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From chicken nuggets to skittles, we love bite-sized things. So it’s no surprise that ‘bite-sized’ bits of information is also a pretty popular subgenre of infotainment. We enjoy ‘snacking’ on fun facts, stories, and other tidbits that tell us more about the world we live in. 

The Ask Me Knowledge Instagram account gathers the best fun, interesting and unexpected facts about the world. We also reached out to Emma Cahill, Ph.D., who is a lecturer in neuroscience at the University of Bristol. So get comfortable in your armchair (reportedly invented in the 1830s) and make sure to upvote the facts that surprised you. And if you want to learn more tidbits about our world, Bored Panda has got you covered, you can find our other articles here and here

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#2

Fascinating-Educational-Facts-Askmeknowledge

On his owner's return he discovered that his home and everything else on his property was completely destroyed. Except for Odin, who was there waiting for him — with all eight goats. A group of deer had gathered with Odin and the goats, Handel said, perhaps also taking advantage of the brave pooch's protection. The deer scattered when Handel approached. He believes the dog led the other animals to a clearing at the centre of a high outcropping of rocks to avoid contact with the flames.

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#3

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Mad Dragon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sir Frederick G Banting sold the patent for $1, saying "Insulin belongs to the world, not to me." I imagine his heart breaking if he could see what has happened.

Eric G
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And big pharma decided we should have none of this, only the wealthy should have insulin. But only in America of course.

Agnes Jekyll
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Banting and Best thought this was so important they wanted everyone to have free access to it. When I hear of people not eating or cutting down on their medication so they can buy food or pay rent, I think--why are these profiteers not going to prison?

Bell-acose
Community Member
Premium
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

While the rest of the world rejoiced, the American drug companies licked their lips.

Allen Packard
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My daughter is type 1. Every. Single. Time. I tear up when I read this. I can understand their parents fear. So thankful.

Tracy Baker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Absolutely same. I just read this aloud to mine and was choked up by the time I finished it.

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Audrey Corrynne
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And now it's so over priced people still become unalived because they can't afford it😮‍💨

Annie 1973
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When people trusted doctors and scientists. Let me inject your kid with something that may help or not. Same with the polio vaccination. When it was created everyone knew someone who either lived with polio and the effects of it or had lost loved ones to it. When it was announced people stood in queues for miles to get themselves and their families the vaccination, with no idea whether it would work. Now because of the internet so many people are antivax because they've never been through polio and have most probably never met anyone with polio so have no clue how bad it is. So sad

Mim“the Swede”Sorensson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah. I agree. I firmly think that you can only be anti vaccination if you truly don’t have the capacity to understand the horrific alternative. Every time I come across them, all I can think is “you mollycoddled, overprotected, stupid goddamned brat”. How fυcking oblivious to reality and history do you have to be to risk other people lives - not seldom your own CHILDRENS lives - on purpose and in cold blood? It’s beyond sad, really, it’s closing in on murder. It makes them a menace to society, and it’s lunacy that they don’t understand that.

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Bernát Bonda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And This is why im still alive. I mean i was not in that room in 1922, but without insulin i would be dead

The Starsong Princess
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then Banting and Best sold the patent to the University of Toronto so as many people as possible could get access to insulin as cheaply as possible. Then Big Pharma got into the insulin business.

Nonesuch
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would love to have witnessed this revival. Similar event occurs should someone be severely hypoglycemic (low sugar) and is given dextrose (intravenous sugar solution, quite thick, you have to inject it slowly). It is fantastic witnessing these quick recoveries.

Julia French
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

for more on the discovery of insulin watch the award winning film "Glory Enough For All"

serenarita
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And now they charge an insane amount of money for it so once again, it’s a time of gloom for those who can’t afford it. :(

Susan Robinson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So this was in Canada, and then in less than 100 years, some diabetic Americans are charged $1,000 A MONTH for this lifesaving miracle. Way to go, America 🙄 (I am American btw). And I said less than 100 years, because this has been happening for quite some time ☹️

Kevin J. Henning
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can tell this was in Canada. Had it been in the USA they would have charged the parents before injecting the children.

Mental Liberals
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

and big pharma got hold of the patent and sold it at 1000 times the cost to make :( Profits before People

Frosty
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine what those children whos parents didnt let them get the injection felt like

Becky Samuel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That wasn't really a "thing" back then. You did as the doctor ordered. These children were in comas waiting for inevitable death. The doctors probably didn't even ask for consent before injecting.

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EJN
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We forget what it was like to survive childhood back when there were no drugs, no vaccines, and no surgeries to fix whatever needed fixing.

Cheryl Lohr
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A great day for the Canadian medical community and for the whole world.

Sherrie Hardy
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandmother developed type 1 diabetes only 10 years later and lived a long life because of this discovery. I wouldn’t be here today without it!

Henry George
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Boy, I hope this life-saving drug doesn't get priced for hundreds of dollars in the future!

Nitka Tsar
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I‘ve seen this before. On here, in fact. I still get teary eyed reading it. But the way to get Insulin was not discovered in Toronto. It was Nicoalae Paulescu from Rumania who was the first to experiment with Insulin from animals. He called it Pankrein and even made a patent for it. Frederick Banting and John MacLoad from Toronto got the Nobel price in medicine for it just because they quoted Peaulescus work incorrectly. They later apologised claiming their translation was faulty.

DarkViolet
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

DYING kids, with nothing to lose. This wasn't like the experiments carried out by Dr. Mengele during WW II or the injections of syphilis bacteria into African-American men. Doctors and parents were desperate to find a treatment for diabetes. Now the pharmaceutical industry has encroached on the medical system, and is endangering thousands of lives for the sake of "la dolce vita." Diabetics aren't the only ones in danger, either. I have asthma, and was informed that my medication wasn't on the list of approved prescriptions. (Thanks, Aetna!🤬🤬🤬)

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The idea of ‘fun facts’ is a lot older than the internet. Some readers may recall the ‘real facts’ Snapple would put on the bottom side of their bottle caps. These were short little factoids for people to read and were, for the most part, inaccurate. For example, one fact claimed that broccoli is the only vegetable that is simultaneously a flower, despite the fact that, for example, cauliflower (it’s in the name) is also a flower. 

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They also had the so often incorrectly repeated ‘fact’ that the average human will eat at least eight spiders during their lifetime (with, no doubt, Australians eating more). The Scientific American debunked this idea long ago, but it has somehow persisted with regular discussions on why spiders wander into our mouths. Even so, this demonstrates a good application of the knowledge that we really do like hearing some trivia, though I doubt anyone actually bought a bottle just for a fact.

#4

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Tucker Cahooter
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For contrast, watch the over-the-top hysterical ads the Australian Government produced that same year (google "grim reaper aids ad")

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#6

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To recognize and honor dogs during Tihar, a garland of flowers is draped around the neck of every dog—pets, police canines, service animals, and strays alike. In addition to the flower necklace, each dog gets a red mark on its forehead called a tika, made from a red dye powder. The tika marks the dog as a sacred being (who is definitely allowed on the couch even with muddy paws). The tika also works as a way of letting dogs display their own appreciation as the mark serves as a blessing to anyone who encounters the dog during Tihar.

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This fascination also extends to other activities, including board games. ‘Trivial Pursuit,’ for example, where players compete against each other to recount, well, bits of relatively unimportant information. The game itself dates back to the 1980s and is still around today, which is unsurprising, seeing how much we humans value the ability to recall obscure sitcom characters and the birthplaces of various athletes.

#7

Fascinating-Educational-Facts-Askmeknowledge

Cummings, who also voices Tigger, puts his character's fame to good use by lending his voice to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and calling sick children who are in hospital. Jim Cummings is the voice behind Winnie the Pooh, a children's character who's known around the world as a friendly and insightful yellow bear with a famous warm voice. He also recalled another instance where a young boy with autism asked him to do all the voices that he's done. Soon after, he found out from his mother during an emotional phone call that her son had not spoken much until that point, and he continued to speak for over an hour afterwards.

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#8

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This is surprising for many reasons. While of course dolphins are well known for being intelligent, this smart move by Kelly means that she has a sense of delayed gratification. She doesn't feel the need to rush to get a fish right away. She smartly knows that the future holds the possibility of a much greater amount of fish.⁠ 🍽️ Amazingly, this dolphin, hasn't stopped there with her brilliance. When a bird landed in the pool, Kelly snatched it and delivered it to her trainers. She received a large amount of fish in return. Knowing this, she decided to start hiding fish each time she was fed. She would then use the fish to lure birds when none of her trainers were around. Kelly knew that by saving one or two fish now, she could get many more fish later by turning in a bird. 

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‘Fun facts’ are actually just a positive, PR spin on a run-of-the-mill factoid. As inhabitants of the information age, we really can access a whole plethora of information at the tips of our fingers, indeed, we have so much information that it’s easy to get lost. Hence terms like ‘factoid,’ designate data that really isn't that important or may not even be entirely accurate. If you want to have a fun fact about factoids, some style guides suggest the infinitely cute ‘factlet’ as a better alternative. You be the judge.

#10

Fascinating-Educational-Facts-Askmeknowledge

It took 150 minutes for him to recite the full list of names because he only memorized one name per verse and had to recite each verse in full in order to properly remember the next name

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#11

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The three-point seatbelt is so widely adopted because Volvo opened up the patent so that any car manufacturer could use it in their design. They decided that the invention was so significant, it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from. Volvo’s managing director Alan Dessell is quoted as saying: “The decision to release the three-point seat belt patent was visionary and in line with Volvo’s guiding principle of safety.”

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Babsevs
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Open source information should always be available for ethical concerns.....the most good that can be done for the most people. Preservation of life surely fits this and kudos to Volvo for not putting profit before safety...a rarity even in this day and age of a H&S governed industrial world

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#12

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As their bond strengthened over the years, Chito (the local fisherman) and Pocho grew to trust each other so completely that they spent hours each day swimming and playing together. Remarkably, Pocho the crocodile was gentle and patient with his human companion and would even respond to his name when called. Thousands of tourists, scientists and animal behavior experts came to see Chito and Pocho having fun.⁠ After many years of friendship, Pocho the crocodile died of natural causes last year at the age of 50. Hundreds of people attended his funeral. Chito was naturally devastated by Pocho's death, but continues to share his friend's story to raise awareness about just how special crocodiles are.⁠ The story of Chito and Pocho shows that even crocodiles can appreciate an act of kindness.

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Babsevs
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kindness knows no bounds.... especially amazing in this case when considering the predatory response of the reptilian brain!

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If you are particularly skilled at trivia, then consider trying your hand, or brain, at the world’s largest trivia contest, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Some years, there are over ten thousand participants, all trying to showcase their knowledge of things that take about two seconds to Google. Speaking of which, since they can’t really referee a town’s worth of people, the organizers choose to instead phrase questions in such a way as to limit a potential cheater's ability to ask Google or, God forbid, Bing.

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#13

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It is located in a park in front of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and was completed on July 1, 2013, coinciding with the 120th anniversary of the founding of the city. The monument commemorates the sacrifice of the mice in genetic research used to understand biological and physiological mechanisms for developing new drugs and curing of diseases. The monument, which sits on a granite pedestal, is of a laboratory mouse wearing pince-nez on the tip of its nose. The mouse holds knitting needles in its paws and is shown knitting a double helix of DNA. The bronze figure is itself only 70 cm (27½”) high, but the total height of the monument including the pedestal is 2.5 meters (98"). The DNA spiral emerging from the knitting needles winds to the left, thus showing that it is the still poorly understood Z-DNA - this symbolic of scientific research that is still to be done. In contrast, the more common B-DNA (depicted in school lessons) winds to the right.

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Snorky The Pig
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They have not sacrificed their lives. Humans did. As much as I want to love this, I can't. I will probably get downvoted but I think in this day and age we can conduct research without experimenting on the poor helpless creatures.

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#14

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The marathon CPR went on for 96 minutes. First responders shocked Snitzer's heart 12 times, and they administered intravenous dru_gs. When they finally had a pulse and a regular heart beat a, Snitzer was airlifted to the Mayo Clinic. After 10 days, he was released from the hospital -- miraculously healthy, and incredibly grateful. "My heart wasn't pumping anything, so the only thing that was pumping my blood was those guys doing CPR," he said. "I think it's the quality of the person," he said. "We're in small-town America, hard-working people. I happened to have a king-size heart attack in the right place and the right time, and these guys would not give up." He came to thank his neighbors -- no longer strangers. People who simply would not quit when he needed them most. "I feel like I have a responsibility to them to live the best life possible and honor the effort they made," Snitzer said. ~ As per reports.

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JB
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is amazing. Chances of surviving a heart attack outside of a hospital or without immediate medical attention (beyond CPR/mouth to mouth) are very small.

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Should you decide to try, you should prepare by memorizing as much data about a specific topic as possible. For best results, make sure you communicate what you are planning to focus on with your team, so you all don’t end up sharing perfect knowledge of the original cast of M*A*S*H and little else. A common memorization device is a mnemonic, where a person attempts to ‘match’ data with information that can help recall it. Acronyms are a great method. 

#16

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The medal was later sold in 2013 at auction for £1,100. The 1941 Blue Cross medal was found in a property clearance in Bristol along with a painting of Great Dane Juliana. A plaque on it describes how the dog put out an incendiary bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe on her owner's home. Mr Taubenheim, of Wotton Auction Rooms, in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, said it was a "remarkable story". He said the medal had been found at a property which had belonged to a relative of Juliana's owner.

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#18

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We wanted to know if a person can develop their ability to retain information and if is it possible to improve their attention span and Emma Cahill, Ph.D. was gracious enough to help. "We can retain more information for longer if we try to make links across ideas. This is called “Elaboration”, where we make multiple associations between things that you want to memorize. Our attention span depends on a lot of factors, including how we are feeling at the time, the most robust approach is probably to remove distractors rather than trying to increase focus. Put the phone away!"

#19

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Ross painted an estimated 30,000 paintings during his lifetime. Despite the unusually high supply of original paintings, Bob Ross original paintings are scarce on the art market, with sale prices of the paintings averaging in the thousands of dollars and frequently topping $10,000. The major auction houses have never sold any of Ross's paintings, and Bob Ross Inc. continues to own many of the ones he painted for The Joy of Painting, as Ross himself was opposed to having his work turned into financial instruments. In contrast to more traditionally famous artists, Ross's work—described by an art appraisal service as a cross between "fine art" and "entertainment memorabilia"—is most highly sought after by common fans of The Joy of Painting, as opposed to wealthy collectors. The artwork circulating among collectors is largely from Ross's work from before he launched the television show.

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Eric G
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't buy Bob Ross memorabilia. Watch the Netflix documentary on Bob Ross. He was just as wholesome and awesome in real life, but the Kowalskis who own Bob Ross's name now are thieves and screwed over Bob Ross's son who doesn't get a dime from sales of Bob Ross memorabilia.

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#20

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John Cena had long ago turned "Never give up" from his wrestling catchphrase into a motto for sick children who have to fight daily more than the WWE superstar ever has inside the ring. "I want them to have an experience that will stay with them to forever," Cena said. "I don't ever want the children or their families to be treated in a way where they feel as if they're up against anything at all."

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#21

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"Where the Wild Things Are" is a classic in the world of children’s picture books, with the titular “things” becoming beloved (if at times scary) storybook characters. But those characters weren’t originally going to be so-called “things.”  In another funny twist that Sendak acknowledged was somewhat rude, the things in the story were based on his relatives. While sitting shiva (a Jewish tradition of mourning), Sendak and his siblings saw many of their aunts, uncles and cousins, who inspired the monster-like characters.  “I remember our relatives used to come from the old country, those few who got in before the gate closed, all on my mother’s side. And how we detested them,” Sendak told Moyers. “The cruelty that children ... you know, kids are hard. And these people didn’t speak English. And they were unkempt. Their teeth were horrifying ... hair unraveling out of their noses. And they’d pick you up, hug you and kiss you [and say], ‘Aggghh. Oh, we could eat you up.’” Sendak included the phrase, “We’ll eat you up, we love you so,” in his book, which was first published in 1963 and inspired a movie version released in 2009, as a nod to his family, whom he learned to appreciate in his later years.  “And when I remember [my relatives], the discussion with my brother and sister, how we laughed about these people who we of course grew up to love very much, I decided to render them as the wild things, my aunts and my uncles and my cousins,” he said. “And that’s who they are.”

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Huddo's sister
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I knew about the title originally planned, but the extra information is really interesting

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She also spoke about bits of information that we tend to remember more easily than others. "Being accurate at remembering is really pretty tricky because memory is a reconstructive process. Some types of memory like are prone to interference by information that comes shortly afterward, like how it is difficult to remember a numerical code when a few are presented in a short space of time, that relies on short-term memory. People can be better at remembering certain types of information because they have practiced techniques in how to encode the information in a richer way by using associations or thinking of memory triggers. "

#22

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Inmates in federal prisons holding some of Brazil’s most notorious criminals are able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced. Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must “make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing,” said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette. A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed “Redemption through Reading”. “A person can leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world,” said a lawyer, who heads a book donation project for prisons.

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#23

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The young owls resting on a tree branch don’t fall off, thanks to the strength of their back toe called the hallux. The hallux tethers the creature to the branch and it won’t move until the owlet bends its leg. Adult owls are able to support the weight of their heads as they gain strength after a few months. But younger owls struggle to do so and have to lie down while napping.
 

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Babsevs
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a whole mood right there....I can relate to be fair!

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#24

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On second place, the joint-second fastest athlete American sprinter Tyson, has served two do_ping bans and was stripped off his 2012 Olympics silver. Jamaica's Usain Bolt holds the record for the three fastest 100m sprints in history.
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Additional Information: Usain St Leo Bolt, OJ, CD is a Jamaican former sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is a world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay. Finishing the 100m in under 10 seconds is an exceptional physical and psychological achievement that only 124 men have accomplished. For historical context, the first 100m Olympic gold medal winner finished the sprint in 12 seconds. In total Bolt has broken the 10-second barrier 49 times during his career, earning him six gold medals in world championships and Olympics. Bolt holds nine out of the 30 fastest 100m times and is the only athlete on that leaderboard to have never failed a dr_ug test. It is not only his 100m feats that set him apart, however. In a world of ever-improving performances and otherwise short-lived triumphs, “Lightning” Bolt has also set and continually defended the world record in the 200m, a discipline he has excelled in since his youth.

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"There are many distractors in everyday life, open tabs on the computer, the bleep of a phone, advertisements, doom scrolling and click bate headlines. These tend to be designed with noises or stimuli that are ‘salient’ and sensational, and so attention-grabbing. How prone we are to fall for their temptation is probably a combination of how we are feeling and whether you have learned what you want to ignore. Thankfully we can become desensitized to many of those stimuli, so we are not just doomed to react under their control," she clarified when we asked what modern factors of life impede our attention span.

#25

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Back in 2011, Roman Ostriakov, a homeless man from Ukraine living in Genova, was convicted for theft after he stole cheese and sausages amounting to €4 from a supermarket. A customer had seen Ostriakov put two pieces of cheese and a packet of sausages in his pocket and only pay for breadsticks at the cashier. He was subsequently sentenced to six months in jail and a €100 fine in 2015. The case went through three rulings in court before it was rejected in May 2016 in a historic ruling citing that the ‘right to survival prevails over property.’ It cited the importance of maintaining a shared humanity and that no one should be allowed to starve in a civilized society.

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Alecto76
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It shouldn't be a crime anywhere. This should happen in a civilized society - looking at us US. Edit: not happen. Sorry about the ttypo

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#26

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Morgan Freeman in an interview said:⁠ "I always wanted an earring. It has to do with my attachment to the sea. When I was around 35 I was separated from my wife and she said, 'I'm going to pierce your ear.' I'm an avid sailor, a dyed-in-the-wool blue-water man. You know why sailors used to wear a gold earring? It's enough money to bury you in a foreign country. There are two or three tricks to being a good sailor. One is courage. You have to be willing to face the sea. And the rest is just knowledge – you can learn a lot by listening to other sailors about how to survive almost unsurvivable situations."⁠ "I've been in dangerous storms. There comes a moment when you think you may not get through, and in that moment there's a peacefulness that settles over you and you're no longer afraid. That's also the moment when you have to say, "I'm going to face this demon. I'm going to stand up and I'm going to do what I have to do. Not just by lying down and letting the sea wash over me, but by fighting it."

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#27

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Typical ending in many tales is ‘Bad criminal/animal was punished by local government official. {And men and women lived happily}/{Ghost with grudge never came because her grudge was vanished.}’....The Korean mode of storytelling began with either "Once upon a time back when tigers used to smoke," "Once upon a time when tigers smoked pipes," "A long, time ago when tigers were smoking," or "Once upon a time when tigers were smoking.”
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That intro to a story does sound odd to those of us who are used to "Once upon a time. "A long time ago, before the 17th century, tobacco was touted as a medicinal product in Korea, and smoking tobacco was something most could afford to do. Alas, in the 17th century, tobacco became a luxury item, and only aristocrats were allowed to smoke tobacco. Peasants used to watch the well-to-do enjoy their smoking of tobacco, and the peasants would lament, "We miss the days when even the tigers were smoking." Back when tigers used to smoke," would not be acceptable these days.

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#28

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Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons, most importantly to control rodents. Vermin aboard a ship can cause damage to ropes, woodwork, and more recently, electrical wiring. In addition, rodents threaten ships' stores, devour crews' foodstuff, and can cause economic damage to ships' cargo, such as grain. They are also a source of disease, which is dangerous for ships that are at sea for long periods of time. Rat fleas are carriers of plague, and rats on ships were believed to be a primary vector of the Black Death.

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#29

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She did so to hide any privacy complaints. She had affairs with married men (as per sources) and waited for her husband and others to die before publication of her autobiography.

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#30

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Horses are smart like that... Back in the early 1900s, when a local person (let's assume) used to get so drunk at the bar that he would subconsciously pass out there, the other local drinkers would put him in his buggy and slap his horse on the butt to send it off home. The horse knew the way and would carry the drunk man back to his house every time.

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Huddo's sister
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Milk-cart horses used to know their routes so well that sometimes the milkman could let it do the route without him, if he was sick.

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#31

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In modern fairy tales, wolves are often depicted as cunning animals and described as evil animals. But they are not just the most loyal animal in the world but one of the most loyal animals to humans.  In fact, they have a family life that may be more than human relations.⁠ In general, a group of wolves will contain a male wolf, a female wolf, their children, and be repeated, which is very similar to the family in humans. This makes wolves loyal animals and one of the most faithful animals not just to their partner but to their group and family.

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Stardust she/her
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If someone unironically refers to themself as a wolf to seem terrifying, I’m going to send them this

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#32

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Rottnest Island is the only place quokkas still come together in large numbers: There are as many as 12,000 of them there, of fewer than 14,000 total in the wild—down from probably many tens of thousands in their heyday. When they're not posing for the camera, they usually spend their days sleeping and resting under shady bushes or dense vegetation or munching on grass, leaves, seeds, and roots. But, judging from the photos, these charming creatures don't seem to mind taking time out of their busy schedules to interact with tourists, either. In fact, they look rather elated! Thanks to its adorable expression, the quokka is known as the “happiest animal on earth.”

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Babsevs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If a mama quokka ever feels threatened, she throws her baby at the source of the threat and runs away!

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#33

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The book claims to "reveal the most comprehensive understanding of men's knowledge and understanding of the opposite s € x." The book has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 on Amazon's book discovery platform Goodreads. Empty books or blank books are novelty books whose title indicates that they treat some serious subject, but whose pages have been left intentionally blank. A number of such titles have been published as attempts at satire or polemic, to some commercial success. The joke is that "nothing" is the answer to whatever the title of the book asserts. In 2017, The Guardian commented that the trend of publishing political empty books had led to "the noble art of political parody [descending] into a one-joke turn that avoids words".

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#34

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In 2003, after mentioning this desire in an interview, a friend of his who owns a mall with a supermarket closed it all down for a day to grant him his wish. To give it a feeling of authenticity, Michael's staff, family, and friends populated the grocery store. Some dressed up like the store's staff, others like shoppers. Even the muzak was customized for his experience. Then, the King of Pop put on a single yellow latex glove and pushed his cart up and down the aisles. He played around a lot in the store and likened the experience to being at Disneyland, because as he says, "I got to do something I don't normally get to do." I'm not sure he got an authentic grocery shopping experience but it is fascinating, if not heartbreaking, to watch him try.

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Babsevs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find this really sad actually....so detached from the real world, is it any wonder the man had mental health issues. I'm not passing comment on the criminal allegations, just his state of mental stability

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#35

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After running late to class, George Dantzig copied down two problems he thought were homework and solved them. Those two problems were in fact two famous unsolved problems of statistics, which later earned him his doctorate. One day In 1939, George Bernard Dantzig, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a graduate-level statistics class and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of “unsolved” statistics problems, he mistook them for part of a homework assignment, jotted them down, and solved them. (The equations Dantzig tackled are more accurately described not as unsolvable problems, but rather as unproven statistical theorems for which he worked out proofs.) Six weeks later, Dantzig’s statistic professor notified him that he had prepared one of his two “homework” proofs for publication, and Dantzig was given co-author credit on another paper several years later when another mathematician independently worked out the same solution to the second problem.

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JoJo Anisko
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In high school geometry 1967-68, we were taught that it was impossible to trisect an angle using only a compass and straight edge. To this day, that haunts me; I am unable to accept it as truth.

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#36

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According to a sheriff office in Salem, Oregon, deputies have heard a man “calling for help from inside the residence” when they arrived at the scene. Upon entering the home, they've found Alexander, the pizza lover, who reportedly suffers from severe health issues, in “need of immediate medical attention.”⁠ Alexander was whisked to the hospital, where he was then recovering there.⁠ The sheriff's office expressed their gratitude to delivery driver Tracey Hamblen, who saved Alexander's life, “for his quick actions and willingness to take time out of his day to care for others.”⁠ The Domino's crew was widely praised on social media for their life-saving actions. Sarah Fuller, the general manager at a Salem-area Domino’s, however, insisted that the team was just doing their job.⁠ “Alexander is just an important customer that’s part of our family here at Domino’s. He orders all the time so we know him. I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot. We felt like we needed to do something,” she told back in 2016.

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Jason
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps his medical emergency had to do with eating pizza daily for 7 years

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#37

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John McCue first became inspired to patch up some of the road hazards in Stellarton, Nova Scotia after he and his mother drove over a particularly nasty pothole. “There was one story a couple of weeks ago where a car was driving through and it nailed one of the biggest potholes here and it ripped the axle right off the car,” McCue told CBC. Rather than waiting for the city government to fix the pavement, McCue grabbed a snow shovel and started shifting gravel and road fill from the roadside ditches and moving it into the potholes. Now that passing traffic has packed the filling into the holes, McCue said that the road is significantly better than when he started. That being said, local police officers had warned McCue that if he did not stop his mission, then he would be charged.

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Fizzer
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So if he benefits the citizens he can't do that anymore? Selfish officers.

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#38

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The 1988 movie comedy A Fish Called Wanda features a scene where actor Michael Palin gets some French fries stuffed up his nose. A person named Ole Bentzen found the scene so sidesplittingly funny for almost 25 minutes that his heart rate rose to an estimated 250-500 beats per minute, leading to a heart attack as he laughed his way into the afterlife.

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#39

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Due to the common association of the label with cheap, low-quality, and often dangerous products, the phrase "Made in China" is often used in a pejorative manner to refer to any low-quality products regardless of origin

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Dave In MD
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I doubt all "Made in China" stickers are made in Korea. Any time someone says "all" it is usually false.

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#40

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The adaptation of several anatomical and biochemical mechanisms to establish an immune privileged microenvironment within the eye makes the eye immunologically unique. It is a tissue site where we may learn how immunity is regulated in inflammation and at rest. Certain sites of the mammalian body have immune privilege, meaning they are able to tolerate the introduction of antigens without eliciting an inflammatory immune response. Tissue grafts are normally recognised as foreign antigen by the body and attacked by the immune system. On such problem is autoimmune retinopathy, which is “usually manifested as a vascular problem” . This means that the immune system attacks and inflames the blood vessels in the back of the eye, on the retina, which can affect vision.

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Fizzer
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's scary to consider how your body could turn against itself and destroy itself in the process

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#41

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The error was uncovered in 2009 after the wealthy family realized one of the four brothers did not share their likeness and requested a DNA test. After they found out they were not related they searched hospital records and eventually found their true brother in 2011. The man who grew up in poverty never knew his real parents. "When I found out about my true parents, I wish I was brought up by them," he said. "That's the truth. When I was handed the photograph of my [real] parents, it made me want to see them. Every time I see their photograph, for several months tears would well up." Tokyo's Hospital (identity remains anonymous) was ordered by court to pay the man 38 million yen ($371,233) in damages, significantly less than the 250 million yen ($2.5 million) he had been seeking.

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#42

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As per reports, Otto the Octopus, the six-month-old rabble-rouser, had climbed up the side of his tank and was squirting water at the 2,000-watt spotlight overhead. It turns out the aquarium staff had trained Otto to aim and squirt water, but at visitors, not at the lights. Otto himself had made the connection between turning out the lights and causing a commotion. Kummer says now the people of Coburg are coming up with new ways to keep Otto occupied, like giving him a chess board. Care takers said: He always adapts to his surroundings, but as soon as a chess board is in there, it's just black, white, black, white. So, that keeps him entertained for quite a while. But then, he was like, no, I don't want the chess board. And he just threw it out of the aquarium.

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Babsevs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing beings....there is something otherworldly and very special about them ❤️

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#44

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For nearly 25 years, Pelorus Jack, a Risso's dolphin, met and escorted ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson across Admiralty Bay, north of French Pass. In 1904, he was protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act - possibly the only individual sea creature to be legally protected anywhere in the world. He remained a protected creature until his disappearance in 1912.  It is thought that ‘Jack' was orphaned, which may have explained his unusual behaviour pattern. It is also presumed that Jack enjoyed getting a ride from the ships' pressure waves as they passed through his territory.1 Jack delighted passengers, who came from all over the world, some travelling the Nelson/Wellington route just to see him.

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Jason
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dolphins are awesome. Used to have them swim with us and troll us when we were sailing

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#45

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If a human ever headbutts, you better get out of their way. But with your cat, things are different. Cats headbutt other cats, furniture, and their favorite humans.According to cat behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett, cat headbutting is typically used for bonding and social purposes. “For the cat to place his face so close to yours and engage in this bonding behavior is quite an act of trust,” she says

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#46

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Peacock spiders have eight eyes like all spiders, but it's the unique configuration that makes them cute. Their two biggest forward-facing eyes are so much larger than the rest, it makes the others almost disappear by comparison. It also gives them a look of perpetual surprise. Peacock spiders are extremely small, and generally range in length from 3.5 to 6.5 mm (0.14 to 0.26 inches); and they do not create webs to catch food, rather their prey is stalked and leapt upon. Male peacock spiders generally have an abdomen of bright metallic coloured patterns, from orange, blues, reds and greens.

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Babsevs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are the cute little jumper spiders that are all over social media...there is a little spider animation on YouTube called "Lucas" I think....it's adorable . Disclosure....I am terrified of spiders but even I find these little guys sweet

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#47

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It's located  in a remote part of Redwood National Park, just north of Eureka in Humboldt County. Hyperion stands 115.54 m (379.1ft) above the ground and is estimated to be between 700 and 800 years old. The exact location of Hyperion is not accessible to the public because of the fear that tourists might disrupt the ecosystem of the tree. Xylem tubes function as long-distance straws to pull water and some dissolved nutrients up the plant from the roots. In the case of Hyperion, that distance is more than 379 feet! This is no small feat, and trees as tall as Hyperion are pushing the limits of physics to suck water up this distance.

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Thomas Bentley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd have thought that a massive tree would not be that hard to find.

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#50

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If someone is just in front of the bridge, and they are having a panic attack, there is an emergency number listed on both ends of the bridge and people can call [us] . . . They respond if people are in crisis and they don’t know how to get across.”.Those who treat phobias say a fear of bridges is not only about a fear of heights. Some fear the bridge will collapse, some fear drowning, and some fear they will accidentally drive off. It’s a feeling of claustrophobia: “I can’t get off; I have no way to pull over. I’m up there, yes, but it’s like there’s no way out.” And once an individual has had a panic attack on a bridge, the fear of the panic attack becomes the bigger issue.

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JoJo Anisko
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can sympathize. I hate driving over bridges. The worst for me was the 5-mile bridge across Lake Ponchartrain (Louisiana, USA), a mere 3-4 feet above the water. I was a passenger, and by the end, I was crying eyes closed and hands gripping the door handles.

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#51

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The rail worker trained him because he was handicapped. You can see the leg splints in the picture. He trained the baboon, supervised him, then eventually had him run the controls on his own....Anyone passing through Cape Town, South Africa on the Port Elizabeth Mainline Railroad in the late 1800s saw something curious along the railway: a baboon operating the switchboard. This wasn't some Planet of the Apes scenario; quite the opposite, in fact. Jack the Baboon was an intelligent creature who spent nine years working on the railroad and providing companionship for his owner, a paraplegic man named Jumper. Jumper and Jack the Baboon lived together in a cottage half a mile away from the railroad. Each morning, the man and his primate friend made their way up the hill to the depot, where Jack quickly learned to work the signals that told engineers which tracks to take. He was also in charge of the key to the coal sheds at the depot, so whenever an engineer needed to score some more fuel, they had to signal the baboon. For his hard work, Jack earned $0.20 per day and half a bottle of beer per week. For a baboon, he was living the high life.

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#52

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It takes an average human eye about 25 minutes to fully adapt from bright sunlight to seeing in complete darkness—if a pirate was fighting on deck in the sunlight, then had to continue the fight under the deck where it is usually pretty dark, it could take too long for their eyes to adjust and for the pirate to be able to see.  The eye patch could be used to prepare one eye to see in the dark, so when they would go below deck they could swap the eye patch from one eye to the other and see with the eye that has already adjusted to low light conditions. This would allow them to instantly see in the dark. Mythbusters confirmed that this use of eye patches among pirates was plausible, but there is no recorded historical precedent for this fact. So for now, keep on wearing that pirate-y eye patch—you're actually looking like one smart pirate when you do!

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Eric G
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

MythBusters did a show on this and I believe they determined it plausible as it did work

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#54

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It is also known as the "revenge bedtime procrastination." The "revenge" prefix is believed to have been added first in China in the late 2010s, possibly relating to the 996 working hour system (72 hours per week). "Revenge" because many feel that it is the only way they can take any control over their daytime self.⁠ The term "bedtime procrastination" became popular based on a 2014 study from the Netherlands.⁠ Writer Daphne K. Lee wrote about it on Twitter, describing it as "a phenomenon in which people who don't have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours."⁠ An individual may procrastinate sleep due to a variety of causes. The person may not necessarily be avoiding sleep, but rather continuing to complete activities they perceive as more enjoyable than sleep (such as watching television or browsing social media).⁠

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#55

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And the reason why behind so many lion statues in London is: They were sculpted by Timothy Butler for Sir Joseph Bazalgette's Victorian sewage works, and are used as a flood level monitor for the river. If water gets up to the lion's mouths, the city is at risk of flooding and there's a saying that goes: “If the lions drink, the city will sink”.

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#57

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Aviation has a ton of its own unique technical words, but Jesus nut is a little bit different. It is widely used in literature, but it was created back in the times of the Vietnam War. The name was so fitting and the part is so important that later it became a good way to pay respect to retired officers.

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#60

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Similar case happened when bitcoin was first ever mentioned in the mainstream media. They displayed an image of their private key during the bit. There was a thread about it on reddit that went something like this: "Did you guys see what they just did?" "They posted their private key. Did someone get it?" "Yeah. I got it. I swept their funds and am contacting the station to give it back to them." Basically a reddit user stole their bitcoin just to give it back to them before a real thief could do so.

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#61

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As a group, sharks have been around for at least 420 million years, meaning they have survived four of the “big five” mass extinctions. That makes them older than humanity, older than Mount Everest, older than dinosaurs, older even than trees. It is possible that sharks just got lucky in the lottery of life. These also exploited new habitats following extinction events. They even managed to survive during times when the ocean lost its oxygen - including one such event in the Cretaceous period, when many other, larger, species died out. As a refuge, sharks moved deeper underwater, says experts. And while there, they had another cunning trick. Some evolved the ability to glow in the dark. Sharks are older than trees. Sharks have existed for more than 420 million years, whereas the earliest tree, lived around 350 million years ago. These estimations are done by carbon da_ting methods.

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#63

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Babsevs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can't help but giggle at the caption....*legless* is slang in the UK for being very very drunk!

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#64

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Tokyo’s battle with flooding stretches back through its history. The city sits on a plain crossed by five rowdy river systems and dozens of individual rivers that naturally swell each season. Intense urbanisation, rapid industrialisation and imprudent water extraction that caused some regions to sink have exacerbated the city’s vulnerability.After decades of planning for these scenarios and non-stop construction, the Japanese capital now boasts dozens of dams, reservoirs and levees. Cut into the city’s ground, as you would with a birthday cake, and you will find an underground maze of tunnels alongside the subway lines and gas pipelines that criss-cross the city⁠.

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#66

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“I took it out of the show in honor of Her Royal Highness,” Jackson told Barbara Walters in 1997 of their first meeting. “Are you going to do Dirty Diana?” Jackson recalled Diana asking him during the meet-and-greet before the show. “I said, ‘No, I took it out of the show because of you.’ She said, ‘No! I want you to do it. Do it. Do the song.’” Diana reportedly danced during the concert as Prince Charles remained seated. Jackson also gifted the couple two miniature tour jackets for their sons, Princes William and Harry.
 
Michael Jackson and Princess Diana both had an immense respect and love for each other. When she died, he cancelled his concert in honor of her and dedicated the next two upcoming concerts to her memory.

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#67

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It was an 'i-Deal' situation for the couple...They had no plans to move. But when Apple Inc said they wanted to buy the property, which originally cost just under $6,000 and sits on less than one acre of land, they finally agreed. 'They told us to put a price on it and we did,' Kathy Fulbright, 62. The couple used the proceeds from the sale to build a new 4,200 square-foot house - on 49 acres, boasting a jacuzzi and pond. They said they rejected Apple's first offer, and second. Well, they always did say that the third time's  the charm. Later, the gigantic warehouse-like facility was set to be humming with servers and generators that delivered all the digital entertainment that makes Apple's flagship products - the iPod, iPhone and iPad - so popular

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#68

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Caffeinated Hedgehog
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When my dog does this, she is "aligning with Earth's magnetic field". When I do it, they call me crazy.

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#69

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This animal is built for battle. It has powerful 1.5-inch-long (4 cm) claws and teeth that are strong enough to crack a tortoise shell, making these small mammals a formidable opponent. Honey badgers are fearless. Snakes, including venomous ones, are an "excellent source of meat" for honey badgers, making up to 25% of the animals' diet. And to dine on venomous snakes, which would be an otherwise deadly meal option for most carnivores, honey badgers have evolved a special kind of immunity to the toxins in snake venom. A similar venom-defense mechanism has evolved in other mammals that share habitat with venomous snakes, including mongooses, hedgehogs, and even wild pigs.

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#70

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In 1998, the Japanese electronics giant Sony released 700,000 camcorders that had the adroitness to see through people’s clothes. As soon as Sony realized what havoc it had caused, the camcorders were immediately recalled. The camcorders having a visual appearance similar to a normal were equipped with a lens that uses IR (Infrared Rays) to allow a person to take pictures in the dark, termed as Night Vision. Dark clothes like swimsuits went transparent in front of those camcorders and it was in no matter of time, nude pictures of ladies were trending on the internet. “At least 12 Web sites feature pictures of women who look almost naked, even though they are wearing clothes or a swimsuit. The see-through power in Sony’s camcorder was discovered by Greg Hunter, who was the Customer Correspondent at Good Morning America back in 1998. Finally after receiving enough criticism Sony recalled them!

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#71

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The medical team determined the cause of his sudden growth spurt, a tumor pressing against his pituitary gland. The doctors operated on Rainer to remove the tumor in the hope of preventing further growth. Though successfully removed, it was only enough to slow Adam's growth. When he was measured the next year his height was unchanged, but his spine had begun to curve, meaning he was still growing. As he grew, his health declined, with his curved spine eventually leaving him unable to stand on his own. His eyesight and hearing grew worse, and he eventually died aged 51 in a "home of the aged", measuring 7 feet 11 inches tall, the tallest man in Austria. There are currently no other known instances of a person being classified as both a dwarf and a giant across their lifetime.

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#72

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Teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.During the 20th and early 21st centuries, Oxford added to its humanistic core a major new research capacity in the natural and applied sciences, including medicine. In so doing, it has enhanced and strengthened its traditional role as an international focus for learning and a forum for intellectual debate.

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#73

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If you're think penguins are cute and cuddly, you maybe wrong. We are amazed by the funny way penguins waddle and their amazing lifestyles. But this closer look reveals that they have a dark side. Some scientists resist this statement and come with another theory behind this act : What happens is that penguins like Adelie Penguins (a species of penguin) congregate at the water's edge – and despite their marvellous adaptations for a life in water, they can often appear reluctant to enter it. Eventually one or two will dive in: whereupon the rest may or may not choose to follow.

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Alecto76
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seriously, cuteness is deceiving. Look up otters (or don't if you don't have the stomach for it). They are the vicious little serial killers of the animal world.

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#74

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Kaa
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They're not "deaf", their auricles are closed to protect the inner ear and slowly begin to open

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#75

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They were not allowed by Marvel and Disney to promote their magnum opus, Avengers: Endgame together. And the reason is hilariously believable! By now we've all realised that the two hunky Chris' share an impeccable camaraderie that doesn't limit to their onscreen characters, Thor and Captain America. Hence, considering how they would be goofing around instead of working, the makers decided to not pair them up for interviews and promotional events. As per an interview with Chris Hemsworth on Variety, the actor revealed, "With Chris Evans, I have a real brotherly bond. I think they wouldn't pair us up on this press tour, because we just spend the whole time screwing around and none of it is on topic." On the same, even Chris Evans commented and told Variety, "We had too much fun together, and truly like kids in school, we were separated because we weren't getting s--- done." Like we mentioned earlier, the two Chris' share a really good bond so it is not surprising to see the makers figure out that pairing them would only lead to monkey business and no work.

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#77

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Ostriches raised entirely by humans can end up developing an attraction to their handlers. The type of attraction an ostrich develops leads to the bird believing that a human can become a suitable mate. In fact, many ostriches start to exhibit courtship behavior if they notice a human within their vicinity. More research has to be done to find out the exact reason why ostriches can become attracted to people. However, scientists speculate that there’s a causal factor found with ostrich chicks raised by hand and their consistent interaction with humans. This increased frequency of interaction can cause the chicks to become sexually confused when they reach sexual maturity.

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#78

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The stripes run up and down your arms and legs and hug your torso. They wrap around the back of your head like a speed skater’s aerodynamic hood and across your face. Or they would, if you could see them. Most people will never see their own stripes. As scientists noted, there are dozens of skin conditions that follow these lines, but most of them affect patches of skin or a single body part, not the entire body. Lined and whorled nevoid hypermelanosis can create beautiful patterns.

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JB
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All right, I googled this (along with "How many slaps to cook a chicken?"), and, like that query, this is apparently true. Blaschko's Lines. Go figure.

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#79

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In 1999, one of the future greatest soccer players of all time sat in a doctor’s office in Rosario, Argentina. Lionel Messi was just 11 years old and awaiting a diagnosis after over a year of tests (Caoili, 2012, p.41). He was 4 feet and 4 inches inches tall (Hawkey, 2008), and had not grown since he was nine (Thompson, 2012). His doctor, Diego Schwarsztein (Caioli, 2012, p.41), diagnosed him with Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD), predicting he would grow to a maximum height of about 4 feet and 7 inches tall without intervention (Cooney, 2016). Yet, three years later, thanks to an agreement inked out on a paper napkin with one of the richest sports teams in the world, Lionel Messi would be treated, healthy, and ascending to both normal stature and soccer stardom. GHD is treated by daily injections of somatotropin, or human growth hormone (hGH), into the lower body, which enable people to grow to potentially an average height, effectively curing the disease. These injections made it possible for Messi to achieve both a soccer career and a normal life, saving him from both being 4’7” and suffering from the other aforementioned effects.

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#80

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The study of ancient remains from around the world has demonstrated the ingenuity that existed in the application of surgical and cosmetic dental practices going back many millennia. Historical records reveal numerous dental and hygiene procedures practiced by the ancient Egyptians. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, written in the 17th century BC but which may reflect previous manuscripts from as early as 3000 BC, includes the treatment of several dental ailments, and the Ebers Papyrus, dating to the 16 th century BC, contains eleven recipes which pertain to oral issues. Four of these are remedies for loose teeth: the tooth in question is filled with a mixture that is akin to a modern day composite filling: a filler agent (ground barley) is mixed with a liquid matrix (honey) and an antiseptic agent (yellow ochre). This is either used as an actual filling, or as a splint to keep the tooth in place. Cavities were found to be filled with linen, which may have first been dipped in a medicine such as fig juice or cedar oil.

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#83

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In 1963, a man in the Nevşehir Province of Turkey knocked down a wall in his basement and ended up discovering a gigantic underground city. Known as Derinkuyu, the city had been abandoned for centuries – probably much to the relief of the man who'd just hammered his way in. Work on the city, estimated to hold up to 20,000 people, may have begun as far back as the 8th–7th centuries BCE, according to archaeologists at the Turkish Department of Culture. Despite the rock – formed by volcanic ash deposits – being soft, the Phrygians who began the build didn't get very far with it. A manuscript from around 370 BCE which possibly describes Derinkuyu mentions that the underground dwellings were about big enough for a family, domestic animals, and food. Those living on the bottom levels, for example, were able to cut off the water supply to the upper and ground levels, preventing enemies from poisoning the supply. The tunnels could be blocked from the inside with round rolling stone doors, and the passageways themselves were narrow to force any invaders to line up one at a time – an attack system so dire it is only seen in movies whenever the good guy gets surrounded.

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Jen Mart
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I admit that if I discovered 18 stories of an underground city from my basement, I might keep it a secret for a little bit...and maybe one party

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#84

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Switzerland has a vaunted reputation for political neutrality and hasn't fought a war since 1815. The mountainous and land-locked country wanted to keep its stance intact even during the tensest years of the Cold War — and even if it meant destroying crucial pieces of its own infrastructure to stop an invading army. Switzerland's Military Defense Involves Blowing Up All Roads Into The Country. Near the German border of Switzerland, every railroad and highway tunnel has been prepared to pinch shut explosively.  Nearby mountains have been made so porous that whole divisions can fit inside them. In short: Switzerland is devoted to extreme neutrality. But were a nation to test that, they're prepared to mess an invader up. But as of 2014-15, Switzerland Is Finally Getting Around Dismantling Its Cold War-Era Defense System . The disarmament of the Säckinger Bridge was only the latest bridge along the German-Swiss border to be defused/

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#85

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When your body defends itself against UV rays, your skin tans or darkens. Too much sun exposure allows UV rays to reach your inner skin layers. You know this as sunburn. This can cause skin cells to die, damage, or develop cancer. Blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow and bring immune cells to the skin to help clean up the mess. All this causes the redness, swelling and inflammation we associate with a sunburn. The sunburn will eventually heal, but some of the surviving cells will have mutations that escape repair.

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#86

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At the time of her death, 19 y/o Sunandha already had one daughter and was expecting another child. In May 1880, when Sunandha was just 19 years old, she was on a trip to the royal family’s bountiful Bang Pa-In summer residence, outside of Bangkok. She was accompanied by Princess Karnabhorn Bejraratana, not even two years old, and a group of guards and servants. But reaching the palace required crossing Chao Phraya River, Thailand’s biggest river. The queen consort and the princess were escorted to a separate boat which was dragged by a bigger boat to carry them over the river. However, the royal vessel capsized in strong currents and both were plunged into the water. None of the royal entourage proceeded to help them. Supposedly everyone followed the lead of the main guard, who did not assist them or urge anyone else to help the drowning royals–all three lives were lost while their attendants just stood and watched. The guards, and everyone else on the scene, were adhering to an old and rigid Siamese law that did not allow any ordinary person to touch a member of the royal family. Breaking this law was punishable with death.

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#87

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After his retirement from boxing in 1914, former bantamweight champion of the world Johnny Coulon (5 ft, 110 lbs) hit the vaudeville circuit demonstrating his apparently mysterious power to resist being lifted into the air. The act was simple; the tiny Coulon would first allow himself to be lifted by his “opponent”, typically a big heavyweight boxer, wrestler or weightlifter.  The opponent would initially have no difficulty at all hoisting the smaller man into the air, especially as Coulon would tense his body into a straight vertical line and bear down upon the lifter’s wrists, effectively assisting in the lift. Coulon would then apply his special counter-grip, in which he lightly seized the would-be lifter’s right wrist (over the pulse-point) with his left hand and placed his right index finger on the left side of the lifter’s neck, near the carotid artery. The results were always the same; regardless of how much he strained and struggled, the lifter couldn’t budge Coulon from the floor.

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#88

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He and his wife, Marjorie Zybach, whom he met while delivering a pizza, were married in 1962 and have four daughters: Margaret, Susan, Mary and Barbara. As of 2014, they have 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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jeff adams
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He wanted to create an exclusively Catholic community at one time.

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#89

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A stolen bottle of vodka thought to be the world's most expensive at $1.3m (€1.17) was found empty on a construction site, Danish police said in 2018. The bottle, made from gold and silver and with a diamond encrusted cap, was on loan to a Copenhagen bar which had a collection of vodkas on display.⁠
CCTV showed an intruder, who grabbed the Russo-Baltique vodka and fled the bar.⁠ "I don't know what happened with the vodka, but the bottle was empty", Riad Tooba, spokesman for the Copenhagen police, told AFP news agency. Brian Ingberg, owner of the Cafe 33 bar, said the bottle was still valued at the same price.

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#90

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Alexander
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is an interesting video on YouTube where a guy build a slapping machine to prove this - it worked

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#91

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Canada (No. 15), the United States (No. 16) and the United Kingdom (No. 17) all made it into the top 20. India is ranked at 136th position. (2022 data)

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#92

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Most Korean hospitals are now issuing a "plastic surgery certificate" at the request of overseas visitors. Customs officials, of course, are strict about making sure people match the mugs in their passports. These certificates can supposedly help make clearing immigration go smoother so officials don't have to call hospitals to confirm procedures. The certificates include the patient's passport number, the length of their stay, the name and location of the hospital as well as the hospital's official seal to certify the document. Travellers can show the forms to immigration officials on their return trip home. This practice of issuing plastic surgery certificates apparently began three years ago, but has increased with the rising number of visitors getting plastic surgery done in South Korea.

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#93

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JB
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

aw man. That sounds pretty cruel. Knowing you'll never see freedom again, but not exactly when you'll die? That'd be hell on earth all your last days. Vicious.

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#95

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During the Second World War, meteorologists began naming hurricanes the names of their wives and daughters, and if the storms intensified, they were called by the names of hated people, hence this tradition. The names were very resonant and unforgettable, but at today's stage, the naming is random.

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#96

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David
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So you're saying when we stopped checking for witches via drowning and started embracing real science we made faster progress?

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#97

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The elevators can wisk you to the to the observation deck at 1823 feet in less than a minute.  Currently the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa measures 2717 feet in height (828 meters), including 163 floors above ground, 58 elevators, a 304 room Armani hotel, 6 exclusive restaurants, and 900 residences. It took 6 years, 12,000 workers, and 22 million man hours to complete.  But despite all the amazing technology that went into this masterpiece, the exterior windows are still cleaned the old fashioned way... with a bucket of water and a squeegee.

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David
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only sort of related but it messed with my body clock. International flight going towards the sun (earth rotation wise). I watched the sun set out the plane window, then just a few hours later watched it rise again. My internal time clock was like... wait, no, that's not right.

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#100

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Eric G
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe it's because they come up with original games rather than reboots.

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#101

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Nokia's XR20 is termed the most durable phone ever created till date. The XR20 sports a tough 6.67-inch Gorilla Glass Victus display from American tech firm Corning and can resist damage from scratches and drops from about 6 feet, the company says. Nokia phones are so resistant as they are typically made of a LOT of high quality plastic, with support structures inside (as well as very solidly mounted components).

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#102

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Niels Bohr gained more than just fame and a medal after winning the Nobel Prize in 1922 for his work in early quantum mechanics. Back in 1875, the brewery was one of the first to isolate a new species of yeast that was used to brew pale lagers, apart from making discoveries in protein chemistry that ended up having applications elsewhere. The beer bond goes just beyond free drinks, and in 1921 Bohr founded that Insititute for Theoretical Physics with the help of the Danish government and the Carlsberg Foundation. Bohr went to unearth complementarity, which became a key principle in quantum mechanics

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gerard julien
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

funny but it's a MYTH : " The Bohr ‘beer tap story’ is an urban myth or, at best, a joke by some of his contemporaries,” Dr. Christian Joas writes VinePair in an email, adding, “and I do know a little bit about Niels Bohr.” Joas is the director of the Niels Bohr Archive, and an associate professor in the Department of Science Education at the University of Copenhagen.“In the 1930s, beer would probably have tasted stale after traversing a pipeline of several dozens of meters or more,” Joas explains. “There was no such pipeline, but indeed Niels Bohr was entitled to free delivery of beer in the form of kegs and bottles/crates from 1932 to 1962.”

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#103

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Dave In MD
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not every head rest just pulls out. And not to be pedantic but there is nothing "iron" in your car.

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#105

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censorshipsucks
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one is a bit pathetic. (a) you mean in English. (b) it's named after a Norse Goddess, Jørd. Which in English of 1000 years ago, was Eorthe, hence modern Earth. Sighhhhhh.. It doesn't matter who named it that; it has different names in different languages. The other major planets - the ones visible to the eye - were named BEFORE we realised that we were on a planet. Specifically Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn. The rest were named after the telescope, once we knew we were on a planet, and so we just continued with the roman/greek names because the roman/greek names were already applied to mars/venus etc (Ares/Aphrodite).

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#106

Fascinating-Educational-Facts-Askmeknowledge

 
Rolls Royce car leather on all classic cars were made using Connolly leather hides, why would you want anything else in such a luxurious vehicle like a Rolls Royce. The average Rolls Royce has around 18 full hides to make a full interior, all hand selected to deliver the finest leather finish in the world.Rolls Royce has one specific criterion based on which the eligibility to own a Rolls Royce depends on. So, one who wants to purchase ​Rolls Royce have to fulfil all criteria as RR do complete research on your background, your class, and then they decide if the user is worth the Spirit of Ecstasy. Also, some brands, such as Bentley, bulls are preferred for their slightly thicker and more durable hides.

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Awenpotato
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Disgusting use of life, for those totally disconnected with reality

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