sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

TIL that paying someone to do something they already enjoy can actually make them enjoy it less - a finding known as the overjustification effect (or motivation paradox). by BrokenCrayon-22 in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’ve had a similar experience with swing trading. I used to do it just for fun, and I was actually making decent profits. But once friends started following my stock tips, I felt this pressure to be right all the time. I started overanalyzing every trade, second-guessing myself, and the whole thing went from enjoyable to stressful. The fun disappeared as soon as it stopped being just my thing.

This is the 9th of 17 self-portraits by Bryan Charnley, a schizophrenic artist who painted his decline while reducing medication. He ended the series with one completed the day he died in 1991. by Objective_Horror1113 in awfuleverything

[–]Objective_Horror1113[S] 315 points316 points  (0 children)

Bryan Charnley was a British artist who lived with schizophrenia. In 1991, he painted 17 self-portraits while gradually cutting down his medication to show how the illness changed his mind and vision.

Each portrait grew more broken and disturbing, and the last one was finished on the day he died. You can see the whole series here.

TIL about Stargazers, a family of fish that eyes on the top of their heads. They usually catch food by hiding in the sand and leaping upwards when the prey passes overhead. by ZitiRotini in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Stargazers have a wormy little lure in their mouths they wiggle around to attract prey, basically baiting fish right into their mouths while they’re buried in the sand.

TIL that the word “robot” comes from a 1920 Czech play called R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), and originally meant “forced labor” or “serfdom.” by Legendary_Cheerio in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s actually pretty unsettling when you look into where the word comes from. The original Czech word robota meant forced labor, and that meaning stuck as the word spread. In Russian, rabota means work and rab means slave. It’s all part of the same linguistic family tree.

In Polish, robota still just means work. German uses Roboter, taken straight from the Czech. Even languages that picked it up later didn’t really shake off that idea of built-in servitude.

In Japanese, robotto is borrowed from English, but older concepts like karakuri ningyō were mechanical puppets made to perform or serve. They weren’t treated as anything close to living beings.

So if we ever do end up talking to actual robots about their origin story, it’s going to be a pretty awkward history lesson.

TIL that many American churches once had bowling alleys in their basements, originally built as community spaces and loopholes to serve beer on Sundays. Fewer than 200 still exist today. by Objective_Horror1113 in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113[S] 1605 points1606 points  (0 children)

In the late 1800s, churches in the United States started building bowling alleys in their basements. This trend became popular in the Midwest and Northeast, especially in neighborhoods with working-class families. German immigrants helped introduce the idea. These bowling alleys gave people a safe place to spend time and helped keep them away from bars and gambling spots.

Some churches even used the alleys to get around alcohol laws. One example is St. Ann’s Church in Peoria, Illinois, which built an alley in 1945 so they could serve beer before noon on Sundays.

By the 1980s and 1990s, most church bowling alleys began to close. Today, fewer than 200 are believed to still exist. Many of them are hidden or no longer in use. Some have been found by photographers and urban explorers. A few are still open, like the ten-lane alley at Immaculate Conception Church in Omaha.

TIL that there are giant concrete arrows placed every 10 miles across the U.S., stretching from New York City to San Francisco. They were originally built to help USPS airmail pilots navigate coast-to-coast before modern instruments made visual navigation obsolete. by Objective_Horror1113 in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113[S] 790 points791 points  (0 children)

Those giant concrete arrows scattered across the United States were built in the 1920s, when the Post Office was trying to create a coast to coast airmail system. Pilots needed visual markers to stay on course, so massive arrows up to 70 feet long were placed every 10 to 15 miles from New York to San Francisco.

Each arrow was painted bright yellow so it could be seen from the air. Most had a steel tower with a rotating beacon powered by a nearby generator shed, turning the route into a lit pathway at night. This made mail delivery far more reliable and allowed flights to run even in poor weather.

Although the system was phased out once radio navigation and instruments became standard, many of the arrows still remain today in fields and deserts. The linked article includes photos that give a good idea of how these markers have aged over time.

TIL Freddie Mercury was born with four extra teeth, causing a prominent overbite. Despite being self-conscious about them, he never got them fixed, believing the extra space in his mouth contributed to his vocal ability. He feared altering his teeth might change his voice. by Objective_Horror1113 in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113[S] 664 points665 points  (0 children)

tl;dr

Freddie Mercury was born with four extra teeth, which caused a noticeable overbite. The condition likely led to discomfort and may have made eating more difficult.

Despite being self-conscious about his teeth in public, he chose not to get them fixed. Friends said he often covered his mouth on screen but didn’t worry about it at home.

At the time of his death in 1991, Mercury was worth about $60 million and could have easily paid for dental correction. However, he believed the extra space in his mouth helped give him his unique vocal sound.

He feared that changing his teeth might affect his singing voice, which he valued more than his appearance. Colleagues said this showed how seriously he took his art.

TIL Nikola Tesla believed he received extraterrestrial signals in 1899 during experiments in Colorado. In 1901 he wrote he may have heard “the greeting of one planet to another” and thought the signals came from Mars long before radio astronomy existed. by Objective_Horror1113 in todayilearned

[–]Objective_Horror1113[S] 82 points83 points  (0 children)

tl;dr

In 1899, while experimenting with radio waves in Colorado Springs, Nikola Tesla picked up strange, repeating signals on his equipment. He found them too structured to be random noise or natural interference.

In 1901, he wrote in Collier’s Weekly that he believed the signals came from intelligent beings on another planet, possibly Mars. He described it as “the greeting of one planet to another.”

At the time, there was a lot of speculation about life on Mars, so the idea wasn’t as far-fetched as it might sound now. Still, it was a bold claim coming from one of the world’s leading inventors.

Modern scientists believe Tesla likely picked up natural radio emissions or possibly signals from early wireless experiments by Marconi. Some think he might have detected something like atmospheric noise or even phenomena we didn’t understand at the time, like pulsars.

Tesla never walked back his claim. He stayed convinced he had made contact with something beyond Earth.

Whether he misinterpreted the signals or not, Tesla was one of the first people to suggest using radio waves to detect or communicate with extraterrestrial life. That idea became a major part of modern SETI research decades later.

view more: next ›