Curious Mind Blowing Facts - 44
Holy Moly
82% of Gen Z listeners have acted on a brand after hearing a podcast ad.
Since 1992, people have spent more in December than any other month. In 2023, it was around $1,750 per person.
Vending Machines. You can buy some unusual things that you wouldn’t think you could from a machine. Like cars: https://pau1.substack.com/p/curious-mind-blowing-facts-36-201
and pizza: https://pau1.substack.com/p/the-future-of-pizza-is-here-today
Also:
-Champagne
-Bullets
-Charitable Donations:
-Pecan Pie
-Lego
-Cheese
-Live Crab Vending Machine In China
-Lettuce Vending Machine In Japan
-Banana Vending Machine In Japan
-Beer and Sake Vending Machine In Japan
-Sprinkles Cupcake
-Hot Dogs
-French Fries Vending Machine In Australia
Stockholm's Subway: The World's Longest Art Gallery
Stockholm’s subway system is known as the world’s longest art gallery, with more than 150 artists transforming the underground stations one by one since the 1950s. Some of Sweden’s most heralded artists have been commissioned over the years to create art that have made the 110 km underground space a place of peace and beauty. https://viewstockholm.com/stockholm-subway-art/
Streaming now commands 41.6% of TV viewership, with YouTube alone capturing 10.8%, surpassing Netflix's 7.7% share.
A lot of phrases we use now-a-days were thought up years ago. So the language and meaning has changed over time. Here are a few common sayings with their extended versions, and meaning:
The word - “Fact”
If you’re interested in just the facts, you may want to know that the word fact comes to us from a verb meaning “to do.” The past participle of the Latin verb facere is factus , meaning “done.” As a noun that becomes factum, or “an event, occurrence, deed, achievement.” The modern meaning of fact, something known to be true, implicitly contrasts things that are only claimed to have happened with “something that has actually occurred.” This article has 70 more word origins:
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-interesting-etymologies-of-71-everyday-words
The Most Expensive Housing Worldwide:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-worlds-least-affordable-housing-markets-in-2024/
All life on Earth is believed to share a common ancestor, known as LUCA, which stands for Last Universal Common Ancestor. LUCA lived about 3.5 to 4 billion years ago and is thought to be a simple, single-celled organism.
Evidence for this idea comes from the fact that all living things share the same basic building blocks, like DNA or RNA, and similar cellular machinery. For example, the genetic code is nearly universal among all organisms, which suggests a shared origin.
However, LUCA wasn’t the very first life form. It’s the most recent common ancestor of all life today, but earlier life forms may have existed and left no descendants.
Relax, take a few minutes off. I made this for my daughter a few years ago. Made to work on a laptop or desktop. Mobile will work in landscape mode, but you may have to adjust your sizes. https://1app.ca/scroll.html
Alice Cooper owns the first "O" next to the "W" the Hollywood sign. He purchased it in memory of Groucho Marx for $27,000 as part of a restoration project to restore the sign. Gene Autry donated an L, and Hugh Hefner paid for the Y.
A company in Chicago tried to make round chocolate-covered caramel candies but couldn’t get the shape right. “Milk Duds” were born.
Other mistakes that became popular:
The Pacemaker: John Hopps, an electrical engineer was conducting research on hypothermia and was trying to use radio frequency heating to restore body temperature. During his experiment he noticed if a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation. This realization led to the pacemaker.
Silly Putty: During World War II, scientists tried to make a rubber substitute. Instead, they ended up with a stretchy, bouncy material that became a popular toy.
Post-it Notes: A scientist at 3M accidentally made a weak adhesive that didn’t stick well. Instead of throwing it away, it became the perfect glue for reusable sticky notes.
Fireworks: A cook in China accidentally mixed together charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter - common kitchen items 2000 years ago. When the mixture was compressed in a bamboo tube (why the cook did that is not known), it exploded.
InkJet Printers: A Canon engineer - After resting his hot iron on his pen by accident - ink was ejected from the pens point a few moments later. This principle led to the creation of the inkjet printer.
Potato Chips: A chef in 1853 cut potatoes too thin and fried them after a customer complained about thick fries. The result was crispy chips, now a favorite snack.
Corn Flakes: The Kellogg brothers accidentally left cooked wheat out overnight. It went stale, but they rolled it flat, toasted it, and created the cereal we know today.
Coca-Cola: Originally, it was meant to be a medicine. The inventor, John Pemberton, accidentally created the fizzy drink we enjoy now.
Penicillin: Alexander Fleming accidentally left out a petri dish with bacteria, which got contaminated with mold. This led to the discovery of the first antibiotic.
The Slinky: Richard Jones, a naval engineer was working with tension springs when one of them fell to the ground. The spring kept bouncing from place to place after it hit the ground, and the slinky was born.
On March 21, 1962, a black bear named Yogi was ejected from a supersonic jet called the B-58 Hustler to test its escape capsule. The bear was launched from 35,000 feet while the jet was flying at over 870 miles per hour. Yogi landed safely after almost 8 minutes.
Humans had been tested before, but accidents happened, so animals were used instead. Black bears were chosen because their organs are similar to humans.
HighQ
Bill Gates IQ: 150, Elon Musk IQ: 155, Zuckerberg IQ: 152, Bezos IQ: 150, Warren Buffett: 150.
Taylor Swift has an estimated IQ of 136.
But get this: Kim Kardashian's IQ is 165. This score is significantly above the average billionaire.
https://travel.usnews.com/rankings/
Sometime around 2030, the ISS project will come to an end. From its orbit about 400 kilometres above Earth, the space station will fall through the atmosphere, burning up and splintering into a thousand pieces before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
Americans are sitting on an estimated $27 billion in unused gift cards, with the average person holding $244 in unspent balances.
The NSA has some tips for securing your phone. “Power it off once a week.” Need a new password? Get a secure password here: https://pau1.substack.com/p/pw
https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-you-should-power-off-your-phone-once-a-week-according-to-the-nsa
Why do we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?
Another hybrid animal cross. This one is A Leopon, the offspring of a male leopard and a lioness.
Ben Franklin
THE SILENCE DOGOOD LETTERS by Benjamin Franklin- Mrs. Silence Dogood was a false persona used by Benjamin Franklin to get his work published, after being denied several times to send a letter to his brother’s newspaper. The Mrs. Silence Dogood letters were first printed in the New England Courant in 1722.
I have brown eyes. You?
The breakdown of eye colors globally is:
Brown: 70–79% of the population
Blue: 8–10% of the population
Hazel: 5% of the population
Gray: 3% of the population
Green: 2% of the population
Heterochromia: 1% of the population
Red or violet: Less than 1% of the population
3 Videos:
Fireball over Southern USA - probably was a Chinese satellite coming out of orbit.
City councilman recording a video about the poor state of a bridge at the moment if collapsed on the border between Tocantins and Maranhão, Brazil.
Unitree B2-W RL-trained robot dog, one year into in mass production
A fellow hated chivalry, specifically opening doors for women - so in 1888 he invented revolving doors. His name was Theophilus Van Kannel.
Chuck Norris is able to slam a revolving door.
Thank you for a great 2024. Which was your favorite fact this week?
I knew LUCA. Very quiet.
Lettuce from a vending machine???
made me laugh out loud picturing this - 'Chuck Norris is able to slam a revolving door.'
the Canon guy who supposedly invented the inkjet - nope. It was Stephan Sears, an inventor from California. How do I know? We were a 'thing' a long time ago, and he never shut up about it.