The origin of the term "rock and roll"

The thing I learned today is that Cleveland DJ Alan "Moondog" Freed is popularly credited with the introduction of the phrase "rock and roll" to refer to the popular music of the '50s.  He is thus known as "father of rock and roll."  It should be noted that the phrase predated Freed, but that he helped popularize it and applied it to the music itself.

Bedloe's Island

The thing I learned today was that Bedloe's Island is the former name of Liberty Island, New York, where the Statue of Liberty stands. The name was changed in 1956.

The Thirty-Nine Articles

The thing I learned today is that the Thirty-Nine Articles are the statements of doctrine of the Church of England, first established in 1563 and finalized in 1571.  They are largely based on the writing of noted Anglican martyr and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer.

William the Bastard

The thing I learned today is that William I, the Conqueror's, other nickname was William the Bastard, because he was the son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and a woman whom the Duke did not marry.

Vena amoris

The thing I learned today is that "vena amoris" is the name of a traditional belief that the vein of the fourth finger runs directly to the heart (and thus is the reason wedding bands are placed there).  This belief is false.

The chau gong

The thing I learned today was that the name of the Chinese gong used in Western orchestras is called the Chau gong, or tam-tam.

The Boston Tea Party ships

The thing I learned today was that the names of the three ships boarded by colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians in December, 1773, to destroy their cargo of tea were the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver.

The kuna

The thing I learned today is that the unit of currency of Croatia is the kuna.  As of mid-2014, the kuna is worth about one-fifth of a dollar.  The word kuna means "marten" in Croatian!

Stone skipping

The thing I learned today is that a group of French researches discovered that the optimum angle for a stone to hit the water so it skips across the surface is 20 degrees.  Lydéric Bocquet, a physics professor at the University of Lyon, and his team found that even if other variables are changed, the stone has the best chance of skipping when hitting the water at 20 degrees, the "magic angle."This was confirmed by Japanese scientists as well.

Annie Hall's working title

The thing I learned today is that Woody Allen's masterpiece, Annie Hall, had several working titles, including Anhedonia, which means the inability to experience pleasure.

Puja

The thing I learned today is that a puja is a Hindu prayer ritual performed at weddings, births, temple ceremonies, and so on, to commemorate the event.  The activities of the puja vary by school of Hinduism and by the occasion; it may involve libation, chanting, bowing, offering food to a deity, lighting incense sticks, and so on.

The Dover test

The thing I learned today is that the Dover test is a phrase used to express the American public's willingness to support an overseas war.  It refers to the mortuary center at Dover air force base, where over 50,000 flag-draped coffins have arrived since 1955.  The phrase may have been coined by John Glenn.

Simmering

The thing I learned today is that simmering is defined as a temperature just under boiling, or usually about 200 degrees F (93 C).

Haganah

The thing I learned today is that the Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization from 1920 to 1948 in British Palestine.  It was preceded by the Hashomar and, after the Haganah was disbanded in 1948, replaced with the IDF.

Naval Support Facility Thurmont

The thing I learned today is that Camp David, the Presidential country retreat, is a military installation and is officially known as Naval Support Facility Thurmont (it is located near Thurmont, Maryland).

The stages of human hair growth

The thing I learned today is there are three stages of human hair growth, and they are named the anagen, catagen, and telogen phases.  The anagen phase is the growth phase.  The catagen phase is the transition phase that signals the end of growth.  The telogen phase is the resting phase; effluvium follows.  Here is a mnemonic: ACT. Anna is growing, cats just sit around not doing much, and you can tell this one is about to fall out.

The Spanish American War

The thing I learned today is that the Spanish-American War lasted less than a year, from April to August of 1898. Independence of Cuba was the question; the explosion of the USS Maine, American corporate imperialism, and yellow journalism ruled the day.

The US Open prize money

The thing I learned today is that in 1973, the US Open tennis tournament became the first Grand Slam tournament to award equal prize money to men's and women's champions, $25,000 at the time.

Peter Drucker

The thing I learned today is that Peter Drucker was an Austrian-American consultant sometimes called "the father of modern management." He is known for his book "Concept Of the Corporation," a study of how business leadership works. Drucker taught that management is a liberal art, and that managers should provide leadership for the common good.

The bones of the leg

The thing I learned today is that the main bones of the human leg are the femur (thigh bone), fibula (calf bone), and tibia (shin bone).  Of course there is also the patella, or kneecap.  Here is a mnemonic: associate females with thighs, fibbing with calves (about where they come from)?, and tipping with shin (hitting your shin on the tip of something).

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The thing I learned today is that The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo granted, via the Mexican Cession, the US the region that is now California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as part of Wyoming. It came at the end of the Mexican-American war (1846-48). The Treaty provided for property rights of Mexicans in the area, which largely went unhonored.

The term "atomic bomb"

The thing I learned today is that the term "atomic bomb" was first coined in 1914 by H.G. Wells in The World Set Free, thirty-one years before "The Gadget" was first tested in New Mexico.

Saturday Night Fever

The thing I learned today is that the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever was based on an article written by Nik Cohn called "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," about young men haunting the disco club Odyssey.  In the 1990s, Cohn revealed his article was fabricated, as he could make no sense of the actual disco scene.

The syrinx

The thing I learned today is that the syrinx is the avian equivalent to the mammalian larynx. It is forked and is set lower than the voice box, so birds can create a wider variety of sounds and appear to sing without taking a breath.

NBC Nightly News theme music

The thing I learned today is that the theme song for the NBC Nightly News since 1985 is composed by John "Star Wars" Williams and is called "The Mission."

Tom Sawyer

The thing I learned today is that Tom Sawyer, the character, appears in no less than four novels by Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876); The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894); and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896).

The Caspian Sea

The thing I learned today is that the Caspian Sea is not technically a sea, because it does not connect to the ocean, but is considered the world's largest lake (by surface area).  However, note that Lake Baikal is the world's largest lake by volume.

The Tasman Sea

The thing I learned today is that the Tasman Sea is situated between, not (as you might expect) Australia and Tasmania (that's the Bass Strait) but rather Australia and New Zealand.

The people who have walked on the moon

The thing I learned today is that twelve men have walked on the moon.  Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, followed immediately by Buzz Aldrin; this was on July 21, 1969.  The next two moon walkers were Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, who trod the dusty surface of Luna November 19 and 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 12 mission.  And the fifth and sixth on the moon were Alan Shepherd and Edgar Mitchell, who walked the moon in February of 1971.  The last person to have walked on the moon (for now!) is Eugene Cernan, in 1972.  Here is a mnemonic: Arm All Conquering Bears; Sheep Might Scamper.

Calorie to body fat ratio

The thing I learned today is that it takes approximately 3500 calories to make one pound of body fat.

Highway Gothic

The thing I learned today is that Highway Gothic is a popular name for the FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) series of fonts.  This series is a collection of fonts used on road signs in over a dozen countries.  Originally developed during WWII by the Public Roads Administration, the sans-serif fonts have been modified over the years, such as the implementation of a lower-case set of letters.