#HTE

Surprising Things I Learned in 2019, Part 2

Combined with Part 1, these are some of the more interesting things I learned this year.

I found out what the top ten product categories with the most fake reviews on Amazon are. (#1: Wireless earbuds.)

This fantastic data visualization revealed that America’s voters are not divided in the exact way you might think.

In the 1930s, Australian car designer Lewis Bandt invented the first car-based pickup after a farmer’s wife asked for a car that could carry pigs.

As for modern-day pickups, it’s no wonder the Big Three like making them and are giving up on sedans–the average profit per truck is $17,000!

Last thing with trucks: I couldn’t imagine why people were buying the super-expensive ones. In “Why Would Anyone Pay $80,000 for a Pickup Truck?” GMC Design Research provided the explanation.

I’d always wanted to see those unseen areas where museums and art galleries store their collections, and looked into their variety of storage systems.

We came across a graphic explanation of why boarding airplane passengers from back to front is actually not the fastest method.

Vomiting in someone else’s car: I learned that Uber & Lyft reduce drunk driving–and increase overall alcohol consumption in areas where they operate.

It hasn’t been a great year for Facebook, has it? A user of their app accidentally discovered that Facebook can secretly turn your iPhone’s camera on and watch you as you scroll through your feed.

In “Here’s What Happens When You Don’t Design for Disassembly,” I learned that the average car has 30,000 parts–but extracting them all for recycling is nearly impossible. Above is a video of them trying.