Things I Learned - November 2025
Hello, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Today (in addition to November’s version of Things I Learned) is also my birthday 🥳. Here is what I learned this month.
Things I Learned
Not all societies kiss. The Hadza (in Tanzania), the Mehinaku (in Brazil), and the Inuit (in the Arctic), among others, do not (source)
The median GPA at Harvard is above 3.83. (source)
The first digit of a credit card identifies its network. All American Express cards start with 3; all Visa cards start with 4; all Mastercards start with 5; and all Discover cards start with 6. (source)
One in five cars sold is electric. (source)
A century ago, the average french citizen ate approximately 3 loaves of bread a day. (source)
The dial of a watch or clock refers to its face, not the parts that move (which are the hands). (source)
England was in recession for half the years between 1300 and 1800. (source)
Money in Canada is vertical. (source)
NYC taxicabs were originally painted red and green. They were only required to be painted yellow in 1967. (source)
Among the largest 10 hedge funds in the world, the average leverage is 18x. (source)
There are 300 billion pennies in circulation. (source)
Jeremy Bentham, the 18th century philosopher behind modern utilitarianism, invented many new words including: international, marginalize, exhaustive, infra-, percentage, and unaffordable. (source)
The 1990’s pop hit song Macarena is about a woman named Macarena who cheats on her boyfriend, Vitorino, with two of his friends while he is away serving in the military (source)
Time spent on social media peaked in 2022 and has been on the decline since. (source)
Two words I learned this month: an “ennead” is a group of nine; and a “madrigal” is a type of vocal music where each of many voices sings a different melody at the same time (source, source).
The word “rain check” originates from baseball; in the case of a cancellation, ticket holders were issued a literal piece of paper called a rain check that gave them admission to the rescheduled game. (source)
Steam takes up 1,700 times the volume of the water that created it (source).
None of the ~54 settlements in Greenland are joined by road (source).
In the UK, it is illegal to drink alcohol in view of the pitch at soccer matches. (source)
Corrigenda
In my reflections on my time on The Economist in last month’s issue, I wrote that “If you’re ever unsure if no one is reading your articles…observe what happens when you write something with a minor ambiguity or mistake.” True to form, I did receive a minor correction. One of my facts last month stated that “Before the discovery of oil in 1960, the primary industry in Dubai and the rest of the UAE was pearl-diving. (source)”. While pearl diving was the primary pre-oil industry in 6 of the 7 emirates (including in Abu Dhabi, where pearl-diving made up some 95% of that emirate’s income), it was not the primary one in the emirate of Fujairah, which was separated from the pearl banks of the Persian Gulf by the Hajar Mountains. Thank you to the reader who corrected this!
Things I Liked this Month:
Various examples of interactive journalism, including the FT’s piece on Neom, the NYT’s piece on Penn Station, and the Pudding’s piece on democracy.
The names — Wartenberg Kagan, Augustus B. Sage, Peter van Alfen, etc. — mentioned in this article about the American Numismatic Society.
This tweet.
Thanksgiving
On This Day in Previous Editions:
As a new feature to this newsletter, each month I will feature one fact from a previous same-month edition of Things I Learned, as a service to my more recent subscribers.
(November 2024): Pakistan is an acronym: it is an amalgamation of the groups Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan. (source).
(November 2023): In South Korea, roughly 2% of GDP is spent on private tutoring. (source)
Finally
I know birthdays are a good occasion to reflect on the year, but I’ve decided I will save my full year-end review for next month. For now a couple minor comments:
I’ve been told 31 is not a cool age to celebrate (I guess because it’s not a round number?), but I have noticed that 3.1 is exactly the length (in miles) of a 5k. Since I also read this delightful article earlier this year about a woman who ‘walked her age’ when she turned 58 (that is, she decided to take 58 walks with friends, each one at least 5.8 miles long) I have decided to steal that idea. This year, I would like to do a 3.1 mile journey with any/all of my friends, on any form/mode of transportation they choose.
There are many notable November 30 birthdays, including Winston Churchill, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, etc. The three I am most proud to share a birthday with are Magnus Carlsen (my favorite chess player), Mr. Krabs (no explanation needed), and Bo Jackson (almost certainly the most talented athlete in history).
When I turned 20, I made a list of 30 things I thought it would be good to do by the end of age 30. I did not do particularly well at this list — I have not, for example, skydived, run a marathon, or visited every MLB stadium — but I’m currently working on a new and improved list of things to do over the next decade.
Misc. Photos from November:
Very busy month! Weekend trips to Boston and New Haven, a baby shower, a book party, a gala, several birthdays, an alumni celebration, and a 10k turkey trot (I came 5th). Some photos:
