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Month: January 2021

By The Generalist Posted on January 31, 2021January 25, 2023

Longest half-life

Bismuth-209 is radioactive, decaying like any other unstable atom over time and emitting radiation as it goes. But its rate of alpha decay is slower than any other.

Categories: Physics & chemistry, Sciences
By The Generalist Posted on January 30, 2021April 28, 2021

Accidental drums

Gated reverb drums, one of the core sounds of 1980s rock music and most famously played in Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” were the result of an accident in the recording studio.

Categories: 20th century history, Arts & recreation, Europe, History, Music, Places, Sciences, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on January 29, 2021January 25, 2023

Akan goldweights

From the 15th to the 19th century CE, the Akan used sets of ornate statues as a measurement system for weighing gold dust, but also encoding and reinforcing cultural knowledge at the same time.

Categories: Africa, Art, Arts & recreation, Early modern history, Economics & business, History, Places, Sciences, Weights & measures
By The Generalist Posted on January 28, 2021January 26, 2021

Infinity and beyond

The set of natural numbers is infinite: 1, 2, 3…. The set of real numbers is also infinite: 0.1, 0.11, 0.12, 0.2… but it’s larger than the infinity of natural numbers. Georg Cantor devised an elegant argument to prove these different infinities.

Categories: Mathematics & statistics, Sciences
By The Generalist Posted on January 27, 2021January 25, 2023

All-pawn chess

Lord Dunsany was an early 20th century fantasist whose writing inspired Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and many others. He also invented a chess variant where one side has 32 pawns and no other pieces.

Categories: Europe, Games & sport, Literature, Places
By The Generalist Posted on January 26, 2021January 25, 2023

Update 6

700 posts in, it’s time for more updates.

Categories: Updates
By The Generalist Posted on January 26, 2021January 25, 2023

The mistakes of historians

In 1377 the Tunisian Arab historian Ibn Khaldun listed seven mistakes made by contemporary scholars, and then he made the same mistakes.

Categories: Africa, Education & philosophy, History, Medieval history, Places
By The Generalist Posted on January 25, 2021January 25, 2023

Most consonants, fewest vowels

Ubykh, an extinct language spoken on the shores of the Black Sea, has more consonants and fewer vowels than almost any other language.

Categories: 19th century history, Europe, History, Language, North & Central Asia, Places
By The Generalist Posted on January 24, 2021January 15, 2021

Bump keys

A bump key can be used to open most standard pin tumbler locks.

Categories: Sciences, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on January 23, 2021April 28, 2021

Prince of Alaska

In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire. But before offering it to the Americans, Russia tried to sell Alaska to the Prince of Liechtenstein.

Categories: 19th century history, Europe, History, North & Central America, Places, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on January 22, 2021January 15, 2021

Scissorman and the fingers

The 1845 German children’s book Der Struwwelpeter features cruel consequences for bad behaviour, including a terrifying tailor who does not care for thumb-suckers.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Europe, Literature, Places
By The Generalist Posted on January 21, 2021April 28, 2021

Verbatim theatre

A last-minute injunction blocked the live stream and recordings of the same-sex marriage court case Perry v. Schwarzenegger. So Dustin Lance Black took the trial transcripts and made a play reenacting the whole case.

Categories: 21st century history, Arts & recreation, History, North & Central America, Places, Politics & law, Theatre
By The Generalist Posted on January 20, 2021April 28, 2021

Parthenon mosque

In 1687 Ottoman-controlled Athens, the Venetians blew up the Parthenon. The Ottomans built a mosque from its ruins.

Categories: Architecture, Early modern history, Europe, History, Military, Places, Religion & belief
By The Generalist Posted on January 19, 2021April 28, 2021

The Phenol conspiracy

In World War I, phenol was a key ingredient in aspirin, explosives, and phonograph records. German agents secretly redirected Thomas Edison’s excess phenol supply to prevent it being used for British bombs.

Categories: 20th century history, Economics & business, Europe, Health & medicine, History, Military, North & Central America, Physics & chemistry, Places, Politics & law, Sciences
By The Generalist Posted on January 18, 2021April 21, 2021

Gaelic Australian football

Gaelic football and Australian Rules football teams don’t have much international competition. So they decided to play each other instead.

Categories: Europe, Games & sport, Oceania, Places
By The Generalist Posted on January 17, 2021January 12, 2021

Alligator centaur

El Hombre Caimán is a popular Colombian myth about a man who is half man, half alligator – the result of an accident while peeping on bathing women.

Categories: Places, Religion & belief, South America

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