Nancy Pelosi's net worth is $114,662,521

Her salary is $223,500 per year.

Fun times.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/15/article-2003954-0C75607500000578-285_468x372.jpg

Famous actor Charlie Chaplin went to a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition in 1975 and ended up in third place.

https://i.imgur.com/NSXGqgF.jpeg

source, from Hollywood Winners & Losers A to Z by Mark Thise, 2008.

From my 1440 newsletter this morning:

Sweden officially became the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization yesterday after its prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, deposited its document of accession with the US government, the treaty's caretaker. The Nordic country's admission to the mutual defense pact formally ends its over two centuries of military nonalignment.

Sweden adopted a neutral stance to European military affairs after losing significant territory—Finland—to Russia in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars. This approach—as well as its relatively isolated location in the north—allowed the Scandinavian country of 10 million to avoid involvement in major conflicts. Since it joined the European Union in 1995, the Nordic nation's neutrality has given way to increased military cooperation, and recent years have seen the return of conscription and expanded defense budgets. 

I guess they want to lose more territory again. Definitely sovereignty.

David Bowie launched an internet provider in the late 1990s.David Bowie launched an internet provider in the late 1990s.

David Bowie, the legendary songwriter and an iconic performer was also an internet provider. He launched BowieNet in 1998 and the service remained available until the early 2000s. For $19.95 a month, users would receive an email address (yourname@davidbowie.com), 5MB of online storage meant for a personal web page, an exclusive audio and video of Bowie, access to chat rooms (where Bowie would supposedly pop up on occasion)

Mantis shrimp Superior vision

These crustaceans have among the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Their eyes work both independently and together so they can scan the horizon as well as focus in on prey. Each eye has three focal points, allowing the animal to perceive depth with either eye.

Human eyes have three photoreceptors—cells that detect color—to distinguish between blue, green, and red light. With a staggering 12 photoreceptors, mantis shrimp can see 12 different wavelengths of light. Strangely, however, they are worse at detecting subtle color differences than humans so it’s not clear what purpose these photoreceptors serve.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/mantis-shrimp

https://m.stacker.news/19560

Half of the world’s population lives in the red and other half in the blue.

https://m.stacker.news/19637

I have made promises that I have not kept. I asserted that team grayruby would be back in January 2024, after a short hiatus, to bring all the fun facts. This did not occur.

To rectify this. I had a team meeting this morning and the kids have a mission to find a fun fact for next Friday.

We are coming in hot next week!

Did you know that it is mathematically proven that the 13th falls on a Friday more often than on any other day?

Stacker News is 1000 days old. (#455960)

This is called Visual Hierarchy

https://m.stacker.news/19521

During World War II, over 15000 deaths occurred during pilot training

These were mostly due to pilot error or mechanical failure. It was such a problem that the B-24 bomber was known as the most dangerous plane in the war, receiving the nickname ‘the flying coffin’.

To put this into perspective, around 52000 American flight crew members died in WWII, meaning almost 30% of pilot deaths occurred outside of conflict.

source

Many Men Schedule Vasectomy Surgery in March

March is a popular time of year for men to schedule their vasectomy surgery, and it has nothing to do with the season or weather.

The annual NCAA college basketball tournament, known as March Madness, is now a popular time for men to schedule their vasectomies and then rest and recover while enjoying watching the tournament games. The Oregon Urology Institute is thought to have been the first provider to promote scheduling vasectomy surgeries and suggested rest to coincide with March Madness in the late '00s.

https://blog.ahwendowment.org/vasectomy-surgery-exploring-the-science-myths-and-facts

(Don’t even ask why I googled that)

The word “bankrupt” is from the Italian ‘banca rotta’, literally “broken bench.”

In the years of early banking, people who dealt with money did their business in the public square at a bench. Exchanging, storing, and lending money in the open. If the man at the bench, or the banker, ran out of money or was unfair, his bench would be broken.

Unfortunately no such punishments or public humiliations exist today.

It's been 849 days since the last ATH (unless you count Monday's tap)

It's been 19 seconds since the last ATH.

It's been 7 seconds since the last ATH

'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia'

At 36 letters long, it's one of the longest words in the dictionary.

What's the Fun-fact though, it's stands for 'the fear of long words'.

https://m.stacker.news/19537

"LLMs learn in the opposite direction from humans. LLMs start out learning language and attempt to abstract concepts. Human babies learn concepts first, and only later acquire the language to describe them.

So LLMs are doing it backward. In other words, perhaps reading the internet might not be the correct strategy for acquiring intelligence, artificial or otherwise."

Saw this from an article recently and it's really helped me understand what to expect (and not expect) from LLMs. Will probably make a post about it at some point.

There is a 'cemetery town' in California named Colma. Concerns about the public health, crime, and the need for space forced the city of San Francisco to outlaw burials in 1902. The city of Colma, which is five miles south of San Francisco, was established to bury the dead. The ratio of dead to living people is 750 to 1.

The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing 'melanin' which gives the hair colour.

15 years ago, the S&P 500 bottomed, ending the worst bear market since the Great Depression.

Since then, it's increased over 10x, generating a 16.7% annualized total return. If nothing changes, nothing changes. What else is 15 years old?

https://m.stacker.news/19527 https://m.stacker.news/19528

During the Black Death, incoming ships were forced to wait for fourty days to orevent possible Infection. “Quaranta” is the Italian word for 40 and is where we get the word “quarantine”!

Fascinating

Exactly 10 years ago, a mainstream U.S. magazine mistakenly claimed this man was Satoshi Nakamoto.

They chased him down a freeway and harassed him until he became one of #Bitcoin's greatest memes.

Today, he holds over 60 Bitcoin worth $4 million donated by the community

https://m.stacker.news/19526

dragonflys have a hunting sucess rate of ~95%

Bruce Lee was so fast, that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That is the opposite of the norm. https://m.stacker.news/19539

Sex is an instant cure for mild depression. It releases endorphins into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being.

A fun fact about Bitcoin is that its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, remains unknown. Despite being the pioneer of the cryptocurrency revolution and introducing the concept of blockchain technology through the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, Nakamoto's true identity remains a mystery. The name is widely believed to be a pseudonym for an individual or group of people, and various theories have circulated about Nakamoto's identity, but none have been conclusively proven. The mystery surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto adds an intriguing element to the history and development of Bitcoin.

Did you know that about in One Piece, the author Eiichiro Oda, frequently hides the number 4 in the background of his drawings as a form of wordplay. In Japanese, the number 4 is pronounced "shi," which also means death. Due to this superstition, some buildings in Japan skip the fourth floor or use alternative ways to represent the number. Oda cleverly incorporates the number 4 into various scenes in One Piece, adding a subtle and amusing element for eagle-eyed readers to discover.

There were "white cents" that didn't look at all like pennies. These were the Flying Eagle one cent coins of 1856–58 and the Indian Head one cent coins of 1859-64. They were made from metal that contained 88 parts copper to 12 parts nickel, which gave them a light or white color.

Acacia trees in Africa communicate with each other. They emit gasses to alert other trees to produce the toxin tannin, which protects them from hungry animals.

Trees are also funny.

https://m.stacker.news/19553

Every year, surgical tools are left in approximately 1,500 patients in the USA. Fatter patients are more prone to having a surgical tool left inside of them due to the additional amount of space in their bodies.

A bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed every animal in the Berlin Zoo except the elephant, which escaped and roamed the city. When a Russian commander saw hungry Germans chasing the elephant and trying to kill it, he ordered his troops to protect it and shoot anyone who tried to kill it.

Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow.

The Chihuahua was named after the Mexican state where they were discovered. They are the smallest breed of dog and come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors, and coat lengths.

Kissing each day will keep the dentist away. Kissing encourages saliva to wash food from the teeth and lowers the level of the acid that causes decay, preventing plaque build-up.

Each year all of the Hostess bakeries combined bake 500 million Twinkies a year. (A twinkie is a sponge cake with a creamy filling.)

In the late 1800's, washing machines and butter churners were sometimes powered by dogs walking on treadmills.

The trope of "Swordfish" being a password dates back to The Marx Brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOxpPJYUTDM

A fun fact about the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series is that Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow was initially met with skepticism by Disney executives. Depp's eccentric and unconventional interpretation of the character, including the quirky mannerisms and unique speech pattern, was quite different from what the executives had envisioned.

However, Depp's performance went on to become one of the most iconic aspects of the franchise, earning him widespread acclaim and even an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in the first film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003). Captain Jack Sparrow became a beloved and memorable character, and Depp's portrayal significantly contributed to the success and popularity of the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Fighting with a BOW&ARROWS and a SWORD during the WWII!Fighting with a BOW&ARROWS and a SWORD during the WWII!

Jack Churchill, sometimes known as “Fighting Jack” or “Mad Jack” as a British officer during WWII. He used to led his commandos into fight using a medieval kind of sword and a bow and arrows.

During his raids he got 1 confirmed kill using the bow&arrows while fighting in France and was recommended, twice, for the Victoria Cross medal because managed himself the capture of 42 German troops and a mortar crew during the battles for Sicily only using his sword (a sort of claymore).

He survived the War......

In this picture you can see it in action, leading his men and using the sword during a landing.

https://m.stacker.news/19572