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Members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn threw literal magical temper tantrums at each other when they weren't busy trying to decode the secrets of the universe.
Members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn threw literal magical temper tantrums at each other when they weren't busy trying to decode the secrets of…
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Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are two municipalities that form a ridiculously complex border between Belgium and the Netherlands, with the international line cutting directly…
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are two municipalities that form a ridiculously complex border between Belgium and the Netherlands, with the international…
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Mount Rushmore keeps an explanation of itself behind Lincoln's head.
Mount Rushmore keeps an explanation of itself behind Lincoln's head. An unfinished Hall of Records was eventually given a repository containing sixteen…
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The border village designed to be seen from South Korea.
The border village designed to be seen from South Korea. Kijong-dong stands on North Korea's side of the demilitarized zone, facing a South Korean village.…
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Fight Club's coffee-shop destruction had a branding limit.
Fight Club's coffee-shop destruction had a branding limit. Starbucks did not approve a scene destroying one of its cafés with a huge metal ball. The film used…
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Centralia's underground fire outlived the town around it.
Centralia's underground fire outlived the town around it. A mine fire has burned beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, since 1962. State officials trace its likely…
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A strawberry carries tiny fruits on the outside.
A strawberry carries tiny fruits on the outside. Each of the little dots is a dry fruit containing a seed; the red flesh is enlarged flower tissue supporting…
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Computer passwords began as a way to share a machine.
Computer passwords began as a way to share a machine. Fernando Corbató's MIT team used passwords in CTSS so multiple users could keep separate files on a…
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Macroeconomic scholars advocate for the implementation of a Pigovian tax to correct negative market externalities, effectively charging corporations a premium for dumping…
Macroeconomic scholars advocate for the implementation of a Pigovian tax to correct negative market externalities, effectively charging corporations a premium…
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John Dee served as Queen Elizabeth I’s personal astrologer and spent his later years trying to chat with angels using a shiny piece of black stone.
John Dee served as Queen Elizabeth I’s personal astrologer and spent his later years trying to chat with angels using a shiny piece of black stone. The stone…
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Radithor sold radioactive water as a health tonic.
Radithor sold radioactive water as a health tonic. The product contained radium and was promoted as a restorative in the 1920s. Eben Byers became its most…
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Thousands of Apple computers ended up in a Utah landfill.
Thousands of Apple computers ended up in a Utah landfill. About 2,700 Lisa computers were buried in Logan in 1989. The Lisa had helped bring the graphical…
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Aleister Crowley dubbed himself the Great Beast 666 and became the most notorious occultist of the twentieth century, but his mystical career was mostly defined by him being an absolutely unbearable houseguest.
Aleister Crowley dubbed himself the Great Beast 666 and became the most notorious occultist of the twentieth century, but his mystical career was mostly…
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Ronald Wayne co-founded Apple alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak but sold his ten percent stake back to them for just eight hundred dollars barely two weeks after the company was formed in 1976.
Ronald Wayne co-founded Apple alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak but sold his ten percent stake back to them for just eight hundred dollars barely two…
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In the winter of 1795, French troops reached a Dutch fleet trapped in ice near Den Helder.
In the winter of 1795, French troops reached a Dutch fleet trapped in ice near Den Helder. Cavalry could approach ships that could not sail away, an…
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A one-terabyte drive can show up as about 931 GiB.
A one-terabyte drive can show up as about 931 GiB. Drive makers commonly count a terabyte as one trillion bytes. A gibibyte uses powers of two, so dividing…
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The CIA explored turning a cat into a listening device.
The CIA explored turning a cat into a listening device. Project Acoustic Kitty investigated using an animal fitted with surveillance equipment. A declassified…
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Victorian critics gave cyclists a diagnosis: bicycle face.
Victorian critics gave cyclists a diagnosis: bicycle face. Some nineteenth-century commentators warned that the strain of balancing and riding could leave a…
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Firefox's name and its logo point to different animals.
Firefox's name and its logo point to different animals. 'Firefox' is a name associated with the red panda, but the browser's familiar animal logo depicts a…
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Shigeru Miyamoto designed the protagonist of the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong as a middle-aged, overweight carpenter desperately trying to save his girlfriend from an angry ape.
Shigeru Miyamoto designed the protagonist of the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong as a middle-aged, overweight carpenter desperately trying to save his girlfriend…
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Salt concentration in the Dead Sea is nearly ten times higher than that of the regular ocean, making the water so dense that human beings naturally float on the surface.
Salt concentration in the Dead Sea is nearly ten times higher than that of the regular ocean, making the water so dense that human beings naturally float on…
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Falling coconuts are statistically far more likely to cause human fatalities on tropical vacations than unprovoked shark attacks. Coconuts average about three pounds and can fall from palms up to 100 feet tall.
Falling coconuts are statistically far more likely to cause human fatalities on tropical vacations than unprovoked shark attacks. Coconuts average about three…
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Your intestine packs a huge surface into a narrow tube.
Your intestine packs a huge surface into a narrow tube. Folds, tiny fingerlike villi and microscopic projections on their cells multiply the area available…
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Blinking repeatedly cuts off your view, yet the world rarely seems to flicker.
Blinking repeatedly cuts off your view, yet the world rarely seems to flicker. Your brain suppresses awareness of those brief interruptions while your eyelids…
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