A mash-up of two words to make a new word (such as breakfast and lunch into brunch, or motel from motor and hotel) is called a portmanteau. In case you’re wondering, the word “portmanteau” itself is not a portmanteau; it’s a compound word that refers to a duel-sided suitcase.
100 Mind-Blowing Such Facts
Google’s Name Comes From A Spelling Error. Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded Google in 1998. 70% of search queries worldwide run through Google’s search engine. On occasion, people wonder where the name Google comes from, and its origin story comes from a spelling error. A “googol”, in mathematics, is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. Page originally wanted to call the search engine googol. By the time the company was formed, it switched its name to Google. Perhaps the name is easier to spell and looks more friendly on the screen. People perform billions of search queries each day through Google. It’s such a popular name that it became a verb years ago among users. Most people refer to running an Internet search as “Googling” something.
Some people are afraid of technology. People have all kinds of weird fears and phobias out there, and technology is no exception! Aptly named technophobia, this fear stemmed from the Industrial Revolution and workers being afraid that machines would take their jobs. It applies in a similar way to today’s society, as well as people being scared of technology getting too advanced, such as artificial intelligence technology. Let’s just hope this phobia doesn’t stop them from reading these technology facts!
Tech companies often test their products in New Zealand. New Zealand is such a diverse country with English-speaking residents, which makes it a great place for testing. But the main reason is that since it’s somewhat isolated, news about a product failing won’t spread very fast.
There is also artificial intelligence that can predict epidemics. An artificial intelligence was created (with 87% accuracy) to determine disease outbreaks, such as dengue fever. There are hopes to use this tech to predict outbreaks of more serious diseases like Ebola and Zika.
Teens who create graffiti are more likely to commit crimes in adulthood, such as theft, using and selling drugs, and more.
There are many different forms of tagging, one called “pissing,” in which one refills a fire extinguisher with paint which allows for tags as high as 20 feet. Because it is such a difficult style, the outcome is usually wavy and sloppy.
A “Heaven spot” is a piece of graffiti done in an area that’s hard to reach, such as a rooftop or overpass. The name has a double meaning – one because it’s so high up that it’s towards the “heavens.” The other meaning refers to the fact that it is often a serious challenge in a dangerous location, and in case of an accident, the artist could die and “go to heaven.”
‘Blackening the bride’. In rural parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, a tradition known as ‘blackening the bride’ was practised in the 18th and 19th centuries. Just before a wedding, friends and family would cover the bride and groom with all sorts of messy substances, such as soot, mud and feathers. This custom was believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to the couple.
Every person on Earth is living in the past. This may sound like the plot of some sci-fi, time-travel thriller, but it’s a fact of human biology and the trickiness of time. Our brains don’t perceive events until about 80 milliseconds after they’ve happened. This fine line between the present and the past is part of the reason why some physicists argue that there’s no such thing as “now” and that the present moment is no more than an illusion.
Throughout history, different cultures around the world have experienced time in different ways. In the Western world, we tend to think of time as linear and flowing from left to right. But this isn’t the case for everyone. Language affects how people conceptualize time, particularly the spatial metaphors they use to describe and map it. Those who read languages that flow from right to left, such as Arabic and Hebrew, generally view time as flowing in the same direction. The Aymara, who live in the Andes Mountains in South America, consider the future to be behind them, while the past is ahead. In their view, because the future is unknown, it’s behind you, where you can’t see it. Some Indigenous Australian cultures, which rely heavily on direction terms like north, south, east, and west in their languages, visualise the passage of time as moving from east to west. If they’re facing north, for example, the past would be to their right, or east, whereas the future would be to their left, which would be west.
Linux is a Kernel: Linux is essentially a kernel and not an operating system. The term “Linux” is commonly used to refer to operating systems based on the Linux kernel such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Mint, and so much more. These are correctly referred to as Linux distributions or flavours since they ride on the Linux Kernel, which is the core of any operating system and interfaces the underlying hardware with the operating system and installed applications.
Hundreds of Linux Distributions: Currently, there are over 600 Linux distributions ranging from popular distributions (or distros) such as Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora to newer distributions such as Rocky and AlmaLinux.
Linux on Every Major Space Station: Linux is used in every major Space Station including NASA, the International Space Station (ISS), and private space companies such as Space X. Its reliability and open-source adaptability makes it an ideal choice for critical systems, ensuring smooth operations and supporting astronauts in their endeavours beyond Earth’s boundaries.
Eavesdropping Devices: The NSA, alongside the CIA, inserts eavesdropping devices in high-value targets such as presidential palaces and embassies through the Special Collection Service (SCS).
There was a time when suicide was considered illegal in the UK and those who survived such attempts were strangely enough hanged as a punishment. Suicide was decriminalised in the year 1961.
The diversity of London’s population is such that more than 300 languages are spoken there.
Money Is Dirtier Than You Think: Both paper currency and coins can carry viruses and bacteria that can live on surfaces and easily transfer to your skin or onto other objects after touching them. Research has found physical currency changes hands at least 55 times a year or almost once a week. One recent study found banknotes made with cotton or linen fibres, such as U.S. dollar bills, present increased areas for germs and the capacity to retain moisture, which can make it an easier place for bacteria to thrive.
The First Universal Credit Card Was Introduced in 1950: Credit cards originated in the U.S. back in the 1920s, but were issued by individual firms, such as oil companies and hotel chains, to their customers, specifically for purchases made at company outlets. It wasn’t until 1950 that Diners Club founders Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara issued a card that could be used at a variety of establishments. The Diners Club card sparked the modern credit card era. Others soon followed, such as American Express, which debuted their card of this type in 1958.
The concept of money in the UK has evolved from commodity money, such as precious metals and livestock, to representative money like banknotes and coins, and now to digital money, such as online banking and cryptocurrency.
Such a rare archaeological find as the ancient Greek dekadrachms are considered the most expensive money. The dekadrachm was minted in Athens, Syracuse and Akragant, as well as during the time of Alexander the Great (336-323 BC).
GPT-3 has been fine-tuned for a variety of language tasks, such as translation, summarisation, and question-answering. Even service desk software can leverage AI capabilities to process requests and enhance the quality of responses.
According to OpenAI, even ChatGPT-4 still isn’t entirely reliable as it “hallucinates facts and makes reasoning errors.” The company also admits that GPT-4 poses risks such as generating harmful advice, buggy code, or inaccurate information.
ChatGPT is banned in at least five countries, such as China, Russia, and Venezuela. Italy also banned the chatbot temporarily after GPT-4 was released.
AI is capable of making diagnoses just as accurately as world-leading experts in the medical field. For example, there is one such AI-driven algorithm that can detect metastatic breast cancer with 99 per cent accuracy.
AI has been around for decades. While AI is often thought of as a new technology, the concept has been around since the 1950s. Early AI systems were used to perform tasks such as playing chess and solving mathematical problems.
AI can help predict natural disasters. AI algorithms can analyse weather patterns and other data to predict natural disasters such as hurricanes and Earthquakes.