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While some of the things we learn don't necessarily make us smarter, they can definitely arouse our desire to learn more. Or at least help us continue our stalling conversations. And Twitter account WTF Facts is dedicated to collecting and sharing these random tidbits of information. From celebrity lifestyle to international relations, the project covers a wide range of topics, which is probably the reason why its feed remains so fresh and interesting. Continue scrolling and check out some of the most popular tweets WTF Facts have ever released!

Knowing obscure facts isn't just fun. It's also good for our mental health. For example, experts say that playing trivia games can provide a dopamine rush much like gambling, but without the negative effects. 

Even if our trivia games differ, the benefits are there. Whether we're playing Trivial Pursuit at home or attending a pub trivia night, the basic premise remains the same: we experience the thrill of providing correct answers to questions about lesser-known facts.

"You get a rush or a neuroreward signal or a dopamine burst from winning,” John Kounios, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the doctoral program in applied cognitive and brain sciences at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, told Healthline. “I think whenever you’re challenged with a trivia question and you happen to know it, you get a rush. It’s sort of like gambling.”

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Kounios said the benefits can also be similar to those of playing a video game.

However, unlike gambling and even video games, Kounios said trivia is generally not a problematic habit.

“I don’t think there are any pitfalls,” he said. “Like anything else that’s fun, it takes up time.”

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Eirik Johnsbråten
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a lovely story, but it sheds light on a structural problem in the world. We only share our wealth when we see the difference. In our normal lives we would never vote for a political leader saying we should spend significantly more of the government's money on helping other countries.

hedwards avatar
H Edwards
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The UK government is in the process of decimating the foreign aid and research budget.

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danrider avatar
Son of Philosoraptor
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Frankly this is what all rich people should be doing. Why buy a painting when you can buy a village clean water? I'm cool with being successful but there's a point where you're burning money while people are starving.

earringnut avatar
earringnut
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Let's make this a new status symbol. I know they should be doing this regardless of recognition, but they clearly don't.

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Brendan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for him. It's good to see a musician take action upon the topics he/she preaches in his/her songs.

firefly131131 avatar
Coleonema
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He is doing more than the ANC has been promising to do for those small villages for years

brandivansteenwyk avatar
Brandi VanSteenwyk
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Renewed respect for the man. Philanthropy wonderfully demonstrated but not advertised for promotion. If only others in Jay Z's financial situation would hike up their own shorts and do the same.

kbush5168 avatar
Kim Bush
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just read a list of celebrities net worth being between $150-500 million dollars. (With one being over a billion, I think we all know who that is)..... But how many times do we see a headline like this one?

cindycollins_1 avatar
CincyReds
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had no idea. What an amazing thing to do for these families

ksheff1122 avatar
The_tattered_hippie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hopefully he used a local company/workers to do it. One of the worst things we (the universal we) have done is bring in all that support for less fortunate countries and use outside companies and workers. Usually putting local businesses/workers out of business. 😕

sashakuleshov avatar
Sasha Kuleshov
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rich people could solve soooooo many problems if they wanted to ;)

swizdom2 avatar
Susan Widomski
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Proves my point that there people that are great examples to the world.

suzannehaigh avatar
Suzanne Haigh
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why is it showing so many boys when it is the little girls who mainly collect water?

kiafar avatar
MrTir
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe his shirt is saying something. That us in the wealthy countries can live this way because of others living that way. Good guy.

leesa_deandrea avatar
Leesa DeAndrea
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is what you hope wealthy people would do with their money instead of buying a forty room mansion or a huge yacht. Or another private jet. Or a fourth vacation home. Or giant diamonds to stick on the fingers of their trophy women.

willo777 avatar
Judith Wilson
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It doesn't state in which country this occurred, but it is shameful that the "leaders" had not done this well before the situation reached such enormous levels of ignorance and disposable men, women, and children. Jay Z is a true humanitarian. I wonder why other very wealthy politicians and entertainment stars do not help with these kind of issues in the world.

svfcottage avatar
Connie May
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

a lot can happen to a woman or child on a 6 mile walk to get water. <3

tomismith avatar
TomiSmith
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A wonderful story, to bad more celebrities wouldn't do the same, instead of letting their money sit wherever it is and collect interest.

rhemore1 avatar
Suzanne Haigh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are all young boys but in reality it usually is girls who do the work

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Cybele Spanjaard
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He sets an example for those others who have more money than they could ever use on themselves but also do not invest in situations as needy as this in many countries.. They could some do and no doubt incognito!

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lara
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now that is what people should do with their money. I can't afford to pipe water to people, so I just help fund animal shelters.

iscajul avatar
Julieta S.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Read " A long Walk to Water". In my priviliged ignorance I didn't realize that children cannot go to school because they must walk miles and miles twice a day to get water. Way to go Jay Z!

daisychain071 avatar
Your_local_introvert
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Finally, a celebrity that donates themselves instead of only setting up a fundraiser.

cdfrancis2 avatar
Collette Francis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If more "celebs" did stuff like this the world would be a better place. Instead they'd rather waste it in clothes they'll wear once and cars they don't drive

jim_ellington avatar
kbush5168 avatar
Kim Bush
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So I'm wondering, is your point that every child should have to walk 6 miles in order to obtain clean drinking water an acceptable way to prevent obesity in children? Feel free to downvote me if you need to, but I'm Curious To See Your Answer!

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dk_5 avatar
D K
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn’t think or care much about this dude but he’s earned my respect from this.

john_smith avatar
John Smith
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is what people must do...to care each other... Good job jay Z

stacy avatar
Fixin'Ta
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a wonderful organization called Water for All International that teaches people to drill their own wells. They can do it for individual homes or for whole villages. They teach the people to maintain the wells, too. And the wells are all built from easily-sourced, inexpensive (but sturdy) materials, so it doesn't cost the villagers an arm and a leg to build and maintain them. Anything we're doing to help people get clean, safe, accessible water is a win!

mikedelancey avatar
Mike DeLancey
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Him spending $2 million dollars is the equivalent of someone making $100,000 giving someone in need $200. Its the right thing to do but there shouldn't be cameras involved. What he made this month alone (Mar 2021, $640 million, https://tinyurl.com/559ffdzu) would pay for almost 43,000 wells (https://www.lifewater.ca/?ID=95).

nickyoldfielddesciple avatar
IlovemydogShilo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for him. It's a pity that Kanye and some of the others cannot do the same.

mintyminameow avatar
Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kanye has a huge charity after his mom, Donda who was a teacher. That organization helps kids stay in school. He also gave a few million to the family of George Floyd and regularly donates and promotes Doctors Without Borders. Just because someone is a jerk doesn’t mean they aren’t philanthropic.

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Aria Whitaker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It does not say it "costs millions"...it says he SPENT millions. Which is NOT completely wrong, he simply spent more than the minimum cost of the project.

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A librarian from California, Sarah Kishler, loves trivia games and enjoys attending a monthly pub trivia night in which a team of librarians participates.

"Learning facts so that I can get better at trivia is definitely a passion of mine," she told Healthline. "Getting a question right is definitely very satisfying to me."

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Guido Pisano
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same in Italy... You're allowed to disobey an order that you think is illegal...

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Over the past decade or so, pub trivia nights that are popular in the United Kingdom appear to have grown in other parts of Europe and the United States.

Enthusiasts like Kishler enjoy getting to interact with people at these events, especially compared to electronic trivia games.

She has learned that doing well at these social trivia games gives her "a feeling of validation" and increases her self-esteem.

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River Webb
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yeah Disney often adapts its stories to be appropriate for children, eventually leading everybody to only remember the Disney version and not the original

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"I love general knowledge, geography, literature, music, science trivia," Kishler explained. "I just love to accumulate knowledge. I like the exercise that it gives my brain and memory."

She doesn't think of herself as a competitive person but nevertheless enjoys getting a bit amped up at trivia games.

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“People really like to have some expertise on something and the brain is very good at focusing on things that you’re interested in,” Deborah Stokes, Ph.D., L.P.C., B.C.N., a psychologist in Virginia, who focuses on neurotherapy, told Healthline.

According to Stokes, learning large bodies of knowledge can often start with trivia. And people who are interested in trivia can be brainy, have a high IQ, and be smart on a lot of levels.

However, Kounios said that people aren’t necessarily better at trivia games just because they’re more educated.

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Láďa Durchánek
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can barely draw a stick figure and if instructions have more than one step it is safer to write them down.

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"Some people soak up facts,” Kounios added. "Plenty of people with a lot more education may not remember what they had for breakfast yesterday morning."

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"In typical people, my observation, not backed up by any research, is that their interest in trivia is confined to topics that they are generally interested in. So if a person is very interested in history, then they may either seek out history trivia, or they might just naturally pick it up in the course of learning about nontrivial aspects of history."

Stokes pointed out that trying to retain information about things we're interested in can be like a good exercise for the frontal cortex as the brain ages.

"That’s the first thing to go with injury or with age if we don’t use it," she said.

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Of course, it's completely understandable if the pandemic has drained your brain of the desire to learn and flooded it with boredom and tiredness instead. In an earlier Bored Panda interview, Lenore Skenazy, the president of Let Grow and the founder of the Free-Range-Kids movement, said that before we can become curious again, we have to do the hard part: get off the couch. Force yourself out the door. Why? Because beyond your four walls, things are never exactly the same. Weather, animals, people, sounds, smells, clouds—they’re all swirling about."

Lenore continued: "Ask yourself to start noticing new things. I did that this morning with a friend. We took a walk around our neighborhood and started looking for interesting details in the homes and buildings we passed. It went from a walk down streets we’d seen a million times to a sort of treasure hunt. And the big thing we were really hunting for? Curiosity! When you’re curious you’re alive again—noticing, thinking, making connections. You can’t do that if there’s no new information coming in. So your first step is to force yourself out of a rut by leaving the house (harder during the pandemic, but not impossible)."

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Michelle M
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's another fact. Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth were born in the same year.

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Bill
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Except 21 payouts and Non Disclosure agreements. No innocent person would pay out that many times

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QuokkaVibes
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an Italian (but this is my personal belief, everyone is entitled to it's own) this is exactly something Mafia would do. It's something I know occurs in Italy on a daily basis. You see a quite common modus operandi is mobster would do something nice for the community or for specific people, so that the community in the area feels dependable. One well known method of recruiting in the mafia is: you have a problem, we send to you someone you know (and you don't know he works for us). Maybe a friend of a friend. He'll fix your problem for you. After time is passed this person asks for a little innocent thing like let's say "I'm sick can you bring this box to this adress? I can't move". After that he asks for more pressuring you on the favor he did awhile back and tells you that box you delivered was full of drugs/handguns so you're an accomplice. And that's it you're in a system you can't escape without hurting family and friends.

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Mary Rose Kent
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I assume that this photo is all of the lazy culprits and, of course, the one who actually did the deed

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Note: this post originally had 122 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.

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