The world is more interesting than you think.
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Recent economic reports from global financial institutions have repeatedly confirmed that the richest one percent of the global population currently hoards roughly half of all…
Recent economic reports from global financial institutions have repeatedly confirmed that the richest one percent of the global population currently hoards…
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Mickey's white gloves made his hands easier to see.
Mickey's white gloves made his hands easier to see. Against a dark body in early black-and-white animation, dark hands could disappear into the silhouette.…
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The Hunley’s engine was seven men turning a crank.
The Hunley’s engine was seven men turning a crank. Seven crew members powered the submarine’s propeller by hand while its commander steered. In 1864, Hunley…
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The Xbox pitch forced Microsoft to argue against Windows.
The Xbox pitch forced Microsoft to argue against Windows. Accounts of the console's development describe a heated 2000 meeting in which Bill Gates objected to…
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IKEA's furniture names started as an alternative to numbers.
IKEA's furniture names started as an alternative to numbers. The company says Ingvar Kamprad found numbers difficult to remember, so products received names…
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A blink can make a Walking Dead zombie look too alive.
A blink can make a Walking Dead zombie look too alive. Makeup artist and director Greg Nicotero described removing blinks when editing a particularly…
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The Shining makes a stack of typed pages reveal the horror.
The Shining makes a stack of typed pages reveal the horror. Wendy discovers that Jack's apparent writing consists of the same sentence repeated in different…
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Alaska built a fund that sends residents a yearly check.
Alaska built a fund that sends residents a yearly check. The Permanent Fund invested a share of Alaska's mineral revenues rather than spending all of them…
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Early pagers replaced a public announcement with a private signal.
Early pagers replaced a public announcement with a private signal. Motorola's 1955 Handie-Talkie radio paging system let selected people receive an alert…
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WeWork sold investors more than office space.
WeWork sold investors more than office space. Its $47 billion private valuation reflected ambitions for a rapidly growing business, not simply the value of…
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Scotland bankrupted its entire national economy in the late 1690s by sinking a fifth of the country wealth into a doomed attempt to build a colonial empire in the mosquito-infested swamps of Panama.
Scotland bankrupted its entire national economy in the late 1690s by sinking a fifth of the country wealth into a doomed attempt to build a colonial empire in…
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Borrowing against shares can provide cash without selling them.
Borrowing against shares can provide cash without selling them. In the United States, selling appreciated stock generally realizes a taxable gain, while a…
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Stagehands on the set of the original Star Trek television series had to physically pull the futuristic automatic sliding doors open using a complex system of hidden ropes and pulleys.
Stagehands on the set of the original Star Trek television series had to physically pull the futuristic automatic sliding doors open using a complex system of…
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Ethernet cable standard was sketched out on a napkin by Bob Metcalfe in 1973 while he was crashing at a friend's house and trying to figure out how to network computers without everything constantly crashing.
Ethernet cable standard was sketched out on a napkin by Bob Metcalfe in 1973 while he was crashing at a friend's house and trying to figure out how to network…
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DNA helped researchers make cotton resist fire.
DNA helped researchers make cotton resist fire. In experiments, a coating made from herring sperm DNA formed a protective char layer when heated. Its chemical…
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Ancient Persia built rest stops into a royal road.
Ancient Persia built rest stops into a royal road. The Royal Road linked Sardis to Susa across roughly 2,400 kilometers, with service stations spaced along…
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Sound designer Ben Burtt secretly slipped an obscure, exaggerated stock sound effect called the Wilhelm Scream into the original Star Wars movie as a private joke among his audio engineering friends.
Sound designer Ben Burtt secretly slipped an obscure, exaggerated stock sound effect called the Wilhelm Scream into the original Star Wars movie as a private…
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Italy’s valuable truffles have made some hunting dogs targets of poisoning.
Italy’s valuable truffles have made some hunting dogs targets of poisoning. Finding the hidden fungi depends on a trained animal’s nose, so harming a rival’s…
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Medieval necromancers did not actually raise massive armies of rotting zombies to conquer kingdoms like you see in high fantasy video games, but rather performed incredibly…
Medieval necromancers did not actually raise massive armies of rotting zombies to conquer kingdoms like you see in high fantasy video games, but rather…
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Three in the morning became historically known as the witching hour because the Catholic Church established canonical hours for prayer, and the middle of the night was considered…
Three in the morning became historically known as the witching hour because the Catholic Church established canonical hours for prayer, and the middle of the…
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The Sun holds about 99.8% of the solar system's mass.
The Sun holds about 99.8% of the solar system's mass. The planets, moons, asteroids, and other objects share almost all the remainder. Solar gravity bends the…
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Crash Bandicoot made small memory feel like a much bigger world.
Crash Bandicoot made small memory feel like a much bigger world. Programmer Andy Gavin described dynamically swapping level components from the PlayStation CD…
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Theosophists in the late 19th century popularized the concept of the Akashic Records, which they described as a mystical, ethereal library located in the non-physical plane that…
Theosophists in the late 19th century popularized the concept of the Akashic Records, which they described as a mystical, ethereal library located in the…
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Ancient Egyptian police forces actively utilized trained baboons to patrol markets, apprehend criminals, and maintain public order thousands of years ago.
Ancient Egyptian police forces actively utilized trained baboons to patrol markets, apprehend criminals, and maintain public order thousands of years ago.…
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