Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Digital literature utilizes completely fluid text formatting
Unlike a printed page, an electronic file has absolutely no respect for the author's intended layout. Because users can selfishly crank the font size up to…
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Professional book indexers manually categorize back pages
You might assume a computer automatically generates that helpful alphabetized list at the back of a textbook. In reality, a highly stressed professional…
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Audio show cover art must scale to microscopic dimensions
Creating a detailed, cinematic poster for your audio show is a colossal waste of time. Directory algorithms instantly crush your brilliant artwork down to a…
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Pay-per-chapter reading apps obscure massive total costs
Microtransactions have successfully ruined literature. By chopping a mediocre romance novel into two hundred tiny digital chunks and charging a few…
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Your secret recipe may not be protected by copyright
You can steal your grandmother's secret pie instructions and publish them without fear of lawsuits. The law dictates that a mere list of ingredients and basic…
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Why your audiobook is split into tiny pieces
Your seamless listening experience is chopped into arbitrary digital fragments behind the scenes. Because cellular providers aggressively throttle massive…
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Slapstick comedy gets its name from a wooden prop that made loud cracks
The golden age of entertainment literally involved beating people with wood. Slapstick comes from an actual wooden stick made of two slats that hit together…
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How performers safely breathe fire
Cooking your own face off is generally frowned upon in most venues. Performers strictly use purified lamp oil or paraffin because standard alcohol burns…
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Why competitive eaters don’t fast before a binge
Starving yourself is quite literally the worst possible way to prepare for a massive binge. Fasting actually shrinks the stomach lining; champions instead eat…
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Handshake joy buzzer trick mechanics
Tricking people into thinking they are being electrocuted is a time-honored tradition. Invented by Soren Sorensen Adams in 1928, the joy buzzer doesn't…
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British carousel horse directions
Even spinning in circles requires strict nationalistic defiance. British carousels spin clockwise so riders can formally mount the horse from the correct left…
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Millions of Rose Parade flowers
Gluing individual seeds and petals to a giant float is a deeply frantic exercise in severe sleep deprivation. Every inch of the massive floats must be covered…
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Original rental of a famous green mascot
Renting a terrifying green creature for incredibly cheap turned out to be a massive financial oversight. The baseball team originally rented the giant suit…
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Miniature performing flea circuses
Microscopic chariot races once deeply captivated unhygienic masses. Historical flea circuses used actual live fleas glued to tiny metallic carts, exploiting…
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The orange mascot designed to look terrifying
Leaning fully into pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel is a highly valid fan engagement strategy. The chaotic orange hockey mascot was intentionally designed…
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Massive heavy championship belts
Wearing the top athletic prize is an actual exhausting cardiovascular workout. The ornate title belts frequently weigh well over fifty pounds and are laden…
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Emotional manipulation of a heel turn
Shattering the audience's volatile emotional attachments is a standard, highly effective plot device. When a beloved hero suddenly becomes a cowardly villain,…
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The red light that tells comedians to stop
Hooking a rambling speaker off the stage requires extremely subtle cues. Venues discreetly shine a red light at the stage to signal a comedian their time is…
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The medical condition behind Grumpy Cat's scowl
Perpetual disdain was simply an adorable, highly profitable medical condition. Tardar Sauce had feline dwarfism and a severe underbite, meaning her iconic…
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Vintage origins of the keyboard feline
The internet's favorite instrumental pet achieved legendary status decades after his unfortunate passing. The famous feline tapping a synthesizer was recorded…
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Strict debris penalty in eating contests
Dropping a single crumb of bread is aggressively treated like a severe moral failing. Judges meticulously scrape and weigh any tiny fragments dropped on the…
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Mandatory comedy club drink minimums
Forcing patrons to consume liquids ensures they find the person on stage amusing. Speakeasies created this strict rule during Prohibition to cover overhead…
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Strict fire code for ring entrances
Savage, unhinged brawlers are remarkably compliant when local safety marshals get involved. The massive fireballs used during energetic ring walks are…
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Historical origins of the event emcee
Warming up a drunken crowd is practically a sacred religious duty. The Master of Ceremonies officially originated in the Catholic Church, making the guy…
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