Mystery

Why the World Calls China “China” — Not “Zhongguo”
English does not call China Zhongguo because the name reached Europe through a chain that started with Qin. Zhongguo is an internal term. For centuries it described the central states or the central kingdom. It was not the name traders carried west. The name they carried came from Qin.
By Jin19 days ago in FYI
The Flying Saucer Sold in Yiwu for $1.2 Billion Can’t Take You Anywhere
I. The flying saucer in the Yiwu showroom In September 2026, on the fourth floor of the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center in Zhejiang, a disc-shaped aircraft sits in the showroom of Shenzhen Zhihang UAV. It is about 5 meters in diameter, with a 360° fully transparent spherical cockpit. The body is assembled from fiberglass, carbon fiber, aluminum alloy, and aviation plywood. Six ducted fans are completely enclosed inside the fuselage; no propellers are visible from the outside.
By Jin20 days ago in FYI
What Happens When a Chicken Eats a Leech? The Answer Is Inside the Gizzard
If a chicken eats a leech, will the leech bore through its stomach and feed on its blood long-term? A chicken pecks by a pond and swallows a leech. The leech will not enjoy what happens next.
By Jin22 days ago in FYI
The 88 Hours That Broke Mathematics
88 Hours September 8, 2026, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. Tristan Buckmaster stood at the blackboard in his office, writing an equation with his left hand. Chalk dust fell on his cuff. He did not brush it off. The coffee on the desk had gone cold, and the rim of the cup had a chip. He took a sip, then set it down. He texted his wife: "Today might be a big day." Then he turned his phone over, screen down.
By Jin23 days ago in FYI
Zhang Yuanfu lost on his first night. Then he went back to his 300 clay crocks, and let fermentation take the trophy.
Zhang Yuanfu stood at the stove of the Hundred Chefs Battle for the first time, and the dish he sent up was returned. The judge did not say anything harsh, only tasted a bite, put down the spoon, and did not take a second chopstickful. Liang Jinglun later said the dish was “right in flavor, but wrong.” Zhang Yuanfu stood at the stove, his apron speckled with oil, the back of his hand stained with splattered sauce. He did not argue. He carried the dish back to the kitchen, dumped it in the trash, and washed the pan.
By Jin24 days ago in FYI
AI Just Did in 6 Months What Mathematicians Couldn't Do in 50 Years. Now 25 Fields Medalists Are Begging It to Slow Down.
When AI starts clearing out mathematical conjectures In 2026, if you only read headlines, you would think mathematics had suddenly entered harvest season.
By Jin25 days ago in FYI
AI Is Solving Math. That’s the Problem.
Is AI Killing the Open Tradition of Mathematics? On the third day after Terence Tao posted in the math community, the comment section had hundreds of replies. He answered them one by one, sometimes still online at 3 a.m. He had discussed AI in public before. This time the tone was different. He wrote: “Those open problems that can generate new methods and new insights are a kind of non-renewable resource that may be rapidly consumed.”
By Jin26 days ago in FYI
A number of things indicate the writing's on the wall
As I explained in the second part of this look at the ominous omens indicating a New World Order could be on the horizon I suggested World Goodwill’s "Coming One" could already be waiting in the wings, just biding time until the right moment arrives for a Google search to produce the big reveal... because if anyone should know that person’s identify there's a certain someone who could possibly serve as a gatekeeper with his finger right on the pulse.
By Steve Harrison28 days ago in FYI
The Hodge Conjecture Rumor: OpenAI, a Viral Tweet, and the Math World’s Quiet Fury
Around September 9, 2026, a post on X began to be shared repeatedly. The user synthwavedd wrote that the Hodge conjecture “is very close to being verified by OpenAI,” and said that either OpenAI or Anthropic was also close to solving the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. He added that the intensity of the behind-the-scenes race for “the next one” was unlike anything he had ever heard described.
By Jin28 days ago in FYI
Memory Is a Mirage: The Past You Remember Is a Story Your Present Rewrites
At 3 a.m. I searched "Mandela effect." The phone screen lit the half-empty packet of stomach medicine on my desk. I remembered Mandela dying in prison. A television news report. Black and white. Someone crying. Then I found out he became president of South Africa in 1994 and died in 2013. I typed "parallel universe" into the search bar. Then I deleted it.
By Jin28 days ago in FYI
Pareidolia or a serpent hidden in plain sight?
In the first part of this investigation into the ominous hints of an impending takeover by a New World Order manifested in the unusual imagery at the United Nations’ Security Council Chamber, Denver Airport, on a Google-esque wallpaper download as well as inside the Hall of the Pontifical Audiences, I pointed out the serpentine symbolism in architect Pier Luigi Nervi’s Vatican auditorium... but the question many readers will probably be wondering is: “So what?”
By Steve Harrison28 days ago in FYI
Freaky frescos from the Vatican to demonic Denver Airport
Okay so I’ve used the term “fresco” a little loosely in the headline above when I’m really referring to “artwork” which would probably have served just as well... guess I’m just a sucker for alliteration though.
By Steve Harrison29 days ago in FYI