something of interest.The Travel Security Administration is […]
Transport yourself back 150 years. You’re a well-to-do person, and you live in a prominent city, like New York or Chicago. City life has always been noisy, but back then, it was also hot and dirty with no air conditioning in the summer and streets filled with horse manure and refuse. As today, many people […]
Hookworms are small nematodes with a slightly bent head that gives the suggestion of a hook. They spend most of their lives living in the digestive system of mammals, where they live off the blood of their host and produce eggs which pass out in the host’s stool. The eggs are transmitted to a new host when […]
The coconut water fad seemsto be fading, so what will be next? Several big beverage makers are banking on cashew juiceto be the next overpriced little box toaccompany your brie and flax bread. But if you’re thinking of almond milk, it’s time to learn about cashews.Cashews are, in a word, strange. If you imagine a […]
The word “meromictic” might be unfamiliar to you. Itwas coined in 1935 to describe a lake with layers that do not mix. Most lakes have a stirring action where water on the top eventually makes it way to the bottom and then back up again in a cycle driven by wind, which causes waves and […]
Back in a previous life about 25 years ago, I worked on a lab farm. One of the projects was trying to increase the amount of soluble solids in tomato plants. Put another way, we were trying to make them sweeter so it would cost less to dehydrate them when making tomato paste. The work […]
The haunting Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is not the only influential work by Ambrose Bierce. Among his other works is the sardonic Devil’s Dictionary, which was originally published in small segments in a newspaper column. First called the The Cynic’s Dictionary by the publishers who were afraid to upset religious sensibilities, the Devil’s Dictionary […]
Alas, poor Edwin. He was last seen visiting the river during a severe storm. The next day, he was nowhere to be found. Though his watch and a pin were discovered on the riverwalk, there is no hope of determining his fate now. Why? Because the man creating him died before he was finished. The […]
You’ve probably never heard of Sumbawa, Indonesia, but events there in the year 1815 helped create one of the world’s fastest growing religions. Sumbawa was the home of an industrious people, known for their honey, horses, and horticulture. It was crowned by Mount Tambora, a dormant volcano. On April 5, 1815 residents heard gunfire, though they […]
Last week we heard four stories that were connected by… the number four. The Rubiyat of Omar Kyayyam was written in Quatrains, sets of four lines. Birds with four wings is obvious, as is the talk about four-legged stools . And of course the one thing that makes a swastika a swastika is that it has […]
For over a dozen millennia, people have held a particular symbol in high esteem. It’s found in Greek and Roman architecture, on Buddhist temples and in the weavings of the Navajo. Mexican fireworks are often in this shape, and it signifies a temple when it appears on Japanese maps. Some American forces proudly wore the […]
Farmers have a reputation for being simple folk, but in reality, farming has a long tradition of innovation and efficiency that few other professions can match. Take for example the problem of milking cows. We now have complex machinery that does the job for us, but for centuries, someone had to sit by the cow […]
Evolution can lead to some strange places. For example, how many wings do birds have? The answer is obviously two, even if there are birds that don’t have two wings. Which birds? The penguin for example, has what can best be described as flippers rather than wings. And then there is the unfortunate moa, a […]
An alarming number of people disappear every year, and a number of them leave very few clues as to their current whereabouts. But in 1948, a man was found on a beach in Somerton, Victoria, Australia. In this case his whereabouts were certainly known, but who he was remains a mystery nearly seventy years later. […]
Hello, and welcome to the Daily Curio Season 2. For the next 100 episodes, we’re changing the format a bit. New pieces will now feature more in-depth stories with enhanced sound production. For those that would like to listen or read in ten minute chunks, the week’s episodes will be compiled into a single episode of Oddments, […]
What is the Blue Man Group? The Blue Man Group started as a musical act in the 1980s, but soon the three men decided to do more than just play music. They wanted to make people think. For no specific reason, they began wearing blue paint and skull caps and walking around NYC. Eventually they […]