SortStack #515 — 2027-11-06

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. A proper hand wash, by WHO guidelines 19.8 sec

   The recommended scrub lasts about as long as singing 'Happy Birthday' twice — most people manage barely a third of it.

3. An episode of The Simpsons, without adverts 22 min

   The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime series in US history — Bart has been ten years old for over three and a half decades.

4. NASA's Perseverance rover travelling from Earth to Mars 203 days

   The 480-million-km cruise ended with the 'seven minutes of terror' landing — and the rover carried a small helicopter, Ingenuity, strapped to its belly.

5. The era of the Crusades, from the first to the fall of Acre 194.9 years

   Nine major crusades spanned 195 years — and the Fourth never reached the Holy Land at all, sacking Christian Constantinople instead.

6. The time since humans invented the wheel 5.5K years

   Potter's wheels came before wheels for transport — and the oldest wooden wheel ever found, near Ljubljana, is about 5,150 years old.

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