Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Korean paper craft Hanji is heavily treated to resist water
When your local paper isn't even tough enough to survive a spilled drink, remember that traditional Korean Hanji was basically ancient super-material. Crafted…
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Yelp forced restaurant owners to beg patrons for good stars
By giving a megaphone to every angry diner in the world, local businesses were suddenly held hostage. The review platform completely revolutionized the…
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A student paid for college by selling website pixels
Turns out the greatest business model of 2005 was just digital panhandling. A college student managed to fund his entire education by selling a million pixels…
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Shuudan Koudou is a synchronized walking performance
Just walking across a room is mundane, but crossing paths with fifty other people at a brisk pace without a single collision is an art form. The Japanese…
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Build-A-Bear keeps millions of stuffed fabric hearts
Behind the cheerful retail facade lies a staggering logistical requirement for tiny cloth organs. The company forces every single customer to rub a small…
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The convention that offered one more hour in a ball pit
When an internet fandom tries to run a business, chaos reigns. After organizers completely ran out of money mid-convention, they attempted to appease angry,…
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The fake Willy Wonka event that enraged Glasgow families
AI generated marketing can only hide reality for so long. Promoters charged families exorbitant fees for a magical chocolate factory experience that ended up…
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Webkinz once had virtual hyperinflation
Who knew combining stuffed animals with unregulated virtual markets would end in disaster? The platform's bizarre in-game economy became heavily inflated,…
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Blu-ray discs use a hard anti-scratch coating
The engineers learned from the tragic skipping of old discs. Because the tightly packed data pits are situated much closer to the physical surface, these…
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Jegi-chagi involves keeping a paper wrapped coin in the air
Hacky sack is infinitely more dangerous when there is actual metal involved. The traditional Korean game of Jegi-chagi challenges players to continuously…
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Japanese Daruma dolls are sold with blank eyes to set goals
Why buy a normal toy when you can purchase a judgmental wooden sphere that stares at you until you accomplish your dreams? Daruma dolls are intentionally sold…
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Mehndi applies temporary henna tattoos for celebrations
Commitment issues? Just dye your skin for two weeks instead. In South Asia, the intricate art of Mehndi involves painstakingly piping crushed henna leaves…
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Japanese game Otedama is played by juggling small beanbags
Long before stress balls were invented, children were aggressively tossing tiny bags of dried beans. Otedama is a traditional Japanese game where players…
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Go board game pieces are placed strictly on intersections
Because putting pieces inside the actual squares is for basic people who play checkers. The ancient Asian strategy game of Go requires players to place their…
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Batik fabric dyeing uses wax to resist color absorption
Because simply dunking cloth into a vat of color lacks a sense of unnecessary danger. Indonesian Batik artists meticulously draw intricate patterns onto…
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Why slot machines have cherries and melons
To dodge anti-gambling laws, early slot machines had to pretend they were just innocent vending machines. The classic cherry, melon, and bar symbols…
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The hidden machinery controlling water rides
That perilous river rapids adventure is remarkably controlled. Submerged conveyor belts and precisely placed water pumps dictate your exact speed and…
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Japanese footwear Geta elevates the wearer far above mud
Why let your expensive silk robes drag through the filth of the streets when you can just bolt wooden stilts to your sandals? Traditional Japanese Geta…
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Indian kite fighters use strings coated with glass
If your recreational hobby doesn't carry a mild risk of lacerations, is it even worth doing? In Indian competitive kite fighting, participants deliberately…
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Escape rooms began as a Japanese experiment
The bizarre corporate team-building exercise of locking people in a room to solve math problems is surprisingly recent. A Japanese publication first…
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Arabic calligraphy stretches words to fit geometric shapes
When simple handwriting just isn't showing off enough, you force your letters to form a perfect circle. Arabic calligraphy elevated penmanship to an extreme…
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One bamboo stalk becomes 80 matcha-whisk bristles
Mass production is for cowards; true dedication means slicing a single piece of wood into eighty microscopic bristles by hand. The Japanese Chasen, essential…
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Persian miniature paintings avoid linear perspective
Drawing things smaller just because they are far away is apparently a massive insult to the subject. Traditional Persian miniature paintings flatly reject…
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Japanese Kadomatsu decorations are placed strictly outdoors
You cannot simply expect good fortune to casually wander through your front door without a proper beacon. Japanese households place towering, sharply angled…
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