› added 3 years ago

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TIL that Daniel Oppenheimer won the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 for his paper "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly" which argues that simple writing makes authors appear more intelligent than complex writing.

e0e7b TIL that reindeer are the only mammals that can see ultraviolet light. This means that they can easily tell the difference between white fur and snow because white fur has much higher contrast. It helps them discover predators early in snowy landscapes.
9wPmD TIL: Frank Slide, 44 MILLION tons of rock fell in one of the largest landslides in Canadian history back in 1903. It partially buried a town and killed 70-90 people. Also, a horse, Charlie. Survived for a month underground, only to die after being overfed oats and... brandy.
Wk07N TIL that, if he hadn't died, the original head writer for the Pokemon anime was going to end the series with Ash as an old man in the real world, and all his adventures being imaginary.
xV78o TIL that the Momo Challenge, in which it was reported in 2018 and 2019 that children were being enticed to perform dangerous tasks including suicide, was a hoax and media reports about deaths linked to the challenge were "far fetched and devoid of any evidence".
6EGNX TIL that because oils from cookies can be damaging to puppets, the cookies consumed by the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street are actually rice crackers painted to resemble cookies