Tag Archives: culture

The 12 Facts of Christmas

By Ryan | Published: December 22, 2010

I’ve always assumed that the “12 days of christmas” was some sort of countdown to the launch of christmas day. Turns out I’m flat wrong about that. In fact, Christmas day on December 25th is only the first day of the twelve days worth of celebrations in Christianity, which has special events going on until [...]

FACT: the most influential jazz guitarist was short two fingers

By Ryan | Published: November 10, 2009

If you haven’t heard the name Django Reinhardt in the last 70 years, it’s about time you do. It’s not everyday an artist is able to create and define an entire genre with such mastery that now, over 60 years after his death, jazz guitarists are still trying to sound like him. Gypsy jazz, or [...]

FACT: trick-or-treating started with kids threatening old people

By Ryan | Published: October 31, 2009

I’m pretty sure every newspaper runs the same filler piece today about the origins of Halloween, with the All Hallows Day, so-on and so-forth. I know I’ve heard the story many times. What was new to me that I dug up was the origin of the phrase trick-or-treat. The first recorded use of the phrase [...]

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FACT: sticking a feather in your cap is hardly macaroni

By Ryan | Published: October 26, 2009

Yankee Doodle is probably the most famous song from American history. Sing along with me now… let me hear you in the back! Yankee Doodle went to town Riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his cap And called it macaroni. Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle dandy, Mind the music and the [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged music, war, words | 1 Comment

FACT: Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights

By Ryan | Published: October 17, 2009

Starting today, and for the next five days, people of the Hindu religion will be celebrating Diwali. This is the biggest annual celebration in south Asia. The festival is about a triumph of good over evil, lightness over dark, and my personal favourite; knowledge over ignorance. The mythology behind Diwali is two stories of the [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged traditions | 1 Comment

FACT: a tulip was once the world’s most expensive flower

By Ryan | Published: September 12, 2009

Tulips and Holland go together like ninjas and Japan, like bacon and Canada, like ninjas and bacon and the internet. You can’t think of one without the other. However, despite being the poster-flower for their tourism efforts, tulips are not a native plant to the Netherlands. Rather, tulips arrived in Holland with a splash, causing [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged history, plants | 2 Comments

FACT: at a sushi restaurant, that lump of wasabi probably isn’t wasabi

By Ryan | Published: September 11, 2009

I haven’t felt this betrayed since I found out I’ve never eaten yams. Turns out, unless you happen to live in Asia, you’ve probably never had real wasabi either. That sinus-clearing green concoction on your plate of sushi is an impostor, or seiyō wasabi (“western wasabi”). It’s a mix of regular ol’ American horseradish, mustard, [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged food | 2 Comments