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German monks drank beer to get through fasts
When religious fasting strictly prohibited eating actual food, German monks found a brilliant loophole: liquid bread. They brewed incredibly thick, highly…
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Can putting your hand over your heart make you more honest
The incredibly simple absolutely classic pledge of completely entirely allegiance strictly heavily pose is surprisingly remarkably highly utterly effective at…
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Most podcast listening happens during chores
Nothing screams 'engaging entertainment' quite like scrubbing a toilet. Industry analytics reveal that the vast majority of podcast listening happens while…
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You can insure yourself against alien abduction
Actuaries realized that UFO kidnappings were a highly profitable, untapped market. Policies exist offering massive payouts if you can somehow prove an alien…
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The programming language built from Shakespearean insults
For those who find normal syntax too easy, some maniac created a language where code reads like a Renaissance play. Variables are declared as theatrical…
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How Impact became the meme font
The bold white text you see on every classic meme wasn't designed for comedy. The 'Impact' font was originally created in the 1960s purely to be highly…
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Why Sims money is called simoleons
The iconic fictional currency isn't just a random assortment of syllables; it's derived from 'simoleon,' an 18th-century slang term for a sixpence coin. Your…
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Houseplants may help spark office creativity
A incredibly simple remarkably basic potted fern is the absolute utterly entire cure for complete stagnation. Placing a simple incredibly completely touch of…
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Wandering monks lived entirely by mooching off others
These wandering ascetics realized that working for a living was unnecessary when you could just intensely exploit religious hospitality. They spent their…
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Term après-ski denotes post-slope socialization
Because tumbling down a mountain wasn't enough, we had to invent a fancy French phrase for surviving the ordeal. Coined in the Alps during the 1950s, the term…
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Premium digital news is paying for long emails
The future of elite digital journalism has somehow reverted to 1990s communication methods. Newsletter platforms have convinced millions of people to pay…
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Tea leaves fly over jungles on ropeways
Carrying baskets of leaves down a steep misty hill is exhausting. Plantations solved this by stringing massive wire ropeways above the canopy. Heavy bags of…
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Splash damage relies entirely on distance vectors
Explosions in virtual spaces are just invisible expanding spheres performing vicious algebra on everything inside them. The further your character's center…
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Snake’s voice actor wrote the original X-Men
David Hayter didn't just spend years grunting into a codec and asking repeating questions. He actually wrote the screenplay for the original X-Men film. He is…
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The IRS treats ostriches like farm equipment
The IRS recognizes giant flightless birds as totally normal depreciating assets. For farmers breeding them, ostriches are treated exactly like tractors or…
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Holding hands can make the cold feel warmer
Clasping palms with a trusted friend is basically a biological space heater. The extremely simple act of skin-to-skin contact radically alters…
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Utopian religious community enforced mandatory swinging
The nineteenth century Oneida Community believed traditional marriage was fundamentally selfish. Instead, they mandated complex marriage, meaning every adult…
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This horned giant was a peaceful herbivore
Looking like a creature actively bred for intergalactic warfare, Arsinoitherium featured two massive, side-by-side horns protruding menacingly from its skull.…
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Reading Skyrim's books takes days
If you actually sit down and read the text of every book required for the achievement, it amounts to reading a full-length fantasy novel on a glowing screen.…
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Ambient occlusion adds shadows to tiny corners
Basic lighting engines are terrible at figuring out that tight corners should be darker than open walls. Ambient occlusion fakes this by calculating how much…
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Sleepwalking occurs far more often in young children
Kids are vastly more likely to roam the dark house completely unconscious. The developing brain has a vastly harder time fully transitioning between sleep…
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Japan once used more paper for manga than toilet paper
Priorities are remarkably clear when you look at national paper consumption. Japanese publishers utilize more physical paper to print massive weekly manga…
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Thousands of peasant children marched to retake holy lands
In a display of absolute strategic incompetence, massive crowds of unarmed European youths decided their sheer innocence would effortlessly conquer hostile…
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When owing money meant going to prison
Victorian authorities believed the best way to get someone to repay a loan was to completely strip their ability to earn income. Debtors' prisons locked away…
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