r/youshouldknow Discussion

TIL A single misfolded prion protein in the brain can cause a rapid neurodegenerative disease known as sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). There is no known and cure and is 100% fatal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease https://redd.it/1vdcr9l @r_youshouldknow

TIL that in 1975, advertising executive Gary Dahl sold ordinary rocks as “pets” in boxes with air holes and care manuals, selling around 1.5 million and becoming a millionaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Dahl_(businessman) https://redd.it/1vdfqgs @r_youshouldknow

TIL in 1986, Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse flew Bo Jackson to team facilities on a private jet under the false assurance that it complied with NCAA rules. Jackson lost his remaining NCAA baseball eligibility, and vowed to never play for the Bucs. They drafted him anyway, and he went to the MLB. https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/10/27/bo-jackson-book-daily-cover https://redd.it/1vdfbzo @r_youshouldknow

LPT for captchas I don't know why I didn't figure this out sooner. You know those annoying captchas that are impossible to solve... The ones that say click on all bicycles, and you do, but they never work because you missed a corner of a rim, or maybe because you did choose the corner of a rim? Click on the headphones and it'll play a phrase you type in. It's so much faster and easier. https://redd.it/1vdhxyh @r_youshouldknow

TIL the average JFK to Los Angeles flight takes 18 minutes longer than it did in 1995, but airlines padded the published schedule by 23 minutes, so the share of arrivals counted as late fell from 51% to 37% https://gvwire.com/2024/11/30/its-not-your-imagination-airlines-are-padding-flight-times/ https://redd.it/1vdiez4 @r_youshouldknow

TIL Canada's $1 coin is commonly called the "loonie" because it has a loon on the reverse. When a $2 coin was introduced, depicting a polar bear, an MP proposed it be called "Nanuq", Inuit for polar bear, but he was ignored because the public instead preferred to call it the "toonie" (2-oonie). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonie#Naming https://redd.it/1vdmgs1 @r_youshouldknow

TIL Greek Philosopher Crates of Thebes was known for entering people's houses uninvited and helping them solve their family disputes "no matter how deeply they were at odds" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crates_of_Thebes https://redd.it/1vdlpyb @r_youshouldknow

LPT: Before any significant purchase, convert the price into hours of your actual after-tax, after-expense hourly wage Take your real take-home pay, subtract your actual fixed costs, divide what's left by your working hours including commute and recovery time. That's your real hourly rate. Most people find it's significantly lower than their nominal wage suggests. The $300 impulse purchase stops looking the same when it's 14 hours of your actual life rather than 5 hours of your salary. Not arguing against spending. Arguing for seeing the real exchange rate before you make it. I'll give you an example. I bought a $5 bathmat that was too short while I was at Walmart last week. Walmart is a solid 30 minute drive each way from my home. That's one hour of my time. On top of this, I have to wait in the return line which takes a good 10 minutes, plus 5 minutes to park, walk inside, etc. Thus, there's about an hour and a half of my day that's gone so I could earn $5. Think of money based on your hours available in the day! https://redd.it/1vdpaml @r_youshouldknow

TIL after Pixar decided that Toy Story 2 needed to be completely remade from scratch, animators had less than a year to finish the entire film. Pixar President Edwin Catmull later revealed that "a full third of the staff" ended up with a repetitive strain injury by the time the film was finished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story_2#Troubled_production:~:text=Brannon%20focused%20on,%5B32%5D https://redd.it/1vdw7ut @r_youshouldknow

TIL that Fat Choy is an edible cyanobacteria that grows in the Gobi desert. Despite being expensive, having no nutritional value, and having dementia-causing toxins, its been overharvested to the point of causing erosion and desertification due to its name being a Cantonese pun for "strike it rich" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_choy https://redd.it/1vduuti @r_youshouldknow

LPT: Make lettuce last longer with this simple trick. For those that buy boxed salad greens and are sick of the bottom leafs getting soaked and rotten. Simply put a paper towel on top of the lettuce and flip the container upside down when you put it in the fridge. I have been doing this for a few months down and can easily get 2 weeks out of my salad greens. https://redd.it/1ve1kbv @r_youshouldknow

TIL that in 1861, a man named Edward Payson Weston completed an 11-day, 478 mile walk from Boston to Washington D.C. in order to attend the inauguration of president Abraham Lincoln. The arduous trek was the result of a lost wager. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Payson_Weston https://redd.it/1vdzgbs @r_youshouldknow

TIL that the gin and tonic became popular in India during British Imperialism to encourage English colonizers to consume quinine, an antimalarial derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. https://www.wineenthusiast.com/ratings/spirit-ratings/gin-ratings/best-gins-for-gin-and-tonic/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=6a6d3e16144974000100a373&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook https://redd.it/1vdqyv6 @r_youshouldknow

TIL after briefly urinating, the Roman emperor Caracalla was stabbed by a soldier named Justin Martialis. After his bodyguard killed Martialis with a lance, 2 more Praetorian tribunes rushed to the emperor, as if to help him, and completed the assassination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla#Death https://redd.it/1vdy95x @r_youshouldknow

TIL there's a five-foot wooden fish called the "Sacred Cod" hanging in the Massachusetts State House, and in 1933 Harvard Lampoon students stole it, sparking a citywide manhunt with the Charles River dredged and a suspect detained at an airport before it was found 50 hours later https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Cod https://redd.it/1vdwzr3 @r_youshouldknow

TIL Cornelius Sulla ordered the execution of 6000 samnites to take place at the same time as he was giving a speech to senators at a nearby building, so close that the senators were startled by the screams. Sulla calmly told them to pay no attention to the noises and carried on with his speech https://lexundria.com/plut_sull/30 https://redd.it/1ve7oux @r_youshouldknow

LPT: Before you set a big goal, write down what your life looks like the day after you achieve it. Most people quit not from lack of motivation, but from never picturing what comes next. The goal itself is rarely the problem. The absence of a plan for the identity shift afterward is. People who reach a long pursued milestone often feel lost immediately after, because the goal was serving as their whole structure. Plan the after, not just the arrival. https://redd.it/1ve3eco @r_youshouldknow

TIL on 11 February 2012, a customer reportedly suffered a heart attack while eating a 'Triple Bypass Burger' at the 'Heart Attack Grill'. These burgers contained 9,983 calories each. According to the now-closed establishments's policy, anyone weighing over 350 pounds was offered unlimited free food. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Attack_Grill#:~:text=On%20February%2011%2C%202012%2C%20a%20customer%20suffered%20what%20was%20reported%20to%20be%20an%20apparent%20heart%20attack%20while%20eating%20a%20%22Triple%20Bypass%20Burger%22%20at%20the%20restaurant https://redd.it/1ve9wef @r_youshouldknow

TIL Anita Florence Hemmings passed as white to attend Vassar College. Days before graduation, it was discovered she was Black after an investigation prompted by her roommate’s family. Vassar debated denying her degree but ultimately let her graduate in 1897. https://www.vassar.edu/vq/issues/2002/01/features/passing-as-white.html https://redd.it/1ve9jox @r_youshouldknow

TIL Robert Moses, the man most responsible for shaping American cities around cars and highways, never learned to drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses#Post-war_influence_of_urban_development_and_projects https://redd.it/1veeopr @r_youshouldknow