I did not know that yesterday!

Yes, we became aware of this trend while examining the medicine cabinets of friends and neighbors. Right next to the antifungal cream, there's usually a bottle of fish oil capsules. So is it actually healthy, or is fish oil just another form of snake oil?

Metaphorically speaking, an old dog is apparently incapable of learning new tricks. Just witness the thousands of lame sitcom jokes about hapless husbands forgetting to put the toilet seat down. In a literal sense, however, an elderly pooch is more than capable of mastering a new skill.

Tarot's origins are perhaps as misunderstood as the mystical symbols on the cards themselves. The promotional images and text on some of these divination decks claim ancient Egyptian origins or gypsy ancestry. But most serious sources say the roots of these symbolic cards can be traced to traditional playing cards.
The predecessors of the playing cards we use today first migrated to Europe from Islamic countries around the 14th century. The suits used on these early cards were coins, cups, swords, and sticks. These suits are still used in the tarot deck but were changed to hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades by French cardmakers in the 15th century. The earliest deck of tarot cards was a hand-painted set created around 1440 for the Duke of Milan. They were used for a game similar to bridge and to create amusing poetry.

It wasn't until the 1700s that tarot cards became strongly connected to fortune telling or the occult. The writings of Antoine Court de Gebelin in 1781 were hugely influential on the image of the tarot deck. An amateur scholar, Gebelin suggested that the pictures on the tarot deck were related to occult Egyptian hieroglyphics. While the Rosetta Stone later proved him wrong, the idea stuck, and other occult writers and tarot-card artists expanded on Gebelin's Egyptian interpretation.

Tarot divination gained in popularity during the 19th century, probably spurred on by a growing interest in all types of spiritualism. The Waite-Smith tarot deck, created in 1909, is often considered the "standard" deck, although the symbols are more a product of the late Victorian age than the Italian Renaissance (much less ancient Egypt). These days, you can find a tarot deck in any style or theme conceivable. We'll leave the mystical interpretations up to you.

It doesn't matter if you're driving a luxurious Lexus or a sensible Fiat, all new vehicles come with "new car smell" free of charge. Most folks love the odour, but few know what it is.

Well, here's the bad news -- that aroma is actually a collection of noxious fumes caused by the various glues holding the car's interior together. And while collectively it may smell good, it's not at all good for you.

ABC News explains that the new car smell may cause "headaches, sore throat, nausea, and possibly cancer." The United States doesn't have a law against the "volatile organic compounds" that cause new car smell, but some countries do. In the U.S., "new car interiors can contain 128 times the legal limit" in Australia.

So should a gas mask come free with every new car? Maybe, maybe not. This article from CNN reports that environmental groups are calling for new regulations in the U.S. Like all things government-related, this may take a while. In the meantime, new car owners should use solar reflectors, open their car windows, and park out of the sun when possible.

Suddenly, used cars never smelled so good.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

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Cut off your mattress tag already! Don't worry, you won't get locked up. As a consumer, it's perfectly legal to remove the tag from your own mattress. So why is it there? Well, the answer is somewhat involved.

Back in the 1900s, mattresses often contained a host of vermin and disease-carrying materials. To protect consumers, the government required dealers to post tags on their mattresses listing the contents. Later, the Feds added a warning to the content tag with the ominous message, "Do not remove under penalty of law," in big, black letters.

The move may have deterred duplicitous mattress dealers, but it only served to confuse consumers who didn't know that the threat wasn't meant for them. Confronted by fear of prosecution, consumers left the tags on their mattresses. Recently, the Feds addressed the misunderstanding by changing the label to: "This tag may not be removed except by the consumer."

Since then, the Feds have long abandoned the pursuit of tag-tearing merchants, though states like Texas still inspect mattresses for tags in stores. They're probably making sure their laws aren't full of fluff
Source: ask.yahoo.com

The word "picnic" is especially interesting because many believe it originally referred to a horrifying and racist act.

A popular email forward claims the word refered to the act of lynching African Americans while spectators watched and ate packed lunches. It turns out this is just an ugly urban legend. Indeed, African Americans were the targets of lynch mobs, but the word "picnic" has nothing to do with that.

In reality, "picnic" is just a simple adaptation of the French word piquenique, which may have been based on the verb piquer, to pick or peck. And while nobody knows for sure, the "nique" may have been added simply because it rhymed.

All About History explains that the word originally meant an "outing with food" that was held indoors, much like a modern-day potluck. It wasn't until the 19th century that picnics moved outside.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

We find nail polish to be a good enough reason for having them but thought you might be looking for a more scientific answer. We set out to find one by consulting the always reliable Britannica.com.

According to the online encyclopedia, the human and primate nail corresponds to the claw, hoof, or talon of other animals. Human nails protect the tips of the toes and fingers, while fingernails help us pick up small objects and scratch ourselves.

On the other hand, the feet of primates are capable of gripping objects, just like their hands, so their toenails have much the same function as fingernails. However, human toenails seem to be an evolutionary leftover.

We searched the Web on " toenails fingernails" and "toenail purpose." Both of these searches turned up sites devoted to diseases of the nails, which provided more opinions. On one such site, podiatrist Michael Zapf agrees that nails are essential for manipulation and scratching (and he points out the importance of scratching in a primate or human's life).

But the doctor debunks the notion that nails exist to protect the tips of toes and fingers. He argues that your digits wouldn't be especially sensitive without nails. Dermatologist Mitch Bender appears to agree: "People can get along without nails -- toenails more than fingernails -- but they do make daily life a bit easier."

So, though there's some disagreement about whether or not toenails and fingernails serve to protect our digits, our resources all agree that our nails help us pick up little stuff like pencils, peanuts, and even bottles of nail polish.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Contrary to the sworn testimony of tobacco executives in 1994, nicotine is highly addictive. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, withdraw symptoms include "irritability, craving, cognitive and attentional deficits, sleep disturbances, and increased appetite." So, it's definitely addictive, but is it as addictive as heroin?

Britain's Royal College of Physicians has argued that nicotine should be treated like a controlled substance because "it's a powerful addictive substance like heroin and cocaine." The same article mentions that Britain's Tobacco Manufacturers Association disagrees. The tobacco group points out that unlike with hard drugs, people are able to give up tobacco every day.

Nevertheless, the American Heart Association states there are similarities between tobacco and heroin in terms of the "pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine...addiction." Canada's Federal Health Department also agrees. Health Canada explains that "nicotine causes chemical or biological changes in the brain," a psychoactive effect. "Although it is less dramatic than heroin or cocaine, the strength of the addiction is just as powerful."

The moral? Don't smoke. If you do, seek help quitting. The benefits of quitting are both immediate and long term. For example, a "35-year-old man who quits smoking will, on average, increase his life expectancy by 5.1 years."

source: ask.yahoo.com

The Christian Science Monitor likens an icebreaker ship to a blocker on a football team -- the icebreaker plows through the defense to get the ship where it needs to go. But these ships don't use sheer force alone. A specially shaped hull, extra-strong steel plating, and powerful engines all work together to help ships break through thick Arctic and Antarctic ice.

Early icebreaker ships were made of wood, and the hull often had a rounded bow. These ships rammed into ice and tried to break it by brute force. Wood has some flexibility and resiliency, which helped the ships withstand some of the pressure of the ice. But the older shape and materials had their limits.

Modern icebreakers have a stepped hull designed to help the ship rise up on top of the ice and then crush downward through it. This allows the weight of the ship to break the ice like a giant sledgehammer. The hull is made of thick steel that has good low-temperature strength. Inside the hull is a massive support structure with closely spaced steel ribs. The thickness of the steel and the structure keep the ship from breaking under pressure.

The ship's powerful engines propel the hull up and forward, then gravity does the hard work of breaking thick polar ice. As many as six diesel-powered generators may be needed to run an icebreaker, and some ships are even nuclear-powered.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

While researching this question, we happened upon a word that made us feel old: vintage. It's hard to believe that our trusty math buddy is now considered vintage machinery.

According to Vintage Technology, both buttons are a way to clear or cancel an entry. The C button will clear all input to the calculator. The CE button clears the most recent entry, so if you make a mistake in a long computation, you don't need to start all over again.

Exactly when calculators began to use these buttons is hard to say. The Vintage Calculators Web Museum provides a timeline that seems to show that the Friden EC-130, which was introduced in 1964, included "clear entry" and "clear display" keys (as did its successor, the EC-132). Those may not be the exact C and CE keys we see today, but it sounds like they performed the same function.

Our nostalgia for the calculator led us to check out even older models -- just for fun. The futuristic sounding Comptometer, invented in 1884, definitely wouldn't fit into a pocket. And it looks like you could catch your tie in the 1874 Odhner. We'll stick with the credit-card-size models. They're less of a load.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

There are a few theories, though -- like this one from the MadSci Network .

The post argues that girls often have neater handwriting because they "tend to be more calm and patient at younger ages." Assuming that's true, girls may pay closer attention to lessons on penmanship. Of course, this is a generalization, and many other factors contribute to whether a person scrawls chicken scratch. Age, coordination, and personality each play a part.

Christina Hoff Sommers explains a few unfortunate side effects of poor penmanship in males. According to her article, handwriting appears to be correlated with a child's grades. "Several studies have confirmed that, when teachers are asked to grade papers of comparable quality, those that are neatly written get higher marks." Bad news for grade-grubbing boys.

While we wouldn't call poor penmanship a crisis, the gender discrepancy is cause for concern. Unless, of course, you're hoping your son grows up to be a doctor...

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Negotiating the value of your dead body would be a strange process. Would you get more money if you have an interesting mole or unique eye color? Would you get less if you have some plastic or metal parts?

The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act makes certain types of payment for body parts illegal. Section 16 prohibits someone from buying or selling body parts for transplantation or therapy. However it does allow people to charge a fee for the "removal, processing, preservation, quality control, storage, transportation, implantation, or disposal of a part." And according to The Straight Dope, trafficking in body parts for education and research still isn't well regulated, leading to abuse and some gruesome stories.

Living people can participate in clinical trials -- a legal way to score cash from the scientific community. If all goes well, you finish up with some extra dough and go your merry way. But there may be some drawbacks to being a human guinea pig, and not everyone has a happy story to tell.

If that doesn't sound appealing, you can always donate your blood, bone marrow, sperm, or eggs. After all, wouldn't you rather reap the benefits of your contributions to science while you're still alive?

Source: ask.yahoo.com

The official Play-Doh web page wasn't very helpful, so we poked around the "Corporate Info" section of Hasbro's web site. Eventually, we found a page on the history of Play-Doh. Unfortunately, the page didn't name names, so we searched for " Play-Doh" on Yahoo! and found a wealth of information.

In 1956, Noah W. and Joseph S. McVicker of the Rainbow Crafts Company received U.S. patent number 3,167,440 for a pliable plastic modeling composition called Play-Doh. Although the Patent Office claims that the compound was originally designed as a wallpaper cleaner, Home & Garden Television states that Joe McVicker created the soft, reusable, non-toxic "clay" for his sister's preschool class. Play-Doh was first sold by Rainbow Crafts in the toy department of Woodward & Lothrop Department Store in Washington, D.C. Even though it only came in off-white (primary colors were introduced in 1957), Play-Doh was an immediate hit.

In 1965, General Mills purchased the Rainbow Crafts Company, and in 1970, Rainbow Crafts was merged into General Mills' Kenner Products line. Over the years, the company introduced many new colors and Play-Doh toys. The Tonka Corporation purchased the Kenner line in 1987, and Play-Doh's current owner, Hasbro, purchased Tonka in 1991 -- the year Play-Doh celebrated its 35th birthday.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Most folks believe mucus causes a stuffy schnozz. But according to Medline Plus, inflamed blood vessels are the real culprit. They cause swelling in the membranes lining our noses.

Interestingly, there's a normal cycle of congestion and decongestion called a "nasal cycle." WebMD explains that the length of the cycle varies, but usually takes one to four hours. "If you hold a finger over one nostril and blow air out the other nostril, you will notice a different amount of air coming from each side. This should normally vary from side to side according to your nasal cycle."

A plugged-up proboscis can result from more than just a cold or the flu. Other causes include allergies or a non-allergic inflammation in the nasal blood vessels (which can occur in response to stress, cold air, spicy food, or exercise). MayoClinic.com recommends these measures to breathe freely: steam, drinking fluids, eating chicken soup, nasal saline spray, breathing strips, or decongestants.

source: ask.yahoo.com

Maybe Americans are more in tune with the cosmos. Perhaps aliens want to chat about "American Idol" with real Americans. Whatever the reason, this is a hard question to crack because (attention, conspiracy theorists!) there isn't an official site for reporting UFOs.

The National UFO Reporting Center lists thousands of "close encounters" submitted by users. According to its database, the United States has far and away the most reported UFO sightings. In fact, California alone has reported more than China, England, India, and Brazil combined.

But this doesn't necessarily mean Americans see UFOs more than other people. It just means more Americans report seeing UFOs to this particular site. The Center for UFO Studies explains, "No one is sure why the number of UFO reports varies from country to country, but cultural, religious, and political factors are probably involved." In other words, seeing a UFO in the United States might be kind of cool. In other countries, that may not be the case.

The truth is, UFOs have been (allegedly) seen just about everywhere -- from the hills of Switzerland to the coast of Australia. Should you ever spot one, the Center for UFO Studies advises you get witnesses, take pictures, and write down the details. Oh, and don't forget to report it.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, is generally considered to be the oldest university in the world. It was founded roughly the same time as the city of Cairo, in 969 AD. The first lecture was delivered in 975 AD.

Like many centers of learning, Al-Azhar University was originally intended as a place of worship and religious instruction. The mosque at Al-Azhar is one of the most famous in the Muslim world, and is still considered the seat of Sunni Islamic study.

The university pioneered systems of advanced academic instruction with its hierarchy of regular instructors and visiting professors. Its history follows the turbulent rise of the Islamic Empire, replete with political revolutions and competing religious philosophies. While Al-Azhar University has a storied history of religious instruction, it also boasts a robust secular curriculum, offering advanced degrees in engineering and medicine.

As with all matters medieval, historical facts and figures are up to academic interpretation. Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, Morroco, has also laid claim to the title of oldest university in the world.

Europe's oldest university was founded in 1088 in the northern Italian city of Bologna. The United States's oldest university, Harvard, opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1636, not long after the first English colonists arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

While most folks consider DJ Kool Herc to be the "father of hip-hop," other sites credit Afrika Bambaataa as the first rapper.

OldSchoolHipHop features an interesting biography of DJ Kool Herc. Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1955, Kool Herc was particularly interested in the song's "break section" -- the part of the song without vocals. Extending the song's break was Herc's trademark and "would be a very important one for hip hop."

Does that qualify Herc as the first rapper? Maybe, maybe not. An article on VH-1's official site lists Afrika Bambaataa as "one of rap's founding fathers." User-edited site Wikipedia writes that Bambaataa is often credited "as being the first rapper ever."

Rap is a fusion of different musical genres. No one person can or should be given credit for "inventing" it, but we did find an article on the origin of rap by Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D. Person-Lynn quotes Bambaataa as saying, "A lot of people always think it (rap) started in the South Bronx, but officially it came from the West Bronx, 'cause Kool Herc (credited with being the first rapper), was from that area."

If Bambaataa believes Herc came first, that's good enough for us. Peace.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

It's the darnedest thing. We were all doing just fine before cell phones came along. But now that they're here, nobody can live without them. So who do we have to thank/blame for the indispensable lump of plastic that costs us $50 a month? A chap named Martin Cooper.

Cooper developed the cell phone in 1973 while working for Motorola. Naturally, he had the honor of making the world's first cell phone call. From a busy New York sidewalk, Cooper called his rival at Bell Laboratories and said, "Joe, I'm calling you from a real portable cellular telephone." Cooper says he thought he heard teeth gnashing in the background.

Of course, the first cell phone looked a lot different than the fancy flip phones of today. And cell phones didn't go into commercial service until 10 years later, when Motorola introduced the $3,500 DynaTAC phone. Not surprisingly, at that price point, it took a while for the invention to catch on.

Today, more people subscribe to cell phones than landlines. For better or for worse, Martin Cooper's invention is here to stay.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Your skin is comprised of two layers -- the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis produces an oily protein called sebum, which is effective in repelling water. It's also the material that causes fingerprints.

Inevitably, a nice long soak in a bathtub sloughs off the excess sebum from your epidermis. As a result, your skin starts to take on water. The top layer of the epidermis is known as the stratum corneum, which is Latin for "horny layer." These are the tough, dead skin cells that are constantly being sloughed off your body in your clothes, your bed, and in the form of dandruff. Disturbing, but true.

Your fingers and toes have especially thick layers of stratum corneum. Once deprived of sebum, they swell up with water, causing wrinkles. This osmosis effect is harmless and temporary. One you get out of the tub, the extra water evaporates, leaving your skin even drier than before because there is no sebum to help retain moisture. This is a good time to apply lotion or oil to help your skin retain some of the water.
Source: ask.yahoo.com

The American icon Uncle Sam was in fact based on a real man, albeit a rather short, pudgy, beardless one.

A businessman from Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson provided the army with beef in barrels during the War of 1812. The barrels were prominently labelled "U.S." for the United States, but it was joking said that the letters stood for "Uncle Sam." Soon, Uncle Sam was used as shorthand for the federal government.

The man himself looked nothing like the gaunt, steely-eyed patrician of popular lore. The Abe Lincoln look, along with that fantastic star-spangled outfit, was a product of political cartoonists like Thomas Nast.

Uncle Sam became a useful icon in cartoons, much like the John Bull character who represented the United Kingdom. John Bull and Uncle Sam have squared off in hundreds of political cartoons throughout the years.

The Uncle Sam Image Gallery features the famous World War I recruiting image that depicted a stern Sam pointing his finger and declaring "I want you" created by James Montgomery Flagg in 1916.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Some fish drink the water they swim in, while others absorb it through osmosis. It just depends on whether the fish lives in freshwater or saltwater.

The MadSci Network explains that fish need to keep a certain concentration of salt in their bodies. Marine fish need to worry about preventing water loss, because they already get plenty of salt. They drink sea water, and their gills process the water but remove the salt. In fact, some saltwater fish lack properly functioning kidneys, in order to help avoid losing too much water.

Freshwater fish have the opposite problem: They need more salt. They absorb water through their skin and have effective ways of excreting excess liquid to maintain the salt they need.

Some fish have developed the ability to exist comfortably in both freshwater and saltwater -- the salmon and bull shark are notable examples. Bull sharks have been found far up the Mississippi and Amazon rivers, much to the surprise of people who believe sharks are found only in the salty, salty sea.

Source: Ask.yahoo.com

Searching Yahoo! using the keyword "Velcro," we found the Velcro Industries' home page. There we anxiously devoured The Story of Hook and Loop, which discusses the invention of the sticky stuff.

After a walk in the woods, Swiss inventor George de Mestral noted the difficulty of removing burrs from his wool pants. This prompted him to examine them under a microscope, where he discovered that each burr was made up of tiny hooks that attached themselves to the loops of thread in the fabric.

From there, de Mestral inferred that a manmade version of these "hooks and loops" would provide a simple, foolproof fastener. He eventually devised a way to manufacture the product, patented the process, and called the concoction Velcro, from the words velvet and crochet (the French term for "hook").

To find out more, we took the name "George de Mestral" and poured it back into the Yahoo! search box. A few clicks later we were rewarded with the interestingly titled Useless Information: Zippers and Velcro. The page not only offers information on de Mestral's "locking tape," but also includes the story of the two inventors who came together to create the zipper.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

Sudoku is a numbers-based game. The rules are simple -- players attempt to fill in a nine-by-nine grid before going completely insane. Not surprisingly, these brainteasers owe their existence to a mathematician.

Leonhard Euler is widely acknolwedged as the father of Sudoku. In 1793, Euler invented "Latin Squares," the precursor to today's modern Sudoku puzzles. As far as mathematicians go, Euler was pretty famous in his day. According to about.com, the "Swiss genius dominated 18th-century mathematics."

The name Sudoku didn't come until much later (1984, to be exact). According to the London Observer, a Japanese publisher made a few logistical improvements to the game and then dubbed it "Sudoku." In Japanese, "Su means a number and doku roughly translates as singular or unique," says the Observer.

These days, you can find Sudoku games all over the Web. If you're really up for a challenge, take a look at this article from USA Today. It details the "world's hardest Sudoku puzzle." Clearly, wimps need not apply.

Source: Ask.yahoo.com

Pirates are still around today. However, unlike the charming and lovable Jack Sparrow from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, they're not the types of guys you'd want to meet in a dark alley, er, fjord.

Modern-day pirate attacks are shockingly violent. The BBC reports that today's pirates attack gas tankers and disaster-relief ships with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. Their objective -- to kidnap, steal, attack, rape, and murder. Says House of Commons member Gwyneth Dunwoody, "There is nothing remotely romantic about the perpetrators of these appalling crimes."

Still, there is good news for landlubbers. According to International Herald Tribune, the number of global pirate attacks fell in 2006 to their lowest level in eight years. This is thanks to increased patrols by law enforcement and precautionary measures taken by ship crews. With 50 reported attacks in 2006, Indonesia remains the world's "piracy hot spot." Bangladesh isn't far behind with 47.

So, pirates do exist today. But they're dangerous people and nothing like the Hollywood version. Oh, and we doubt any of 'em look like Johnny Depp.

Source: ask.yahoo.com

In a Christmas-day cover story last year, "New York Magazine" cited one of the "Reasons to Love New York" as "Because We Wouldn't Trade a Patch of Grass for $528,783,552,000 ."

That's the estimated worth of all the land in Central Park. (Here are some numbers used in the estimate.) In case the sight of that figure fried your numerical recognition, that's nearly 529 billion dollars. That prices out to about $627 million an acre, or 26% more than the entire 2006 U.S. defense budget, or 7 million times the price of Boardwalk and Park Place together. Considering that New York "paid more than $5 million for undeveloped land from 59th Street to 106th Street" between 1853 and 1856, that's pretty good appreciation.

But even if the city needed the money, it might not want to sell off its giant patch-of-green-amidst-the-concrete. Real estate pundit Jonathan Miller writes "the net value of all of Manhattan would be less after Central Park was developed." And this article from the electronic journal "Planning & Markets" states: "...the city council keeps Manhattan's Central Park unbuilt not because Greens rule the Big Apple, but because property values overall are higher with the park than with luxury condos on the site."

Source: ask.yahoo.com