Curious Mind Blowing Facts - 35

Yabba...

Oct 28, 2024

“The future ain't what it used to be” ~ Yogi Berra

Every local classified ad site has free pianos. I stopped counting after 30 in my small city - Kelowna, BC. On average, a new upright piano can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000. Should be a side hustle idea there?

Old media. The average age of an MSNBC viewer is 71 years old.

Bill Gates once had the radio removed from his car. When asked why, he said he didn't want any distractions from thinking about Microsoft. This level of single-minded focus is what builds empires. But perhaps can destroy marriages. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On my MacBook. How to use a shortcut instead of looking up how to make this text emoji: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Copy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ > System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Text Replacements - Replace “shrug” > With ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Suppose you have a newsletter that you like to write. But you can’t think of anything to write. You can go to https://pau1.substack.com/s/curious-mind-blowing-facts and pick one of the over 1,000 facts and do a deep dive on any that seem interesting. Check the comments, as I ask readers to let me know their favorites. 😃

Want to work for Substack? Are you curious as to what Substack’s tech-stack looks like? And who they are looking to hire? https://himalayas.app/companies/substack/tech-stack

When is a bumblebee a fish? When it is in California. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-bumblebees-fish-california-law-court.html

Remember Jack Handey’s Deep Thoughts on SNL? He made up and read quotes in between sketches. For example: “It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.” He was regularly on Saturday Night Live Between 1991 and 1998. People guess that Jack Handey was either Steve Martin or Al Franken. The three were friends, but Handey was the sole author of the “Deep Thoughts” segment.
“Handey was a staff writer for several years on “Saturday Night Live,” where he penned such sketches as “Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car,” “Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer,” “Happy Fun Ball,” “Anne Boleyn,” “Deer Heads,” “Robot Repair” and many others.”
https://deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/daily-deep-thought/

The First US domain names were registered in 1985:

Is nuclear energy the way?

Nuclear energy has become one of the safest and most reliable sources of power in the modern world. Advances in technology, regulation, and safety protocols have significantly reduced the risks associated with nuclear power plants. Modern reactors are designed with multiple layers of defense to prevent accidents, including automatic shutdown systems and reinforced containment structures that can withstand extreme conditions. The nuclear industry has learned valuable lessons from past incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, leading to stricter international standards and improved reactor designs like Generation III and IV reactors, which are more efficient and safer than earlier models. These advances have made nuclear energy incredibly reliable, with very low rates of accidents or harmful incidents compared to other energy sources like coal or natural gas.
Nuclear energy also offers immense benefits in the fight against climate change. It produces vast amounts of electricity with virtually no carbon emissions, making it a key tool in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Unlike renewables like wind and solar, nuclear plants provide a stable, continuous energy output, which is crucial for meeting the world’s growing energy demands 24/7. With emerging technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs) and the potential for nuclear fusion in the future, nuclear power is increasingly seen as a crucial part of a clean and sustainable energy mix, capable of delivering large-scale, low-carbon energy to fuel global development while protecting the planet.

“The energy density of nuclear fuel means that nuclear plants produce immense amounts of energy with little byproduct,” the NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) wrote. “In fact, the entire amount of waste created in the United States would fill one football field, 10 yards deep. By comparison, a single coal plant generates as much waste by volume in one hour as nuclear power has during its entire history.”

We’ve now got at least three of the biggest tech companies in the world — Google, Microsoft and Amazon — inking major deals for nuclear energy as a hedge to their newly voracious energy appetites.

Use Writing to Improve Your Thinking ~ Tim Ferriss

Prompts Daily Newsletter is pretty good. Free: https://neatprompts.com/subscribe?ref=PpWOO8UBec

The number of Generals are limited to just seven Army generals, two Marine generals, eight Air Force generals, two Space Force generals, six Navy admirals, and two Coast Guard admirals.

The 4.2-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, which is lined by hotels and casinos and known as the Strip is located in unincorporated Clark County, and not within Las Vegas city limits. So does what happens on “the strip” stay on the strip?

Microsoft is an impressive company. Not only does it own the Windows operating system platform, it also owns 16 - billion dollar businesses. Here’s a table listing the top 10 businesses that Microsoft owns or has a major stake in, each valued at over $1 billion. Based on their latest publicly available valuations: