SortStack #130 — 2026-10-17

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. An average human yawn 6 sec

   Yawns are so contagious they jump species: dogs catch yawns from their owners, and even reading the word can trigger one. You're welcome.

2. Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday 46 days

   It's famously a 40-day fast, but the calendar span is 46 days — Sundays are feast days and traditionally don't count.

3. Mike the Headless Chicken's life after losing his head 1.5 years

   The 1945 axe missed Mike's brain stem; fed by eyedropper, he toured sideshows and his Colorado hometown still throws him an annual festival.

4. A periodical cicada's life cycle, egg to final emergence 17 years

   They spend 17 years underground and mere weeks in the sun — the prime-numbered cycle may have evolved to dodge predators' breeding rhythms.

5. The time since Vesuvius buried Pompeii 1.9K years

   The AD 79 ash preserved loaves of bread still sitting in ovens — one carbonized loaf even bears its baker's stamp.

6. A photon's journey from the Sun's core to its surface 170K years

   Energy ricochets through the dense interior for on the order of 100,000 years — then crosses the void to Earth in barely eight minutes.

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