Interesting Things to Know
The history behind Taps: the bugle call played on Veterans Day
Taps is a 24-note bugle call played at American military funerals, wreath-laying ceremonies, and memorial services like Veterans Day.
In 1862, Major General Daniel Adams Butterfield adopted a French bugle call believed to be written in 1809 to signify the day’s end to soldiers. It was used as a signal to communicate troops should extinguish all lights and go to bed.
Butterfield also used Taps to honor his men while in camp at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia. The call soon spread to other units of the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates.
As for the name Taps, it most likely comes from the fact that prior to Butterfield’s bugle call, the “Extinguish Lights” call was issued by three drumbeats colloquially referred to by troops as taps. When Butterfield’s call replaced the drumbeats, soldiers continued to refer to the end-of-day signal in this manner.
By 1891, Taps became a standard component of military funerals and in 2012, Congress recognized it as the National Song of Remembrance.
Interesting Things to Know
Harnessing Your Sixth Sense: How to Use Intuition Effectively
Intuition, often called a “sixth sense” or a hunch, is a powerful mental tool that can guide us through decisions when logic alone isn’t enough. Psychologists from York University in Toronto have explored the origins of these intuitive insights and suggest practical ways to harness them effectively.
Understanding Intuition
Intuition operates as an ability to understand something immediately without needing conscious reasoning. It allows us to make decisions quickly, especially when we have limited information but a wealth of relevant experience. This sixth sense can often seem like it comes from nowhere, yet it’s deeply rooted in our past experiences and knowledge.
Enhancing Your Intuitive Abilities
- Expand Your Knowledge Base: Intuition is stronger in fields where you have more expertise. Invest time learning and expanding your knowledge to improve your intuitive abilities, especially outside your current areas of expertise. This broader understanding sets the stage for more frequent and accurate insights.
- Take a Step Back: To cultivate intuition, engage deeply with your questions and potential answers, then take a deliberate break. Activities that fully relax and occupy your mind can refresh your cognitive processes and lead to breakthroughs when you revisit the problem.
- Trust Your Gut: Experience fuels intuition. Trust your gut feelings, especially in areas where you have deep knowledge. While intuition sometimes contradicts logical reasoning, it often points toward innovative solutions that logic might miss.
- Verify Your Insights: While intuition can lead to rapid conclusions, validating these insights with facts and data is crucial. Before acting on a gut feeling, cross-check it with reality to ensure it stands up to scrutiny. This process confirms the validity of your intuitive leaps and can prevent potential mistakes.
Intuition as a Problem-Solving Tool
Intuition isn’t about making random guesses. It’s an advanced form of cognitive processing that blends past experiences with present awareness. By fostering your intuition through learning, relaxation, trust, and verification, you can enhance your decision-making skills in both personal and professional realms.
Remember, while facts and data are crucial, there comes a point in decision-making where you must rely on intuition’s less tangible yet profoundly insightful power. Embrace it as a complementary tool that, when used wisely, can lead to more holistic and effective problem-solving.
Interesting Things to Know
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Interesting Things to Know
Older Americans Month: Celebrating Connections that Enrich Lives
Interesting Things to Know
The Mystery of Fingerprints: Why Do We Have Them?
Fingerprints have become integral to our daily lives, from unlocking smartphones to helping detectives solve crimes. But why do humans even have fingerprints in the first place? This question has intrigued researchers, and recent studies illuminate this fascinating feature.
A 2020 study published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” suggests that the unique ridges on our fingertips enhance our ability to grip and hold objects. Another study featured in the “Journal of Neuroscience,” indicates that these ridges play a role in the sensitivity of human touch, making our sense of touch more refined.
Fascinating Facts about Fingerprints:
- Shared Traits: Fingerprints aren’t exclusive to humans. Only primates and koalas share this characteristic.
- Ageless Patterns: Fingerprints remain unchanged throughout a person’s life, even as other features evolve with age.
- Natural Patterns: The unique patterns of a zebra’s stripes and a leopard’s spots form like human fingerprints.
- Early Formation: Human fingerprints begin developing around the 10th week of gestation and are fully formed by 17 weeks.
Fingerprints are not just functional; they are unique identifiers that reveal much about us. The ongoing research into why they exist continues to unveil their remarkable properties and role in human evolution.