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February is Black History Month, a time for Americans to reflect on the cultural contributions African Americans have made to the United States. Some may be wondering how Black History Month became an official celebration. And why is it celebrated in February? Here’s the scoop.

Most history experts give credit to Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). Woodson is commonly referred to as the father of black history. Carter led a challenging but amazing life. At the age of 19, he entered high school and completed his studies in two years. He then studied Greek and Latin, while working in a mine shaft. Eventually, he went to the University of Chicago, and finally got his PhD from Harvard University.

But what does that have to do with Black History Month? After founding the Journal of Negro History, Woodson was instrumental (read: it wouldn’t have happened without him) in organizing “Negro History Week.” Woodson chose a week in February as a way to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery, and Frederick Douglass, the iconic civil rights activist.

Negro History Week became Black History Month during the 1960s. “No other single thing,” Woodson said, “has done so much to dramatize the achievement of persons of African blood.” According to AppalachianHistory.net, Woodson often remarked that “he hoped the time would come when Negro History Week would be unnecessary; when all Americans would willingly recognize the contributions of black Americans as a legitimate and integral part of the history of this country.”

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Mike

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It’s no surprise, mobile is getting bigger and bigger in the online world. Over a year ago, we introduced the mobile-optimized version of Yahoo! Answers, which is proving to be extremely successful amongst users on any device.

To make things easier for Android users, we developed an app that offered the Yahoo! Answers mobile experience outside of the browser. However, we noticed that most of our mobile users still access the site directly from their browsers. As a result, we decided to focus our resources in building better core experiences for Yahoo! Answers across devices. Effective today, we are retiring the app for Android, but don’t worry: you can still access the mobile version of Yahoo! Answers by visiting answers.yahoo.com from your favorite browser. Or if you already have the Android app downloaded, you’ll still be able to use it.

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The first Academy Awards ceremony was on May 16, 1929 hosted by Douglas Fairbanks. It wasn’t broadcast on radio or television and only lasted 15 minutes. Times have changed since then. The Oscars are now broadcast to more than 1 billion people worldwide and three hours long!

How did the Academy Award get the nickname “Oscar”? According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the nickname “Oscar” came about when then “Academy librarian (and eventual executive director) Margaret Herrick remarked that it resembled her Uncle Oscar. The Academy didn’t adopt the nickname officially until 1939, but it was widely known enough by 1934 that Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used it in a piece referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win.”

The Oscar’s official name is the Academy Award® of Merit, weighs 8.5 pounds is 13.5 inches and takes 3-4 weeks to manufacture. So who will be the lucky winners this year to take home the coveted prize?

The nominations were announced on January 24, 2012 and our very own Academy Awards on Yahoo! Movies will be providing complete coverage of the event. You can also make your predictions there and share them with your friends. The winners will be announced at the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, 2012 and will be hosted by Billy Crystal. So find out then to see if your predictions were right!

What do you think of the nominations? Do you think anyone or film was overlooked? Please leave a comment below.

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**Secret Revealed**

Like many kids, I didn’t like vegetables — especially carrots and broccoli. Adults frequently told me that carrots would improve my eyesight, so that seemed like a good reason to try liking them.

There was one person who didn’t tell me this, he actually told me the opposite. My grandfather overheard somebody tell me that carrots would improve my eyesight and he let me in on a little secret — it was all a big lie. Carrots do not improve your eyesight.

Sure, carrots and many other foods do contain beta-carotene, which metabolizes into Vitamin A and everyone agrees that is essential for maintaining eye health, but it does not improve it. If you are not consuming enough vitamin A, any number of sources could help restore your vitamin A supply. Carrots themselves are not unique or magical in this way. In fact, carrots have less beta-carotene per 200 calorie serving than red peppers, kale and lettuce.

Photo available in Flickr, under a Creatve Commons License

If lettuce, kale and red pepper have more beta-carotene than carrots, why do carrots get all the eyesight credit?

During World War II, the British were particularly good at shooting down Nazi bombers at night, when it’s almost impossible to see other planes. It was as if they had super-human sight, and they did. They had radar.

Once news stories started to circulate about these pilots with seemingly super-human eyes, the government needed a good explanation to prevent the Germans from learning about this technology. Carrots.

Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham, nicknamed ”Cats Eyes” for his incredible ability to shoot down enemy planes, had a natural love for carrots. The story wrote itself and they explained that they were feeding other pilots a lot of carrots to improve their eyesight too.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Sources: duke health, snopes, self.com

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From Flickr, Creative Commons License

From time to time, we come across a few traditions. This one in particular caught our attention: the tradition of the “Poe Toaster.”

What is it?

For over seven decades a mysterious person would arrive at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on his birthday, toast the author with a glass of cognac, then leave 3 roses and the unfinished bottle of cognac behind.  But for the third straight year, the Poe Toaster has been a no-show.

This mysterious visitor has been described as wearing dark clothes, a white scarf and a wide-brimmed hat. They come in the middle of the night. Some say it could be a father/son combo, which is why the tradition has continued for so long. Die-hard fans have been gathering each year to catch a glimpse, but since 2009, the toaster has not appeared.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Edgar Allan Poe, he is most famous for his poem, “The Raven” and short stores such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and The Pendulum.” His death is still unclear, but he’s buried in Westminster Burial Ground, which is now downtown Baltimore. Hence the pro football team name: Baltimore Ravens.

So what do you think of this tradition? Have you heard of it? What other mysterious traditions do you want to share with the community? Tell us below!

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