The next time you look around and begin to think that Planet Earth is getting a little crowded, you might want to look at the population explosion a lot closer to you. […]
Your Body is a Planet for Lots of Lifeforms
Harry Truman: the 33rd or the 32nd President?
Any official list of presidents will show Harry Truman as the 33rd President of the United States. Not everyone agrees with this, however. The most notable dissenter as to the number assigned […]
Take a Bite Out of the Number of Bytes in the Internet
It is impossible to accurately describe the precise size of the internet. For one thing, much of it is inaccessible to the public. For another, it grows at an impressively-fast speed (approximately […]
Five Years of Blogging — What Do People Find Interesting?
When I started Commonplace on September 9, 2014, it was a way for my sons and me to document and share things that grab our interest. The first post was a minor […]
Won’t You Be My Colorful Neighbor?
Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood had a colorful career and a colorful honor to go with it. In 1996 he was honored by the Binney & Smith factory in Easton, Pennsylvania when he […]
The Lawsuit for All the Money in the World… And More
When Anton Purisima was bitten by a dog, he believed someone should have to pay — and pay a lot. The “someone” was a whole bunch of individuals and corporations named in […]
The Father of an Empire Was Daddy to a Whole Lot More
A 2003 study concluded that as many as 16 million currently living men carry the Genghis Khan’s DNA. Within Mongolia, itself, as much as 8% of the population can claim genetic descent […]
Infinitely Interesting
That sideways figure eight used as the symbol for infinity (∞) is properly known as a lemniscate.
Et tu, Next Breath?
One of the most famous assassinations in history took place on March 15, 44 BC. Julius Caesar was attacked by a group of Roman senators and stabbed to death. William Shakespeare famously […]
People Are Dying to Get Out Of Here
Death is one thing we can all count on, but we try not to dwell on it. Although it is a certainty for everyone, it always seems to take us by surprise. […]
How Long to Walk the Planck?
One of the smallest units of measurement of time is the Planck time (tP). It is the time required for light to travel, in a vacuum, a distance of one Planck length, […]
Flying a Plane is All in the Numbers
If Airport X has a runway 30, and Airport Y’s top-numbered runway is 27, logic suggests that Airport A is the larger airport, right? Actually, the number of the runway has nothing […]
For Those Who Thought Their Math Teachers Were Evil
If math really isn’t your thing, it might not take a lot of convincing for you to believe your math teacher was an agent of evil. If you were forced to identify […]
Easy as Pi… Well, As Easy as Coffee, Anyway
Want to remember the value of Pi (3.1415926) in an easy way? You can do it by counting each word’s letters in “May I have a large container of coffee?”
Prime Time for Big Prime Number
A prime number is divisible only by one and itself. We learn about them in elementary school and recognize them as 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc. As the numbers get larger, […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 