TIL a Japanese company gave non-smokers 6 extra vacation days per year to compensate for time smokers spent during smoke breaks [Source]
CNBC
This Japanese company is giving employees who don't smoke 6 extra vacation days
All those quick smoke breaks affect productivity over time.
TIL about Turnspit dog, an extinct breed (now) which was used in the kitchen to help chefs and cooks. [Source]
TIL Black Sabbath bassist Greezer Butler has been a vegetarian since he was a child. His childhood dog ‘Scamp’ had acid thrown on him and Geezer has been dedicated to helping animals ever since. [Source]
BLABBERMOUTH.NET
BLACK SABBATH Bassist GEEZER BUTLER Honored By Animal Wellness Organization
BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler was honored by Center For A Humane Economy for his lifetime commitment to animal welfare. Butler was among four game-changing individuals recognized by the Center For A Humane Economy, including its Global Council For Animals…
TIL Sting got his name from wearing a yellow and black jumper while playing jazz with the Phoenix Jazzmen in the evenings after his teaching job in the early 70s. [Source]
TIL that humans tend to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones, a phenomenon known as the Zeigarnik effect. [Source]
TIL the Han dynasty carried out a major southward expansion into the lands of the Baiyue, conquering states like Minyue, Nanyue, and Dian, where military campaigns led to the subjugation, displacement, and gradual assimilation of many indigenous peoples. [Source]
TIL Only 15 countries operate aircraft carriers (and 7 of those are for helicopters only). [Source]
TIL scientists discovered that the bacteria living on the International Space Station have mutated into a species that doesn't exist on Earth. [Source]
NASA
Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria Found on ISS Mutating to Become Functionally Distinct - NASA
In a new scientific paper funded by an Ames Space Biology grant, Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory strains
TIL the world’s longest regularly scheduled nonstop commercial flight is between Singapore and New York, lasting about 18–19 hours and covering over 15,000 km [Source]
UpgradedPoints.com
The 10 Longest Nonstop Flights in the World (From a Points and Planes Perspective)
Join us as we dive into the 10 longest nonstop flights in the world by distance and flight times — from a points and aircraft perspective.
TIL that cats can and do apologize to their owners. Headbutting and bringing toys are one of the ways they're apologizing. [Source]
Cats.com
How Do Cats Say They Are Sorry? - Cats.com
How do cats say they're sorry? In this in-depth guide, you’ll learn all about the ways cats try to make amends with humans.
TIL that Singapore has an official Ethnic Integration Policy that mandates a balanced ethnic representation in public housing blocks and neighbourhoods across the nation-state to prevent the formation of ethnic enclaves. [Source]
gov.sg
HDB’s Ethnic Integration Policy: Why it still matters
The Ethnic Integration Policy applies to the sale and purchase of all new and resale HDB flats, as well as the allocation of rental flats by HDB.
TIL The salary of John Hawkwood, the infamous mercenary captain who spend most of his career employeed in Italy, ranged between 6k and 80k florins a year(just from his military contracts). A skilled craftsman in the same period was earning about 30 florins per year [Source]
TIL a 2022 study revealed that 35% of the adults in Japan intend to "never travel" again. No other country "came close to the travel reluctance shown in Japan"; the next highest was South Korea at 15%. [Source]
CNBC
The Asian nation where 35% of people say they’ll 'never travel' again
Revenge travelers are driving global recovery, but far less is said about those emerging from the pandemic with little to no interest to travel again.
TIL after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the remaining three reactors continued operations, with the last reactor having been shut down in 2000. [Source]
TIL direct voluntary control of pupil dilation and constriction was deemed to be impossible, however, in 2021 a 23-year-old man in Germany demonstrated his ability to drastically change his pupil size on command to doctors. [Source]
TIL that "Baghdad Bob" is believed to still be alive and living quietly in UAE at 94 or 95 years old. [Source]
TIL that the shortest time a person was a British peer was 1 hour. [Source]
TIL Under King Kamehameha I, the Kingdom of Hawaii had the largest navy in the entirety of the Pacific [Source]
U.S. Naval Institute
The Army And Navy Of Kamehameha I
When Captain James Cook of
TIL that a 2019 study found the Sahara Desert periodically turns green every 20,000 years due to small shifts in Earth’s orbit affecting rainfall patterns [Source]
Explorersweb
The Sahara Turns Green Every 21,000 Years » Explorersweb
Every 21,000 years for the last 800,000 years, the Sahara has periodically turned green, and researchers now think they know why.
TIL the longest lightning bolt ever recorded stretched about 829 km (515 miles), making it one of the largest electrical events ever measured on Earth. [Source]
World Meteorological Organization
WMO certifies megaflash lightning record in USA
The megaflash occurred in October 2017, during a major thunderstorm complex. It extended from eastern Texas to near Kansas City - equivalent to the distance between Paris and Venice in Europe. It would take a car about eight to nine hours and a commercial…
TIL in the 80s, Nintendo of America had a strict rule that a third-party company could only publish up to five games a year for the NES in the US. Konami of America then got around this rule by forming a shell corporation called Ultra Games in 1988 to extend their annual library to ten games a year. [Source]