Hey, I didn’t come up with that title- it was attached to the video already. We shouldn’t call these “facts,” as that implies a certain intersection with the truth. But you know, I often come across “facts” on the internet that turns out to be quite wrong, and now Joel Veitch of Rathergood and David Shute are doing their best to contribute to that mass of disinformation. It’s good that they made it go so fast, because if this were slow enough that your crazy great-aunt could understand it, she’d forward it to all her friends.
Mental Floss host John Green shares some interesting facts you probably didn’t know about the founding fathers.
Enjoy!
It couldn’t have been easy for John Green to come up with such tantalizing tidbits about our Founding Fathers that we haven’t heard before. Who knew Samuel Adams was ugly? That John Jay got a new job every time he left home? That Paul Revere was drunk during his famous ride? Of course, Benjamin Franklin gets the biggest share of trivia,because that man was a never-ending font of awesomeness.
Why do we grow old? Integrative Biologist Joao Pedro de Magalhaes explains what aging is and how we can extend our lifespan.
You don’t have to get older. There’s a traditional alternative, but it’s unpleasant.
Aging may appear to be inevitable, but Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães, a biologist at the University of Liverpool, disputes that. He’s devoted his scholarly life to studying the process of aging.
The artists behind Ph.D. Comics, a funny webcomic about the graduate school lifestyle, produced this video. They illustrate a talk by Dr. Magalhães on the subject of aging. What is the process of aging at the cellular level? We don’t know for sure, but Dr. Magalhães explains three major hypotheses. He also describes what we may be able to learn from age-resistant animals, such as the naked mole rat.
With this check, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. For less than 2 cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles of what many considered to be worthless land. Oh boy were they wrong!
In 1866 the Russian government offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward, enthusiastic about the prospects of American Expansion, negotiated the deal for the Americans. Edouard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to the United States, negotiated for the Russians. On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska.
For less that 2 cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles. Opponents of the Alaska Purchase persisted in calling it “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox” until 1896, when the great Klondike Gold Strike convinced even the harshest critics that Alaska was a valuable addition to American territory.
The check for $7.2 million was made payable to the Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl, who negotiated the deal for the Russians. Also shown here is the Treaty of Cession, signed by Tzar Alexander II, which formally concluded the agreement for the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
Here is everything you wanted to know about steaks.
Enjoy!
There are no recipes in this video. Instead, Pat LaFrieda explains the differences between the different steak names you’ve heard. Frankly, I knew the difference between these as a matter of price, not what part of the cow they come from or what characteristics they have.
