The world is more interesting than you think.
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A little more wonder
Vanna White has worn thousands of dresses without repeating one
The sheer logistical nightmare of never repeating an outfit for four decades is truly staggering. Since joining the legendary game show in 1982, America's…
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The video game that needed stickers on your TV
The very first home video game console in 1972 didn't actually generate any colorful graphics or complex levels. The Magnavox Odyssey merely pushed two…
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You may spend nearly nine years looking at your phone
We have successfully evolved to spend a tenth of our existence staring into a tiny, glowing abyss. If you add up the daily screen time over an average…
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Why so much of America still has dirt roads
Despite paying an exorbitant amount of taxes for infrastructure, roughly 35% of the massive road network in the United States has never seen a drop of…
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The church tithe began as a medieval tax
Modern megachurches asking for a cut of your paycheck are just enthusiastically continuing medieval tax policy. In feudal Europe, a 'tithe' wasn't a polite…
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Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg claimed the Last Judgment already occurred in the year 1757
Nothing relieves the anxiety of an impending apocalypse quite like a guy insisting we already missed it. Swedenborg was a brilliant scientist who suffered an…
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Infamous occultist Aleister Crowley meticulously rated his magical rituals on a numbered scale
Imagine performing a demonic invocation and then giving it a 3.5 out of 5 stars because the vibes were off. The self-proclaimed 'Greatest Mage of the 20th…
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Why submarine hatches are so small
If you have ever awkwardly squeezed yourself through the claustrophobic hatch of a submarine and cursed the naval architects, you should probably be thanking…
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From first flight to Moon landing in 66 years
Humanity went from barely skipping across a sandy beach in a wooden kite to playing golf on the lunar surface in less time than the average lifespan of a sea…
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Flatulence theoretically produces a microscopic amount of forward propulsive thrust in a total vacuum
Newton's third law of motion dictates that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and yes, that applies to your flatulence. If you found yourself…
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What a year in space does to your genes
Going to Mars sounds cool until you realize microgravity fundamentally rewrites your biology. NASA’s Twin Study found that a year in space altered the gene…
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Why snow looks white even though ice is clear
Your idyllic white winter wonderland is built entirely on optical illusions. Snowflakes are made of ice crystals, which are completely clear and translucent.…
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Emoji has nothing to do with emotion
You thought it was just a cute abbreviation for emotion? Nope. It’s purely a linguistic coincidence that makes us all look uncultured. In Japanese, 'e' means…
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The hidden year on every dollar bill
If you ever squinted at the base of the pyramid on a dollar bill, you might have noticed the letters MDCCLXXVI. This isn't a secret code to unlock hidden…
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Victorian London turned polluted river eels into jelly
Victorian Londoners boldly looked at the violently polluted Thames river, pulled out incredibly slimy river monsters, and brutally boiled them down to a…
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Why pro gamers can age out by their mid-twenties
If you thought traditional sports were brutal on the body, try rapidly pressing buttons three hundred times a minute. By their mid-twenties, most professional…
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The game creator who hid from sequel demands
Success is a double-edged sword, especially when your publisher demands immediate sequels. Keita Takahashi famously hated the idea of making another title so…
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You could legally abandon a virtual baby
Parenting is incredibly difficult, but digital parenting offers permanent loopholes. If you found your virtual infant too annoying to handle, you could…
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Fantasy maps take up pages to pad the book length
Nothing screams epic world-building quite like a highly detailed, completely incomprehensible sketch of fictional continents. These maps serve mostly as a…
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Why paparazzi read depression into sweatpants
In the ruthless world of paparazzi photography, choosing comfort over high fashion is a severe red flag. If a star dares to walk to their mailbox wearing a…
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Knowing a fallacy won't stop you from using it
The G.I. Joe fallacy obliterates the assumption that recognizing an error prevents it. Even with full active awareness of a strict logic glitch, the processor…
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Teddy Roosevelt kept a badger in the White House
While most politicians settle for a golden retriever to boost their approval ratings, Teddy Roosevelt demanded sheer chaos. He kept an aggressive pet badger…
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Kondratiev waves propose economic cycles lasting 40 to 60 years
Forget short-term bumps; some theories stretch the timeline to decades. Kondratiev waves propose that capitalist economies experience massive, predictable…
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John Adams had a White House dog named Satan
The Founding Fathers were renowned for their serious, philosophical dignity, but America's second president had the edgy humor of a modern goth teenager. John…
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