Category Miscellaneous

The faces, hearts, and symbols that say what we feel

The word emoji comes from Japanese, combining e (絵, “picture”) and moji (文字, “character”). Though it sounds like “emoticon,” the two are unrelated. Emoji refers to pictorial characters, while emoticons are typographic expressions like :–) or :-P. Emoji were first…

Why the ‘Black Box’ can survive plane crashes

The “black box” in airplanes is actually two devices: the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). These record vital flight parameters and crew conversations, helping investigators understand what happened during an accident. Each recorder has specific…

Picture of Mark Twain sitting on a bench

How Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an iconic American author active primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, adopted the pen name Mark Twain from his experiences working as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. The phrase “mark twain” was…

Mother’s Day: Emotion or Enterprise?

Mother’s Day, celebrated globally, honors the invaluable role of mothers. Its origin traces back to 1908 when Anna Jarvis, a West Virginia activist inspired by her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis’ Civil War-era community work, held a memorial for her to…

Khaki: The color of camouflage and style

Did you know that the word khaki derives from the Urdu word ‘khak’, meaning ‘dust,’ which aptly describes its yellowish-brown, earthy tone? Introduced in the mid-19th century, khaki was first adopted by British colonial troops in India, who needed attire…