The world is more interesting than you think.
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The arbitrary date that starts Unix time
Unix time is a stopwatch with an agreed starting line: midnight on January 1, 1970. Computers count seconds forward from there, or use negative counts for…
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When movie theaters battled giant feathered hats
Theaters resorted to lantern slides asking patrons to remove their bird-decorated hats so people behind them could see the screen.
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Rouge the Bat is an active government spy and thief
Her work as a military undercover agent sits alongside her life as a jewel thief. Why the government hired a jewel-obsessed bat is left classified.
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Formatting a drive doesn't erase your data
Think of a drive’s index as a library catalog. A quick format can throw away the catalog while leaving the books on the shelves; recovery may find them until…
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Johnny Cash performed a legendary music concert in a prison
At Folsom State Prison, Cash sang songs about crime to an audience living behind the walls those songs described, then released the performance as a live…
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The Exorcist's spider walk reached cinemas decades after the original release
The shot was left out of the 1973 film and became part of the expanded version released in 2000. Digital work helped make the effect usable by addressing…
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Why online recipes are buried under filler
Recipe pages may include extra details because people search for more than ingredient lists: they may want substitutions, timing, or clues that a dish is…
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When police raided cinemas for movie reels
Officers sometimes seized reels from projection booths while audiences were still sitting in the dark.
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Grocery checkout lines use motorized belts for your food
The moving belt carries each item toward the cashier, so groceries arrive in a steady stream instead of requiring a basket-by-basket handoff. It turns…
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The first sound recordings had to wait for a way to be heard
Scott de Martinville's phonautograph drew sound vibrations on a surface rather than playing them back. Much later, researchers used those traces to…
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Espio the Chameleon operates as a ninja detective
Espio pairs detective work with ninja training: he throws shurikens and can turn invisible.
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Magic carpets slowly roll beginners up tiny snow hills
A slow-moving belt carries beginners up the slope, so their first trip is uphill without the exhausting hike. It’s a ski lift with its feet firmly on the…
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A string quartet cannot raise productivity by firing two musicians
Performing the same piece still requires roughly the same players and time as it did centuries ago. Yet wages must compete with industries that can produce…
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Whistling utilizes entirely different mechanics than speaking
Speech uses vibrating vocal folds, but whistling makes sound by shaping airflow with the lips, tongue, and teeth. Change that little chamber in your mouth and…
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Keanu Reeves played bass in touring rock band Dogstar
In the 1990s, Reeves played bass in Dogstar, an alternative rock band that toured internationally and opened for Bon Jovi and David Bowie.
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Wahlberg swapped a Yankees cap for a generic hat
The Boston native refused to wear a Yankees cap, saying it would hurt his credibility back home. The production used a generic hat instead.
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Only one person dies in the original First Blood
In the 1982 film *First Blood*, Rambo wounds and disables his pursuers rather than killing them. The only death comes when a pursuer falls from a helicopter…
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Einstein patented a fridge with no moving parts
He and Leo Szilard designed an absorption refrigerator that used heat and interacting fluids instead of a mechanical compressor. Their 1930 patent exploited…
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Old World of Warcraft purses hit a very specific mathematical ceiling
An early gold cap came from storing money as a signed 32-bit count of copper pieces. Its maximum positive value, 2,147,483,647, converted to 214,748 gold, 36…
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How stereotypes can hurt your test score
A stereotype can follow you into an exam room as an extra question you never asked for: “What will this score say about people like me?” Worrying about that…
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Paul Revere identified a body by its teeth
After the Battle of Bunker Hill, Revere identified a fallen general by the silver wire in his false teeth—a set Revere had made as a silversmith.
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That friendly local may be part of a tourist scam
A local who steers you to a particular rug shop may be earning a commission; similar scams send tourists to overpriced restaurants or fake artisan shops.
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Tesla Easter eggs can turn your map into Mars
Hidden software features can turn the GPS map into Mars, play Christmas music, or make the doors flap.
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Pulp Fiction crossed the Atlantic in handwritten notebooks
Tarantino worked on the script during stays in an Amsterdam apartment without a phone or fax. He returned to Los Angeles with a dozen school notebooks full of…
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