Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Why Mr. Rogers spoke so slowly
He deliberately spoke at a slow, steady pace so young children, including three-year-olds, could follow him.
Discover more
Houdini died after a fan punched him in the stomach
Houdini died of peritonitis after his appendix ruptured, not during an escape act. A fan had punched him in the abdomen shortly beforehand, but that timing…
Discover more
Disneyland's address contains an accidental-looking Mickey code
The park has long used the street number 1313, and M is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet: 13–13 becomes MM. Fans read Mickey Mouse into the address,…
Discover more
Why haunted houses force you to turn right
Some haunted-house designers use forced turns to disorient visitors, playing on the idea that people instinctively turn left when panicked in the dark.
Discover more
Art galleries control humidity to stop priceless wooden frames from cracking
Stable humidity helps keep wooden frames from cracking and can also protect the old paint they hold.
Discover more
Breaking Bad made its chemistry deliberately incomplete
Chemist Donna Nelson helped the show make its science convincing without turning the script into a working drug recipe. Authentic details supported Walter…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Twilight was almost called Forks
Meyer's initial draft was titled *Forks*, after the cloudy Washington town where the story takes place. Her agent persuaded her to change it.
Discover more
Souvenir plastic cups can warp into blobs in a home dishwasher
The heat in a home dishwasher can warp the cup’s plastic, bending its bottom out of shape.
Discover more
Early cable boxes shifted channel frequencies instead of decrypting broadcasts
Instead of decrypting a signal, the box shifted its frequency so the television could tune in to channels it otherwise couldn’t receive. That simple…
Discover more
How fast does a stadium wave move
Studies of large crowds found that a stadium wave moves at an average of 20 seats per second, a remarkably steady pace for a ripple made by people standing up…
Discover more
Diss tracks have a medieval Scottish predecessor
Scottish poets practiced flyting: trading elaborate rhyming insults before a royal court, much like rappers facing off in a diss track.
Discover more
Shrek has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
In 2010, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce added Shrek to the Walk of Fame, placing the animated ogre among stars like Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe.
Discover more
John Wick's dog fights required months of human homework
For Chapter 3, Halle Berry trained with the dogs as well as learning the physical fight choreography. She described roughly six months of dog work before…
Discover more
Arcade cabinets were designed to deliberately eat quarters
Some arcade games made bosses deliberately difficult, encouraging players to spend more quarters to keep playing.
Discover more
Just Cause parachutes defy basic aerodynamic limits
Repeatedly grappling to the ground and deploying the parachute can exploit the game's physics, creating upward thrust and letting the character stay airborne.
Discover more
Why Caillou never got hair
The creators adapted Caillou from a baby-book character and kept him bald as he grew into a toddler; he wasn’t meant to have a medical condition.
Discover more
Monopoly put a typo on millions of boards
The game calls the property Marvin Gardens. The real neighborhood is Marven Gardens, in Margate near Atlantic City. The misspelling became so familiar that…
Discover more
Early mass printing was strictly controlled by kings
European monarchs required official permission to operate a printing press, fearing printed dissent could spread among ordinary readers.
Discover more
School dances serve as the climax of human existence
For seniors, prom can feel like the biggest night of their lives: rivalries play out in a decorated gym, and true love is supposed to arrive before midnight.
Discover more
A Notes-app apology makes a public statement look private
Plain text on a phone screen resembles something written personally, without a production team. Post that screenshot to millions of followers and the intimate…
Discover more
Splatoon's walls can help you win without adding to your score
In Turf War, ink on the ground counts toward the territory result; inked walls mainly provide routes for movement. Painting a wall can therefore be tactically…
Discover more
Viacom sued YouTube over clips its own staff uploaded
Viacom sued YouTube over MTV and Comedy Central clips, but evidence showed that Viacom's own marketing teams had uploaded some of them to promote the shows.
Discover more
Reply guys consistently respond to prominent web accounts
They treat posts from prominent accounts as invitations to reply, often with unsolicited opinions—and do it again and again.
Discover more
Your EVE Online corporation can set your tax rate
The game automatically sends a share of qualifying bounty and mission payouts to a player's corporation. NPC corporations charge a fixed rate, while…
Discover more