<aside> 💡 This is May’s edition of “Things I Learned”. Slightly fewer facts than usual, but some more graphs.

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Things I Learned

  1. Loch Ness holds more water than all the lakes, rivers, canals and reservoirs in all of England and Wales combined. (source)
  2. That song that goes “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal” was in part making fun of the newfangled slang “hello” which only entered popular use as a general greeting with the widespread adoption of the telephone (source)
  3. Rafael Nadal has more ATP championship titles on clay courts (63) than he has lost matches on clay courts (49). (source)
  4. A skeuomorph is an object that retains an ornamental design that was necessary in the original form of the structure but no longer serves that function (for example, the tiny handles on glass maple syrup jars). (source)
  5. Two-thirds of American households own their home. (source)
  6. North American bison declined from a stock of approximately 8 million to less than 500. (source)
  7. Only one person has played both the Super Bowl and World Series. (source)
  8. The first commercial airline to feature a seat with a lie-flat bed was British Airways in 1995. (source).
  9. The name Travis was originally given to toll collectors who stood by a bridge or crossing. (source)
  10. Walmart’s revenues exceed $1.2M per minute (source).
  11. In 1912, Per capita indigenous wealth in the US exceeded per capita white wealth (source, h/t).
  12. There have only ever been 3 mayors of London. (source)
  13. Helicopter’ does not come from ‘heli’ and ‘copter,’ but from ‘helico’ (from Greek ‘helix’ meaning “spiral”) plus ‘pter’ (from Greek ‘pteron’ meaning “wing”) (source).
  14. Vanguard, the second largest asset manager in the world, is not allowed to generate profits; all profits it earns must be returned to the investors in its fund (in the form of lower fees) (source)
  15. West Virginia is the only state with fewer residents today than in 1940 (source).

Graphs I Liked