factoidfactory

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If you think evolution and/or the Big Bang have anything to do with atheism you don’t understand evolution, the Big Bang, science, or atheism.

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Hi, Albertan here!

Alberta has been rat-free for the past 70 years thanks to a program to keep them out. I'm not sure wether that's a good thing or not environmentally-wise, but Albertans take the ban very seriously.

Here's the official government page on it.

There's like, rat cops, a toll-free number to report rat sightings, and an email that looks more like it's for emailing the rats than the government (rats@gov.ab.ca)

It's illegal to own rats in Alberta, with a hefty fine of up to $5,000.

is it fucking weird to anyone else to think that deer are like, everywhere

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That's because the food isn't unhealthy in moderation and in the wild.

In the wild, eating highly fatty/caloric foods is key to survival, as you don't know where your next meal will come from. So our bodies are primed to want to store as much energy as possible for the case of a drought, crop failure, etc.

It's a survival instinct that serves us well in times of uncertainty. But if you're not food insecure, it seems like a bad thing.

Even though our bodies constantly tell us to be healthy (tired when we need sleep, thirsty when we need water, etc) we usually find unhealthy food to be much more appealing and addictive than healthy food for some reason

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*Dead media (assassinated)

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Random Fact #6,659

There's an organization in Canada that helps people who are terminally ill or elderly find loving forever homes for their pets once their human has passed away.

The organization, My Grandfather's Cat, was inspired by the elderly cat of the founder's grandfather. She knew how much her grandfather loved his cat, so when he passed away she committed to care for his cat. One thing led to another and... now she's helped 360 cats and dogs find second homes.

They also have a second service, My Grandmother’s Pet Pantry, which provides seniors with free pet food shipped directly to their door. The goal of the program is to help alleviate the rising cost of pet food for seniors, ensuring they are not forced to give up their beloved pets simply because they can’t afford to feed them.

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Disability Pride Month Fact #17

While a sighted person can read 300 words per minute, some fast braille readers can whip through a book at a speed of 400 words per minute.

The key to reading braille so quickly is a light touch – and using both hands (one hand reads while the other is poised to start on the next line). 

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Everyone I know in Gaza is messaging me saying they can't find internet anymore and are barely able to connect using esims that are running out. Please don't stop donating esims.

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Random Fact #6,658

The United States used 1,000 calorie diets as torture for political prisoners and justified it using the diet industry.

In a footnote to a May 10, 2005, memorandum from the Office of Legal Council, the Bush attorney general’s office argued that restricting the caloric intake of terrorist suspects to 1000 calories a day was medically safe because people in the United States were dieting along those lines voluntarily.

“While detainees subject to dietary manipulation are obviously situated differently from individuals who voluntarily engage in commercial weight-loss programs, we note that widely available commercial weight-loss programs in the United States employ diets of 1000 kcal/day for sustain periods of weeks or longer without requiring medical supervision,” read the footnote. “While we do not equate commercial weight loss programs and this interrogation technique, the fact that these calorie levels are used in the weight-loss programs, in our view, is instructive in evaluating the medical safety of the interrogation technique.”

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sorry if i'm gonna be quiet for a while. my country recently introduced laws that make it so that in order to use social media to the fullest (not being able to view ns/fw content and in a few cases, not even having access to dms), i HAVE to give the sites my id/face scan.

it goes into effect july 25th. it'll probably effect here too, since this place allows mature content (tho not full on ns/fw)

i'm very distressed about it bc i might end up not even being able to talk to my internet friends. i don't really have any irl ones

if i have to disappear on most socials by then, you know why.

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Disability Pride Month Fact #16

The earliest surviving example of eyeglasses date to the 15th century, and were found under the floorboards of a German convent in 1953.

Early eyeglasses did not have ear handles, they just sat on the bridge of the nose.

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Random Fact #6,657

Do you know what’s the oldest story in the world (that we know of)?

If counting oral tradition, the oldest would probably be the Dreamtime tales told by Australian Aborigine peoples, which accurately chronicle information regarding the change in sea levels as far back as 10,000-20,000 years ago.

But if we’re talking about the oldest story written down? That’s unequivocally the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The tale is told in two parts (it would seem story arcs were as popular 4,100 years ago as they are today). The first part is wonderfully bizarre and tells the story of Enkidu (a hairy wild gazelle man), his unlikely bromance (and possibly outright romance) with King Gilgamesh of Uruk, and Enkidu’s eventual demise.

The second part centers on Gilgamesh, who’s distraught over the death of his friend and sets out on a perilous journey in search of the secret to eternal life.

You can read two translations of the story here and here.

If you prefer listening to stories rather than reading or aren’t a fan of the way old-timey text is written, we would highly recommend the three-part episode of the podcast Myths & Legends.

^ Enkidu, Gilgamesh's (boy)friend. From Ur, Iraq, 2027-1763 BCE. Iraq Museum

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Disability Pride Month Fact #15

When was the first wheelchair invented?

It's hard to say, but some scholars guesstimate that it was probably sometime around the 6th to 4th centuries BCE, when two-wheeled carts and wheeled furniture first showed up.

That being said, the earliest hints we have on record of wheelchairs being a thing are from stone inscriptions from China and Greece circa the 600s CE.

A wheelchair from circa 1850-1890.

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Random Fact #6,656

Sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada not declining.

Since 1999, rates of sexual assault have remained relatively unchanged.

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Disability Pride Month Fact #14

Gottfried “Gotz” von Berlichingen was a German mercenary that lost his right arm during the 1504 siege of Landshut.

No arm? No problem!

He had someone make him an iron limb with iInternal gears that controlled the articulated fingers of the iron prosthesis. The new limb was strong enough to handle a sword and delicate enough to clutch a quill.

Gotz was a knight of the Holy Roman Emperor but spent much of his time robbing merchants and noblemen, earning him Robin Hood-like fame.

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Random Fact #6,655

Thor is attested to be the best drinker among all the Norse gods.

The Norse had a thing about having drinking contests of who could drink the most from a drinking horn in one breath, and according to the story of The Tale of Útgarða-Loki (found in the Gylfaginning chapter 44) he once drank so much from a drinking horn that was attached to the ocean that it created the tides.

In the same instance, he wrestled with Old Age herself and nearly bested her, but was eventually brought to his knees because none can defeat Old Age, not even a god.

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Disability Pride Month Fact #13

When talking about the writing system, the B in "braille" should not be capitalized.

When talking about Louis Braille, the B should be capitalized.

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Random Fact #6,654

The story of Noah and the flood found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, is based on an older Mesopotamian tale.

It is the consensus of scholars that the story of Noah was based on the flood story found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest written story, period, anywhere, known to exist.

Source: My History of Information textbook during my Master's in Information Science.