Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Facebook started as a Harvard-only network
Before it became the primary place for your relatives to share conspiracy theories, the platform was profoundly elitist. It launched as an exclusive network…
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Japanese traditional umbrellas Wagasa use oiled paper
Using paper to block rain sounds like a recipe for immediate disaster, yet somehow it works flawlessly. The Japanese Wagasa umbrella relies on meticulously…
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Chuck E. Cheese is an orphaned rat
Because every animatronic pizza parlor needs a depressing backstory, the corporate lore states Chuck is an orphan who never knew his own birthday. He…
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Your vinyl record has just one groove
That massive black disc is shockingly simplistic in its design. Despite containing multiple songs, each side of a standard album features a single,…
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The water slide that knocked riders unconscious
New Jersey's most infamous park was essentially an unsupervised physics experiment. They constructed a water slide with a complete vertical loop that…
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TanaCon left thousands stranded in the sun
In a bid to spite a legitimate convention, an influencer attempted to host a massive event in a small hotel lobby. The logistical failure was so absolute that…
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The pizza chain born from a feud
The great animatronic pizza wars were fueled by spite and broken contracts. After a falling out with the original founder, a wealthy franchisee just created a…
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Club Penguin let kids run digital pizza shops
Instead of exploring the frozen tundra, millions of children just chose to do grueling service industry work. The virtual world allowed players to endlessly…
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Yoga was once more about stillness than stretching
Before it became an excuse to buy highly expensive elastic pants and twist into pretzel shapes, Yoga was mostly about sitting incredibly still. The original…
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Blank VHS tapes contain magnetic rust particles
Your treasured home movies are literally recorded on a strip of rust. The plastic film inside is coated in microscopic particles of iron oxide, which a…
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The summer outfit that began as a bathrobe
What is now considered a highly fashionable summer festival outfit used to be the historical equivalent of sweatpants. The lightweight cotton Japanese Yukata…
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Why Hot Wheels cars were built to fly off tracks
Die-cast cars used to be painfully slow and boring until a toy executive got annoyed by real traffic. He hired actual automotive engineers from General Motors…
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Drum machines loop sounds with rigid mechanics
Replacing your unreliable drummer with a box of circuits revolutionized music. Early versions used basic analog oscillators to generate synthetic thumps,…
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How Noh masks change mood with a head tilt
You thought modern visual effects were impressive? Imagine needing only a slight tilt of the head to go from mildly amused to demonic rage. Long before…
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Why traditional hanbok has no pockets
Because who needs convenience when you have an impeccably smooth silhouette? Traditional Korean Hanbok designers apparently decided that carrying items was a…
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SeaWorld began as an underwater restaurant idea
The theme park famous for aquatic controversies started with a bizarre dining concept. The founders just wanted to build a restaurant surrounded by aquarium…
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Why Times Square drops a ball on New Year's Eve
Watching a glowing orb slide down a pole while freezing to death is based on old maritime navigation. Harbors used to drop highly visible time balls at…
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Reddit once faked its own popularity
The so-called front page of the internet was built on a foundation of total fraud. The founders desperately wanted the site to look active, so they populated…
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Indian block printing requires stamping fabric manually
Forget automated textile mills; imagine decorating an entire bedsheet by hitting it with a wooden block five hundred times. Traditional Indian block printing…
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One puppet show lasts from dusk until dawn
Forget your two-hour movie attention span. Traditional Indonesian shadow puppetry expects you to sit cross-legged in the dark from dusk until absolute dawn. A…
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Snapchat named its mascot after a Wu-Tang Clan member
Because tech bros desperately want street cred, the iconic disappearing photo app named its mascot after a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Ghostface Chillah…
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Why Hershey built a park for workers
Long before it became a commercial tourist trap, the park was just an employee benefit. Milton Hershey built an entire leisure area filled with canoes and…
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Why Tom was everyone’s first MySpace friend
Whether you liked it or not, your first friend on the internet was a guy in a white t-shirt looking over his shoulder. Tom Anderson hardcoded his own profile…
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Thai Khon performances feature heavily gilded ornate masks
Acting with your face is completely optional when your headgear is entirely covered in gold leaf. In traditional Thai Khon theater, performers wear…
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