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Silent Hill made a hardware limit feel like a threat.
Silent Hill made a hardware limit feel like a threat. The original PlayStation could only display so much scenery at once, and fog concealed the distance…
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Dutch authorities are forced to fish approximately fifteen thousand rusty bicycles out of Amsterdam's picturesque canals every single year.
Dutch authorities are forced to fish approximately fifteen thousand rusty bicycles out of Amsterdam's picturesque canals every single year. A workboat lowers…
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Mario and Luigi's movie voices had a New York starting point.
Mario and Luigi's movie voices had a New York starting point. On the set of the 1993 Super Mario Bros., John Leguizamo described the brothers' accents as a…
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Russian mystic George Gurdjieff forced the wealthy European followers of his esoteric Fourth Way philosophy to participate in a bizarre psychological practice he called the stop exercise.
Russian mystic George Gurdjieff forced the wealthy European followers of his esoteric Fourth Way philosophy to participate in a bizarre psychological practice…
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A railway's grand opening became the scene of a fatal accident.
A railway's grand opening became the scene of a fatal accident. At the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's opening in 1830, dignitaries stepped down from their…
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Spielberg sent a helicopter to help persuade Will Smith to do Men in Black.
Spielberg sent a helicopter to help persuade Will Smith to do Men in Black. Smith recalled the trip while explaining his reluctance to follow Independence Day…
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San Francisco's cable cars are the only moving objects on the planet to be designated as National Historic Landmarks.
San Francisco's cable cars are the only moving objects on the planet to be designated as National Historic Landmarks. Under the street, a motor keeps a long…
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A retired Sydney bus became an overland adventure to Britain.
A retired Sydney bus became an overland adventure to Britain. Andy Stewart bought the double-decker Albert for 400 Australian dollars in 1968, then recruited…
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Consumer goods companies frequently practice shrinkflation, a strategy where they subtly reduce the size or weight of a product while keeping the retail price exactly the same, hoping you are too distracted to notice.
Consumer goods companies frequently practice shrinkflation, a strategy where they subtly reduce the size or weight of a product while keeping the retail price…
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Federal Aviation Administration regulations strictly mandate that commercial flight crews receive a legally required minimum rest period of ten consecutive hours before they can…
Federal Aviation Administration regulations strictly mandate that commercial flight crews receive a legally required minimum rest period of ten consecutive…
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James Cameron filmed the desperately tragic ocean survival scenes for 'Titanic' in a giant concrete water tank that was only three feet deep, forcing the cast to act like they…
James Cameron filmed the desperately tragic ocean survival scenes for 'Titanic' in a giant concrete water tank that was only three feet deep, forcing the cast…
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Sony released the PlayStation 2 in the year 2000, and it remains the best-selling video game console of all time primarily because it happened to be the cheapest DVD player on the market at launch.
Sony released the PlayStation 2 in the year 2000, and it remains the best-selling video game console of all time primarily because it happened to be the…
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Twenty-eight thousand plastic bath toys were dumped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1992 when a shipping container tumbled off a cargo vessel during a severe storm.
Twenty-eight thousand plastic bath toys were dumped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1992 when a shipping container tumbled off a cargo vessel during a…
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The world's shortest escalator ends beside more steps.
The world's shortest escalator ends beside more steps. Guinness lists the escalator at a Kawasaki shopping mall as having a vertical height of just 83.4…
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Diners Club turned restaurant bills into one monthly tab.
Diners Club turned restaurant bills into one monthly tab. Launched in 1950, its cardboard charge card worked at participating businesses rather than just a…
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E.T.
E.T. turned a trail of candy into a marketing coup. Hershey agreed to a promotional partnership featuring Reese's Pieces after the filmmakers approached the…
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Sunburn comes from ultraviolet damage, not simply from skin getting too hot.
Sunburn comes from ultraviolet damage, not simply from skin getting too hot. The injury sets off inflammation, producing redness, soreness, and swelling;…
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A bank loan can create new money in an account.
A bank loan can create new money in an account. When a commercial bank lends, it generally creates a matching deposit rather than handing over a particular…
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Trying not to yawn can make the urge stronger.
Trying not to yawn can make the urge stronger. In a 2017 experiment on contagious yawning, instructions to resist increased the urge and shifted people toward…
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The first Godzilla suit weighed around a hundred kilograms.
The first Godzilla suit weighed around a hundred kilograms. Performer Haruo Nakajima recalled the physical challenge of moving inside it while destroying…
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Escobar's brother claimed the cartel needed a rubber-band budget.
Escobar's brother claimed the cartel needed a rubber-band budget. In his memoir, Roberto Escobar put the monthly cost of bands for cash bundles at $2,500 and…
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Venice's delivery carts became a noise-control problem.
Venice's delivery carts became a noise-control problem. In 2014, a proposed restriction focused on commercial carts with hard wheels that rattled over and…
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Parisian transit authorities maintain a fully functional ghost station called Porte des Lilas specifically for production companies to shoot movies and commercials without disrupting actual commuters.
Parisian transit authorities maintain a fully functional ghost station called Porte des Lilas specifically for production companies to shoot movies and…
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French occultist Eliphas Levi single-handedly created the iconic modern image of Baphomet as a goat-headed, winged, hermaphroditic figure in his 1856 book on high magic,…
French occultist Eliphas Levi single-handedly created the iconic modern image of Baphomet as a goat-headed, winged, hermaphroditic figure in his 1856 book on…
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