› added 5 years ago

103

TIL Goodhart's Law, the principle that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. For example, when a government tries to bring down unemployment figures to demonstrate how well the economy is doing, unemployment figures stop being a good measure of the economy.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

DeGD TIL Carl Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard University and was unable to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences because his role as a ‘popularizer’ of science had caused other scientists to dislike him, claiming he wasn’t a 'pure’ scientist.
69vjX TIL in the U.S., half of the population consumes sugary drinks on a given day; 1 in 4 people get at least 200 calories from such drinks; and 5% get at least 567 calories—equivalent to four cans of soda.
e0Mwn TIL that stray cows in Uttar Pradesh, India, are barcoded to help keep track of their location and use unoccupied government buildings to give them shelter.
4XdbX TIL That some Amish communities willingly participate in studies of genetic diseases, as they have unique genetics due to the enclosed nature of their order. Their extensive family histories are useful to researchers investigating diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and macular degeneration.
R5ndj TIL: Trees, signs, buildings near the Jack Daniel distillery look blowtorched because of the “angels share” of ethanol from the whiskey barrels (2% of the maturing whiskey that evaporates from the barrels) feeds a melanin-containing fungus called Baudoinia compniacensis (aka whiskey fungus)