Who Knew? Some Fun Facts

Alizerine said:
How is that possible?
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This rare and remarkable phenomenon only happens when the sun rises farther to the south as Winter solstice approaches. At the right place and time, Mount Rainier blocks rays of morning sunlight, casting a shadow like you see above. When the cloud coverage is just right, you get this incredible scene, wonderfully shot by Komo News contributor, Nick Lippert.
 

There have already been 11 billion-dollar disasters in the US in 2024, and numerous other notable climate events, including one storm in Texas that featured DVD-sized hail (marking the first warning of that size from the National Weather Service). Extreme weather events are making it harder to “insure homes in many parts of the US,” reports the BBC, and “car insurance rates just had their biggest annual jump in 47 years,” reports CNN.
 
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Froot Loops loops are all the same flavor​


No point in eating around the purple ones—all Froot Loops taste like, um, froot. Other than the Wild Berry Froot Loops, of course.
 

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose​


You just tested it, didn’t you? Normally, when you hum, the air is able to escape through your nose to create the sound, and of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. This is one of the weird facts you can test out for yourself. Go ahead, try it.
 
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Dunce caps used to be signs of intelligence​


Thirteenth-century philosopher John Duns Scotus believed that a pointed cap would help spread knowledge from the tip to the brain, and his “Dunsmen” followers wore them as a badge of honor. In the 1500s, though, his ideas became less popular and the meaning of the Duns cap was turned on its head, becoming something of a joke.
 
RadishRose said:

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose​


You just tested it, didn’t you? Normally, when you hum, the air is able to escape through your nose to create the sound, and of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. This is one of the weird facts you can test out for yourself. Go ahead, try it.
Click to expand...
This is why Barbara Streisand is such a great hummer like in the Way We Were.
 
Mark Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, decided to send his identical twin Scott Kelly — who would be aboard the International Space Station for almost a year in 2015 and 2016 — a surprise to lighten things up. A full gorilla suit, because being there can get boring.
Mark, vacuum packed a gorilla suit and sent it with a cargo delivery on an unmanned SpaceX mission, which blew up in June 2015.
"The next time I was on the phone with my brother, he goes, 'I'm sending you another gorilla suit,'" Scott recalls.
This attempt was successful.
Scott posted a video of him chasing Tim Peake around. (Tim was in on the gag) They did other things with the suit to liven things up. The suit was then placed in the trash later.

 
In 1932, the 3 Musketeers Bar was introduced by M&M/Mars. Originally, each bar contained three flavors — chocolate, strawberry and vanilla — from the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. During WWII, costs and restrictions caused them to make only the favorite chocolate flavor.


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Lopburi, Thailand, is the kind of place that no one needs to be convinced to visit. It’s one of the country’s oldest cities, holds the oldest ruins, and is just generally stunning to look at overall. The only issue for most people is that it’s a little hard to get there. And what usually seals the deal is the fact that long-tailed macaque monkeys roam the streets and serve as entertainment.

In order to thank the monkeys, the residents of Lopburi hold an annual banquet for them at the site of a 13th-century temple known to house many macaques.
The macaques probably don’t care much about the dancers and other forms of entertainment on offer.

Like most of us primates, they’re there for the food. And residents deliver in the form of piles of delicious fruits, vegetables, and sticky rice.

The locals believe that celebrating the monkeys brings them good luck and more tourists. But we imagine it’s also pretty fun to watch since monkeys go a little wild around piles of food. We’ve always wanted to see a monkey food fight, and the festival reportedly has plenty.
 

AI-generated articles are permeating major news publications​

So who actually writes the news that you consume every day? Well, here at NPR, it's reporters, producers, editors, literally hundreds of human beings in our newsroom. And until recently, it was pretty safe to assume that real people were behind the bylines and the articles that you read. But last year, an investigation by the publication Futurism found that Sports Illustrated had been publishing AI-written pieces by make-believe journalists. It was a scandal that rocked the publication, and, shortly after, the magazine's publisher fired the CEO.
 
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Dolphins cheat​

Dolphins are often cited as the second smartest animals on Earth due to their relatively high brain-to-body size ratio, the capacity to show emotion, and impressive mimicry of the dumb apes who research them. Now, findings from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi suggest dolphins may also be the second-sneakiest animals on Earth.

When dolphins at the Institute were trained to pick up litter in their tanks and exchange them with trainers for fish, one dolphin named Kelly discovered a way to game the system. By hiding scraps of litter under a rock in her tank, Kelly discretely tore single sheets of discarded paper into multiple pieces, then turned them in one at a time to maximize her fishy reward. Kelly’s clever deception, it seems, was no accident; researchers say she did it all on purpose.
 

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