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Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine almost single-handedly injected astrology and New Age mysticism into the mainstream cultural bloodstream during the nineteen eighties by…
Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine almost single-handedly injected astrology and New Age mysticism into the mainstream cultural bloodstream during the…
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Unknown private investors successfully sold the internet domain name Voice dot com for a truly mind-boggling thirty million dollars in cash, making it one of the most expensive…
Unknown private investors successfully sold the internet domain name Voice dot com for a truly mind-boggling thirty million dollars in cash, making it one of…
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Some shrews shrink their skulls and brains for winter, then grow them again in spring.
Some shrews shrink their skulls and brains for winter, then grow them again in spring. This seasonal remodeling is called Dehnel’s phenomenon. A smaller body…
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Autopilot follows instructions; pilots manage what those instructions mean.
Autopilot follows instructions; pilots manage what those instructions mean. A crew can tell the system to hold an altitude, follow a route, or fly an…
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Leonardo da Vinci allegedly painted hidden zodiac symbols directly into his legendary masterpiece The Last Supper, subtly grouping the twelve apostles into distinct astrological…
Leonardo da Vinci allegedly painted hidden zodiac symbols directly into his legendary masterpiece The Last Supper, subtly grouping the twelve apostles into…
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Taurus is anatomically associated with the throat and neck in medical astrology, an ancient practice that mapped the entire human body to various constellations for completely arbitrary diagnostic reasons.
Taurus is anatomically associated with the throat and neck in medical astrology, an ancient practice that mapped the entire human body to various…
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Humans are statistically more likely to remember the first and last items in any given sequence, a cognitive quirk known as the serial position effect; psychologists divide this…
Humans are statistically more likely to remember the first and last items in any given sequence, a cognitive quirk known as the serial position effect;…
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People chose extra pain when the ending felt slightly better.
People chose extra pain when the ending felt slightly better. In a 1993 experiment, volunteers held a hand in painfully cold water for a minute. Another trial…
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Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman originally intended for Monica and Joey to be the central romantic couple of the beloved 90s sitcom before the actors' on-screen chemistry changed the plot entirely.
Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman originally intended for Monica and Joey to be the central romantic couple of the beloved 90s sitcom before the actors'…
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The White House once kept a cow for its milk supply.
The White House once kept a cow for its milk supply. President William Howard Taft's household had Pauline Wayne, a Holstein cow who became a celebrity as…
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Wall Street's bear has a trail leading back to a bearskin.
Wall Street's bear has a trail leading back to a bearskin. One established account links the financial term to the warning against selling a bear's skin…
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Ultra-wealthy individuals routinely take flights lasting less than fifteen minutes in luxury aircraft, burning more fossil fuels in a single weekend than the average citizen uses…
Ultra-wealthy individuals routinely take flights lasting less than fifteen minutes in luxury aircraft, burning more fossil fuels in a single weekend than the…
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Standard world maps utilizing the Mercator projection aggressively distort the physical size of landmasses near the poles, making countries like Greenland and Russia appear…
Standard world maps utilizing the Mercator projection aggressively distort the physical size of landmasses near the poles, making countries like Greenland and…
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A ferry's hardest weather problem can be the last few meters.
A ferry's hardest weather problem can be the last few meters. Open water gives a vessel room to maneuver; docking requires precise control beside solid…
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British intelligence agency MI5 actively hired an astrologer named Louis de Wohl during the Second World War to calculate exactly what advice Adolf Hitler's personal astrologers were giving him.
British intelligence agency MI5 actively hired an astrologer named Louis de Wohl during the Second World War to calculate exactly what advice Adolf Hitler's…
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Your auditory cortex has the remarkable ability to selectively focus on a single specific voice in a crowded, noisy room while entirely filtering out the surrounding acoustic chaos.
Your auditory cortex has the remarkable ability to selectively focus on a single specific voice in a crowded, noisy room while entirely filtering out the…
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Catherine Hettinger filed a patent for a spinning toy back in 1993, but she tragically let the patent officially expire in 2005 simply because she couldn't afford the paltry four-hundred-dollar renewal fee.
Catherine Hettinger filed a patent for a spinning toy back in 1993, but she tragically let the patent officially expire in 2005 simply because she couldn't…
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Government space orbiters were originally pitched as a cheap, reusable delivery truck for low Earth orbit, promising weekly launches that would make spaceflight completely…
Government space orbiters were originally pitched as a cheap, reusable delivery truck for low Earth orbit, promising weekly launches that would make…
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Many city pigeons descend from birds people domesticated.
Many city pigeons descend from birds people domesticated. Their ancestors were bred for food, messaging, and other uses, and escaped or released birds…
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Rob Lowe credits two words about diarrhea with helping keep him on Parks and Recreation.
Rob Lowe credits two words about diarrhea with helping keep him on Parks and Recreation. In the episode “Flu Season,” the obsessively healthy Chris Traeger…
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Grand Theft Auto V lasted across three console generations.
Grand Theft Auto V lasted across three console generations. Released in 2013, the game kept finding audiences through new editions and the continuing online…
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Stockholm's central rental queue averaged 21 years in 2025.
Stockholm's central rental queue averaged 21 years in 2025. The housing agency reported that average waiting time for inner-city apartments, compared with…
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The quiet car is a rule, not a soundproof room.
The quiet car is a rule, not a soundproof room. A train's quiet car depends on passengers keeping calls and conversation elsewhere. The carriage can have the…
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Brescia suffered a catastrophic disaster in 1769 when a totally random lightning strike hit the Bastion of San Nazaro, which the Republic of Venice was brilliantly using to store…
Brescia suffered a catastrophic disaster in 1769 when a totally random lightning strike hit the Bastion of San Nazaro, which the Republic of Venice was…
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