› added 1 year ago

106

TIL Thomas Edison liked to take naps while holding spheres, when he nodded off he'd drop the spheres and be awoken. The naps were meant to drive creativity. A 2021 experiment found the spheres acted as a “hypnagogia catcher” which allowed participants to have more spontaneous thoughts/creativity.

Read more science.org

via reddit.com

ed15 TIL an investor and operator of a hedge fund has placed a $1,000,000,000 special bet (known on the stock market as a “short”) against the shady multilevel marketing company, Herbalife. If they lose money, he makes money. He plans to donate his profits to charity.
GA97E TIL of the Tel Aviv central bus station - a mega structure that includes a nuclear bomb shelter for 16,000 people. The station was designed to be confusing, so that commuters would spend time shopping. Most of it became completely abandoned, taken over by violent criminals and even a colony of bats.
MevYA TIL The USPS used to burn letters sent to "Santa". Now nonprofit organizations respond to children's letters on behalf of Santa
AD19x TIL working too much is an official cause of death in Japan. Called 'Karoshi' which literally means 'overwork death' it became a hot button issue mid to late 1980s, when several high-ranking businessmen who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness.
d8poZ TIL facial recognition software can be successfully fooled by wearing Juggalo face paint. It throws off the softwares light contrast and depth perception, causing it to misidentify the jawline and eye area.