› added 13 years ago

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TIL that there isn’t an accepted name for that noise-making party favor that rolls out when blown into.

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LZer TIL “Hell is other people,” is a quote from a play called ‘No Exit.’ It actually means that we see what we hate about ourselves in other people and judge ourselves by their reactions. So when you say it, you’re more or less saying, man I’m really an awful person.
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.
dOy9 TIL a Starbucks grande coffee has 320 milligrams of caffeine, over four times the amount of caffeine in a Red Bull and the Starbucks cinnamon chip scone has more calories than a McDonald’s quarter pounder with 480 calories
Pmmg TIL OK Go added 35 minutes of Damian Kulash’s sleeping girlfriend at the end of their album “Oh No” in order to prevent their label from using the extra space to add DRM software.
EgrXd TIL that your blood type impacts your health and longevity. Having a blood type other than O is associated with a higher chance of death, especially from heart disease.