Things I learned lately 18 August

• The number of cabs in Calgary hasn't changed much over the decades. The city capped the number of cabs in 1986 at 1311. Today there are 1466, despite the population nearly doubling since then.
• There's enough gold in the earth's core to form a 1.5 foot coating across the entire surface.
• Olympus Mons on Mars is 27km tall - 3 times the height of Mount Everest. It's so tall it sticks out of the atmosphere. It is 550km across at its base - so wide that if you were standing on the edge of the caldera, the base of the volcano would be beyond the horizon.
• If the Andromeda galaxy were visible to the naked eye, it would be 6 times bigger than a full moon.
• You can rent 'The Islands' of Copperfield Bay on Musha Cay in the Bahamas (owned by David Copperfield) for only $37,500 per night (for up to 12 people) during low season. If that's too rich for you, there are other islands in the Bahamas starting at only $12,000 per night.
• At Facebook, if you're having an issue with work tools like your keyboard or you need a laptop charger, there are vending machines scattered around the campus where you can swipe your badge and get what you need right away.
• Facebook lets its employees work on any type of computer they want. Mac, Linux, Windows, tablet, whatever.
• Jay Leno's last Tonight Show will air 6 Feb 2014.
• The Prime Minister of Norway dressed as a cab driver and took people around Oslo to find out 'what people really think'.
• Another newspaper apparently doesn't mind the possibility of losing customers and becoming irrelevant, as The Toronto Star just announced that they'll go behind a paywall soon.
• Seattle police tried a new idea to reach out to pot users at the city's 22nd annual Hempfest. They are handing out 1,000 bags of Doritos with a link to a website entitled "Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle." Washington state legalized marijuana last year.