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!
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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.”
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.”
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."
Same in Italy... You're allowed to disobey an order that you think is illegal...
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.
yeah Disney often adapts its stories to be appropriate for children, eventually leading everybody to only remember the Disney version and not the original
"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.
“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.
I can barely draw a stick figure and if instructions have more than one step it is safer to write them down.
"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."
"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."
I love Dave Grohl, but he isn't the only artist to have done this....
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.
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)."
I always like to image what stories such old structure might have to tell
Here's another fact. Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth were born in the same year.
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.
I assume that this photo is all of the lazy culprits and, of course, the one who actually did the deed
Tupac is also the only rapper who can wear a sweater vest knitted by his grandma and still maintain his tough image.
That's not that unusual. You already have to be mega wealthy to be president, and presidents have every conceivable opportunity to make however much money they want after their term. In comparison, the salary is a pittance.
There are several rumours regarding how many languages she can speak, and it was actually confirmed that she can speak all 5 languages, but she's only fluent in spanish, english and portuguese.
I just imagine being one of his teammates... might as well just sit and play in the grass looking for bugs or something
Happy banana you are insulted by a fact?
Load More Replies...This was done for practical reasons. Other religions celebrate the winter solstice and it's easier to convert people when rituals can be kept.
The Romans had the Saturnalia holiday at the end of December, the early christians hijacked this date...
They also mixed the germanic Yule festivity that was also a winter holiday.
Load More Replies...Actually, he wasn't. According to the Bible, Jesus was born during the census. No ruler would ever hold a census and demand their people travel during the coldest time of the year -- at least no ruler who prefers their citizens living. I'm not even particularly religious. Everyone I know who is familiar with the Bible though doesn't actually believe Jesus was born in December.
Many holidays, like Christmas, were stolen or copied from other religious groups in an effort to get people to convert to Christianity. The show "Adam Ruins Everything" does a great explanation.
If he was born in spring, who decided christmas is a winter celebration? (not being salty, just curious)
Load More Replies...Because it was most likely springtime. People would have a hard time traveling in the dead of winter, no matter what the climate is like. Especially a pregnant woman.
Closest I believe it mentions is when the animals were comin in, like April or may. Dec is just to fit in with other pagan holidays
It was never a thing anyway all Christians knew this it’s just a marker for that day.
Duh!. If you pay attention to lambing season is in Iraq/ Palestine, you have your answer. Jan-Mar. It is in the official records, that the Roman Emperor combined the celebration of Jesus' birth with the celebration of Saturnalia - the summer solstice, in an effort to convince Jewish Christians to accept Roman rule.
That is the winter solstice. It's a day many civilizations celebrate as it marks the turning point of winter.
to the people slandering the bible, what if i slandered the lgbtq+? then it would be a problem huh?
yes. we are not slandering the bible. we are just saying that it is a fact. i cannot be offended my the fact that 2+2=4. the lgbtqaa community is real. i am from a catholic family. i have chosen to be an atheist because I am bi and if sky daddy wont except me then he can get the hell out of my life.
Load More Replies...Maybe the people from the GOP should read that
Load More Replies...Christmas is celebrated on that date because I think it was estimated that Jesus was born sometime in winter or spring? I'm not completely sure. It's a well-known fact among Christians I've met, though.
Christians picked the date, because they realized several other religious groups celebrated holidays during that time of year, and wanted them to convert to Christianity. Many Christian holidays have influence of other religions' holidays.
Load More Replies...Actually, even if you aren't christian many things in the Bible did happen.... It's not all fiction.
Load More Replies...And then became Santa Claus where he was around a different kind of snow.
Except he never did... https://checkyourfact.com/2019/10/24/fact-check-bill-gates-microsoft-lazy-person-hard-job-easy-way/
I like seeing this just after reading Hawkins comment on the other post
So, how many weeks did it take to become as rich as Elon Musk?
But... people still haven't learned how to properly drive their cars...
Per capita. Due to the small population, every theft is counted x100.
Good, no 4-year old should die. Also all these stories of Hitler being saved from one death or another, are there ever any sources that they happened?
Many of these are incorrect or unproven. The article should be named "fantastic things a random twitter account claims without evidence but that would be slightly interesting if they were true"
Anyone else think WTF Facts needs to be turned into a Twilight Zone-style TV show telling some of these more incredible stories?
No? Like you’re gonna tune in and have Rod Serling be all “submitted for your approval, koalas sleep 22 hours a day, also here’s a closeup of a pyramid” and then wonder what’s the sociopolitical point it’s trying to make like the classic Twilight Zone.
Load More Replies...Woooooow! I did not know almost any of these facts! Thanks for sharing!
This person is standing at the roots of a redwood tree that fell in a windstorm. The proven source is me (although I'm not the one in the picture). root-605ff...e7eeaf.jpg
The author was either from the Netherlands or just read a book about them but I'm not believing everything that's coming out in this post. Some of the facts were mostly just opinion (the clearest water, most breathtaking sight)
Click the three dots and delete it. It will then be hidden.
Load More Replies...Many of these are incorrect or unproven. The article should be named "fantastic things a random twitter account claims without evidence but that would be slightly interesting if they were true"
Anyone else think WTF Facts needs to be turned into a Twilight Zone-style TV show telling some of these more incredible stories?
No? Like you’re gonna tune in and have Rod Serling be all “submitted for your approval, koalas sleep 22 hours a day, also here’s a closeup of a pyramid” and then wonder what’s the sociopolitical point it’s trying to make like the classic Twilight Zone.
Load More Replies...Woooooow! I did not know almost any of these facts! Thanks for sharing!
This person is standing at the roots of a redwood tree that fell in a windstorm. The proven source is me (although I'm not the one in the picture). root-605ff...e7eeaf.jpg
The author was either from the Netherlands or just read a book about them but I'm not believing everything that's coming out in this post. Some of the facts were mostly just opinion (the clearest water, most breathtaking sight)
Click the three dots and delete it. It will then be hidden.
Load More Replies...