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Month: May 2021

By The Generalist Posted on May 31, 2021May 30, 2021

The mother of meteorites

When something hit Vesta, an enormous hunk of rock in the asteroid belt, it created one of the largest impact craters known, the highest mountain in the Solar System, and many of Earth’s meteorites.

Categories: Astronomy
Navy
By The Generalist Posted on May 30, 2021January 25, 2023

Featured category: Military

The shortest war in history, medieval rocket launchers, art in the trenches of World War I, and the US Navy’s love of acronyms.

Categories: Featured category
Sahara Marathon
By The Generalist Posted on May 29, 2021January 25, 2023

From the archives: The Sahara

A marathon across the Sahara, an artificial river underneath the Sahara, the ancient green Sahara, and the wall of trees meant to check the desert’s advance.

Categories: From the archives
By The Generalist Posted on May 28, 2021June 5, 2021

The Leaning Tower of Suzhou

The Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, leans to one side by several degrees.

Categories: Architecture, East Asia, Medieval history
By The Generalist Posted on May 27, 2021May 27, 2021

Sweat genes are made of this

The human gene ABCC11 determines whether your sweat smells bad or not. It also determines whether your earwax is wet or dry.

Categories: Animals, East Asia, North & Central Asia
By The Generalist Posted on May 26, 2021January 25, 2023

Houdini and Lovecraft and the mummies

The escape artist Harry Houdini and the author H. P. Lovecraft collaborated on a “true” Egyptian horror story.

Categories: 20th century history, Literature, Middle East, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 25, 2021May 24, 2021

Quantum crossword

Most crosswords have a single correct solution. A quantum crossword has several.

Categories: 20th century history, Games & sport, Language, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 24, 2021January 25, 2023

White sausage equator

The white sausage equator (Weißwurstäquator) divides northern and southern Germany. The rösti curtain (Röstigraben) divides German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.

Categories: Europe, Food & agriculture, Politics & law
Nauru
By The Generalist Posted on May 23, 2021January 25, 2023

Featured category: Oceania

The plan to move an entire country, the yacht club in the middle of Australia, the Samoan independence movement, and the kidnapping of half the population of Rapa Nui.

Categories: Featured category
Ghost
By The Generalist Posted on May 22, 2021January 25, 2023

From the archives: Law and the supernatural

The trial of the ghost murderer, ghost marriage, combined werewolf / witch hunts, and the strange case of the New Haven piglets.

Categories: From the archives
By The Generalist Posted on May 21, 2021January 25, 2023

Blue lava

The sides of Kawa Ijen, a volcano in Indonesia, are wreathed in blue flame.

Categories: Earth science, Europe, North & Central Asia, Southeast Asia
By The Generalist Posted on May 20, 2021May 19, 2021

Longest note

In 2017 Nigerian musician Femi Kuti set the world record for longest sustained saxophone note: fifty-one minutes and thirty-five seconds.

Categories: 21st century history, Africa, Music
By The Generalist Posted on May 19, 2021May 18, 2021

Kick volleyball

Sepak takraw resembles volleyball, except you can only use your feet, knees, and head. The kicks are amazing, but you should not let the sons of sultans and prime ministers play.

Categories: East Asia, Games & sport, Medieval history, Politics & law, Southeast Asia
By The Generalist Posted on May 18, 2021January 25, 2023

Underwater circumnavigation

The USS Triton was the first submarine to circumnavigate the world completely underwater. It was spotted just once, by a Filipino fisherman.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on May 17, 2021May 16, 2021

King vs. monkey

Alexander, the unlucky puppet king of Greece, was killed by a monkey bite and medical incompetence in 1920.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Politics & law
HP chip
By The Generalist Posted on May 16, 2021January 25, 2023

Featured category: Computer science

The hardest problem in computer science, computer chip graffiti, and why programmers sometimes need to give the queen a duck.

Categories: Featured category

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