› added 5 months ago

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TIL the "affect heuristic" is a heuristic, a mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, in which current emotion—fear, pleasure, surprise, etc.—influences decisions.

8JYZ TIL multitasking is a myth. What we call multitasking is actually ‘switch-tasking.’ There is actually a stop/start process that occurs in the brain when we switch between tasks. This process causes “more mistakes, and over time it can be energy sapping.”
Wk6k8 TIL about Liviu Librescu: a Romanian-born scientist, engineer, professor, teacher, and Holocaust survivor, who heroically held the door of his classroom closed during the Virginia Tech shootings sacrificing his life while the gunman continuously shot through the door, saving 22 of his 23 students.
e0ZK5 TIL that Harry Houdini’s first public performance was at age 9 as a trapeze artist, billing himself as “Ehrich Prince of the Air“
Lkyk9 TIL that there is a 25 foot replica Statue of Liberty in the river outside of Harrisburg, PA. It was erected as a prank in 1986, and was originally made of Venetian blinds and plywood. A local lawyer admitted his role in the prank 25 years later, “well after the statute of limitations had expired.”
k6Y4 TIL that in 2004, employees of a Walmart in Jonquière, Quebec successfully unionized their local Walmart. 5 months later, Walmart shut down the store, claiming they did not approve of the “business plan” the store made.