Today, Tuesday November 2nd, is Election Day across the country and here in Connecticut. But why do we always vote on a Tuesday? Much like daylight savings time it all comes down to the farmers. In 1845, when the day was decided, it was agreed upon that farm workers needed a day between Sunday and…
This mystery was something I thought of when my wife and I welcomed our second child a few weeks ago. Can she see in color? What does she see? The answer seems to be that newborns only see in black and white when they are first born. Then over a few weeks they start to…
Starting today and all weekend there will probably be a lot of candy coming into your house. Some people eat it all at once, some like to save it to munch on for months. But does candy actually go bad? Chocolate will last eight to 10 months. Any hard candy like lollipops, butterscotch, Jolly Ranchers,…
Tonight is game 1 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves. I know, I know, bummer none of the Connecticut adjacent teams made it. Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox all out. Red Sox at least came close! Today’s mystery… why do they call it the “World Series”? It all started…
I heard someone say this the other day and thought it would make a good Mundane Mystery for today. The expression itself means trying or testing something out yourself is the only way to know if it’s good or not. The Oxford Dictionary says that the phrase was first used back in early 14th century…
This is probably the most popular weekend for carving pumpkins. You might be cutting up a few Jack-o-Lanterns the next few days. But where did it all start? Why do we carve pumpkins? Much like Halloween costumes, pumpkin carving started out as a way for people to scare off evil spirits around Halloween. Back in…
We’ve all done it when getting in the car for a road trip or with friends. You call “shotgun!” to get the front seat. But why do we say that? The phrase is a reference to back in the Old West, even though no one actually called it “shotgun” back then… it refers to that…
It’s Halloween season so today’s mystery is about one of the most famous monster movies ever. Frankenstein. Why is his skin green? Green is a very monster-y color but there is a very practical reason to why he’s green. Back when Universal Studios was making the movie Frankenstein they realized that the green shows up…
The word “phony” when you’re referring to someone or something as being fake comes from a shortened version of the word “telephone”. Older phones had such bad audio quality that it would make people’s voices sound fake. I feel like this sounds like a “phony” explanation (haha)… but it’s true! Photo credit: Getty Images
I’ve often wondered this while walking the cereal aisle in the grocery store. Cap’n Crunch looks like he would be the most likely cereal mascot that was actually based on a real person. Turns out it’s true, he is! Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch. Which is amazing. He was named after the…