been a while

Holy crap! It's been like 2 years since I've posted on this. I am determined to bring this back into a regularly updated blog. After reading some of the past posts, I've realized a lot of the things I've listed are straight opinions with no factual evidence. And that makes me sound stupid. So, none of that anymore. I will also try to focus on things that other people actually care about and want to learn about too (i.e. not that my dad has to have mayo on both slices of bread, but more like defusing WWII bombs). I'm considering making a separate blog in the same style but for the more random and personal aspects ("dad's mayo"-like stories). I'll post the link in a later post if I decide to do it.

So I think I'm going to start updating this weekly, so it's really not Things I Learned Today but rather Things I Learned This Week. I should change it, but let's be real. I'm not gonna do that. That takes time and effort that I lack. Probably not so much time as effort, but whatever. Still not gonna do it.

I guess the list for this post is more Things I Learned Recently That I Still Remember considering it's been a while since I've posted.


-Spray paint, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Cracker Jacks, Juicy Fruit gum, picture postcards, the Ferris Wheel, commemorative stamps, and the American serial killer were all introduced at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

-The first American serial killer, "H.H. Holmes"-real name Herman Mudgett- used the 1893 Fair to lure mostly female victims. He eventually fled Chicago and committed dozens of other crimes as he travelled around the country the next year before being arrested in Boston on an outstanding warrant for horse theft in Texas. He is said to have killed anywhere between 20 and 200 people. He was hanged in 1896 and died slowly and painfully (neck didn't snap, he twitched for 15 minutes before dying)

-There are maybe 10 publishing (post-baccalaureate) programs in the U.S. and at least 5 of them are in NYC. The majority of publishing internships and jobs are also in NYC.

-Reading computer screens all day is really bad for your eyes. So naturally, you'd think that reading on a Kindle is bad for your eyes. But apparently, developers used certain kinds of font and lighting on the Kindles to mimic real ink on paper and thus not do the damage that computer screens do to our eyes.

-Vikings from Greenland discovered America and tried to make colonies from ~980-1500.

-Two Native Americans crossed the Atlantic and ended up in Holland in 60 B.C.

-Dr. Dre jumped and beat up female reporter, Dee Barnes for interviewing Ice Cube. He threw her against the wall repeatedly, tried to throw her down a flight of stairs, kicked her in the ribs and head, chased her then grabbed her hair and punched her repeatedly in the back of the head. She tried to sue him for over $20 million dollars and he ended up being fined $2500, forced to do community service and a PSA. People continue to praise him for beating her.

-Kobe beef does not exist in America. It is essentially illegal to have in here in the states. It is incredibly rare because of the way it is prepared and is as such very hard to find. You will only find it in certain parts of Japan and Macau. Any other country claiming to have it is lying. The beef might be prepared in a "Kobe-style" but the beef itself is not Kobe.

-Japan's dating system is written yyyy/mm/dd as opposed to the European dd/mm/yyyy and America's mm/dd/yyyy.