The Origin of Everyday

Sunday

The religious pilgrimage known as the hajj is one of the “five pillars” of Islam, required of all muslims who are physically and financially able to make the journey. Every year, millions of faithful travel to the Ka’bah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia for this purpose.

Monday

The world’s largest religious gathering is the Kumbh Mela, in which upwards of 100,000,000 Hindus gather in one of four Indian cities every few years. The reason is a unique legend: While the gods churned a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality, four drops spilled out, one landing in each of these cities. Kumbh Mela means “pitcher festival.”

Tuesday

The “Camino de Santiago” or “Way of St. James” is the name given to several different routes through Spain (or Portugal) that lead to the city of Santiago de Compostela on Spain’s northwestern coast, where the tomb of the Christian apostle James is believed to be. About 500,000 people a year travel these routes.

Wednesday

Millions of Hindus visit Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, India each year to see a glimpse of the Makara Jyothi star, a light believed to be the Hindu god Lord Ayyappan blessing his faithful.

Thursday

The Arba’in is the largest annual gathering in the world, bringing tens of millions of mostly Shia muslims to Karbala, Iraq in honor of the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammed’s grandson.

Friday

Lumbini, in modern Nepal, was the reported birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha. One of the four places which Buddha advised his followers to visit, the city now welcomes over 1 million visitors annually.

Saturday

Now nearly 22 centuries old, Jerusalem’s Western Wall is one of the holiest sites for Jewish pilgrims. The only remains of two earlier temples destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans, it is also called the “Wailing Wall” due to the tradition of mourning the original temple and praying for its restoration.

Sunday

Clowns are old. Humorous progenitors of modern clowns can be found in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt.

Monday

Though each have sub-categories, modern clowns fall into three major classes: The whiteface clown, the Auguste clown (often a duo who play off each other), and the tramp, a hobo-like American invention in the Charlie Chaplin mold.

Tuesday

The most famous modern whiteface clown (at least to people of a certain generation) was Bozo. Known mostly for his long-running TV show, Bozo was originally a character created for the world’s first “read along book,” in which a record was included with a children’s book that they could listen to as they read along. It sold unexpectedly well for the then-young Capitol Records, and this led to the creation of Bozo shows in many cities, each with different actors playing the clown.

Wednesday

While naughty or evil clowns have been known in popular culture for centuries, the idea was accelerated by fictional clowns like Pennywise and, unfortunately, real-life killer clown John Wayne Gacy. The largest and most recent survey on fear of clowns (AKA “coulrophobia”) found 53.5% of respondents had some degree of clown fear.

Thursday

The most obvious ancestor of modern clowns was Joseph Grimaldi, a 19th century British performer whose whiteface clown was part of a wildly popular act. To this day, many clowns are called “Joeys” in his honor. Unfortunately, he was privately very sad. Having lived through the deaths of his wife and son and taxed by his physically demanding act, he wrote: “I make you laugh at night but am Grim-all-day.” Charles Dickens later edited Grimaldi’s biography.

Friday

Clowns and jesters are different. Jesters often used improvised comedy and entertained their audience (historically in royal courts) with music, wit, and tales. Clowns have a routine and make themselves the object of laughter, typically with exaggerated dress and physical comedy.

Saturday

Clowning as a career has been declining somewhat in the US and Europe, but clowns in Asia are seeing a rise in popularity.

Sunday

History’s tallest recorded human was mild-mannered Robert Wadlow from Alton, Illinois, who reached 8’11” (2.72 meters), but only lived to age 22. As of writing, the world’s tallest living man is Sultan Kösen of Turkey, at 8’3″, and another tall Turk, Rumeysa Gelgi, is the current world’s tallest woman at 7’1″.

Monday

French-born pro wrestler Andre the Giant (born André René Roussimoff), was huge in a profession of huge men. His passport listed his height at 7’2″, and his weight was about 500 lbs. He could physically move most cars by himself, and he often moved friends’ cars as pranks. He once drank 117 beers in a sitting, but quit drinking soon after (and lost 90 lbs.).

Tuesday

American Jon Brower Minnoch holds the title for the heaviest person in medical history, weighing over 1,400 lbs. (635 kg.) at one point. Since his first wife weighed about 110 lbs., he also helped break another unique record, that of the greatest weight differential between a married couple.

Wednesday

The title of heaviest twins goes to Benny Loyd and Billy Leon McCrary, who weighed 723 lbs. and 743 lbs. respectively. These famous motorcycle riding and pro wrestling twins’ pituitary glands were affected by a childhood bout of rubella, and they continued to grow despite what they described as a typical diet.

Thursday

The largest recorded baby born, both in weight and length, was 23 lbs. and 28″ long when born in 1879, though the unnamed boy sadly lived only 11 hours. The child’s mother and father were 7’11” and 7’9″, respectively, and still hold the record for the tallest married couple.

Friday

The Trapp Family of Minnesota is currently the world’s tallest, with an average height over 6’8″. Mom is 6’3″, dad is 6’8″, daughters are 6’6″ and 6’8″ and son is 7’3″.

Saturday

As measured by height at age 19, The Netherlands is the tallest country on Earth, with men’s average height at 6′ and women, 5’7″.

Sunday

The “Penny Black” and “Twopenny Blue” were the world’s first adhesive postage stamps, released two days apart, and began circulation in England in May 1840. One cost a penny and showed Queen Victoria’s profile in black and white, the other cost double with the same image in blue.

Monday

Before stamps, the receiver had to pay the cost of the letter when it was delivered, unless the sender already had. Price was based on distance traveled and how many sheets of paper the letter contained.

Tuesday

“Philately” is the collection, study, and appreciation of postage stamps.

Wednesday

The “British Guiana 1 cent Magenta,” a bright red, 8-sided stamp from 1856, is currently the world’s most valuable. The only one known to exist most recently sold for $9.48 million USD.

Thursday

Rarity makes a stamp valuable, but so does human error. Many of the world’s most valuable stamps were printed in the wrong color, contained the wrong text, or in the case of the “Inverted Jenny,” featured an airplane flying upside down.

Friday

“Stamps” are really stickers, but before the modern postage stamp, an ink and stamp pad were used for the same function, hence the name.

Saturday

An image of the monarch’s head appears somewhere on every British stamp, so these are the only stamps on Earth which don’t bear the name of the issuing nation.

Sunday

There are at least two, and by some counts three, major categories of roots. There’s the familiar thin, wide-branching fibrous roots, the solid single taproot (a carrot is one of these), and adventitious roots, which can grow from many parts of the plant or tree and can provide stability, among other things.

Monday

Aerial roots do not need to be anchored in soil, or even just water, but can exchange oxygen directly with the air. They can also help a plant climb and brace the plant.

Tuesday

While some roots don’t even touch the soil, some go very, very deep. The current record for deepest roots goes to a fig tree in South Africa that went nearly 400 feet down. For context, that’s 1/3 the height of the Empire State Building, underneath a tree that typically grows no more than 30 feet tall.

Wednesday

Studies of root depth reveal a close connection to the water table in a given location. When water is close to the surface, so are the roots, and when deeper, the roots of the same tree or plant grow deeper to pursue it.

Thursday

“Root vegetable” is a food where the edible part grows underground, and includes, among other things, potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, cassava, radishes, taro, celery, water chestnut, ginger, garlic, shallots, parsley, rutabaga, turnips, and yams.

Friday

Before electricity and refrigeration, root vegetables were best kept in root cellars. These are underground storage areas that use soil’s natural insulating and humidifying properties to keep the food cool and tasty in storage long after harvest.

Saturday

In Australia, “rooting” doesn’t mean cheering for, it means having sex.

Sunday

While piracy is nearly as old as ocean vessels themselves, most modern pirate associations come from the period from 1650-1720, often called “The Golden Age of Piracy.” An estimated 5,000 pirates were active during this time.

Monday

Many terms for pirates used interchangeably today are technically different. “Pirate” is the most generic term, as is “brigand.” A “buccaneer” was a pirate of Central America’s Pacific Coast or the Caribbean, a “corsair” worked the Mediterranean, and a “privateer” was a pirate with papers, that is, a private ship with official authority to raid a rival nation’s ships and settlements.

Tuesday

The image of pirates’ doomed prisoners “walking the plank” was more a creation of adventure fiction writers than reality. Real pirates simply threw unwanted prisoners overboard.

Wednesday

In popular culture, the black & white skull-and-crossbones pirate flag, AKA “Jolly Roger,” regularly flies above the menacing ships. In reality, pirate flagging was more complex. Pirates often flew false flags of nations to gain the trust of nearby vessels, or raise the pirate flag only at the last minute. Also, a red flag would indicate no mercy would be shown to those who resisted, while a black one indicated the pirates might negotiate.

Thursday

Pirates were a surprisingly democratic bunch. They chose their captain, made major decisions, and resolved disputes all with majority votes. This contrasted sharply with the rigid command structure of merchant and military vessels of the time, and indeed many pirates endured unpleasant previous careers on such ships.

Friday

The notion of buried pirate treasure marked on a map with an X is also more myth than reality, aided by the great success of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Treasure Island. Though there were a few cases of real-life buried treasure, pirates were more likely to divide their spoils on the spot and spend it soon after on wild carousals.

Saturday

Piracy is still happening, particularly off the coasts of lower income countries with weaker law enforcement. Though not the only piracy hot spot, it spiked in Somalia following a civil war in the early 1990s and remains a threat to foreign vessels.

Sunday

Helmets are old. They were first used by soldiers in the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations approximately 2300 BC, and were likely made of leather, with bronze helmets developed by Mycenaean Greeks showing up about 600 years later.

Monday

One of the first helmets used in an American football game was leather, made by a shoemaker, and worn in a 1893 Army-Navy game by a future admiral who was advised by his doctor that additional head blows could cause him “instant insanity or death.” There is evidence of other helmet designs before this, but it wouldn’t be until 1943 that helmets were mandatory in pro football games.

Tuesday

Despite the familiar image, Viking helmets – to the extent they wore helmets at all – had no horns. The stereotype Viking headgear began in artwork and operas in the 1800s, and was based on horny headgear that predated the Viking era by 2000 years.

Wednesday

Helmets are legally required for motorcycle riders in most parts of the world, but not everywhere. In the US, the states of Illinois, New Hampshire, and Indiana currently have no helmet laws whatsoever.

Thursday

To make sure childrens’ bicycle helmets are effective, they’ve been tested on real human skulls.

Friday

Some helmets cost more than houses. The super-customized and data-packed F-35 Lightning fighter pilot’s helmet costs $400,000.

Saturday

Because they offer better side-impact protection and a chinstrap to secure them on the head better, rock climber-style helmets are replacing traditional hard hats in the construction industry.

Among the many famous screen characters which are based on real people:

Sunday

The character of Charles Foster Kane in “Citizen Kane” is based on publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who worked aggressively to suppress the distribution and success of the unflattering character portrait.

Monday

Lanky, eccentric neighbor Cosmo Kramer on “Seinfeld” was inspired by co-creator Larry David’s onetime neighbor Kenny Kramer.

Tuesday

The purely logical, unemotional Mr. Spock on TV’s Star Trek was inspired by Los Angeles police chief William H. Parker, who series creator Gene Roddenberry wrote speeches for in a previous career. Parker was described as a “very analytic, rational person, very dismissive of emotions…”

Wednesday

There are several inspirations for underdog boxer Rocky Balboa in “Rocky.” His first name comes from legendary heavyweight boxer Rocco Francis “Rocky Marciano” Marchegiano, and “Balboa” is the street that Sylvester Stallone lived near in his first run-down apartment in Hollywood while trying to break into the industry. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity plot was drawn from the Chuck Wepner vs. Muhammad Ali fight, in which this real-life club boxer was given a rare shot to fight the champ and lasted 15 rounds in the ring, despite the long odds against him.

Thursday

Among film’s most beloved slackers, “The Dude” in “The Big Lebowski” is strongly influenced by Jeff Dowd, film producer, marketing executive, former anti-war activist, and, yes, White Russian cocktail enthusiast. Dowd was a friend of Big Lebowski filmmakers of Joel and Ethan Coen.

Friday

John Nettleship, early chemistry teacher of JK Rowling, wore his long, dark hair parted in the middle, and was, in his own words, “demanding, exacting, and wouldn’t suffer fools gladly,” much like Professor Severus Snape, the Harry Potter character he inspired.

Saturday

The inspiration for Betty Boop is a strange two-parter. The first performer to use “Boop boop-a-doop” while she sang, danced, and made amusing faces on stage was child performer “Baby Esther” Jones. However, many signature parts of her act were stolen by aspiring performer Helen Kane. Kane’s (stolen) stage act was then made into the famous Betty Boop cartoon character. Kane sued Boop’s creators and lost when it came out that Jones was the original inspiration, though Jones was never compensated or credited.

Among the many famous literary characters which are based on real people (or whales):

Sunday

Jack Kerouac’s charismatic, womanizing, far-traveling, and experience-hungry On The Road character Dean Moriarty is based on real-life friend Neal Cassady.

Monday

Popeye the Sailor was based on non-sailor Frank “Rocky” Fiegel of Chester, Illinois, known for his hard work, feats of strength, kindness toward children, and drunken brawling. Olive Oyl and Wimpy were also inspired by real-life town locals.

Tuesday

One of literature’s most famous nonhuman characters, Moby Dick, was based on “Mocha Dick,” an unusually large and aggressive white sperm whale of Herman Melville’s time. According to the article which inspired Melville, the real whale had escaped 80 whaling ships and sunken 20 more over a 28-year span before it was finally killed in a furious battle near Mocha Island, Chile.

Wednesday

Philomena Guinea, the wealthy elderly benefactor of main character Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar, is based on author Syvia Plath’s real-life benefactor Olive Higgins Prouty. Esther’s life and experiences are also drawn from the author.

Thursday

Main character Amory Blaine in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise is based on the young author, also a recent Princeton grad, and several women in the book are based on his former girlfriends, one of whom also inspired Daisy Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby.”

Friday

Mark Twain’s famous character Huckleberry Finn was based on Twain’s childhood best friend Tom Blankenship, of whom Twain wrote: “He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had.”

Saturday

John Elwes was the wealthy yet extremely miserly individual most likely to have inspired Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge. He went to bed at dark to save money on candles, never paid for transportation, ate meat from game animals “to the last stage of putrefaction,” and wore clothes so worn and filthy that people would give him pennies in the street, though he was a member of the English parliament. At death, his painstakingly-saved wealth totaled about $50 million in today’s dollars.

Sunday

NECCO Wafers = New England Confectionery COmpany

Monday

FIFA = Federation Internationale de Football Association

Tuesday

Soweto = SOuth-WEstern TOwnships (of Johannesburg, South Africa)

Wednesday

HIMARS = High Mobility Artillery Rocket System

Thursday

TARDIS (from Dr. Who) = Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Friday

Interpol = INTERnational criminal POLice organization

Saturday

FISA = Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (US statute)