Discussions

TIL about the concept of 'invented tradition', in which something believed or touted to be ancient is actually modern, such as ancestral Scottish clan-tartans, which are actually a 19th-century creation.

He’s ready :)

Queen Victoria with the last Tsar of Russia and his family (c. 1896)

TIL that singer Lorde has sound-to-color synesthesia, a unique condition where sound blends with sight to create certain colors. This greatly contributed to the creative process on 'Melodrama', where she wrote music to the 'violets and blues' that appear on the album's cover

From the Showerthoughts community on Reddit

Fresh hand and finger tattoos done by Heath Wathke @ Hellbomb Tattoos in Wichita KS

Review: Plato’s ‘Friendly Orange Glow’

TIL that children who are anxiously shy at an early age tend to display distinct patterns of brain activity in social situations at a later age. This manifests in the form of increased distress when anticipating unpredictable social feedback.

We replaced our insufficient (and ugly) aluminum coat rack with a 'piano' coat rack. Total cost about $250 not including the wine drunk during the staining phase.

Seneca on Overcoming Grief, Facing Death, and The True Nature of Life

This is the best exercise which can help people who slouch

Learn about philosophy, from the ancients to the moderns, with 350 short animated videos!

How to Write Your Own C++ Game Engine

Bought this for $7 at Chamblins, its from 1969. This thing is practically the How-To bible for everything I can possibly think of

How to draw a perfect circle

From the Showerthoughts community on Reddit

Here is a new big map of all the stars with known planets including those potentially habitable

TIL Legendary Sci-fi author Phillip K Dick (Blade Runner, etc.) believed he led two parallel lives, one as himself, and one as 'Thomas', a Christian persecuted by Romans in the first century AD. He also thought he was taken over by the spirit of the prophet Elijah and wrote a massive religious book

You are more likely to remember something if you read it out loud, a study from the University of Waterloo has found. Dubbed the “production effect,” the study determined that it is the dual action of speaking and hearing oneself that has the most beneficial impact on memory.

The Slippery Slope Fallacy: a short animated explanation of what it is and how to avoid it.

Many different types of anxiety and depression exist, new study finds

Teenage brains can’t tell what’s important and what isn’t. This may be because their brains aren’t developed enough to properly assess how high the stakes are, and adapt their behaviour accordingly. The findings explain why some adolescents are so nonchalant when it comes to risky behaviours.

Tencent says there are only 300,000 AI engineers worldwide, but millions are needed

Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older adults

TIL that the effects of mixing caffeine and alcohol are similar to those of cocaine

TIL A professor at Indiana University launched a system of gaining experience points through classwork instead of giving out traditional grades.

We decorate space with art. We decorate time with music.

Double blind, clinical trial shows that the use of vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality, reduces sleep latency, raises sleep duration and improves subjective sleep quality in people of 20-50 year-old with sleep disorder.

From the learnmath community on Reddit

TIL that 19-yo Tom Lyle Williams created the mascara 'Maybelline' in 1915 when his sister Maybel used a mixture of VaseLINE and coaldust to darken her eyelashes after a mishap.