Wiki Abnormalis

2026

• The purpose of a system is what it does

  Systems thinking heuristic

  JK
• Project Diana

  1946 US Army Signal Corps experiment to reflect radar signals off of the Moon

  JK
• Nosework

  Dog sport

  JK
• Sailing stones

  Geological phenomenon where rocks move, leaving tracks

  TW
• Circular reporting

  Apparently multiple sources for single-source data

  TW
• Square packing

  Two-dimensional packing problem

  TW
• Benford's law

  Observation that in many real-life datasets, the leading digit is likely to be small

  TW
• Voodoo death

  Sudden death brought about by a strong emotional shock, such as fear

  TW
• List of animal sounds

  List of common words used to describe animal noises and their audio recordings

  TW
• Wine-dark sea

  Translation of phrase attributed to Homer

  TW
• Blindsight

  Visual response in some blind people

  JK
• Lipstick effect

  Economic theory

  JK
• Exploding head syndrome

  Abnormal sensory perception during sleep

  TW
• Room 641A

  Telecommunication interception facility

  JK

2025

• The Hum

  Low-frequency noise not audible to all people

  TW
• Hector (cloud)

  Regularly recurring thundercloud

  TW
• Guided rat

  Rat with electrodes implanted in the brain

  TW
• Capitol Hill mystery soda machine

  Vending machine in Seattle, Washington, US

  TW
• MiniScribe

  Defunct American data storage company

  TW
• Inspiration porn

  Ableist portrayal of disabled people

  TW
• Beaver drop

  1948 American program to relocate beavers

  JK
• Viking 1

  Robotic spacecraft sent to Mars

  JK
• Thalassophobia

  Fear of the sea or large open water

  JK
• Cuisine of the Midwestern United States

  Regional cuisine of the United States

  JK
• Chicken tax

  American tariff on light trucks

  JK
• Letters of last resort

  Orders for action in the event of a nuclear attack on UK government

  TW
• 2013 horse meat scandal

  Food scandal in Europe

  TW
• Edwin Walker

  American army officer and conservative activist (1909–1993)

  TW
• Martian canals

  Erroneous idea of canals on Mars

  TW
• Timeline of first images of Earth from space

  A history of photos of Earth from space, starting in the 1940s

  JK
• V-2 No. 13

  First object to take a photograph of the Earth from outer space

  JK
• Jazz (design)

  1990s design featured on disposable cups

  JK
• Long-term nuclear waste warning messages

  Messages to deter human intrusion at nuclear waste repositories in the far future

  TW
• Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis

  Rare disease which results in brain inflammation

  TW
• Infrasound

  Vibrations with frequencies lower than 20 hertz

  TW
• American Civil War widows who survived into the 21st century

  Interesting result of post-American Civil War marriage practice

  JK
• The Campaign for North Africa

  Military simulation board game

  TW
• 1977 Nestlé boycott

  Boycott of Nestlé corporation

  JK
• 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident

  Incident which nearly precipitated nuclear warfare

  JK
• Curse of the Colonel

  1985 Japanese urban legend

  TW
• Aka Manto

  Japanese urban legend

  TW
• Pink slime

  Meat by-product

  TW
• Phoebus cartel

  Cartel to control the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs

  TW
• Cow tipping

  Urban legend

  TW
• Overstrike

  Technique of printing two characters atop one another

  JK
• Fogbank

  Material used in US nuclear weapons

  TW
• Space Cola Wars

  Soft drink marketing campaign

  TW
• Missile gap

  Cold War term used in the United States

  TW
• Turner Doomsday Video

  End of world broadcast for CNN

  JK
• Flannan Isles Lighthouse

  Lighthouse off the northwest coast of Scotland

  TW
• Nominative determinism

  Correlation of name and career

  TW
• Overview effect

  Cognitive shift after seeing Earth from space

  JK
• Intertropical Convergence Zone

  Meteorological phenomenon

  JK
• Shit life syndrome

  Existential crisis caused by relative poverty

  TW
• Caffeine-induced psychosis

  Mental disorder

  TW
• Caffeine-induced anxiety disorder

  Subclass of substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder

  JK
• 1997 Lego spill

  Maritime incident in Cornwall, England

  TW
• Purple Earth hypothesis

  Astrobiological hypothesis regarding early photosynthetic organisms

  JK
• Apollo affair

  1965 incident and investigation into loss of nuclear materials

  TW
• Vela incident

  1979 detection of a double light flash near the Prince Edward Islands by American satellites

  TW
• CIA assassination attempts on Fidel Castro

  Assassination attempts on Cuban Leader Fidel Castro

  TW
• Challenger Deep

  Deepest known point of Earth's seabed

  JK
• Trial balloon

  Information given to media to assess an audience's reaction

  JK

2024

• Doorway effect

  Psychological phenomenon

  JK

2023

• Betteridge's law of headlines

  Journalistic adage on questions in headlines

  JK

2021

• Havana syndrome

  Symptoms reported by US officials abroad

  JK
• Kessler syndrome

  Theoretical satellite collision cascade

  JK