Brainy Snacks

 I realize this year is not a leap year; however, I still wanted to know if there were any strange or quirky facts about it. I already knew that leap year is to accommodate the earth's rotation. Each year is technical a bit more than 365 days. Leap year is approximately every four years. When I search for something quirky or weird about leap year, I learned that in the year 1288, the queen of Scotland declared that during each leap year, women could ask men to marry them.  If the man said no, he had to pay a "fine". The fine was sometimes a kiss or he had to purchase a silk dress for the woman. Another rule during this time was that women had to wear red petticoats when they were going to propose so the men would know what was coming! Can you imagine a tradition, or "law" like this working in today's day and age? Watch the YouTube video or click the image below to learn more about leap year.    

 I have always wanted to see Paris in person. It is a bucket list item for me. I decided to look for something weird to learn about Paris that few people know.  I learned that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Parisians held mummy unwrapping parties!! After Napoleon was in Egypt, the people of Paris were obsessed with mummies!  They import and purchase mummies. They would then hold parties where people would gather to unwrap mummies for entertainment. They even went so far as to sell powdered mummy as a pigment. It was called mummy brown. I was fascinated about their obsession with mummies!  I have been fascinated by them since seeing an Egyptian display at a museum as a child. What about you? Are you fascinated by mummies?  Click the YouTube link or image below to learn more!    

 I saw a video reel about the Chayote and wanted to learn about it because I had never heard of it!  It is considered to be a fruit by most people. The internet called it a "green vegetable-fruit" from the gourd family. It is not widely grown by farmers because it must be cultivated by hand. It is pear-shaped, but larger than a pear. The taste resembles cucumbers or zucchini. It can be planted by planting the entire fruit and not just the seed. When it grows, it vines. In the United States, it is grown in Hawaii, southern Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and California!  I will need to look for these while in Florida! Have you ever heard of this food?  I really learned a lot about the health benefits as well!  If you want to learn more, watch the YouTube video or click the image below.       

 I decided to continue to travel the globe tonight. I searched for a quirky, unbelievable store about Germany. I learned that at one time, in some regions of Germany, there were actually very strict rules about how pretzels were made. For example, in Bavaria, bakers had to take a formal pretzel OATH! They had to agree to bake the pretzels following the exact guidelines, in order to be permitted to bake pretzels! If these bakers did not take the oath and were caught baking pretzels, they could be fined or forbidden from baking at all! This "learned something new today" was really silly and totally true!  Watch the YouTube video below or click the image to learn more about pretzels!      

 I decided to travel to China tonight!  I learned that in 2010, archeologists found a pot of soup inside a bronze vessel in an ancient tomb. It was STILL liquid after all those years!! I can not imagine a find like that! The soup is an example of how well-preserved artifacts are in Chinese burial sites.  Another find in China was a Meta-sequoia, also known as a dawn redwood. They were thought to be extinct until the 1940s when a small grove was discovered in China. They are all over the world now, but the origin was China. The grove is thought to have survived "mass extinction" because the trees were only seen in fossils prior to that find.  Watch the YouTube video below or click the image to learn more!    

 I decided to learn about South America tonight. I asked CoPilot to tell me something weird, but true, about South America. I learned that there is a hotel in Bolivia that is literally and totally made out of salt! Palacio de Sal is the name of the hotel. It sits on the edge of the largest salt flat in the world. I learned that the furniture, walls, floor, and even decorations, are made entirely of compressed salt. They ask guests to not lick the walls! Can you imagine? The salt flat is used by NASA to calibrate their satellites. I had to explore more when I read this fact! The other really cool feature of the area is that when it rains, the salt flat turns into a mirror reflecting the sky! I can imagine feeling like I am actually walking on clouds!  Watch the YouTube video or click the link to learn more! I sure did!      

 In my daily quest for new knowledge, I asked for an animal fact that is hard to believe. I learned that the Peacock Mantis shrimp packs a punch that not only generates friction that makes it hot, but the speed is the fastest in the animal kingdom. I had to learn more! I followed links, watched videos, and followed more links. I went way down the "shrimp" hole with this one! Not only do they pack a mean punch for such a small animal, they also have eyes that move independently of each other and have SIXTEEN color receptor cones in their eyes!  Humans only have three!  They can actually see colors that we have no way of imagining! I truly learned quite a bit of "something new" today!  To learn more, watch the YouTube video or click the image below!      

 I decided to learn something new about birds today.  I learned that there is a bird called the Bassian Thrush. This bird finds its worms as it is hopping on the floor of the woods. It lets loose with a "tiny toot", yes, they fart. The worms feel the vibration of the air movement and come to the surface to investigate and the Bassian Thrush catches its meal! Guess what country they are found in?  Would you believe Australia? I have learned about several different types of animals and insects in Australia over the years. I have read about huge spiders, long snakes, and, of course, kangaroos! I had a chuckle learning about the farting Bassian Thrush! If you want to learn more, watch the video or click the image below!    

 I decided to learn about the African continent today. I truly have a gap in my knowledge there. I have seen many reports lately about a "new ocean" being formed as the continent splits (this is true, by the way). I asked CoPilot to tell me something weird and quirky about the African continent. I certainly got what I asked for!  I did not know that there is actually a breed of penguins that live along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa where the beaches are warm!  I thought penguins were only found in the cold regions. They are called, appropriately, African penguins and are sometimes referred to as "jackass penguins". They make a braying sound that is similar to donkeys! I actually looked for pictures and videos myself to learn more about them. They are absolutely fascinating!  If you want to learn more, watch the YouTube video or click the image below! African penguins...who knew?        

 I decided to search the internet for a "quirky" fact about February 19th. Well, I certainly found one!  In 1474, in a town in what is now Switzerland, a chicken was actually put on trial, as a criminal! YES!  This really happened!! It was a formal court hearing. The charge was laying an egg without a rooster present! I suppose it is important to understand that this was medieval times, but the chick was actually found guilty. It was decided by the actual court ( I can not get over this) that there was witchcraft involved and the chicken was sentenced according to the laws of the time. History can be weird and absurd! To learn more, watch the video from YouTube below or click the link for more quirky, absurd facts from February 19th.     

 I was watching the figure skaters this evening in the women's short program. I love figure skating!  It is the gymnastics of the Winter Olympics for me! I am fascinated by the routines, jumps, and spins. I could not imagine how they do not get dizzy in their spins. I decided that would be my "learned something new" today. I had thought there would be a special head position or something along those lines. That is not the case! I learned that they train their brains throughout years of practice! During these years and thousands of spins, their brains, more specifically, the brain's vestibular system, according to Microsoft CoPilot, become less reactive to being off-balance or dizzy. The brain's vestibular system is the one that communicates with our inner ear and makes us feel dizzy, becomes less reactive to spins. Skaters still feel dizzy, but have a faster reaction to being normally on balance, than the rest of us! The human body is fascinating! To learn more, w...

 I have always known dogs have very strong noses. I know that some dogs can smell when a diabetic's sugar is high or low. I know there are dogs who can sniff out bombs and dogs who can use their sense of smell to find missing people or other animals. I did NOT know that their sense of smell is strong enough to tell the difference between identical twins! Identical twins can dress the exact same way and the dog can not see the difference, but they CAN smell the difference between them! I was astounded when I learned this! Watch the video below or click the image to learn more!    

 I was watching the United States vs Norway in curling this evening. I decided to learn more about the sport I know next to nothing about. I did not know that it originated in Scotland, let alone so long ago in the sixteenth century!  Archeologists found round, river stones that dated back to the fifteen hundreds and there was a Scottish notary log found that described two players sliding stones on ice. It is called "curling" because of the way the stone curls as it slides on the ice. That was easy to understand for me. It did not become an official Olympic sport until 1998. I was not as fascinated by curling in previous winter Olympic games. My son mentioned it is one of his favorites to watch. I decided to watch more and now I am hooked! To learn more, watch the video below or click the image!      

 Tonight I learned that when ocean saltwater freezes into sea ice in the Arctic, it releases really salty brine. I brined chicken for dinner the other night!  It is simply water with salt added that you soak food in. This same brine, only WAY more salty, is squeezed out when ocean water forms ice. This brine is heavier than the normal ocean water or seawater, and sinks. It forms underwater water falls as it rolls down slopes. It eventually freezes anything that touches it and forms what are known as "brinicles". These are simply icicles formed with briny water. They are so cold, they actually freeze small sea animals if they bump against them! This is why they are sometimes known as the "icy fingers of death". The Arctic is fascinating! Learn more by watching the video below or clicking the image!       

 Happy Valentine's Day!  I know I did not post in time for yesterday. Friday the thirteenth is creepy on its own. I found a creepy Valentine's Day fact to learn about!  Did you know that in medieval times, this day, not Halloween, was thought to be the day with the thinnest line between the living and the dead! I know about the Day of the Dead ("Dia de los Muertos" in Mexico). I did not know that at one time Valentine's Day was thought to be this day!  There are many stories similar to this if you search "creepy Valentine's Day facts"! Watch the video or click the image below to learn more!     

 I know very little about Mars, so I decided to learn something new about the planet today.  It is covered in thousands of "spiders"!!  Thank goodness they are not the spiders that creep away when we get near them. That really gave me the goosebumps when I read the headline!  On Mars, there are pockets of frozen carbon dioxide under the ground. When the sun hits them they "explode" upward leaving behind branching patterns on the surface of Mars!  These formations only show on Mars; no other planet. This increases the creepy factor for me! What do you think? Click the video below or the image to learn more.        

 Today I asked the internet to tell me a quirky legend of the Appalachian Mountains. I learned about the Whistling Walker of Fog Hollow. On one hand, it is creepy to me. On the other hand, I want to go there to see if I hear him!  Fog Hollow is a valley that is almost always misty, even when the weather is sunny. This is why it is called Fog Hollow. When the fog rolls in low and thick, it is said that you can hear him whistling a tune. The walker is suspected to be a 19th century surveyor. He supposedly walked off into the fog and was never seen again. The locals say that if you follow the walker's whistle, you may see a boot print appear or a shadowy figure in your periphery. They say that he is not malicious, rather is there to guide you to safety. Who else is ready for a road trip?!!!  Watch the video or click the image to learn more!      

 I learned today that the Sahara Desert has "singing dunes"!  According to CoPilot, "Massive dunes—some over 300 meters tall—can suddenly emit a deep, vibrating hum that sounds like a distant engine, a swarm of bees, or even a low, ghostly chant." People who have witnessed this phenomenon have said that the sounds seem like they are "coming from everywhere and nowhere at once". The science of this creepy noise is that the sand grains slide in just the right way to make this eerie noise!  I don't know about you, but now I want to go to the Sahara to hear this for myself!  Watch the video or click the image to learn more about singing dunes!      

 Happy February 9, 2026!!!  I decided to learn about different holidays for today's date.  Did you know that today is Read in the Bathtub day!  It is also International Pizza Day! It is also the day that, in 1894, the Hershey's Chocolate company was founded by M.S. Hershey!  I actually knew that one as I grew up in Pennsylvania. It is just one of those bits of trivia that stayed with me! I did not know about the others!  Do you suppose it would be acceptable to read a book in the bathtub while eating pizza?  Learn more quirky "on this day" facts by watching the video below or clicking the image!       

 Tonight was the Superbowl. We all know by now who won, but did you know that the very first Superbowl was broadcast by competing networks?  CBS and NBC both insisted on airing the game. Their cameras kept getting in the way of each other!!  The camera operators kept tangling cables and tried very hard not to get the other camera operators in their broadcast! There was no cooperation between the two networks at all!  To learn more Superbowl oddities, watch the video or click the image below!        

Today, I decided to learn about weird Olympic sports. I learned today that in 1900, live pigeon shooting was an official event!!  Pigeons were released from traps and the Olympian who killed the largest number of pigeons took home the gold!  This was the one and only time that animals of any kind were deliberately killed for the competition. People were so mortified by the sport that it was banned in future competitions!  I can not imagine who thought that sport was a good idea! There were around three hundred birds killed.  This is a sad, horrifying "learned something new", but sometimes this is necessary so that we don't repeat it! Wow.  To learn about more weird Olympic sports, watch the video or click the image below!      

 The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies are happening in Milan, Italy. I wanted to learn more about Milan! I did not know that there is an entire city BENEATH Milan!  There is an ancient roman city underground.  Milan, before the fall of Rome, it was the capital. What I learned that was really neat was that there are roads, walls, baths, a racetrack and mosaics still intact!  Milan was actually built right above all of these remains of the Roman Empire! There are some really nifty artifacts to see! Watch the video!  Click the image below it to learn more!       

 I went to the internet to learn something new today.  I learned that there is a species of jellyfish called  Turritopsis dohrnii  that can reverse its life cycle if it is in danger of losing its current life!  For example, if it is injured, or starving, or stressed (I can relate to that one!), it can transform itself back into a polyp life stage!  It can actually start its life over again! That's not to say that it cannot be killed or eaten, but it CAN rejuvenate itself.  I found this fascinating!  I am not sure I would want to go back to my younger years and live life over again. How about you? Watch the video or click the image below to learn more!!       

 Today's fun fact is something I would never have known!  Did you know that Australia has more snow every year than Switzerland!  It's true!  I asked the internet for a fun, little-known fact about Australia. I learned about snow in Australia!  I always pictured Australia as more of a tropical type climate! This made me feel a bit better about the cold temperatures in the eastern United States right now!  I also learned that Australia has ski resorts. It actually has a ski season! Pretty "cool" stuff! Click the video and image below to learn more!       

 I am fascinated by the rain forest. There are so many weird, bizarre plant and animal species in the rain forest!  I decided to learn about weird, bizarre rain forest facts today. I learned that there are trees that actually strangle other trees!!  They are called Strangler Fig trees! Birds carry the seeds and drop them. They land in the tops of other trees or in a crack in the bark. They begin to grow there. As the Strangler Fig trees grow roots, they wrap around the "host" tree and strangle it! They get thicker and thicker and begin to look like a tree on their own. They slowly block sunlight and restrict the growth of the host tree. Eventually the host tree rots away and the Strangler Fig tree looks like it has always grown there!  This was a fascinating, somewhat creepy fact I learned about the rain forest today!  What do you think?    

 As someone who grew up in western Pennsylvania, I am very familiar with February 2nd being Groundhog's Day. This is a tradition in Pennsylvania, rooted in German lore. Early settlers used animals to predict seasonal weather changes. There is a whole festival that happens for Groundhog's day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In fact, the most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil!  What I did not know was that there were so many others trying to predict whether an early spring is on tap, or six more weeks of winter!  ChatGPT gave me the following:  🇺🇸 United States Staten Island Chuck — New York City Famous for disagreeing with Phil and for once biting Mayor Bloomberg (iconic behavior). Buckeye Chuck — Ohio Ohio’s official groundhog. The state legislature once declared him more accurate than Phil (extremely Ohio). General Beauregard Lee — Georgia Southern groundhog = wildly optimistic. Often predicts early spring , shockingly. Dunkirk Dave — New York ...

 I learned today that some trees actually do communicate, chemically, with one another!  If a caterpillar eats a leaf, the leaves release airborne chemicals that move through the air. Other trees can "smell" this and make their leaves taste horrible or smell terrible to defend themselves! Sometimes this also makes their leaves toxic so that caterpillars leave them alone!  On the other side of this, the chemicals can attract insects that will eat the caterpillars! These "group chats" are going on all around us when we walk in the woods and we don't even know it! Click the image below to learn more!        https://youtu.be/OfCTNfAythg?si=8RBmzurCxroR-Gat