12 Trivia Tidbits for Monday, April 22, 2024
You’ve heard about the cicada swarms. You saw the viral tweets from the earthquake. We all lived through the eclipse. But there’s yet another horseman of the apocalypse on the horizon!
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The Largest Election in Human History
India just began its six-week-long, seven-phase election, in which 969 million people are eligible to vote. That’s a tenth of the population of the planet.
The Highest Polling Location in the World
Because there must be a polling location within 1.2 miles of every home in India, there’s a voting booth in the Himalayas at 15,256 feet above sea level.
Capitalism Means Faking Crisis
In a response to not growing quite enough in 2023, Samsung has decided to “inject a sense of crisis” into the company to jolt everyone into constantly escalating productivity. That includes forcing their executives to work six-day workweeks (despite the growing pile of evidence that says four-day workweeks are better for everyone). Surely such pointless policies won’t trickle down to the rest of its workforce.
What’s the Lowest Salary You’d Accept for a New Job?
A survey done by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has shown that Americans’ collective salary bar is set at $81,822, the highest it’s been since 2014. That’s a jump of $8,000 just since November 2023.
Meet Orifice, the A.I. Fleshlight
A guy on Twitter has been sharing progress on the device he believes will “save the world” because “the relationship between men and women is broken.” It’s not affordable therapy, but a “silicone adult toy for men with a computer vision system, text to speech, speech to text ... and generative moaning.”
Bees Can Survive Underwater for a Week
Specifically, hibernating bumblebee queens. During a scientific study that involved keeping queen bees in a fridge to mimic hibernation, a researcher noticed that several of the subjects were completely submerged in condensation. They found that submerged bees had an 81 percent survival rate, reasonably close to the 88 percent survival rate of bees hibernating in normal conditions.
Larry David’s Mom Wrote in to an Advice Column Because He Was Such a Miserable Kid
David said he once found a copy of a letter his mother had sent in to an advice column: “She’s saying, ‘My son, he’s 12 years old. He hates people. He’s morose. He’s taciturn.’”
A Garbage Person Evaded Arrest by Dressing Like Garbage
A man thought his missing package had perhaps been blown off his doorstep, but upon reviewing his door cam footage, he saw a guy crouched down in a tied-up garbage bag waddle up to the package, yoink it, and then waddle off.
Kuzko and Kronk’s Rescued Rat Taxi
A Canadian inventor created a couple of little robotic cars, and is teaching two rescue rats, Kuzko and Kronk, how to work the controls from the inside. It rules.
A DIY Anti-Reggaeton Machine
A guy invented a device that can recognize when a neighbor is playing music he doesn’t like and then jam up the speaker that’s playing it. He calls it Reggaeton-Be-Gone, although it’s ostensibly adjustable to other genres. He’s published the materials needed and the method for constructing the device online.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Star to Explode
NASA predicts that the star system T Coronae Borealis will explode at any moment between now and September. It’ll be visible to the naked eye for several days, the first visible star explosion in 80 years. Once again, expect the eclipse, earthquake and cicada swarm conspiracy theorists to cash in big time.
One Asteroid Caused the Earth to Puke up Lava for a Million Years
Scientists studying Canada’s Sudbury Basin, the second-largest known asteroid crater on the planet, deduced that the impact occurred 1.85 billion years ago, and caused volcanic eruptions that lingered for as long as one million years.
