Pavel Sokolovsky

fun facts

fun facts · Apr 2017

Why Finland loves saunas.

“The only Finnish word to make it into everyday English is sauna. But what it is, and how much it means to Finns, is often misunderstood - and it’s definitely not about flirtation or sex.” | learn more

fun facts · Apr 2017

The internet, one pixel at a time. 

What happens when you let the internet place unlimited pixels on a canvas, but only one every five minutes? Reddit’s april fools joke lasted 3 days, and the result is worth looking at. “Somehow, someway, what happened in Reddit over those 72 hours was the birth of Art.” | learn more

fun facts · Apr 2017

The second life of hotel soap.

Ever wonder what happens to all of the unused and partially used tiny bars of soap at hotels? A nonprofit called Clean the World melts them down to provide soap for impoverished countries. | learn more

fun facts · Apr 2017

Renewed hope for the hot hand.

“Hot Hand”, “On Fire”, “In The Zone”. In 1985, a group including Amos Tversky (one of the fathers of behavioral economics) published a paper concluding it didn’t exist - it was a myth. After 30 years, Joshua Miller fires back, highlighting flaws in the original research that invalidate and reverse the result. | learn more

fun facts · Apr 2017

Put away your tophat and monacle.

It turns out that “crevasse” (pronounced kruh-VOSS) is not just a super pretentious way to say “crevice” (pronounced KREV-iss). Hat tip to Ilya Z for the insight. | learn more

fun facts · Apr 2017

Maps are lying to you. 

Maps are lying to you. I still remember when it sunk in that our typical world map is one big lie. When a tour guide in Colombia told us that the country is bigger than Texas and California combined, I didn’t believe him. Google quickly confirmed that I was wrong. | learn more