yVmyw TIL, one of the co-founders of Waffle House was a counterintelligence office that worked with the Manhattan Project and was later inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. He named the restaurant after the menu item with the largest profit margin.
m174y TIL the 8th game of the 1929 World Chess Championship was the only time in the history of the championship that a game ended in an actual checkmate on the board.
DQrpj TIL: The term Kung Fu (gongfu) doesn’t actually mean “martial art.” It refers to any skill achieved through time, effort, and discipline. The Chinese martial arts people usually call “kung fu” are more accurately called Wushu.
vPJVr TIL that in 1840, Britain introduced the “Penny Post,” allowing anyone to send a letter anywhere in the country for just one penny, making long-distance personal communication affordable for ordinary people for the first time.
J1Zdk TIL the average college student consumes over 16 ounces (0.5 kg) of dairy per day
pYKWp TIL Bruno Mars first gained recognition as a child in Honolulu, HI for his Elvis Presley impersonation before moving to LA and starting his music career
GAEQE TIL that the Bison population in Yellowstone (USA) is the only Bison herd to have existed in the wild since pre-historic times. All other wild populations were wiped out, and all other wild populations living today have been reintroduced by humans.
16LA4 TIL the first game of "space chess" was played on June 9, 1970 on the Soyuz 9 spacecraft. To hold the pieces down, magnetism wasn't feasible due to the sensitivity of on-board equipment, so grooves and rails were used. The game was against an Earth team as the spacecraft crossed over the USSR.
oRa98 TIL the UK has the most annual tornadoes by land area in the entire world, but they are generally much weaker than the ones that form in other countries like the US
dDPWQ TIL that scientists discovered a new carnivorous caterpillar in Hawaii that scavenges trapped insects in spider webs and wears their body parts as camouflage.
KYaQR TIL that Ace Books tried to publish unofficial editions of The Lord of the Rings by claiming that the official publisher hadn't copyrighted the work in the US, and that it was in the public domain. Tolkien objected to this, and eventually fan pressure was enough for them to withdraw their editions.
a8X4o TIL There's a genuine medical condition, where sufferers absolutely believe someone close to them has been 'swapped' with an imposter, as if they're really living "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the original patient was a "Madame Macabre", it's known as Capgras delusion.