There is a psychological phenomenon called the Backfire Effect. Essentially, the more you try to convince someone they are wrong using facts and figures, the more convinced they become that their preexisting beliefs are correct.
Joseph Weizenbaum, one of the founding fathers…
Joseph Weizenbaum, one of the founding fathers of Artificial Intelligence, later became one of it’s leading critics when he found his secretary getting very emotionally involved with ELIZA, a chatbot that he himself programmed. Driven by a script named DOCTOR, ELIZA was capable of engaging humans in a conversation which bore a striking resemblance to […]
There was a movie from 2006 called Zyzzyx Road which…
There was a movie from 2006 called Zyzzyx Road which starred Katherine Heigl. It had a budget of $1.2 million and earned just $30 at the box office. Wikipedia has a list of lowest-grossing movies in history.
Guantanamo Bay has a few fast food restaurants on base…
Guantanamo Bay has a few fast food restaurants on base and prisoners who cooperate in interrogations have been given McDonald’s Happy Meals as rewards.
Shocking Surprise: Man ‘electrocuted’ while trying to steal Trump sign
In 2016, a very annoyed Donald Trump supporter used electricity to protect his campaign sign from thieves. The owner said his signs have been stolen and vandalized in the past, so he decided to booby trap his newest one. Surveillance video captured the hoodie-wearing neighbor trying to take the sign.
Melody roads that play music as you drive
A Japanese engineer by the name of Shizuo Shinoda accidentally scraped some markings into a road with a bulldozer and drove over them, and realized that it was possible to create tunes depending on the depth and spacing of the grooves. In 2007, the Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute refined Shinoda’s designs to create the […]
Greater Bangkok, a sprawling metropolis with more…
Greater Bangkok, a sprawling metropolis with more than 10 million people, has just 1,300 homeless people, a 2016 survey found. On the other hand, San Francisco has less than one-tenth Bangkok’s population but six times as many homeless people.
Horses can be trained to use symbols in order to
Horses can be trained to use symbols in order to communicate with humans. After just a couple weeks of training, horses could tell if they wanted a blanket put on or taken off, or stay unchanged, a study found.
One-third of humanity (including 60% of Europeans and 80%…
One-third of humanity (including 60% of Europeans and 80% of North Americans) live in such light polluted areas that the Milky Way is not visible at night.
The eternal flame at Bullhead City, Arizona…
The eternal flame at Bullhead City, Arizona, only lasted until city officials received a US$961 gas bill. It has been relighted after complaints by veterans groups.