1076
Bhartṛhari’s Paradox asks: if something is unnameable, but you’ve named it ‘unnameable’, can an unnameable thing exist?
1077
The word ‘uncle’ comes from the Latin word ‘avunculus’, which literally means ‘little grandfather’.
1078
Until the founding of the Vegetarian Society in 1847, vegetarians were usually known as Pythagoreans.
1079
Personal names mentioned in medieval charters include Martin-Said-to-Have-Three-Testicles (Martinus Qui Dicitur Habet Tres Testiculis), Good-John Shits-Rage (Iohannesbonus Cacans Rabiam), and Gerard-Who-Does-Stupid-Stuff (Girardus Faciens Stultitiam).
1080
Crows can understand the concept of zero.
1081
Word of the Day: ORTHINOLOGY (neologism) — word-botching. For instance, saying ‘orthinology’ instead of ‘ornithology’ and ‘word-botching’ instead of ‘bird-watching‘.
1082
There is an outside toilet on the edge of a cliff in Siberia. It stands 2,500 metres above sea level and receives loo roll by helicopter.
1083
The USA is home to two towns named Accident, three towns named Embarrass, and four of the world’s five towns called Hazard.
1084
The Australian state of Victoria has two different mountains called Mount Buggery.
1085
"A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person." DAVE BERRY
1086
Word of the day: LYCHNOBITE - someone who works at night and sleeps all day
1087
1088
In 2005, a man named Ronald MacDonald robbed the Wendy's restaurant where he worked.
1089
The world’s largest living thing is a fungus in Oregon, USA. It currently covers around 8.9 square kilometres (about 1,665 football pitches) and is over 8,000 years old.
1090
In 1896 newspapers reported that the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Lesbos, having been pronounced dead, lay in state for two days before sitting up and demanding to know what was going on.
1091
Frequent watchers of online cat videos are shyer than those who don't often watch cat videos, but they are also nicer people.
1092
1093
Pimpmaker, slubber doffer and saggar maker’s bottom knocker were all once occupations. (Respectively; collecting firewood, replacing loom bobbins, and pottery.)
1094
On July 11, 1979, NASA's first space station, Skylab, crashed to earth, scattering debris across Western Australia.
A local council issued NASA a $400 fine for littering.
1095
A South Korean university has a toilet that uses faeces to generate electricity.
In order to incentivise its use, users are paid in virtual currency every time they use it.
1097
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning." BILL WATTERSON
1098
Word of the day: PENELOPISING - to deliberately delay finishing a task to avoid something else, as Penelope in the Odyssey
1099
Word of the Day: VOCABLES - words that convey sound, such as ‘lalala’ or ‘dum-de-dum’, or meanings that make sense within a particular culture, such as ‘uh-huh’ or ‘uh-oh’.
1100
A church clock in Worsley, Manchester strikes thirteen each day. The Duke of Bridgewater supposedly had it made in the 18th century to stop workers extending their lunch breaks, as 13 strikes at 1pm was much harder to miss than a single one.