26 Wisconsin’s “Badger State” Origin
Wisconsin became known as “The Badger State” because early lead miners were too poor, too busy, or both to build a home on their mining claim. They endured the harsh Wisconsin winters by living inside their mines, earning mockery and the nickname “badgers” for their underground lifestyle.
27. To bleach their hair, Viking men, who were brunettes, used strong soap with a high lye content. In some regions, they also lightened their beards.
28. An Indian civil servant and politician named Shrikant Jichkar had 20 university degrees, including an MD in medicine, a Master of Laws, and an MBA. For a certain period, he was a minister holding 14 portfolios.
29. Japan has some of the world’s strictest meat-grading rules. The “Beef Marbling Standard” (1-12) is the most important characteristic that determines the grade of each carcass. USDA Prime, the highest marbling grade in the US, equates to about 4. Most domestic Wagyu or hybrids would score 6-9, while Kobe usually ranks 10+.
30. Some earbud manufacturers place a tactile mark on the left earbud to help blind people distinguish it from the right. This is also useful for people without vision impairments to recognize them in the dark.
31 Green Slime Origin on TV
The act of dumping green slime on a person on “You Can’t Do That on Television” began when they intended to dump food on a kid, but it went rotten and turned into green muck. They threw it on him anyway.
32. Sony implemented a marketing strategy for their Walkman in which they hired young adults to walk around in public wearing a Walkman, inviting curious passersby to test out the product.
33. Mary Edwards Walker, the only female recipient of the Medal of Honor, was a surgeon, abolitionist, prisoner of war, and freethinker who challenged traditional gender roles. She was also a pioneer in the Victorian dress reform movement known as “rational dress,” as seen in photographs of the time.
34. An Irish American named Malcolm Loughead was a renowned engineer who invented the hydraulic brakes used in all cars today. His company, fed up with people mispronouncing his last name, changed its spelling to the more phonetic “Lockheed.”
35. Commercial airline pilots wear uniforms resembling naval officers because Pan Am established this tradition with its fleet of flying boats. To align with the nautical theme, they adopted naval-style uniforms, a practice that continues today.
36 Peter Weller’s RoboCop Struggles
While filming the 1987 film RoboCop, actor Peter Weller struggled to see through the thin helmet visor and interact with objects while wearing the gloves. The warm weather exacerbated Weller’s experience in the costume, causing him to sweat off up to 3 pounds (1.4 kg) per day.
37. A study in Japan examining why people play dating sims found that it appeals mostly to lonely individuals seeking to develop social skills or experience love. Researchers found that the psychological benefits of dating sims are similar to those of a real relationship, reducing stress and boosting satisfaction.
38. In 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope captured an eruption of water vapor that shot 6,000 miles (9,500 km) into space from a geyser on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This massive spray of water provided unprecedented insight into how the moon’s geysers supply material to Saturn’s icy rings.
39. When Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch introduced the 6502 microprocessor at a trade show in 1975, it was faster and cheaper than its competitors (costing $25 each instead of nearly $200). It almost single-handedly forced processor prices to drop, helping to launch the personal computer revolution.
40. Bummer and Lazarus, two stray dogs roaming San Francisco streets in the early 1860s, gained recognition for their unique bond and exceptional ability to kill rats. City newspapers featured them regularly, local ordinances exempted them, and cartoons immortalized them.
41 Einstein’s Failed Entrance Exam
At the age of 16, Einstein took the entrance exam for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and failed it. He struggled with the language and history sections but excelled in math and science.
42. Canada’s 12.9-kilometer Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island is deliberately curved, not straight, to ensure drivers remain attentive and reduce accidents. It is projected to last for 100 years, until 2097.
43. The “Eddie Murphy Rule” refers to Section 746 of the 2010 US Dodd-Frank Act, which forbids securities trading based on misappropriated non-public information from a government source. The name originates from the 1984 film Trading Places, where characters used insider information to short-sell frozen orange juice.
44. In 1989, when HDTV first entered the Japanese market, the cost of an HDTV and the required receiver to pick up HD satellite TV signals was $12,800, equivalent to $32,160 in 2024.
45. The Tony Awards were named after a woman. Antoinette “Tony” Perry was an actress, producer, and theater director who co-founded the American Theatre Wing, which entertained soldiers during World War II. Her death led to the creation of the Tony Awards in her honor.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Poundbury’s Diverse Architectural Styles
Prince Charles created Poundbury, an experimental town/neighborhood that combines medieval, industrial, Victorian, Neoclassical, and Georgian architectural styles. Its purpose is to counter the monotonous architectural trends of the late 20th century.
47. Honey bees survived the heat and noxious gases from the 2021 La Palma volcanic explosion in Spain by sealing the entrance to their hive and living on stored honey while under the eruption’s ash.
48. ‘Braille Bricks’ is a LEGO model that helps visually impaired children learn Braille through play. Each brick corresponds to a letter or number in the Braille system, allowing kids to learn tactile reading in an engaging way.
49. The Slave Narrative project took place during the Great Depression. The WPA sponsored the project, hiring unemployed writers to gather the life stories of former slaves. They recorded and archived a total of 2,300 first-person accounts.
50. Mara, the most expensive cow ever auctioned, sold for $4.38 million (£3.33 million) in Brazil in 2023. She belongs to the Nelore breed, known for its ability to adapt to tropical climates and resistance to diseases.
RE: Fact #4 (Disappearing Polymorphs in Chemistry) – You know how labs can grow crystals with a specific structure? Sometimes they try to recreate that exact structure, but end up with something totally different. It’s happened with drugs too! There was a lawsuit over paroxetine because of this crystal issue, and even some life-saving drugs like ritonavir had to be pulled from shelves because of unexpected crystal changes.
RE: Fact #10 (Loyola’s Zolp Scholarship) – Hey, so the Wm. Zolp Scholarship is for Catholic students with the last name Zolp who are going to Loyola University Chicago. It helps pay for tuition! You’ll need to send your birth certificate and a baptismal or confirmation certificate to the Financial Aid Office to prove you’re Catholic and have the right last name. You need to be accepted to Loyola by February 1st to be eligible. The amount you get depends on how much money they have and how many people apply. If you’re a new freshman starting in the fall, you can apply online through the LUC Scholarship Connect [link] after January 1st. Just make sure you get your application in by March 1st. It’s not a full ride, but it can definitely help out!
So it’s not a full ride, and I was about to name my kid Zolp.
RE: Fact #10 (Loyola’s Zolp Scholarship) – So, I work with academic funding, right? We have these old endowments, set up by people who wanted to make sure their money went to *specific* people. They put all these crazy rules on them – like, you had to live in a certain zip code or your parents had to be a doctor or something. It was all about making sure *their* friends or family got the scholarships, and they got the credit for the donation. The problem is, they set these endowments up to last forever. And changing the rules is a huge pain in the neck – you either need permission from every single person who donated to that fund, or you have to beg the state’s attorney general to change it. So we were stuck with these endowments that were practically useless, because we couldn’t find students who fit all the weird requirements. It’s been a long fight, but we finally got the attorney general to remove or change the rules on a lot of them. And now, my university won’t let people set up new endowments with those kinds of restrictions anymore. So hopefully we won’t have to deal with this mess again!
Can you invest this money or make it grow?
So, endowments are basically this big pot of money that’s invested, and the interest is what we use for the stuff they’re supposed to be for. The main pot can’t be touched, but the interest can – but only for the exact thing the endowment agreement says. That’s why we have some scholarships that just keep getting bigger and bigger with nobody to give them to. It’s like they’re stuck in limbo! We need to find a way to change the rules or match them with the right students so we can actually use this money. It’s super frustrating to see people who could really benefit from scholarships but can’t get their hands on this cash because of the way these endowments are set up.
Hey, I actually worked in academia, too, and even have an M.Ed. So, trust me, I get really annoyed when people online and in the news go crazy about how “rich” colleges are because of their endowments. Yeah, some of those endowments are huge, but the rule is you can’t just take the money out! And you have to spend it the way the person who donated it wanted. Like, imagine having a $5 million endowment that can only be given to Home Ec majors—useless if there’s no more Home Ec department, right? So the money just sits there, while the school has to take out a loan to build a parking garage.
That’s why I made sure the scholarship I set up at my husband’s old school after he died can be used for anything good for the whole university after a while, if it can’t be used the way I planned. I don’t think that will ever happen since it’s for older students coming back to school, which is a big group there, but I didn’t want the money to just sit there useless.
And if you still don’t get it, just Google “fund accounting.” It basically means that the law says you can only spend money from a specific source on things that are related to that source. A lot of non-profits work this way. Think about it like this—a grant to study armadillos can’t be used to fix the roof, and your donation to the theater department can’t be spent on science stuff.
RE: Fact #21 (Andy Oyler’s Muddy Home Run) – You know, were those guys totally hammered? I mean, it was 1905, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
RE: Fact #23 (Henry Ford’s Speed Record) – Holy cow, Ford 999 was crazy fast! I can’t believe those pictures.
RE: Fact #9 (Hongzhi Emperor’s Monogamous Lifestyle) – Being a prince or princess in imperial China? That must have been super stressful, with all those step-parents and half-siblings trying to off you.
You wouldn’t believe it, but the eunuchs were the ones you really had to watch out for.
…because they weren’t getting anything.
Definitely better than being an Ottoman Prince!
RE: Fact #17 (Adele Gödel’s Cabaret Background) – He was so dependent on his wife, he wouldn’t eat anything she didn’t cook because he was scared of getting poisoned. She got sick and had to go to the hospital, and he ended up starving to death.
My grandpa kind of gave up on eating after Grandma passed away. We figured he was bummed out at first, but then we realized he’d forgotten how to cook! He hadn’t done it in, like, forever, 70 years!
Wow, that’s crazy!
Okay, now I gotta read up on this guy. Brilliant mathematician, tortured soul. Something deep inside me loves stories about the price of greatness.
You know, they say genius and craziness can be pretty close sometimes.
You’d think cooking for yourself would get rid of that fear, right? It’s weird how he was super logical in some ways but not in others.
RE: Fact #18 (Worst Movie Ever’s Box Office) – So, basically, his friend let him show his film in a theater for one showing, right? Everyone involved got in for free, but then this random person decided to pay for a ticket? Weird!
So, the Screen Actors Guild has these rules for low-budget movies, right? They let you pay actors less if the movie gets a US release, even if it’s just a tiny one. Some movies take advantage of that by renting out a single theater for a single showing. They don’t even bother advertising because they’re not trying to sell tickets, they just want to meet the union’s requirement.
Maybe their real goal is to release the movie in foreign markets or something. That’s where they’ll spend their money and push sales.
The idea is to sell it to a company that sells tons of movies to streaming services. Back in the day, you could make a killing by buying up foreign films nobody would ever see, adding subtitles, and then selling them to Netflix.
Apparently, the film only sold one ticket all weekend! And nobody even showed up on Friday. Talk about a slow start! One theater, two showings, and just one ticket sold – ouch!
It’s not as exciting as, “Nationwide showings. Still only one person.”
That’s pretty amazing, considering that theater usually only sells 4 tickets the whole weekend!
RE: Fact #13 (Dark Helmet’s Original Concept) – Just a helmet? We’d end up with a Dalek, and that’s a whole different story!
RE: Fact #9 (Hongzhi Emperor’s Monogamous Lifestyle) – Those concubines are up to something.
That’s how they got their power and influence – by making deals with officials, emperors, and the royal family. Having your kid as the next in line to be emperor, or being the emperor’s mom, gave you a lot of power. Plus, concubines usually came from powerful noble families, so they were fighting for their family’s position, too.
Unless you were in one of those early northern dynasties, you know, the ones where China was all broken up? I can’t remember exactly which ones, but I remember learning that they’d kill the heir’s mother right after he became king. I can’t even remember if it was a religious thing or just a way to stop those powerful empress dowagers from taking over. They always dragged their families into power, which could really mess up the imperial family’s influence.
It’s just another messed up government system.
RE: Fact #7 (Rihanna’s Discovery by Rogers) – You know, she’s got this amazing voice that just fits anything she sings. It’s a bummer she hasn’t put out a new album in almost nine years, though.
It’s been eight years, five months, and zero days, according to that Popjustice.com sidebar they’ve been keeping track of! 😅
RE: Fact #5 (Queen Elizabeth I’s Dental Issues) – I wish they’d put more realism like that in historical dramas, you know?
RE: Fact #12 (ISS Astronauts’ Ventilation Necessity) – You wouldn’t believe how many things that seem totally normal on Earth become huge problems in space. It’s crazy how some things that seem insignificant here have to be figured out completely differently up there.
You know, I really wonder if they thought about this before we started sending people into space, or if we just figured it out as we went along.
RE: Fact #19 (Misattributed Yamamoto Quote Origin) – That movie is totally awesome! It’s a phenomenal picture.
Hands down, the best Pearl Harbor movie ever made, and one of the best war films out there.
RE: Fact #14 (Angola Prison’s Self-Sufficient Community) – It’s kinda weird how they call it a “former slave plantation” but then talk about how it’s still being used the same way.
It’s also called that because most of the slaves came from that country.
It came from the whole Congo area, including what we know as Angola today and both Congos. Angola as it is now wasn’t around when the slave trade was happening.
RE: Fact #23 (Henry Ford’s Speed Record) – That 18.5-liter four-cylinder engine? Those pistons were probably the size of paint cans!
RE: Fact #14 (Angola Prison’s Self-Sufficient Community) – You know, I think they used to have an inmate rodeo every year, up until not too long ago.
They still have the rodeo, and it’s always got a cool craft fair going on with it. You can find all sorts of stuff there – woodworking, leather, jewelry, art, the whole shebang. It’s pretty neat how the inmates can sell their stuff, they’re behind a fence but they’ll try and catch your eye to show you what they made. I actually really enjoyed the rodeo, I was a little hesitant at first but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The whole craft fair thing, the horse riding, it all seemed to really help the inmates with their mental health. They work on the rodeos all year long, it’s a big deal. Angola’s where they send the guys who did some serious stuff, long sentences and all that. Oh, and my library used to get “The Angolite” – it’s this magazine put together by the inmates, really interesting stuff in there.
RE: Fact #8 (Juicero Juicer Hand-Squeezing Debacle) – Ugh, this is just bad. Doug Evans, the founder/CEO, first pushed “Raw Water” and now he’s all about sprouts being the miracle cure for everything. He’s a real charmer, but people still buy into his hype.
I can’t believe people actually drink raw water. It’s pretty ridiculous, but at least it helps identify the, uh, less-than-bright folks out there, right? 😂
This sewage is straight-up raw – nothing filtered, just all the good stuff and the bad stuff.
Yeah, I see him around Venice sometimes. Everyone knows he’s a total creep. If he was even a little bit famous, he’d probably be in trouble with the law.
Oh, I only want the most vegan and organic cholera, thanks!
Hey, is that Giardia ethically sourced, though?
RE: Fact #25 (Jim Varney’s Disney Breakthrough) – He was bombarded with commercials, but one chance encounter totally changed his life – he became a movie star! Sometimes you just never know what’s going to happen, right?
People like to say it was all about “right time, right place,” but honestly, Eisner was just the first one to realize how big Mickey Mouse could be. He made a ton of commercials with the character – over 100! It was only a matter of time before someone tried to go national. He just got lucky that it was someone who knew what they were doing and could make it a success.
RE: Fact #19 (Misattributed Yamamoto Quote Origin) – Yeah, it makes sense, right? I mean, why would a top admiral go through all the trouble of planning this massive surprise attack, only to turn around and say “oops, our bad”? That’s a surefire way to get the boot.
If I remember correctly, the Japanese leadership actually asked the Americans how much stuff they were making before the attack. When they heard the numbers, they thought it was ridiculous and laughed it off, saying it was way too high. Turns out, it was way too low! I can see them saying that kind of stuff, but not the admiral.
If I recall correctly, Yamamoto was like, “This is a terrible idea! We shouldn’t do this, it’s going to blow up in our faces! I warned you!”
RE: Fact #26 (Wisconsin’s “Badger State” Origin) – C.H.U.D., right? Those cannibalistic underground dwellers. Classic 80s horror movie! Maybe someone could make an article about it, that would be cool.
And hey, bonus badger video!
RE: Fact #2 (Groundhog Day’s Studio Deception) – Phil was a real downer, stuck in a time loop until he figured out how to chill. I’m glad they kept it simple, no need for deep stuff.
I really appreciated that the filmmakers trusted us to figure out why Phil’s stuck in the loop, you know? They didn’t just spell it out for us. I guess some people need a little more hand-holding, but it didn’t bother me at all. Loved the movie!
Yeah, that’s the explanation, haha. What else could they do for something like that? Do we need a physics lesson on ghosts?
You know, sometimes a movie will just throw in a supernatural thing as a reason for the story to happen. And the more they explain about it, the less it’s about how the characters are dealing with it and more about the weird stuff itself.
RE: Fact #3 (Dweezil Zappa’s Name Change) – So, Dweezil got a cease and desist letter from the trust after he said he had to call his tour “Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa” instead of “Zappa Plays Zappa.” He wasn’t too happy about it, so he just renamed the whole thing “50 Years of Frank: Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the F@%k He Wants—the Cease and Desist Tour.”
Seriously? Who in their right mind decided to sue Frank’s son? That’s just messed up.
You know, he had two other kids, Ahmet and Diva. Things got pretty messy in the Zappa family after Gail died.
Ha! This reminds me of McMurder.com. Remember when McDonald’s sent the owner a cease and desist letter, and he just posted it online and had a good laugh?
RE: Fact #11 (Joplin Tornado’s Fungal Outbreak) – Yikes, flesh-eating bacteria tornado! 😱
Ugh, this is seriously messed up. It’s like something straight out of “The Last of Us.”
RE: Fact #12 (ISS Astronauts’ Ventilation Necessity) – What’s the deal with South Koreans in space?
RE: Fact #11 (Joplin Tornado’s Fungal Outbreak) – You wouldn’t believe this, but mucormycosis was a HUGE problem for soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Imagine getting hit by an IED, with shrapnel and dirt getting stuck in your wound. This fungus would just eat away at it, especially since they were already weakened from blood loss and the trauma. A foot injury could quickly turn into an amputation, and even then, the fungus could keep eating away, forcing them to chop off more and more of their leg. It was truly awful.
If you want to know more, check out this link: [link]
Dirt is full of stuff that can really mess you up. That’s why tetanus shots are so important, that nasty bacteria is everywhere!
RE: Fact #24 (Turkmenistan News Anchors’ Makeup Ban) – He even banned car radios, saying they were useless. Talk about a weirdo!
He also thought chestnuts were lazy and would make up crazy stuff like saying he invented the question mark.
RE: Fact #26 (Wisconsin’s “Badger State” Origin) – Seriously? It’s probably Milhouse.
RE: Fact #17 (Adele Gödel’s Cabaret Background) – Maybe they just thought her name was a bit too much. Adele Gödel? Come on.
RE: Fact #10 (Loyola’s Zolp Scholarship) – My friend in college was a total scholarship ninja! She dug up every single grant and scholarship she could possibly qualify for, no matter how random. Like, she was a female athlete, her dad’s a cop, her grandparents are from some tiny town in Poland, and she was a Girl Scout…you name it! We all thought she was going a little overboard applying for everything, but when the checks started rolling in, we all had to admit she was a genius!
RE: Fact #3 (Dweezil Zappa’s Name Change) – You won’t believe this, but his real name is Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa! According to his own words “The nurse wouldn’t let Gail leave the delivery room until she had a name for the birth certificate. She was in labor, and I didn’t want her to suffer any longer, so I just blurted out a bunch of names of guys we knew: Ian, Donald, Calvin, Euclid. The nurse thought it was fine, so that’s what ended up on the official document!”
You won’t believe this, but he actually listed his religion as “Musician.” 🤣
RE: Fact #25 (Jim Varney’s Disney Breakthrough) – He was so great in the Beverly Hillbillies movie! His Jeb was just perfect, really brought the whole thing to life.
RE: Fact #9 (Hongzhi Emperor’s Monogamous Lifestyle) – His mom had a rough life. She was a Yao girl, a slave captured by the Ming dynasty, and ended up working in the Imperial palace. She was smart and climbed the ranks, eventually getting a job in the emperor’s private treasury. That’s where she met Chenghua, and got pregnant. The article thinks she might have been killed by Lady Wan to get rid of her, especially since Hongzhi was likely to become emperor.
Chenghua was a pretty bad emperor. He never got a proper education, because his dad, Tianshun, was captured by the Mongols after making some really bad choices.
So, Chenghua was basically ignored, and no one thought he’d be emperor. But Lady Wan, who was 15 years older, actually cared about him. She became like a mom to him, and he made her his concubine when he became crown prince again after his dad came back from Mongolia.
It’s kinda Freudian, the whole thing with his dad and Lady Wan, and it makes for a really interesting story. But since there’s not much information, it’s all up to psychologists to imagine what really happened.
And guess what? Hongzhi turned out to be one of the best Ming emperors ever! I’d put him right after Yongle. It’s hard to compare him to Zhu Yuanzhang because he was so unique, but Hongzhi is generally considered a good emperor, even though he had a tough start.
RE: Fact #24 (Turkmenistan News Anchors’ Makeup Ban) – You mean, is that the place where everyone’s cars have to be white?
RE: Fact #7 (Rihanna’s Discovery by Rogers) – Rihanna made him feel like she was the only girl on the planet.
I thought she was going to be a one-hit wonder after “Umbrella,” then she dropped “Man Down.” I was like, “Okay, one other decent song, that’s it.” She had a few more hits, and I was kind of like, “Maybe she just got lucky.” Then she made “Love On The Brain,” and I was like, “Whoa, I owe this woman an apology!”
“Umbrella” wasn’t her first big song, though. By the time it came out, she was already a huge star.
She had already had a string of hits with “Pon De Replay,” “SOS,” and “Unfaithful” before “Umbrella” even came out. By that time, she was way past being a one-hit wonder!
RE: Fact #23 (Henry Ford’s Speed Record) – No way someone would drive that fast back then! You’d be toast if you crashed.
Cars before the 1980s? Let’s just say safety wasn’t exactly a top priority.
You know, I was born way back in ’74. My brother and I were total wild kids in the car, always jumping around and wrestling in the backseat. We never wore seatbelts until we were a little older. One time, we were driving home from a family vacation in Carolina. We were in our dad’s station wagon, and we decided to fold down the back seat – just like that, it became our own little party space! We even set up those lowrider beach chairs and rode all the way back to PA like that. I mean, imagine if there was a sudden stop – we would have gone flying right through the windshield! The craziest thing is that my dad eventually turned into Mr. Safety. He was always telling me to be careful and stuff.
RE: Fact #22 (Queen Bees’ Battle Cries) – Usually, the first queen out of her cell will just sting the other queens still in their cells, so it’s not as dramatic as you might think.
So, do bees die after they sting? And can queen bees sting more than once? I’m just curious!
Hey, I’m a beekeeper, so I know a thing or two about these guys!
Basically, worker bees have these stingers that are all barbed and get stuck when they sting something. It’s super brutal – the stinger rips out of their body along with the poison sac, and they die. But the poison sac keeps pumping venom into the wound to make it even worse.
Think about it – an insect’s exoskeleton is like a brittle shell, it shatters more than tears. It’s like driving a knife through chocolate, not meat.
Now, queen bees don’t have those barbed stingers, because, well, they’re the most important bee in the hive! It wouldn’t be a good idea for them to have a suicidal evolutionary trait.
And about multiple queens? It’s a bit of a weird system. Every female bee can technically lay eggs, but workers can only lay unfertilized ones, which only produce drones. Drones are basically lazy bums who just eat and get busy, even when the hive is starving.
Queen bees, though, can lay both fertilized and unfertilized eggs. The fertilized ones are the workers.
The whole bee population thing is about swarming. When a hive gets too crowded, the queen lays another queen. Once the new queen hatches, the old queen takes half the hive and leaves to start a new one. Then it’s rinse and repeat.
But sometimes, the queen might be defective, not laying eggs right, or giving off bad pheromones, you know? The bees are smart, so they take action. They kill the queen and make some new ones. But they also make multiple queens as backups, just in case. The first one to hatch kills the others, and then it’s business as usual.
RE: Fact #21 (Andy Oyler’s Muddy Home Run) – I’m not sure if a super long home run is more impressive than a really short one. 🤔
They’re both pretty amazing, but I doubt anyone’s gonna beat the shortest one without making a ton of mistakes.
I mean, there are different reasons. Furthest is all about strength and luck, but I’m not really sure what Shortest shows off, but knowing it’s only two feet makes me feel good!
RE: Fact #4 (Disappearing Polymorphs in Chemistry) – You know, drug developers have learned the hard way: don’t mess with metastable polymorphs! It’s a big no-no. I’m in the industry, so I get it. 😄
You know, a lot of drugs and their building blocks probably have these unstable forms. It would make more sense to just avoid relying on those unstable structures that could easily change back to a more stable form.
RE: Fact #11 (Joplin Tornado’s Fungal Outbreak) – Ugh, worst day ever! I just graduated college and we were celebrating Mom’s birthday in a town near Joplin.
My family are all first responders, so after the storms hit, we went in to help. A bunch of people took shelter in the Walmart on Range Line, but the back wall collapsed and there were a lot of bodies piled up. It was also Joplin High’s graduation day, and there was this guy at a first aid station who was in shock. He wouldn’t take treatment and wouldn’t let go of this shoe, a Nike sneaker I think. My best friend, who’s an EMT, tried to take it from him, but the guy attacked him! Turns out he was driving his son home from graduation when the storm hit, and it sucked his son out the car window. He was holding onto his son’s legs to try to keep him from flying away. They found his son a few miles away in a field.
Sorry for the heavy stuff, but just wanted to remind everyone to give your loved ones a hug!
You know, this whole thing reminded me of something that happened to me. I was supposed to be in Joplin during that storm, but my flight to Tulsa got delayed. When I finally landed, my phone was blowing up with family checking in. Turns out the hotel I was supposed to stay at was completely wrecked. My three buddies were staying there too, and they drove all the way to pick me up because my flight was delayed. If it hadn’t been, they would have been in the hotel too!
We ended up staying at OCC because we had some people we knew there. The town was in shambles. I’ll never forget it. We spent a week helping with the cleanup and those images really stuck with me. I couldn’t sleep for a while after that.
Wait, wasn’t Will found in a pond? I might be getting things mixed up.
RE: Fact #16 (Boseman’s Salary Share with Miller) – From everything I’ve heard, Boseman was a truly great guy. RIP.
RE: Fact #8 (Juicero Juicer Hand-Squeezing Debacle) – Okay, so the WiFi and the whole idea behind the Juicero were kind of dumb. And the machine itself? Ridiculously expensive! They went way overboard with the engineering, you know?
Ben Einstein, a venture capitalist, thought the press was “a super complicated piece of engineering” but that all that complexity was unnecessary. He thinks they just didn’t have a budget in mind when they designed it. Apparently, they built it like a commercial-grade food machine, meant for heavy use every day, not like a regular appliance. Einstein thinks a simpler, cheaper design would have made the same great juice, just for a few hundred bucks less.
Yeah, the cheaper machine might not last as long as the Juicero, but it would still probably last for years, maybe even decades. It’s like my food processor at home versus the fancy one I use at work. The one at home is way cheaper, because I don’t need it to run for hours every day like the one at work. I only use it for twenty minutes a week!
You know that teardown video I saw? They said the part that presses the packet was made from solid aluminum! That’s crazy! I wonder if you could get the same results with some wood and threaded steel rod?
What blew my mind was that it’s not even a real juicer! It just squishes a pouch that’s already got the juice and fruit bits in it.
Seriously, why even bother? You could just squeeze the pouch yourself and get the same thing!
So, you had to get their juice packs, which were like $5-8 each. The Juicero would scan the pack to make sure it was legit, and if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t even juice it.
You know, that’s why those fancy gym treadmills are so expensive – they’re built to handle anything! You can get one on Amazon for cheap, but those are more for home use, not for the serious gym stuff.
You don’t need a super strong treadmill for your clothes, just something that can handle a few shirts and pants.
RE: Fact #18 (Worst Movie Ever’s Box Office) – Alright, mission accomplished!