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50 results for en.wikipedia.org:
Submitted by synonyco t3_yg5vqq in todayilearned
TIL Amedeo Avogadro's contribution to chemistry, known as Avogadro's law, did not initially receive much attention when he published his paper in 1811. It was only a century later that his work was recognized, when the King of Italy attended a meeting commemorating the paper's 100th anniversary.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by dustofoblivion123 t3_ycu19z in todayilearned
TIL that one of the most popular medieval legends about Saint Nicholas of Myra (the original basis for the legend of Santa Claus) involves him magically resurrecting three children who were murdered by an evil butcher and sold as cured meat.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by themightyheptagon t3_yi8yyj in todayilearned
TIL Apollo 15 astronauts Scott, Worden and Irwin secretly carried 400 unauthorized postal covers in one of Scott’s spacesuit pockets to the Moon aboard the Falcon. They took payments for carrying the covers; were reprimanded by NASA and never flew in space again.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by thenerdknuckle t3_yigtnx in todayilearned
TIL That Matt Bissonnette, the former DEVGRU operator who, under the pseudonym Mark Owen, wrote the first book about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden was forced to turn over the almost $7 million he made from the book because he failed to get the book approved before it was published.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by GentPc t3_yby8ho in todayilearned
TIL that the famous author Thomas Pynchon has avoided publicity during his fifty-year career to the point that almost all known photos of him are from the 1950s. However, he voiced himself in two episodes of The Simpsons, where his dialogue consisted entirely of puns on the titles of his books.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by IHad360K_KarmaDammit t3_ybrkgp in todayilearned
TIL about "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell," which ran in prime time on ABC a few weeks before the late-night show on NBC, originally called "NBC's Saturday Night." The ABC show's cast included Bill Murray, Brian Doyle Murray and Christopher Guest, all of whom eventually joined NBC's show.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by PikesPique t3_xuouk3 in todayilearned
TIL after another band backed out, Malcolm McLaren suggested Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees play the 100 Club Punk Special. At the time, the band consisted only of Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin, so they had to borrow two musicians, one of which was Sid Vicious (who played drums).
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by man_itsahot_one t3_y6wngi in todayilearned
TIL Giovanni da Pian del Carpine was the first European to enter the court of the Great Khan. At 63 years old Carpine road 3000 miles in 106 days (including lent when he ate only salt, millet, and water) to appear before Khan Güyük. When Carpine returned he was made the Primate of Serbia.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_xvbt4d in todayilearned
TIL that the despite being the outermost bridge in NYC and the southernmost bridge in the whole state of NY, the Outerbridge Crossing in NYC is actually named after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, the first chairman of the Port of New York Authority.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by LOERMaster t3_yhewha in todayilearned
TIL about Operation Bernhard. During WWII, Germany attempted to bring about the collapse of the British economy by forging ≈£130 million in British bank notes. The notes are considered among the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, and are very difficult to differentiate from legitimate notes.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by rkadeYT t3_xwv3hr in todayilearned
TIL One of the only pieces of Hitler's dream reconstruction of Berlin as Germania is an enormous concrete cylinder in the Tiergarten neighborhood. It's called the Schwerbelastungskörper which translates as "heavy load-bearing body." It was to test the load-bearing capability of the ground.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by muttmutt2112 t3_ycngn3 in todayilearned
TIL Devon Allen, track & field athlete/Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, was disqualified in the World Athletic Championships for a controversial false start. The starting blocks measured his reaction time from the time the gun went off at 0.099, which is 0.001 seconds faster than legally allowed.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by The_Critical_Cynic t3_yfezcn in todayilearned
TIL. The Battle of Tanga also known as the battle of the bees, It is a failed attack on German East Africa by a british indian expeditionary force. The 98th infantry battalion were attacked by swarms of angry bees and broke up. The bees attacked both sides troops hence the name.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by BoredPelikan t3_y7vjgq in todayilearned
TIL Critical Periods: Periods of time where an organism's brain is extremely malleable and sensitive to stimuli. If the organism doesn't receive the appropriate stimulus during this critical period to learn a given skill- it maybe difficult or even impossible to develop certain associated functions
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by electroctopus t3_y7zzjt in todayilearned
TIL that the dogs in competitive agility don’t rehearse the course ahead of time. The courses are randomized at each competition, and the trainers (without their dogs) only see the layout beforehand on the same day. When the dog runs the course they are literally seeing it for the first time.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by Pyraunus t3_yb6lph in todayilearned
TIL that in 2005 burglars stole $71.6 million from a bank in Fortaleza, Brazil by setting up a fake landscaping company near the bank and digging a 256ft tunnel beneath two city blocks to the bank over 3 months. Neighbors noticed vanloads of soil removed daily but assumed it was business-related.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by Lagavulin16_neat t3_ya4qel in todayilearned
TIL about the first Crowdfunded Indian movie Manthan (Hindi), which was about the dairy cooperative pioneer Verghese Kurien who started the "White revolution" in India. The film was entirely funded by 500,000 dairy farmers each contributing Rs 2, showing the success of "collective might".
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by RealityCheck18 t3_xu19mv in todayilearned
TIL Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone is widely credited with introducing percussive playing on the electric bass in the 1969 song Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again). He stated that he developed bass slapping in an earlier band in order to compensate for that band's lack of a drummer.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by trifletruffles t3_ygitb8 in todayilearned
Submitted by JJKingwolf t3_yihhhu in todayilearned
TIL when it was discovered in 1963 that the Winchester manuscript of Le Morte d'Arthur was indeed Thomas Malory's, John Steinbeck caught wind of it and decided to translate it into modern English. Ultimately he abandoned the project, but what remained was published after his death.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by psgamemaster t3_yf4wx3 in todayilearned
TIL: Bill Medley is one of the original members of The Righteous Brothers (famous for their definitive 1965 cover of "Unchained Melody"), but he also sang on the duet "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", from the 1987 sound track of Dirty Dancing.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by tapdown t3_yg5jph in todayilearned