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For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga

Click to view the original at smithsonianmag.com

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When your house is burning down, you should brush your teeth - The Oatmeal

Note from the author: Today, January 8th 2013, marks the 20th anniversary of my house burning down, so I decided to write a comic about it. It was a terrible thing and I've found the best way to deal with terrible things is to tell funny stories about them later. My dad still had a copy of the front...

Click to view the original at theoatmeal.com

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BBC - Britain From Above - Stories - People - Tea-time Britain

Power surges called the TV pickup are unique to Britain. The engineers at the National Grid control centre brace themselves each time Eastenders ends and 1.75 million kettles get switched on.Power surges called the TV pickup are unique to Britain. The engineers at the National Grid control centre br...

Click to view the original at bbc.co.uk

Hasnain says:

This is a really good watch.

"The demand is increasing by 3 gigawatts in less than 5 minutes, right at the end of a popular TV show. The operator who oversees the whole grid has a TV to be able to watch the show, to know exactly when it ends and be prepared. That is insane. The demand for the whole country is ~40 GW on average. That's an 8% increase in 5 min."

Posted on 2013-01-07T19:47:43+0000

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Awakening

Since its introduction in 1846, anesthesia has allowed for medical miracles. Limbs can be removed, tumors examined, organs replaced—and a patient will feel and remember nothing. Or so we choose to believe. In reality, tens of thousands of patients each year in the United States alone wake up at some...

Click to view the original at theatlantic.com

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As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow—First Chill—Then Stupor—Then the Letting Go

When your Jeep spins lazily off the mountain road and slams backward into a snowbank, you don't worry immediately about the cold. Your first thought is that you've just dented your bumper. Your second is that you've failed to bring a shovel. Your third is that you'll be late for dinner. Friends are ...

Click to view the original at outsideonline.com

Hasnain says:

"At 85 degrees, those freezing to death, in a strange, anguished paroxysm, often rip off their clothes. This phenomenon, known as paradoxical undressing, is common enough that urban hypothermia victims are sometimes initially diagnosed as victims of sexual assault. "

Posted on 2012-12-29T01:06:45+0000

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