1001
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Cats can safely receive blood transfusions from dogs - but only once.
A second transfusion of dog blood is often fatal.
1002
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In 2017, the Swiss village of Bergün/Bravuogn made it illegal for tourists to take photos there because "it is scientifically proven that beautiful holiday photos on social media make the viewer unhappy because they cannot be there themselves".
(Image: Adrian Michael; CC BY-SA.)
1003
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Word of the Day: MISOKINESIA — having strong negative feelings, thoughts, or physical reactions when seeing other people fidgeting or engaging in small repetitive movements like leg shaking or finger tapping.
1004
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The word ‘naughty’ is related to the word ‘nought’ and originally meant ‘poor, needy’, then ‘wicked’, then ‘immoral, promiscuous’, and only then ‘disobedient, badly behaved’.
1005
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In 1820, three men died in an avalanche in the Alps and fell into a glacier. Having studied the speed of the glacier, it was predicted by a geologist that their remains would emerge at the bottom in forty years time. They were found intact in 1861.
1006
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Dogs can have cat allergies (and vice versa).
1007
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Floppy disks are still used in aviation, medicine, but most of all in embroidery machines.
1008
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Word of the Day: KUCHINAOSHI (Japanese) — a nice food that you eat in order to get rid of the bad taste of something you have just consumed, a palate cleanser; literally, a ‘mouth fix’.
1009
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According to a newspaper report from the 1950s, extras in London theatres would not only say ‘rhubarb, rhubarb’ to imitate dialogue, they would also say ‘sausage and mash’ (for softer sounds) and ‘Raspberries! Raspberries!’ through their teeth to make angry crowd noises.
1010
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Word of the Day: POOP-NODDY (archaic) — sex.
1011
@qikipedia
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do day after tomorrow just as well. MARK TWAIN
1012
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Sharing an article makes you think you know more, even if you didn't actually read the article.
1013
@qikipedia
The nouns ‘slew’ (a great amount of) and ‘slogan’ are related. Gaelic ‘sluagh’ (crowd) transformed into ‘slew’ and in combination with ‘ghairm’ — ‘sluagh-ghairm’ (war cry) — gave rise to ‘slogan’.
1014
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Word of the Day: CAGADUBTES (Catalan slang) — literally: ‘someone who shits doubts’; a person who has a hard time making decisions.
1015
@qikipedia
Japanese scientists are tackling pollinator loss with drones that shoot pollen-dusted soap bubbles. (Study: bit.ly/3tR7Vlc).
1016
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MTV's show "16 And Pregnant" caused a 4.3% reduction in teen births in the US.
1017
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A Victorian sewer worker once proved he’d found a tunnel into the Bank of England’s gold vaults and for his honesty, was given £800 (about £90,000 in today's money).
1018
@qikipedia
One factory in Hull produces 900 million Yorkshire puddings a year.
1019
@qikipedia
Pigeons can be taught to recognise all 26 letters of the English alphabet and to distinguish between real words and gibberish.
1020
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In 1972 a talking statue of Abraham Lincoln was unveiled in Seattle. A malfunction caused the speakers inside it to play the Rolling Stones, so the statue was heard to announce, ‘I wanna get off, mamma’.
1021
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Drinking tea made Britons in the 1700s healthier.
Since tea used boiled water, increased tea drinking reduced mortality from water-borne diseases.
[Study: direct.mit.edu/rest/article-a…]
1022
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Early American trains had wood-burning engines that would spew embers into the passenger cars, so some railways gave each passenger a bucket of sand to pour on a neighbour if they caught fire.
1023
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The advantage of a bad memory is that one can enjoy the same good things for the first time, several times. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
1024
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La Paz, Bolivia, has "traffic zebras" to direct traffic and make sure drivers obey road rules near zebra crossings.
(Image: Micaelagaymer; CC BY-SA.)
1025
@qikipedia
Deadly nightshade aka ‘Belladonna’ (beautiful lady) is so named because its juice was used as an eyedrop in Renaissance Italy to make a woman’s pupils dilate seductively.
Image: Flobbadob, CC-BY-SA 4.0
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves