M7pAW TIL that the optimal shape for a lighting rod has been debated since the 18th century when British scientists claimed that they should have a rounded end, but American scientists argued that pointed was better. In 2000 there was a study that found that rounded ends were marginally better.
j6bKv TIL the Earl from Sammy Kershaw's 90s country song 'Queen of My Double Wide Trailer' is the same person as the one in The Chicks' 'Goodbye Earl.'
0dxgj TIL that the Miami cannibal did not actually have bath salts in his system after toxicological testing
grbd4 TIL that scientists can save PNG to birds.
LQGpZ TIL that multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40% due to cognitive “switching costs” that impair focus and increase errors.
b6bYN TIL The singer Adele once pretended to be an Adele impersonator. No one realised it was Adele. And even AFTER Adele sang her own song for them, only ONE of them realised. Some of the other impersonators didn't even think she was that good a singer.
QN5Qp TIL that in 2018 scientists discovered a new way to cause depression in rats: Put them with other depressed rats. By housing a healthy rat with two depressed rats for five weeks, the healthy rat will reliably become depressed.
ANBWB TIL the oldest known piece of “art” is a 300,000-year-old fossilized cuttlefish bone, called the Erfoud manuport, which an early human carried around because it looked exactly like a penis. Humanity has literally not changed at all.
yV9va TIL that AutoTrader is owned by Cox Enterprises, which was started by James M Cox, the Democratic nominee for president in 1920
m1bJM TIL the famous cover of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” was by the Jackson 5
DQk5J TIL that the Washington Nationals are originally from Montreal
vPxED TIL The Manitou Cliff Dwellings were built in the early 1900s and not by early Puebloans, who actually lived several hundred miles southwest in the Four Corners region of the US.