• UK and Japan both have a minister for tackling the loneless epidemic.

  • From the excellent Derek Thompson for The Atlantic,

    Several years ago, Nick Epley, a psychologist at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, asked commuter-train passengers to make a prediction: How would they feel if asked to spend the ride talking with a stranger? Most participants predicted that quiet solitude would make for a better commute than having a long chat with someone they didn’t know. Then Epley’s team created an experiment in which some people were asked to keep to themselves, while others were instructed to talk with a stranger (“The longer the conversation, the better,” participants were told). Afterward, people filled out a questionnaire. How did they feel? Despite the broad assumption that the best commute is a silent one, the people instructed to talk with strangers actually reported feeling significantly more positive than those who’d kept to themselves.

  • From University Challenge S54E15,

    What city, the third most populous of Pakistan, was renamed in 1977 after the King of Saudi Arabia who had been assassinated two years earlier?
    Faisalabad (also referred to as the Manchester of Pakistan)