Almost every day I stumble across a news item/article/blog post that causes me to say, “I did not know that.” Here are ten of them that you (probably) didn’t know either.
1. Moammar Gadhafi might have been the richest man in the world. [ source ]
2. Hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement [ source ]
3. Works of art can give as much joy as being head over heels in love. [ source ]
4. Only 15 percent of scientists at major research universities see religion and science always in conflict. [ source ]
5. The average American employee works with 100 coworkers; the average Indian employee works with 4 coworkers. The difference in wealth and income between nations is closely related to the ability of firms to take on complex tasks. [ source ]
6. A secret Clinton-era government report outlined what once looked like a potential crisis: The possibility that the U.S. government might pay off its entire debt. [ source ]
7. Genealogies are just social constructs. [ source ]
8. Between 1996 and 2010 the number of teenagers aged 13-19 having elective cosmetic surgery has increased by 548%. [ source ]
9. Kabul, Afghanistan is the fifth fastest growing city in the world. [ source ]
10. Eating too much licorice can cause arrhythmia, a rise in blood pressure, swelling, and even congestive heart failure. [ source ]
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
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If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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