4kWgX TIL that Stand Watie, a Cherokee politician, was the last Confederate General to surrender. He surrendered in late June 1865, almost three months after Robert E. Lee had surrendered
x6nL1 Today I learned that meme song “Schfifty five” didn’t actually originate from the flash animation, but it came from a Arabian band called “Group X”
epbRJ TIL the largest animal is not the blue whale but the Lion's mane jellyfish
VBbn8 TIL many UFO sightings are psychologically explained by the brain's tendency toward Pareidolia (seeing patterns in ambiguous stimuli) and Apophenia (seeing meaningful connections in random data), leading people to perceive mundane objects as structured alien craft.
X0b58 TIL when Galileo discovered Saturn’s rings, he sent letters to his fellow Astronomers announcing this, but in code. One of the people who got this letter was Johannes Kepler, who misinterpreted it as saying there were two moons of Mars. The two moons of Mars would not be discovered until 1877
OGvgR Today I learned about Muyake events which are shifts in measured radioactive isotopes found on earth -likely caused by massive discharges of solar energy or gamma ray bursts
69wAJ TIL in the 1890’s Gallaudet University, a school for deaf and hard of hearing, invented the QB Huddle due to other team being able to read sign language aswell
wo4e1 TIL while filming Lawrence of Arabia (1962) actor Peter O'Toole found the saddle on his camel to be quite uncomfortable so he attached a piece of foam rubber to it that he bought at a market. This earned him the nickname "Abu-'Isfanj" from the Bedouin people which means "Father of the Sponge"
R5yrQ TIL Rat and Mice urine contain proteins called MUPs (Major Urinary Proteins.) They can promote aggression, sexual attraction, mark territories, warn of predators and are responsible for urine allergies. Researchers developing screening for kidney disease accidently discovered them.
W7b9A TIL for the software Microsoft Bob, Microsoft originally purchased the domain name bob.com from Boston-area techie Bob Antia, but later traded it to Bob Kerstein for the windows2000.com domain name.
9wXAX TIL about the Heidi Game, a 1968 Jets–Raiders matchup in which NBC cut to the movie Heidi at 7 p.m. on the East Coast, causing viewers to miss Oakland’s two late touchdowns in a 43–32 comeback. This led to games being shown to their conclusion in the markets of the visiting team.
nWMnP TIL during the Falklands War, the British Government and BBC accidentally announced early the real plan for British troops to attack Goose Green. The Argentine commander heard the broadcast but chose to ignore it as he thought it was just a psychological stunt