Do you remember the guy who made his shed the top-rated London restaurant on TripAdvisor? He also became a fake fashion designer and went to Paris Fashion week. | learn more
Category: fun facts
How to build a cow out of butter.
In case you need another reason to love the Midwest… “Sculpting a cow from butter is a beloved state fair tradition. This is how it’s done.” | learn more
Russians sitting on suitcases.
There’s an old Russian tradition to sit for a bit before leaving on a trip. I still practice this for no good reason. | learn more
The unlikely etymology of the word orange.
The geeky level of detail in this article is excellent. It’s rare for colorblind Pavel to share an article about colors, so savor this moment! | learn more
How America uses its land.
Bloomberg put together a series of graphics that shine a light on how the US uses its land – from timberland to pasture and urban housing. This is quick to scroll through and quite interesting. | learn more
Why do so many TV shows have 65 episodes?
I got hooked on this article in the intro where I learned that The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire was modeled after another Bel Aire show with a different demographic. “How the calculus of ’80s television programming lives on into the present day—and why the Disney Channel always seems to cancel shows after 65 episodes.” | learn more
Why does the TI-83 still cost $100?
I ran into one of these at Target last week, and my jaw dropped when I saw it still costs so much! Someone shared this article with me that explains how Texas Instruments has locked up the education market. | learn more
The biggest digital heist in history isn’t over.
“Carbanak’s suspected ringleader is under arrest, but $1.2 billion remains missing, and his malware attacks live on.” | learn more
Tortilla chips spontaneously combust… twice.
“[The Austin Fire Department] says the factory was trying out a new blend of chips that ‘didn’t work out so well.’” | learn more
Russian ship with $130B of gold found near S. Korea.
“A South Korean salvage team has discovered the wreck of a Russian warship that was sunk in a naval battle 113 years ago and is believed to still contain a trove of gold bullion and coins worth [$130 Billion].” | learn more
Stories of billionaire honeymoons.
Jack Ezon, founder of Ovation Vacations, shares a bunch of entertaining stories from honeymoons his company has planned for always rich and sometimes famous clients. |learn more
100 seconds in a metric minute.
We once played a joke on a friend in high school by convincing him that metric minutes had 100 seconds. It turns out the joke is on us because it was once true. | learn more
US Postal Service paying millions for bonehead move.
They inadvertently used a photo of the replicate Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas on their postage stamp. Now they have to pay the artist $3.5 million in royalties. | learn more
Hundreds of years of riverbed stuff.
The City of Amsterdam drained sections of a canal for a new subway line and had a rare opportunity to recover centuries of lost objects from the riverbed. They recovered 700k and published high res photos of 20k. | learn more
How Anna Delvey tricked New York’s party people.
Do you love a good fraud story? This link’s for you! | learn more
Nature Conservancy photo contest winners.
These photos are awesome, so I’m including two in the newsletter! I encourage you to check out the rest. “The Nature Conservancy recently revealed the winning photographs from its massive global contest to find the most glorious images of nature across 5 categories.” | learn more
Frank Abagnale gave an amazing talk at Google.
The real-life person who inspired the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Catch Me If You Can” is exactly as interesting as you might imagine. He told his story first-hand at Google, and luckily it was recorded and published for the rest of the internet to enjoy! | learn more
South Korea doubles down on stereotypes.
“South Korea’s coach says he made his players wear different numbered shirts in recent friendlies to confuse opponents who he says cannot tell them apart.” | learn more
Russians are learning how to smile.
In preparation for the World Cup and the swarms of incoming tourists it brings, workers in Russia are being taught how to smile and look friendly. | learn more
Corporate B.S. generator.
This is exactly what you expect it to be. “professionally enhance premier intellectual capital” | learn more
This punk-rock turtle is endangered.
“A green mohawk, a virgin until the age of 25, a population in decline since the 1970s, breathes through its genitals. Yep, this endangered turtle is punk as fuck.” | learn more
American Airlines CEO hasn’t flown their new economy class.
“Nobody wants to fly economy, but if you’re the CEO of an airline, you should probably do it at least once. Yet American Airlines CEO Doug Parker seems unwilling to admit whether or not he’s flown his airline’s newest economy product.” | learn more
Digital photocopiers are loaded with secrets.
Did you know office copiers have a hard drive that stores all the documents they scan or copy? If not, you’re in good company. And so are your secret documents, which get passed on to the next owner. | learn more
Why does Winamp whip the llama’s ass?
Here’s another one I had to look up after a conversation this week. We were reminiscing about the music player that started the MP3 movement. | learn more
Daylight savings causes heart attacks.
I heard this in a podcast and just had to look it up. The Monday after we “spring forward” and lose an hour has a 25% higher incidence of heart attacks than other Mondays throughout the year. | learn more