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Jamie Foxx’s Real Name is Eric Marlon Bishop
Eric Marlon Bishop, better known as Jamie Foxx, picked this somewhat androgynous name due to the fact that early in his career he noticed that female comedians, also known as comediennes, often got picked
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California Produces About 80% of the Almonds in the World
About 1.7 million tons of almonds are produced every year world-wide with California producing about 80% of the world’s almonds and near 100% of the U.S.’s commercial supply of almonds. Close to one million
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A Group of Rioting French Tailors Once Destroyed the Factory of the Inventor of the Chain Stitch Sewing Machine
In 1830, a French tailor by the name of Barthelemy Thimonnier patented a sewing machine that used the chain stitch; the first such machine to replicate sewing by hand. By 1841, he had a
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Sharks, Stringrays, and Chimeara All Possess an Organ That Allows Them to Detect Electric Potential
Sharks, stringrays, and chimeara all possess an electroreceptive organ called an ampullae of Lorenzini. This organ gives them the ability to detect even small variations in electric potential. They can use this to detect
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If We Could Convert Matter Perfectly to Energy, a Typical Adult Male Would Produce an Explosion 80 Times More Powerful Than the Largest Nuclear Bomb Ever Detonated
Amazingly, if we were actually able to convert matter perfectly to energy with 1 kg of matter being completely annihilated, the energy produced from just that small amount of matter is about 42.95 mega
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The Gopher Protocol on the Internet was Once More Popular Than the Web… Until the Creators Decided to Charge Licensing Fees
In the early days of the World Wide Web, one of the most popular alternatives to the Web (and indeed more popular for a time), Gopher, looked like it was destined to dominate the
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The Ancient Romans Trained Dolphins to Help Them Fish
The ancient Romans once used dolphins to help them fish. The dolphins were trained to drive fish towards fishermen. Once a large enough group of fish was near the fisherman, the dolphins would signal
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Popcorn was Not Just Made in the Americas Before 1492
Myth: Popcorn was first introduced outside of the Americas after Columbus made his jaunt across the big blue. In fact, popcorn was made in such places as China, Sumatra, and India long before 1492.
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James Doohan who Played “Scotty” was Not Scottish
Myth: James Doohan was Scottish. In fact, Doohan was actually Canadian and a very successful voice actor before his role in Star Trek. When he was auditioning for the role of the ship’s engineer
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Sign Languages Do Not Generally Resemble the Spoken Language from the Area They Originated
Myth: sign languages generally resemble the spoken language from the area they originated. In other words, in the majority of cases, the various sign languages used were not developed from spoken languages. For example,
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