› added 8 years ago

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TIL an Islamic religious authority blamed women who dress immodestly for causing earthquakes. In response a blogger organized Boobquake, an event where 200,000 women wore immodest clothing in a light-hearted scientific experiment to produce an earthquake.

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GYLj5 TIL On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met at a remote spot in Weehawken, New Jersey to duel. Hamilton, whose son was killed in a duel in 1801, deliberately fired into the air, but Burr fired with intent to kill. Hamilton, fatally wounded, died in New York City the next day.
69yOX TIL: There were 2 studies in a scientific journal with over 1000 participants that shows that the art of "bullshitting" correlates with higher intelligence. Subjects were asked to lie about their expertise in fake fields and those who lied better scored higher on vocab, abstract reasoning, etc.
N7Kg6 TIL Robert Frost couldn't read the poem he wrote for John F. Kennedy's inauguration due to the glare on the snow being too strong. So he instead recited one he knew from memory.
gM6g9 TIL that when simple AI was taught to play Tetris, the best solution it found was to pause the game just before the screen filled up so it would never lose.
8amda TIL researchers modeled a system where the Peter Principle holds true and found that instead of promoting the best employees until they reach a level where they stop performing competently, it's more efficient for a company to promote employees at random. For this research they won an Ig Nobel.