TIL kobolds in Japan are dog-people because of a mistranslation in a copy of AD&D in the 80s
I was reading about Dungeon Meshi and Kuro, the “kobold”....
TIL That the entirety of Wikipedia is only ~100Gb and you can download it for offline use
In light of the recent Crowdstrike crash revealing how weak points in IT infrastructure can have wide ranging effects, I figured this might be an interesting one....
TIL from the school of OMG why didn’t I think of that
Alt milk tetra pack repurposed as drink tray.
TIL Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" was NOT written to wake up sleeping audience members; that was just a myth
Back in school I heard the story that Haydn wrote the “Surprise Symphony” because he was sick of people sleeping through his music, and wanted to startle them awake. It seems like this was a myth....
TIL The candlefish is so rich in oils that when supplied with a wick it can be burned like a candle"
www.uapress.com/product/
TIL in the Carboniferous Period, no fungus existed to decompose trees. They just grew on top of each other up and up.
The weight of the trees was so great that the ones on the bottom got squished and became coal. That’s where coal is from. Bonus fact: the whole time this was happening, sharks were hunting in the oceans. Sharks are older than trees and fungus!
TIL that credit card numbers are validated using Luhn's algorithm. If it doesn't work with Luhn's algorithm, it's not a valid card number.
You can read about Luhn’s algorithm here
Dementia and cancer could be prevented by taking 2p pill as Dr Michael Mosley says he's taking it
Dementia and cancer could be prevented by taking 2p pill as Dr Michael Mosley says he’s taking it
TIL if The Bare Naked Ladies had $1m when the song was recorded, and parked it in S&P500, they'd be rich.
While $1m USD in 1988 is worth only $2.6m in 2024, if they just put it in the S&P 500 back then and left it there, it’d be worth over $44.6m today....
Australians are 10x more likely to develop skin cancer than the average person
www.wcrf.org/…/skin-cancer-statistics/
TIL that Wyoming is larger than the United Kingdom in area but less populous than Glasgow
Wyoming Area: 253,335 km2...
TIL Stanley the tool company is different from Stanley the cup company
Hail corporate and all that....
TIL Taiwan and Australia have the same population, about 23.6 million
Australia is about 200 times bigger, by landmass, 7.7 million to Taiwan’s 36,000 square km
TIL about the phrase 'carbon footprint'
It was initially used by BP to shift blame to consumers instead of oil companies.
TiL the car and gas industry knew about the health risks of leaded fuel but sold it for 100 years anyway
link :...
TIL that there are two words in the English language that rhyme with 'purple'
I always believed that there were none, but on a rewatch of QI, I learned there are actually two:...
Looking for new mods!
Hello everyone!...
TIL Black mold is used in the manufacturing of Citric Acid
The substrate for the fermentation is a carbohydrate, usually molasses or a sugar, such as raw beet, refined beet, or cane sugars, or a syrup. … Certain inorganic nutrients, such as ammonium nitrate, potassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, zinc sulfate, and potassium ferrocyanide, are added. The pH is adjusted to between 3 and...
TIL Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people and students
I think he would love Vegas source...
TIL the word "vamoose" is an Americanization of the Spanish word "vamos" for "let's go".
Obligatory vamoose you little varmint.
TIL not to microwave pancakes for 2 minutes
I learned this morning that if you microwave frozen pancakes for 2 minutes you’ll have to throw the plastic plate out
TIL The Goodhart's Law: Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.
Here is the Wikipedia link.
TIL Chinese astronauts are called taikonauts
I thought that the distinction existed only between Americans (astronauts) and Russians (cosmonauts), but no, Chinese also have their own term. I guess Indians should come up with their own, as well =)
TIL Minimum wage has only increased by $7.00 in 85 years in the USA.
Upon inception it was set at $0.25. It is now $7.25.
TIL the history behind the "space melody".
You may know it as Space Melody by Luna Park or as ResuRection by ППК (English: PPK), but the original melody was composed by Eduard Artemyev for the 1979 Soviet film Siberiade. The original name of the song, as titled in the movie’s soundtrack release, is la mort du héroes (the death of heroes, if my French is correct)....