› added 7 years ago

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TIL that PS2 owners in Brazil can stream Netflix to their console

WWbB TIL of “project sound” A car suspension system by Bose. Over-engineered to the point of being deemed unviable commercially, it outperformed everything on the market.
pjpb TIL of the steamship Eastland, which, in 1915, capsized while still tied to the dock in Chicago. New safety laws which rushed through Congress after the Titanic sinking mandated so much safety gear installed that the ship was top heavy and rolled over, killing 844 people.
4XaBg TIL non-invasive prenatal testing, which draws blood from the mom to detect fetal abnormalities, can detect maternal cancer. Multiple severe chromosomal abnormalities can mean mom has cancer rather than fetus has many birth defects
16r58 TIL that the popular Chinese dating game show If You Are The One, was looked upon unfavorably by Chinese authorities for spreading the 'wrong values' and 'advocating materialism'.
p8Ym8 Imagine you spent your entire childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood stuck inside a small closet. One day, after much of your life, has passed you by, you realize that you can just open up the door, change into some more appropriate clothes, and hit the town! Free at last, what would you do first? Maybe sing a bit? Go on a few dates? By the way, you have two to four weeks to live. Yikes. This is not unlike the situation most cicadas face, as they spend almost their entire lives underground. For example, many of the cicadas emerging in 2016 have been underground for 17 years! To put that in perspective, the last Star Wars movie these insects saw was literally a menace. Imagine waking up in a world without Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray! Come to think of it, things are really looking up since 1999. A cicada’s ear-piercing call is intended to attract a gal pal. Considering that these little creatures’ time above ground is so fleeting, they need to lock down a date as soon as possible. This could be why most cicadas are louder than the average fraternity pledge. Adult males are the ones making such a racket, and some species can register sounds louder 100 decibels when calling for a potential mate. In this week’s Today I Learned, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and filmmaker Sandesh Kadur explains how cicadas sing such a loud song.