<aside> 💡 This is October’s edition of “Things I Learned”. In addition to the standard set of facts, there is a cool set of images at the end.

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Things I Learned

  1. There is a city in Alaska named Unalaska. (cite)
  2. 22% of the world's fresh surface water is held in Lake Baikal (cite)
  3. Turkish airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world. (cite)
  4. If you had invested in the stock market from 1960-1980 and beaten the market by 5% each year, you would have made less money than if you had invested from 1980-2000 and underperformed the market by 5% a year (cite).
  5. The construction of coins in Ancient Sparta involved dipping them in vinegar, so as to make them too brittle for non-currency uses (e.g. tools, transport). (cite)
  6. The largest church on earth — larger than Saint Peter’s Basilica — is located in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, a city with population 212,000. (cite)
  7. The only MLB team that owns its own plane is the Detroit Tigers (cite)
  8. In 1957, Ghana had the same per capita income as South Korea (cite)
  9. Half of all publicly traded firms are unprofitable. (cite)
  10. Every number of the form ababab (e.g. 464646) is divisible by 37 (cite).
  11. Sharks are older than the north star. (cite)
  12. 40% of Native Americans reported voting for Republicans in 2022. (cite)
  13. Half of the world’s cashews are sold by Costco (cite).
  14. Real median net worth for U.S. households was up 37% from 2019-2022. This is the biggest increase in 30 years. (cite)
  15. The origins of why “Friday the 13th” is considered unlucky is not known. The leading theories are (1) a Norse myth in which Loki shows up unannounced as the thirteenth guest to a party (2) Tarot cards in which the card numbered 13 often has Death on it. (cite)
  16. There are more ETFs than stocks. (cite)
  17. Tom Brady, better known for his NFL career, was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 1995 MLB Draft (cite).