Post * Oo7YR — Curious Curator

› added 4 years ago

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TIL Number 4 (四; accounting 肆; pinyin sì) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese because it is nearly homophonous to the word "death" (死 pinyin sǐ). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "4": e.g., Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4), Palm PDAs, Canon PowerShot

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oB5VA TIL An Arizona man, Paul Menchaca, was charged with multiple counts of sex abuse and fraudulent schemes after he allegedly faked having Down syndrome and hired female caregivers to bathe him and change his diapers. Using an online service, Menchaca posed as his mother to lure alleged victims.

RWM8 TIL that the Taipei 101 skyscraper uses a 728 ton steel tuned mass damper (basically a giant pendulum) to counter motion of the building since it is so close to a fault line.

X0ZGR TIL In 1977, Ohio State University's SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial intelligence) project received a strong radio signal which appeared to be coming from the constellation Sagittarius and it lasted for 72 seconds. The signal hasn't been detected since, and it's still a mystery for the scientists.

kOE6W TIL in the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt, the Torah uses the singular word tzefardeah for frog, not the plural tzefard'im. Some interpret this as meaning Egypt was plagued by a singular frog.

9kg6 TIL That Carrie Fisher never wore a bra in the first Star Wars movie at the request of George Lucas. He explained to her that in space, her flesh would expand, but her bra wouldn’t, so she would be strangled by her bra.