Recent Changes

On a [[Leap second|leap-second]] day, the last minute can have 61 seconds. To keep [[UTC]] close to Earth’s rotation, clocks may insert 23:59:60 after 23:59:59. Because that extra second can disrupt computer systems, global timekeepers plan to change the system by 2035.

The first [[World Cup]] final in 1930 used two different [[Soccer ball|balls]]. [[Argentina]] and [[Uruguay]] both wanted their own ball, so FIFA split the match: Argentina’s ball in the first half, Uruguay’s in the second. Argentina led 2-1 at halftime; Uruguay came back to win 4-2.

The first [[Webcam]] was made not for meetings, but to check whether [[Coffee]] was left. In 1991, Cambridge researchers aimed a camera at a distant coffee pot to avoid wasted trips; in 1993, the feed went on the web and became an early [[Internet]] landmark.

[[Quebec]], [[Canada]] has a strategic [[Maple syrup]] reserve. Producers store barrels to stabilize supply and prices after weak harvests. In 2011-2012, thieves stole about 2,700 tonnes from the reserve, worth C$18.7 million.

Deep blue is one of the hardest colors in [[Fireworks]]. Blue usually comes from [[Copper]] compounds, but if the flame gets too hot, the copper-chloride emitters break down and the blue washes out. Pyrotechnicians must make an explosion burn “not too hot.”

Four months before the 1966 [[World Cup]], the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from a London exhibition. A week later, a dog named Pickles found it wrapped in newspaper under a south London hedge, and his owner received the reward.

The [[Sargasso Sea]] is the only [[Sea|sea]] with no coastline. Its borders are not land but four [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic]] currents forming a gyre.

[[Cat|Cats]] cannot properly taste [[Sweetness|sweetness]]. A sweet receptor normally works as a pair of proteins, but in cats the TAS1R2 [[Gene|gene]] is a broken pseudogene, so they cannot make a functional sweet-taste receptor.

The first known [[Vending machine|vending machine]] did not sell snacks or drinks; it dispensed [[Holy water|holy water]]. In the 1st century, [[Hero of Alexandria]] built a coin-operated device whose coin weight opened a valve just long enough to release a measured amount.

[[Canned food]] arrived almost 50 years before the [[Can opener|can opener]]. Peter Durand patented metal cans in 1810, but until Ezra Warner patented a can opener in 1858, people opened cans with knives, hammers, and chisels.

Four months before the 1966 [[World Cup]], the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from a London exhibition. A week later, a dog named Pickles found it wrapped in newspaper under a south London hedge, and his owner received the reward.

[[Pluto]] hasn't completed a full [[Orbit]] around the sun since its 1930 discovery. With an orbital period of about 248 years, it will finish its first lap in 2178. Counting from its 2006 demotion as a [[Solar System]] [[Planet]], it will complete a full orbit in 2254.

Chemist Fredric Baur, whose [[Invention]] was the iconic [[Pringles]] tube [[Packaging]], asked that his ashes be buried in a Pringles can. When he died in 2008, his family stopped at a drugstore on the way to the funeral to buy an original-flavor can and placed his remains inside.

Indigenous people of eastern [[Greenland]] carved wood into 3D shapes mimicking coastlines, creating 'Ammassalik maps.' Since paper [[map]]s were impossible to read in the snow, these tactile maps let navigators feel the terrain by touch alone.

The term '[[spam]] mail' comes from [[Monty Python]]'s comedy sketch 'Spam.' During [[World War II]], [[USA|the US]] supplied massive amounts of SPAM cans to [[Britain]], and the Brits' frustration inspired the sketch. The name later stuck to annoying promotional emails.

In 1939, American mathematician [[George Dantzig]] arrived late to class, saw two problems on the blackboard, and solved them thinking they were homework. His professor was stunned—they were actually unsolved problems in [[statistics]]. This story later inspired the film '[[Good Will Hunting]].'