12 Trivia Tidbits for Tuesday, May 7, 2024
The next extremely smart and safe use of artificial intelligence. A beef in the chemical pigmentation world that makes Drake and Kendrick Lamar look like Bert and Ernie. A world record returned to the French, where it belongs. All that and more, below...
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No One Can Make a Decent A.I. Search Engine, But the Air Force Is Pretty Sure They Can Make a Great A.I. Fighter Jet Fleet
After one ride on an A.I.-powered jet went pretty well, the Air Force has announced plans to produce a fleet of 1,000 A.I.-powered jets by 2028.
The Million Dollar Legal Pad
A yellow legal pad that says “Buy Bitcoin” in Sharpie just sold for $1 million. Someone held it up behind Fed chair Janet Yellen in 2017, and it’s been a viral icon among crypto geeks ever since. And now, some random person just chucked in 16 Bitcoin to own the pad.
Beluga Whales May Communicate Via Extreme Brow Furrowing
Beluga whales have a big, bulbous deposit of fat at the front of their heads, and a new study has found that they may communicate by “warping” this “blob of farhead fat.”
The Beef in the Chemical Pigmentation World
Vantablack is a pigmentation that absorbs about 99 percent of light, making anything it’s applied to appear pitch black. Artist Anish Kapoor was somehow able to buy exclusive rights to using it in sculptures and art, which ticked off basically the entire international artist community. When artist Stuart Semple put the world’s “pinkest pink” up for sale, he made buyers agree to the following legal declaration: “By adding this product to your cart you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor.”
Looks Like We’ve Got a Vaccine for UTIs
Over the course of a nine-year study that tested an oral vaccine that targets UTI-causing bacteria, over half of the 89 participants never once got a UTI.
A Nantucket Newspaper Is Dunking on One Dopey Cybertruck Owner
Locals have been sending pictures and videos of one dipshit who ferried his new Cybertruck to the island to the Nantucket Current for the past several days. They’ve chronicled instances of this guy parking in a crosswalk, driving backward down a one-way street and, predictably, getting stuck on a beach.
The World’s Most Common Surnames
A map of the most common last names in every country has a whole lot of Smiths: that name is the most popular in America, Canada, the U.K. and Australia.
Warren Buffett Fears Only Death and A.I.
Closing out an annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, the 94-year-old said, “I not only hope you come next year. I hope I come next year” and that A.I. “scares the hell out of me.”
Vegetables Don’t Exist
Botanically speaking, “fruits” are edible plants that contain a seed or seeds, but there is no official definition of a “vegetable.”
The Most Insufferable Engagement of All Time
A guy on LinkedIn is blowing up for listing the B2B sales lessons he learned from proposing to his girlfriend. He kicks off his seven-point list of grindset brainrot with, “Like a well-run sales cycle, key milestones must be met throughout the relationship to ensure a Closed Won status at the end.”
France Reclaimed the Record of World’s Largest Baguette
Bakers in Italy made a 133-meter baguette in 2019, but French bakers just popped out a 140-meter behemoth to take back the crown.
How Big Would the Battery on a Lightsaber Be?
Wired crunched some numbers, and found that, if lightsabers indeed even have wireless energy sources, the lithium-ion battery needed to power it would be a cylinder about 14 feet by 3 feet. It’s more likely that they’re powered by nuclear energy or even antimatter.