Tag Archives: inventions

How Locks Work (and how they get picked)

By Ryan | Published: March 24, 2011

It’s Harry Houdini‘s birthday today. In his honour let’s talk about locks. As a famous escape artist, lock picking was his bread and butter. First, let’s understand how a lock works. I’ll only be talking about the common pin-tumbler lock. (usually called a Yale lock, after its inventor in 1860) This is the sort you [...]

The History of Broadcast Call Letters

By Ryan | Published: March 14, 2011

All radio and TV broadcasts are assigned a “call sign“, a sequence of three or four letters such as WKRP in Cincinnati. I got curious as to how these came about and why. When my parents grew up, in a rural area, you and all your neighbours shared the same wired phone line. That means [...]

Seven Swans a’Swimming – Twelve Facts of Christmas

By Ryan | Published: December 31, 2010

On the seventh day of Christmas we get swimming swans. Mute Swans (the classic white ones with the orange beak) are the largest flying bird, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. I’m done with writing about birds this week. Rather, I’ll ask you this question: Who was the first person to have [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Tagged inventions | 1 Comment

What Happens Inside a Battery

By Ryan | Published: September 20, 2010

Yesterday the thought occurred to me that I don’t really know how a battery works. Whatever goes on inside that little cylinder is a mystery to me. Now that I know the secret, it seems even more amazing! First , let me get the words right. A battery is actually defined as a set of [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged chemistry, science | 4 Comments

Raise your glass to the music of the Armonica

By Ryan | Published: April 26, 2010

Should I find myself at a fancy dinner party I cannot resist the urge to wet my finger and slide it around the rim of my wine glass. At least I would have trouble resisting the urge, if I were ever invited to such fancy dinner parties. The sound of a resonating wine glass is [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged music | 1 Comment

the Powerful Secret of Pop Rocks

By Ryan | Published: March 17, 2010

Pop Rocks combine candy with explosions in your mouth. Obviously a genius idea. It first popped up in 1975 and as soon as it caught on the urban legend evolved that eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda at the same time would cause death-by-stomach-explosion. The rumour was so widespread that the FDA (Food and Drug [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged food | Leave a comment

The origin of the hamburger: Great sandwich or greatest sandwich ever?

By Ryan | Published: January 13, 2010

Speaking of hamburgers, which I was (specifically, hucking them across continents), are you aware just how close we came to going out for “tartars and fries”? The Tartars (or Tatars) are an ethnic group found around Russia, descendants of Mongolians, who were once at the leading edge of finely chopped meat. The legacy remains in [...]

Posted in Interesting Facts | Also tagged food | 3 Comments