Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Things I learned lately 17 September

  • Soon there will be Campbell's soup Keurig K-cups. Noodles in a pouch, broth in a K-Cup.
  • France requires that all workers get 30 days of paid vacation per year. UK gets 29, Germany gets 28. Canada gets 14, US gets 0.
  • 29% of Americans think armed revolution might necessary to 'protect our liberties' (44% of self-described Republicans feel this way).
  • It's a myth that you shouldn't wake a sleepwalker.
  • McDonald's sales have fallen for the first time in a decade. Even so, 49% of Americans went to the fast food joint in March 2013.
  • The cost of solar power is dropping like a stone. It used to fall at a rate of 6% per year, but now we're at 20% per year. At this rate, solar will be cheaper than coal in 5 years. If that happens, the economy will see a significant change due to the practically zero development value of fossil fuels.
  • Between 1968 and 1973, someone hijacked a commercial airline flight roughly every week.
  • Less than 1% of all Americans contribute 68% of all election campaign funding.
  • In the early 1900s, underwear for men covered the whole body and were called 'union suits'. Essentially what we would now call one piece long sleeved long underwear.
  • In the 1934 film “It Happened One Night,” Clark Gable is shown taking off his shirt, and he is bare-chested. This was the first time a man in a domestic scenario was shown with no undershirt.
  • A few redditors developed an interesting theory, that Max and Ruby are dead. The show takes place in the rabbit afterlife. Their parents are absent because they're still alive. Their grandmother however, is with them because she too, is dead.
  • 90% of all volcanic activity is in the oceans.
  • There is now an ABBA museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Natch....
  • Countries including France, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, the UK, Ireland and the US have adopted systems where people accused of file-sharing have their Internet access curtailed. This takes many forms, from losing access until subscribers complete a "copyright training course" designed by the entertainment industry, to out-and-out disconnection from the Internet. An in-depth survey of the file-sharing landscape before and after the introduction of three strikes rules shows that there is no evidence demonstrating effectiveness. 
  • 95% of income gains in the US since 2009 have accrued to the top 1%.

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