In the early 19th century, cowpox vaccine was exported from Spain to the Americas in the arms of 24 Spanish orphan boys. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/orphans-smallpox-vaccine-distribution/617646/

"Most of these works were originally published in 1926. But this year for the first time we’ll also be having a large number of sound recordings joining the public domain for the first time, published in 1922 and before." https://everybodyslibraries.com/2021/12/01/coming-soon-to-the-public-domain-in-2022/

All glory to the hypnotoad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=19&v=iC1ico48d5g&feature=emb_logo

It's aesthetically pleasing, yes, but there's a historic reason behind the crimson hue. https://theconversation.com/why-are-barns-painted-red-169065

Hunter-gatherer children spend much of their time working and playing in mixed-age groups without adult supervision, and they are seldom taught through direct instruction; rather, they learn by doing. https://www.sapiens.org/culture/children-social-learning/

More than you ever wanted to know about PowerPoint (but you'll say HUH! at least a couple of times). For instance, "The original business plan for PowerPoint was 53 densely worded pages, with a dozen accompanying slides." http://www.russelldavies.com/writing/tuftepowerpoint/tuftepoint.html

According to the WHO's Global Tobacco Trends report, in 2000, around a third of the global population over the age of 15 were tobacco users. By 2020, this had declined to under a quarter, and is projected to fall even further to a fifth by 2025. https://www.who.int/news/item/16-11-2021-tobacco-use-falling-who-urges-countries-to-invest-in-helping-more-people-to-quit-tobacco

A tool to estimate the page number in book based on your position in the audiobook (and vice versa) https://alamantus.itch.io/time-to-page

Every day, one million people upload pictures of their coffee grinds to the Turkish app Faladdin and get a personalised fortune reading back in 15 minutes. https://restofworld.org/2020/faladdin-turkey-coffee-fortune/

NuqneH! Saluton! A linguistic anthropologist (and creator of the Kryptonian language, among others) studies the people who invent new tongues.

Fascinating article. Worth your time.

https://knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2021/what-invented-languages-can-teach-us

The supply chain appears to be lactose intolerant. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/nyregion/cream-cheese-shortage-nyc-bagels.html

While The Beatles wanted to make the movie, it was Tolkien himself who turned the idea down. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653117/when-beatles-wanted-star-lord-rings-movie

Five miles of Northern California coastline to be bought by San Francisco environmental group. https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/san-francisco-group-buys-miles-of-california-coast-16688900.php

Canada Post unveiled its new postage stamp celebrating novelist Margaret Atwood. The stamp features a photograph of the author and a line from the poem, “Spelling,” which can be found in Atwood’s True Stories. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/margaret-atwood-stamp-1.6261279

TIL about the "Schultüte," or "school cone," a kind of cardboard cornucopia that is traditionally given to German children on their very first day of school. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211201-the-german-tradition-that-calms-school-anxiety

As he approached old age, Martin Luther began to regret how many books he had written. He said: "The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing. ... I wish that all my books were consigned to perpetual oblivion."

"We were content to keep this dark knowledge to ourselves, but alas. Spurred by the release of food category theories which clearly misrepresent the nature of salads, the time has come to share our findings with the world." https://saladtheory.github.io

The magic trick of sawing a woman in half was first performed a century ago by P.T. Selbit, a British magician, and a suffragette. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/652014/strange-history-sawing-woman-half

Look up a word based on what you want a word to do https://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml