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If you want to know whether a diamond is real, breathe on it.
Diamonds are very efficient heat conductors, so the fog from your breath will disappear almost immediately if it is real. If the fog sticks around a few seconds before clearing up, the rock is probably a fake. . https://www.diamonds.pro/education/how-to-tell-if-diamonds-are-real/ |
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It’s so hard to understand the words to The Kingsmen’s famous rendition of “Louie Louie” that kids used to make up their own versions of the lyrics and pass them around in notes.
There were so many suspicious parents reporting it for being obscene that the FBI began an investigation. They spent over 2.5 years playing the song backwards, forwards, and every which way they could think of, but they eventually gave up after determining the words were “indecipherable at any speed.” . https://vault.fbi.gov/louie-louie-the-song/louie-louie-the-song/view |
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Charles Darwin was the first person known to put wheels on an office chair. He liked being able to roll around his office so he could study different specimens more quickly.
. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_chair#History |
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Putting hydrogen peroxide on a cut does more harm than good. Though it does kill the bacteria, it also kills healthy cells - and that slows down the healing process.
. https://curiosity.com/topics/you-should-stop-cleaning-cuts-with-hydrogen-peroxide-curiosity/ |
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Benjamin Franklin designed America’s very first one-cent coin, which was engraved with the caption: “Mind your business.”
. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugio_cent |
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According to anthropologist Robin Dunbar, you can only have about 150 solid friendships. “Dunbar’s Number” is the theory that, due to our brain size and long-term memory capacity, we can only maintain stable relationships with a limited number of people. Anyone beyond that is just an acquaintance.
. https://brightside.me/inspiration-psychology/10-psychological-facts-that-youve-never-known-about-yourself-422910/ |
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When Kevin Bacon goes to a wedding reception, he bribes the DJ so they won’t play Footloose.
“I go to the disc jockey and hand him $20 and say, ‘Please don’t play that song’, because, first off, a wedding is really not about me. It’s about the bride and groom. And… it’s embarrassing. ” . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQr-ou0S1s |
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Women of all ages are more likely to survive in times of crisis.
A study of the last 250 years shows that women have longer life spans during famine or disease epidemics, and female survival rates are especially higher during infancy. . https://www.scarymommy.com/study-life-expectancy-crisis-women/ |
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If you dip your face into freshly-fallen snow and take a picture of the imprint with your flash on, you’ll likely end up with a 3D image of your face.
. https://www.scarymommy.com/facebook-viral-video-snowface/ |
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Being forgetful is not only normal, it makes you smarter. The main function of memory is to improve decision making, and forgetting irrelevant details helps you to be more intelligent and make informed decisions.
. https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/30/health/poor-memory-smarter-study-partner/index.html |
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The National Academy of Sciences provides a free ‘science hotline’ for filmmakers in order to encourage more scientifically accurate movies. The service is free to both professional and amateur films, as well as TV and video game projects.
. http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/about/ |
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During the filming of Schindler’s List, Robin Williams called Steven Spielberg and told him jokes to cheer him up.
“I called him when I was representing People for the Valdheimer’s Association, a society devoted to helping raise money for older Germans who had forgotten everything before 1945. I remember him laughing and going ‘thank you.’” . https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1n41x1/robin_williams_its_time_for_a_convoluted_stream/ |
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In 2001, Pennsylvania’s Beaver College had to change its name to Arcadia University. Aside from the school being made fun of across the country, they were recruiting 30% fewer students, and anti-porn filters kept blocking access to their website.
. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1032592.stm |
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After her mother died, JK Rowling was severely depressed. The Dementors in Harry Potter represent her experience with depression:
“…it’s not sadness. I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling - that really hollowed-out feeling. That’s what Dementors are.” . http://mentalfloss.com/article/66781/35-things-you-might-not-know-about-harry-potter |
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The world has an international language. It’s based on a mix of English, German, French, and Spanish, has just 16 rules, and each letter has only one pronunciation. It was created in 1887 by a Polish doctor, who named it Esperanto – meaning ‘hope'– because he hoped it could bring the world together.
. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto |
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When Disney was making The Lion King, they didn’t think real lions’ roars were powerful enough for some of the more dramatic scenes - so the sounds of the lions roaring in the film were made by a voice actor growling and yelling into a small metal trash can.
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orv9OJDUnWM |
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Little girls start believing gender stereotypes by age 6.
A 2017 study found the stereotype of brilliance being more associated with men influences children as young as 6, an age when girls begin to ignore activities that are said to be for ‘smart people’. At age 5, the kids in the study saw both genders as equals, but by age 6, the girls thought of the boys as more intelligent and avoided playing games intended for ‘really, really smart’ kids. . https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389.full |
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The female praying mantis has been known to bite the head off her partner during sex – and the male praying mantis has been known to keep right on mating with her, despite having just been decapitated in a violent sex act.
. https://www.distractify.com/trending/2017/11/17/1vd7dW/male-praying-mantis-sex-after-getting-decapitated?utm_content=inf_74_53_2&tse_id=INF_705c99d0cbdc11e7b926579f881108d6 |
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Traditional nativity scenes in Catalonia sometimes include a figure of a guy pooping. He’s called the Caganer, which literally means ‘crapper’ in Catalan. He’s been around since at least the 18th century, and he’s usually hiding in the corner with his pants pulled down.
' https://www.ranker.com/list/what-is-in-a-catalonian-nativity/melissa-sartore |
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“Baby brain” is a real thing. Studies show that when women are pregnant, their memory and cognitive function is noticeably worse than non-pregnant women.
. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/208/1/cognitive-impairment-during-pregnancy-meta-analysis |
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Dawn West has been in college since 1983.
Wanting to play in the West Virginia University marching band, she’d saved all her babysitting money, bought a trumpet, and practised until she got in. She got loan after loan to stay a full-time student and keep marching, but the school finally made an exception to let her only take band. She still loves it too much to leave, and her bandmates say she’s one of their most youthful members. . https://www.cbsnews.com/news/still-giving-marching-band-the-college-try-35-years-later/ |
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Female ferrets can die from not having enough sex.
. https://en.wikivet.net/Hyperoestrogenism_-_Ferret |
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The ‘Infinite Monkey Theorem’ suggests that if an infinite number of monkeys were given typewriters, they would eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. In 2003, this theory was tested by putting a computer inside a primates zoo enclosure for a month. They bashed it with a rock, took a crap on it, and typed 5 pages of mostly the letter ‘S’.
. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3013959.stm |
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When your eyes move, your eardrums do, too. Nobody knows exactly why, but it does indicate that the information we take in through sight and sound has a much closer relationship than previously thought.
. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/when-your-eyes-move-so-do-your-eardrums/551237/ |
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Monkeys can learn to use money.
Capuchins that were taught to exchange silver discs for treats began budgeting for foods they liked, buying more of something when the price dropped and started gambling. Eventually, there was an incident where ‘money’ was stolen, and the rich monkeys even figured out they could pay each other for sex. . http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~kyu/E2017/Monkey.pdf |
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If you try not to “catch” someone’s yawn, the urge gets even stronger and you’ll probably just end up yawning anyhow.
. https://curiosity.com/topics/the-harder-you-try-not-to-catch-a-yawn-the-more-likely-it-is-you-will-curiosity |
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According to legend, there was once a widowed father who was so poor, he feared his daughters could never marry and would have to resort to prostitution to get by.
Wanting to help, St. Nicholas slid down their chimney one night, saw the girls’ laundered stockings hanging by the fire, and filled them with gold. This act of charity saved the girls from becoming hookers, and that’s why we hang stockings at Christmas. . https://www.livescience.com/32906-hang-stockings-for-christmas.html |
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There are 10 times more bacteria in your body than there are human cells.
. https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp |
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Kids who are rejected by their dads are more likely to have social anxiety.
Studies show children with heterosexual parents face increased loneliness when they’re rejected by either parent, but only rejection by their fathers leads to lasting social anxiety and difficulty forming friendships. . https://www.scarymommy.com/study-finds-father-rejection-impacts-social-anxiety/ |
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The one about the monkeys is incredibly facinating, but somehow creepy as well - amazing stuff if its true.
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Boris Karloff of Frankenstein's monster fame was related to Anna Leeowen who inspired
'The King and I' musical. I think the film version is still banned in Thailand. |
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Scientists say the best way to convey sarcasm in your text messages is to use a winky face.
Without it, your jokes are often completely misinterpreted. |
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“Schnapsidee” is the German word for a ridiculous idea that only sounds good when you’re drunk.
. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Schnapsidee |
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The average white, fluffy cloud weighs about 1.1 million pounds.
. http://mentalfloss.com/article/49786/how-much-does-cloud-weigh |
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1 in 5 people can ‘hear’ flashes of light.
This is a form of synesthesia, where 2 or more sensory experiences are cross-wired, much like seeing colours when you hear certain musical notes or hearing notes when you see flashing lights. It’s also more common in trained musicians and might account for the appeal of having strobe lights at raves. . https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/17/listen-with-your-eyes-one-in-five-of-us-may-hear-flashes-of-light-synaesthesia |
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Hot chocolate tastes better in an orange cup.
The colour of the container you’re drinking from highly influences the way you think your drink tastes or how strong it is. Studies show people prefer hot chocolate when they drink it from cups that are orange or cream coloured compared to drinking out of red or white cups, and the colour of your cup can also influence how strong you think your coffee is. . https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130103073238.htm |
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After a snowfall, people used to say it ‘snew.’ Today, most people say it ‘snowed,’ but both are technically correct.
. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snew |
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There’s a statue in Poland that turns into Darth Vader when it snows. The statue is actually a dedication to the town’s founder, Jakub Wejher, who died in a mining accident almost 400 years ago.
. https://www.boredpanda.com/darth-vader-monument-jakub-weiher-wejherowo-poland/?utm_source=t.umblr&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic |
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People are really good at figuring out strangers’ names based on their faces.
Studies show that when given a random face and a list of names to choose from, people guess the right name more often than when left to chance. Scientists think it might be because stereotypes are subconsciously associated with names and that people unknowingly change their own appearances to fit the stereotype of their name. . https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170227100804.htm |
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There are two different types of nostalgia.
Restorative nostalgia is when you feel like things used to be better and you long to relive the past, and reflective nostalgia is when you feel wistful about how different things used to be, but you maintain a sense of amused acceptance. . https://curiosity.com/topics/there-are-two-types-of-nostalgia-which-do-you-feel-curiosity/ |