TIL about Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment considered by some to be an "information hazard" - a concept or idea that can cause you harm by you simply knowing/understanding it (en.wikipedia.org)
Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence (AI) in the future would be incentivized to create a virtual reality simulation to torture anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to...
TIL about the TRAPPIST-1 Star System (en.wikipedia.org)
(it’s not a solar system because Sol is our star, specifically; we’re the only Solar system)...
YSK that chiropractors are not medical doctors and "Systematic reviews... have found no evidence that chiropractic manipulation is effective" (en.wikipedia.org)
“Systematic reviews of controlled clinical studies of treatments used by chiropractors have found no evidence that chiropractic manipulation is effective, with the possible exception of treatment for back pain.[8] A 2011 critical evaluation of 45 systematic reviews concluded that the data included in the study “fail[ed] to...
TIL Hunter S. Thomson got an early honorable discharge from the air force in part because, "Sometimes his rebel and superior attitude seems to rub off on other airmen staff members." (en.wikipedia.org)
From Wikipedia: In 1958, while he was an airman first class, his commanding officer recommended him for an early honorable discharge. “In summary, this airman, although talented, will not be guided by policy,” chief of information services Colonel William S. Evans wrote to the Eglin personnel office. “Sometimes his rebel...
Happy Birthday James Clerk Maxwell! (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL: There is a species of penguin that lives in the southern point of Africa. (African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin.) (en.wikipedia.org)
What's your take on Cassavetes? (en.wikipedia.org)
Alcoholic? Messiah?
TIL that in 2014, a photographer tried to copyright a monkey's selfie and sue Wikipedia for it. (en.wikipedia.org)
The EFF soon created a crossword, overlaid it on top of the monkey, and featured it on their website....
TIL: Gamergate's have interesting hierarchy and can replace the queen (en.wikipedia.org)
I just realised that this is not a painting by René Magritte (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL one of the oldest TV shows was simply called "Sea Stories" on the BBC, featuring Royal Navy Commander A.B. Campbell describing the personalities and places he had seen. No known footage exists. (en.wikipedia.org)
aired from 1936-1937. if anyone has a copy pls lemme know
TIL about exploding head syndrome, which causes patients to hear a loud, frightening noise when falling asleep or waking up. Up to 10% of people may have it, but cases often go undiagnosed (en.wikipedia.org)
cross-posted from: lemmit.online/post/2659121
Can I detect my SO's presence just by smell / pheromone ? (en.wikipedia.org)
Scenario : I am in a crowd. My eyes are closed and not allowed to touch anything....
Paul austere died yesterday at the age of 77 (en.wikipedia.org)
His notable works include The New York Trilogy (1987), Moon Palace (1989), The Music of Chance (1990), The Book of Illusions (2002), The Brooklyn Follies (2005), Invisible (2009), Sunset Park (2010), Winter Journal (2012), and 4 3 2 1 (2017). His books have been translated into more than forty languages.[1]
TIL ~62% of the atoms in a human body are Hydrogen, and are as old as the universe. (en.wikipedia.org)
Does the fediverse have defense against watering hole attacks? (en.wikipedia.org)
With so many variations of Lemmy and fediverse instances, are there any defenses against a malicious server running altered code? Is there a way to prove what code is supposed to be running on each instance?
The Bony-Eared Assfish Has No Goals (en.wikipedia.org)
“The bony-eared assfish may have the smallest brain-to-body weight ratio of any vertebrate”...
The Wiki's plot summary for "A Void", a book that (usually) omits a symbol vital to our vocabulary, also avoids that symbol (en.wikipedia.org)
I do not support just calling that wiki "wiki" without including a crucial part of it.
XZ Utils backdoor - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL there is no original TI-84 as the TI-84 Plus was an upgrade (like iPhone 14 to 13) to the TI-83 Plus (en.wikipedia.org)
And yes, TI calculators have indeed been improving, apparently....
TIL about "Swill milk" where cows were fed distillery waste causing cow teeth rot and disease. It was also adulterated with raw eggs, burn sugar, etc. Swill milk lead to over 8,000 infant's deaths (en.wikipedia.org)
Launched on 25 March 1995, The WikiWikiWeb is the first wiki, or user-editable website. (en.wikipedia.org)
Lloyds Bank coprolite is the largest palaeofaeces yet discovered (en.wikipedia.org)
via mander.xyz/post/11031039
TIL Nokia has owned Bell Labs since 2016, and still does a lot of Telecom stuff (en.wikipedia.org)
The Nokia logo was also redesigned last year to represent a pivot away from making smartphones. Nokia acquired Bell Labs in 2016 as part of its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent.