#120 Why was gin sold from a cat in London in 1739?
I learned this today. Gin was sold from a cat in London in 1739 because Captain Dudley Bradstreet found a loophole in the 1736 Gin Act. Between 1690 and 1751,…
I learned this today. Gin was sold from a cat in London in 1739 because Captain Dudley Bradstreet found a loophole in the 1736 Gin Act. Between 1690 and 1751,…
I learned this today. Dark matter is a hypothetical matter in space that doesn’t absorb, emit or reflect light, yet has gravity and keeps the universe together. It is theorized…
I learned this today. Pykrete is a frozen material made of 14% sawdust and 86% water. It is as strong as concrete. Pykrete was put forward during World War II…
I learned this today. A society without money is not only possible, it is probably the best way that society will survive the rise of automation and AI. Money has…
I learned this today. People stormed the Bastille during the French Revolution not to free political prisoners but to get at its stores of gunpowder and weapons. The storming of…
I learned this today. Nuclear pasta is a theoretical matter that might exist in the crust of a neutron star. It would be the strongest material in the universe and…
I learned this today. Smallpox was responsible for as many as 500 million deaths in the 20th century, but it was completely eradicated by December 1979. Smallpox is a disease…
I learned this today. Thomas Edison used thin strips of bamboo in his early light bulbs because carbonized bamboo has a very high electrical resistance. When Edison started trying to…
I learned this today. The first evidence for a wedding ceremony between a man and a woman is from Mesopotamia in 2350 BC. In the time of hunter-gatherers, people lived…
I learned this today. Evergreen trees keep their leaves for longer because they have evolved to survive in colder areas with less yearly sunlight. An evergreen tree is a tree…