- newIn 1962, a laughing fit spread through Tanzania for 18 months
In January 1962, three girls at a mission boarding school in Kashasha, Tanganyika, started laughing. They couldn't stop. Within weeks, 95 of the school's 159 students were incapacitated by fits of laughter that lasted hours or even days. The school c…
- 17 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 2:00pm -
- newEarth falls into the Sun in 7.59 billion years, and it gets worse from there
Want to feel cosmically insignificant? Wikipedia's "Timeline of the far future" catalogs scientific predictions stretching from the year 3001 to incomprehensibly distant timescales — 10^106 years and beyond.Some highlights from the itinerary: In…
- 17 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 1:57pm -
- newWikipedia's "List of lists of lists" contains itself
Wikipedia has thousands of list articles. Some of those lists catalog other lists. And one article, "List of lists of lists," catalogs the lists of lists. It's exactly as recursive as it sounds: the page includes itself in its own index. — Read the…
- 17 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 1:51pm -
- new"This page intentionally left blank" has a 500-year history
You've seen it in exam booklets, government forms, and technical manuals: a page that says "This page intentionally left blank." But the moment those words appear, the page is no longer blank. It's a small paradox, like a Cretan declaring all Cretans…
- 17 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 1:44pm -
- newA new biography of the novelist who exposed the Sicilian mafia
In 1986, Italian authorities built a fortified bunker inside a Palermo prison to hold the largest mafia trial in history. Among the 471 defendants rattling their cages was the entire leadership of the Sicilian Mob. In the press gallery sat Leonardo S…
- 17 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 1:33pm -
- newComedian Walter Masterson gives diaper to ICE-supporting Democratic congressman
New York Rep. Tom Suozzi was one of a handful of House Democrats who voted for the DHS funding bill that expanded ICE's budget. Walter Masterson, the comedian and political activist best known for turning MAGA talking points against themselves, decid…
- 18 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 12:53pm -
- new"Kingdom Come: Deliverance" may get a surprise PS5 remaster
A mistakenly updated PlayStation Store listing suggests the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Warhorse's sprawling, mind-boggingly deep historical RPG, is getting a next-gen upgrade. Eagle-eyed Reddit users spotted the altered page before it was re…
- 18 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 12:50pm -
- newFan-made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles test footage is really cool
We've gotten plenty of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies recently, including one that made a certain sect of culture warriors really, really mad, but how many have featured John Wick-style fight choreography? Not enough.Indie animator John Likens…
- 18 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 12:47pm -
- newDial-A-Poem is back, with the revolutionary poetry we all need right now
If you ever find yourself in need of a poem, I've got great news for you: Dial-A-Poem is back! These days, the arts of all kinds, including protest music, are providing much-appreciated balms for our collective wounds and voices for our collective o…
- 18 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 12:45pm -
- newYet another reason to love Dr. Bronner's soap company: They're now Living Wage Certified!
We now have yet another reason to love Dr. Bronner's soap company, home of the "Original All-One Magic Soap" and much more — the family-owned company is now a Certified Living Wage employer. The company explains that being Living Wage Certifi…
- 18 hours ago 1 Feb 26, 12:44pm -
