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"Moore's Law of Mad Science: Every eighteen months, the minimum IQ necessary to destroy the world drops by one point." ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY
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A 2012 study suggested that men who wear pink earn more than those who are not willing to wear pink.
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Speaking about the parrot’s ability to mimic human speech, Aristotle wrote that the bird ‘becomes even more outrageous after drinking wine’.
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‘D’ä e å, å i åa ä e ö’ is a Swedish dialectal phrase that means ‘There is a stream, and in the stream there is an island’.
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A SKUNKED TERM is a word that is difficult to use because it is transitioning from one meaning to another.
For instance, "it's all downhill from here" once meant "to become easier" but is now widely used to mean "to become more difficult".
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In 2001, a Belgian beer society convinced a local primary school to offer beer at lunch rather than fizzy drinks.
The move was intended to prevent childhood obesity, but proved unpopular with parents.
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A wasp named after Idris Elba is saving Mexico’s broccoli crop from parasites.
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In the 1920s, Cincinnati, Ohio began to build a subway system. When the Great Depression hit, they abandoned the project.
It has never been completed or filled in, so there are still 3.5 km of abandoned subway tunnels below Ohio.
(Image: Jonathan Warren; CC BY-SA.)
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All the universe’s hydrogen and most of its helium were produced in the first 20 minutes after the Big Bang.
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Loneliness makes people more sensitive to cold and more likely to order hot soup or coffee.
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For every mile of British railway laid in the 19th century, a thousand pounds was spent on booze by the construction teams (equivalent to £25,000 today).
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Since the word ‘album’ comes from the Latin for ‘white’, the Beatles ‘White Album’ is a tautology.
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There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing. MAYA ANGELOU
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There is a cloud in Australia named Hector.
"Hector the Convector" forms every afternoon in the summer over the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory of Australia.
(Image: Djambalawa; CC BY-SA.)
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The Dutch for drinking beer with a spirit chaser is ‘kopstoot’, meaning ‘head butt’.
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Before the invention of rubber condoms, Japanese men used condoms made of tortoiseshell.
(Image: Wellcome Collection / Science Museum, London; CC BY.)
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An apple a day does not keep the doctor away. A 2015 study found no correlation between eating apples and physician visits. However an apple a day is linked to fewer prescriptions.
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Medieval surgeons used spider webs to close wounds.
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Workers who only come into office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are sometimes referred to as TWaTs.
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Reading spoilers beforehand doesn't spoil the fun - knowing the plot beforehand actually enhances your enjoyment.
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The 1900 Paris Olympics featured an underwater swimming event in the Seine: The contestants got a point for every second spent underwater and two points for every metre they swam underwater. The event was discontinued due to ‘the lack of spectator appeal’.
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Mel Blanc - the voice of Porky Pig - specified in his will that his epitaph should be "THAT'S ALL FOLKS".
(Image: Robert A. Estremo; CC BY-SA.)
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The most common lake name in Finland is Mustalampi, ‘Black Lake’. The second most common lake name is Paskalampi, ‘Shit Lake’.
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M. C. Escher once told Mick Jagger off for using his first name in a letter.
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There are two types of tickling. The light, feather-like tickle that does not induce laughter is called knismesis, and the intensive, laughter-inducing one is called gargalesis.
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves