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Central Intelligence Agency operatives spent millions of dollars during the Cold War funding the Stargate Project, a highly classified initiative aiming to weaponize mysticism…
Central Intelligence Agency operatives spent millions of dollars during the Cold War funding the Stargate Project, a highly classified initiative aiming to…
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One driver controlled a freight train more than four miles long.
One driver controlled a freight train more than four miles long. BHP's 2001 Australian test train stretched 7.353 kilometers, with 682 ore cars and eight…
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BoJack Horseman features a running joke involving a massive banner company that constantly misprints the exact instructions given by characters placing orders.
BoJack Horseman features a running joke involving a massive banner company that constantly misprints the exact instructions given by characters placing…
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George RR Martin deliberately delayed writing the final books in the Game of Thrones series long enough for the television show to completely ruin the ending.
George RR Martin deliberately delayed writing the final books in the Game of Thrones series long enough for the television show to completely ruin the ending.…
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Swallowing eight spiders a year in your sleep is a complete statistical fabrication deliberately invented in the early nineteen-nineties to prove how easily people will believe…
Swallowing eight spiders a year in your sleep is a complete statistical fabrication deliberately invented in the early nineteen-nineties to prove how easily…
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An ancient coin machine sold a portion of holy water.
An ancient coin machine sold a portion of holy water. Heron of Alexandria described a dispenser in which a coin landed on a small pan and its weight opened a…
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Babylonians left riddles that still puzzle scholars.
Babylonians left riddles that still puzzle scholars. Clay tablets preserved wordplay alongside the records and royal stories we expect from ancient…
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Shrinking skin can make a dead person's nails look longer.
Shrinking skin can make a dead person's nails look longer. As tissue dries and retracts, more of an existing nail or hair shaft can become exposed. That…
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The MPMan held a handful of songs three years before the iPod.
The MPMan held a handful of songs three years before the iPod. Saehan's MPMan F10 arrived in 1998 with 32 megabytes of flash memory. Depending on encoding,…
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The Matrix's impossible world was drawn before it was filmed.
The Matrix's impossible world was drawn before it was filmed. The Wachowskis worked with comic artists Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce on extensive shot-by-shot…
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Zelda's cartridge kept a little memory alive after power-off.
Zelda's cartridge kept a little memory alive after power-off. The NES release used a battery to maintain save data in memory inside the cartridge. You could…
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Mario Kart developers explicitly invented the infamous Blue Shell as a brutal equalizing force to ruthlessly punish whichever player possessed the audacity to maintain a solid lead.
Mario Kart developers explicitly invented the infamous Blue Shell as a brutal equalizing force to ruthlessly punish whichever player possessed the audacity to…
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Britain once made road vehicles travel at walking pace.
Britain once made road vehicles travel at walking pace. The 1865 Locomotive Act limited powered road vehicles to four miles per hour in the countryside and…
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Steven Spielberg famously directed Schindler's List and Jurassic Park during the exact same year, managing the post-production of dinosaurs while filming a harrowing historical drama.
Steven Spielberg famously directed Schindler's List and Jurassic Park during the exact same year, managing the post-production of dinosaurs while filming a…
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Star Trek's transporter saved money—and got the story moving faster.
Star Trek's transporter saved money—and got the story moving faster. Gene Roddenberry said landing the Enterprise on a planet would consume too much of the…
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Black Friday's shopping name began as a complaint about crowds.
Black Friday's shopping name began as a complaint about crowds. Philadelphia police used it for the traffic and disruption around the day after Thanksgiving.…
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Fox executives canceled Family Guy twice before finally realizing the massive amount of money they were losing in DVD sales and syndication rights. College students buying boxed sets helped bring the show back.
Fox executives canceled Family Guy twice before finally realizing the massive amount of money they were losing in DVD sales and syndication rights. College…
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An early medieval law put different prices on lost fingers.
An early medieval law put different prices on lost fingers. A translated Salic law schedule assigns 50 solidi for a severed thumb and 35 for the finger used…
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Dion Fortune was a prominent British occultist who claimed she was subjected to a series of terrifying psychic attacks from the jealous wife of a former magical mentor.
Dion Fortune was a prominent British occultist who claimed she was subjected to a series of terrifying psychic attacks from the jealous wife of a former…
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Exporting human blood plasma accounts for nearly three percent of all total export goods leaving the United States economy, effectively making it one of the most lucrative industries in the nation.
Exporting human blood plasma accounts for nearly three percent of all total export goods leaving the United States economy, effectively making it one of the…
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Satoshi Nakamoto published the original Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and successfully launched the cryptocurrency network a few months later, yet the true identity of this…
Satoshi Nakamoto published the original Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and successfully launched the cryptocurrency network a few months later, yet the true…
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Skyrim speedrunners and casual players alike quickly discovered a legendary exploit where placing a wooden bucket over an NPC's head completely blinds them, allowing the player…
Skyrim speedrunners and casual players alike quickly discovered a legendary exploit where placing a wooden bucket over an NPC's head completely blinds them,…
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The corpse flower heats up its rotten-meat advertisement.
The corpse flower heats up its rotten-meat advertisement. When a titan arum blooms, it releases a carrion-like odor that attracts pollinating insects. Heat…
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Wealthy neighborhoods in coastal cities like Miami and Dubai are currently fighting a losing battle against massive gangs of feral peacocks that actively terrorize millionaires…
Wealthy neighborhoods in coastal cities like Miami and Dubai are currently fighting a losing battle against massive gangs of feral peacocks that actively…
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