Twelve grapes
What is it about this time of year and the number twelve? In Spain and countries culturally connected to Spain, twelve grapes is a New Year tradition.
Month: December 2019
Highest helicopters
In 2005 a French helicopter pilot landed on top of Mount Everest. In 1972 another French pilot flew more than 12,000 metres up… and then his engine stopped.
Flattest toad
In Suriname there is a species of toad that looks like it has been flattened under a rock: it grows up to twenty centimetres long, but only reaches a couple of centimetres high.
Hogg wild in New Haven
Two men were tried and one was executed for bestiality in early New Haven. The evidence: the birth of piglets that looked suspiciously like the accused.
Courier chess
Courier chess, played from the 12th century CE on, had kings, queens, bishops, knights, rooks, and pawns… but it also had henchmen, fools, and couriers.
Superman zine
Before they made the Superman we all know, Siegel and Shuster self-published a zine featuring a bald villain also named Superman.
Twelve days
Is Christmas Day the twelfth day of Christmas or the first? And why does it cost US$170,298.03?
Flapdragon
A Christmas Eve parlour game played in Victorian England involved grabbing burning raisins with your hands and eating them while they were still alight.
Endless lightning
There is a storm above the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela that produces endless lightning – and has been doing so consistently, year-round, for hundreds of years.
Update 2
It’s time for another update on the state of the blog.
Simultaneity
This is the 300th regular post on this site. Time to talk about simultaneous scientific discovery, starring Edison, Newton, Darwin, and many many others.
Immovable ladder
Certain holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem cannot be changed without agreement from the many local denominations. As a result, a ladder has been propped against a window ledge on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since 1728.
Human hamster
What does the golden hamster have to do with human fertility tests?
Lunar quarantine
When the Apollo 11 astronauts arrived back on Earth, no-one knew whether they were contaminated with secret space viruses or not – so the astronauts stayed in an Airstream trailer under quarantine for three weeks.
Ambigram comic
From 1903 to 1905 a unique comic strip was published in the New York Herald: you would read the first half, then flip the page upside down to read the second half.
Decimal time
1000 metres in a kilometre, 1000 grams in a kilogram, and 1000 minutes in a day?
The Generalist Academy 