💡 You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?
TIL Sisyphus, doomed to roll a boulder forever, wasn’t a victim - he was an evil manipulative king who killed guests and unhonourably cheated Death. His punishment was for his calculated cruelty, a way of saying, there you go, you beat death, enjoy your eternity. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL the idea for Staples was born on July 4th, 1985 when its founder ran out of printer ribbon on the 4th of July and couldn’t find a single store open to buy any. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that loneliness has the same impact on early death as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it more dangerous than obesity. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that Peter Dinklage (135 cm) is closer in height to Danny DeVito (152 cm) than to Warwick Davis (107 cm) - but DeVito is 5 cm too tall to qualify for dwarfism. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL about Gail Halvorsen, known as the "Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings" who began dropping candy on little handkerchief parachutes to kids in West Berlin during the Soviet Blockade (1948-1949). His impromptu "Operation Little Vittles" eventually dropped 23 tons of candy. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that prohibition-era laws in Kansas that banned public bars remained in effect until as recently as 1987. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that Elizabeth I inadvertently ruined the marriage of two of her nobles, George Talbot and Bess of Hardwick, by making them host the deposed Mary, Queen of Scots. The financial burden from hosting Mary and rumors of an affair between George and Mary eventually led to the couple’s estrangement [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that on average, civilizations last 336 years [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL People with depression use language differently. They use significantly more first person singular pronouns – such as “me”, “myself” and “I”. Researchers have reported that pronouns are actually more reliable in identifying depression than negative emotion words. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that between 2020 and 2023, there were over 500 orca attacks on boats around Spain, committed by as few as just 15 different orcas [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that in the 1952 Texas gubernatorial election, incumbent Allan Shivers ran on both the Democratic and Republican tickets, beating himself 73%-25%. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL of Janet Parker from the University of Birmingham Medical School. She likely contracted smallpox via air ducts in her office via a lab where researchers kept samples. Within 4 weeks she was dead, her father died of a heart attack visiting her in the hospital and her boss cut his own throat. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that the movie Mars Attacks! was based on a 1962 trading card series featuring graphic art of Martians vaporizing soldiers, abducting women, and destroying cities, which caused public outrage and was pulled from shelves. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL, that when Nelson Mandela left prison, one of the first places he visited was Ireland but he was only allowed to give a speach to the Dáil, one of the two houses of the Irish parliment, as speaking to both was a right reserved for Heads of State. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL the oldest bones found in Antarctica belonged to an indigenous woman from Chile who died in her early 20s. Found on a beach, it's estimated she came to Antarctica between 1819 and 1825. There are no surviving documents explaining how or why a young woman came to be in Antarctica during this era [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that most people have no idea what their own voice really sounds like because the skull vibrates and makes it sound deeper in your head. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL until 2012 in the UK, it was only legal to get married between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL the world’s oldest country is San Marino. This small country covering just 62 square kilometres was founded in 301 AD. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL After The Who's legendary drummer Keith Moon died in '78 they began a search for a new drummer. Phil Collins was between bands at the time and was excited to ask the band to be Moon's replacement. However, Pete Townsend had just offered the job to Kenney Jones and so turned down Collins [Source]
Читать полностью…TiL the critically endangered Kakapo bird has a strong, pleasant, musty odor which allows predators to easily locate it [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL Hulk's comic book alter ego, Dr. Bruce Banner, was changed to Dr. David Banner for “The Incredible Hulk” television series. This change was made because writer and producer Kenneth Johnson did not want the series to be perceived as a comic book series. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that Jayne Mansfield's father died of a heart attack while she was in the car with him. She was 3 years old. Her daughter, Mariska Hargitay, was in the car accident that killed Mansfield. Mariska was also 3 years old at the time. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL about the Skoptsy, an 18th century Russian Christian sect. They were best known for practicing castration/mastectomies/FGM in accordance with their teachings against lust. The belief originated in a mistranslation of a biblical command as “castrate yourselves” rather than “be fruitful”. [Source]
Читать полностью…Til a parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, is killing bees and untreated hives are typically dead within 2-3 years [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL Nickelback was defended by Deadpool in the teaser trailer for 2018's "Once Upon a Deadpool." In response, Nickelback released a video in 2024 defending "Deadpool & Wolverine" from criticism. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that the McDonald's #1 Store Museum, "officially" the first McDonald's, is actually a replica of the ninth restaurant location, which was torn down and rebuilt in 1985. The company refers to it as the original because it was the first opened after former CEO Ray Kroc joined the company. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that in January 2010, the city of Black Hawk, Colorado forbade riding bicycles in their streets (except for town locals). The law was later reversed by the Colorado Supreme Court in 2013, primarily on grounds that Black Hawk never provided alternative paths for bicycle riders. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL Female frogs fake death to avoid mating with male frogs they don’t find attractive. [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL of the Desert of Maine, 20+ acres of ancient glacial sand dunes in the midst of a pine forest [Source]
Читать полностью…TIL that Dr. Sigmund Rascher, who conducted inhuman experiments on concentration camp inmates, was executed at the end of World War II...not for his war crimes, but on the direct orders of Heinrich Himmler, for "financial irregularities" and other actions which embarrassed Himmler. [Source]
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