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The Golden Girls performed live for the Queen Mother in London in 1988.
The Golden Girls performed live for the Queen Mother in London in 1988. The cast brought their Miami sitcom characters to the Royal Variety Performance at the…
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The Royal Navy kept a daily rum ration until 1970.
The Royal Navy kept a daily rum ration until 1970. The amount changed across the centuries, but the issue of a daily tot survived into the age of modern…
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Mario's original manual gives the scenery a disturbing backstory.
Mario's original manual gives the scenery a disturbing backstory. It says the Mushroom People were magically transformed into stones, bricks and plants, and…
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The Office cast got to vote on the show's theme.
The Office cast got to vote on the show's theme. Greg Daniels offered the actors several musical options, and the cast helped choose the tune that would…
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Topsy's execution became an early Edison-company film.
Topsy's execution became an early Edison-company film. When Topsy the elephant was killed at Coney Island in 1903, a crew from Edison's film company recorded…
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Ghosts in the original 1980 arcade classic Pac-Man do not randomly wander the maze, as each possesses a distinct, hard-coded artificial intelligence routing protocol.
Ghosts in the original 1980 arcade classic Pac-Man do not randomly wander the maze, as each possesses a distinct, hard-coded artificial intelligence routing…
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A cheap printer can come with an expensive gatekeeper.
A cheap printer can come with an expensive gatekeeper. HP describes dynamic security as a system that checks cartridge chips or circuitry and can block…
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When a person experiences extreme embarrassment or shame and their face flushes red, the mucosal lining of their stomach also blushes and turns noticeably darker.
When a person experiences extreme embarrassment or shame and their face flushes red, the mucosal lining of their stomach also blushes and turns noticeably…
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Extended periods of microgravity in space cause the human heart to lose muscle mass and transform from an oval shape into a more spherical configuration.
Extended periods of microgravity in space cause the human heart to lose muscle mass and transform from an oval shape into a more spherical configuration. In…
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The world's appetite for sand is also an appetite for gravel.
The world's appetite for sand is also an appetite for gravel. UN estimates put annual use of sand and gravel at roughly 50 billion tonnes. These aggregates…
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Plutarch described a Spartan newborn test involving wine.
Plutarch described a Spartan newborn test involving wine. Writing centuries after the customs he described, Plutarch said Spartan women washed babies in wine…
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Animals once faced formal court proceedings alongside humans.
Animals once faced formal court proceedings alongside humans. In some European cases, livestock were prosecuted for harming people, while church proceedings…
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Twister was heavily criticized and almost pulled from the market in 1966 because competitors accused it of being sex in a box, which sounds like a compliment but was genuinely a scandal at the time.
Twister was heavily criticized and almost pulled from the market in 1966 because competitors accused it of being sex in a box, which sounds like a compliment…
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Creators of the animated series South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, purchased the actual Casa Bonita restaurant in Colorado after it filed for bankruptcy in 2021.
Creators of the animated series South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, purchased the actual Casa Bonita restaurant in Colorado after it filed for bankruptcy…
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The pope flies on chartered airliners, not a Vatican Air Force One.
The pope flies on chartered airliners, not a Vatican Air Force One. Papal trips use aircraft supplied by commercial airlines. The familiar nickname Shepherd…
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Tomato juice tastes different in the air because an airplane cabin changes how we experience flavor.
Tomato juice tastes different in the air because an airplane cabin changes how we experience flavor. Dry air and reduced pressure weaken some of the smells…
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Japanese rail engineers built gutters to keep turtles out of switches.
Japanese rail engineers built gutters to keep turtles out of switches. Turtles could become trapped between rails and eventually reach the moving points,…
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One person can carry two genetic identities after two early embryos merge.
One person can carry two genetic identities after two early embryos merge. Different groups of cells can retain different DNA, so a blood sample need not tell…
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Pareidolia is the psychological tendency to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually seeing faces in inanimate objects.
Pareidolia is the psychological tendency to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually seeing faces in inanimate objects. Your visual…
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Pouches of mackerel fillets became the gold standard of currency in United States federal prisons after smoking bans eliminated cigarettes from the black market in 2004.
Pouches of mackerel fillets became the gold standard of currency in United States federal prisons after smoking bans eliminated cigarettes from the black…
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Schwarzenegger's Terminator meeting began as an audition for the other side.
Schwarzenegger's Terminator meeting began as an audition for the other side. James Cameron recalled that Arnold was proposed for Kyle Reese, the human…
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Ray Tomlinson invented network email in 1971, making electronic mail a solid two decades older than the World Wide Web itself.
Ray Tomlinson invented network email in 1971, making electronic mail a solid two decades older than the World Wide Web itself. He chose “@” to separate a…
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Winston Churchill secured a medical prescription for limitless alcohol from a sympathetic American doctor during a visit to the United States during the peak of Prohibition in 1932.
Winston Churchill secured a medical prescription for limitless alcohol from a sympathetic American doctor during a visit to the United States during the peak…
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New York subway conductors point before opening the doors.
New York subway conductors point before opening the doors. A black-and-white zebra board marks the correct stopping position relative to the conductor's…
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