TIL about Pyrosomes. They are free-floating colonial tunicates that live in the ocean. They are bioluninescent. Here is a nice video on them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qis_rfb7fnU .
TIL: “Kentucky windage” refers to the practice of holding the aim to the upwind side of the target (also known as deflection shooting or “leading” the wind) to compensate for wind drift, without actually changing the existing adjustment settings on the gunsight.
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windage#Ballistics → 2nd paragraph
TIL: The 'IN' in the output of 'dig' command is the “query class” and stands for “internet”. It is basically a relic from the 80s and 90s when there were other networks competing with the internet like “chaosnet”.
TIL: The risk of down syndrome increases with maternal age.
Qanat is an ancient system of water supply which allows water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without loss of much of the water to evaporation. Here is a fascinating video on it.
A polyester textile is the same PET material (polyethylene terephthalate) as a plastic soda bottle, only extruded into a filament rather than molded into a container. Like the bottle, the fiber repels water. It’s hydrophobic.
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-polyester-bounced-back/
There is a special aircraft called “Airbus BelugaXL” which is used to transport very large aircraft components, such as aircraft wings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_BelugaXL
There used to be an anti obesity drug called fen-phen back in the 90s that was initially FDA approved but later found to cause heart valve abnormality and was then taken off the market.
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Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’ gathers personal health data on millions of Americans
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There is a rule called “business judgement rule” which protects the Board of Directors from personal civil liability when they make business decisions for a company.
Ref: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessjudgmentrule.asp
If you are going out of town for an extended period of time, you can ask USPS to hold your mail until you return by putting a “hold mail” request on their website.
More info at https://www.usps.com/manage/hold-mail.htm
The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is ~1000 times more than the pressure at the sea level. Even at these levels, the density of water goes up by just ~5%.
I knew water is an incompressible fluid. But did not realize how hard it is to compress it!
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TIL: An earworm is a song that you keep hearing in your head
Ref: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/earworm
TIL: In order to be listed on Nasdaq, companies need to have a woman, “underrepresented minority” or “LGBTQ+” member in their board - or publicly explain why they don’t. If it is a big company, they require two such candidates.