› added 5 years ago

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TIL about “the backfire effect,” which occurs when someone is presented with facts that contradict their preconceived worldview. Rather than admit they’re wrong, they believe the incorrect information even more.

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rRrve TIL that in China, Harry Potter fan fiction is used as a cultural and educational tool between Western and Chinese cultures. There are a number of "fake" Harry Potter books in China, which address concepts and issues found in Chinese culture.
XE5k8 TIL Height strips on convenience store doors were first used to help witnesses judge the height of a robber, but today they are used as psychological deterrents.
PbeJ TIL that males have disproportionately larger noses than females (at least those of European descent) - not because they tend to be larger overall, but because of how muscle is distributed differently between men and women
1a7Kr TIL that a domino can knock over another domino that's a maximum of 1.5 times larger than itself. Based on that progression, if you started with a domino the size of a carbon atom, you could knock over the Burj Khalifa with a 1.22 kilometer tall domino in just 74 steps.
6E5kJ TIL To solve the problem of communicating to humans 10,000 years from now about nuclear waste sites one solution proposed was to form an atomic priesthood like the catholic church to preserve information of locations and danger of nuclear waste using rituals and myths.