› added 1 year ago

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TIL about Mehmet Ali Ağca. Dude murdered a journalist and shot Pope John Paul II, got released from prison, then went to the Vatican and asked to meet Pope Francis and write a book with Dan Brown.

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via reddit.com

69AaX TIL that our ancient ancestor, H. erectus (upright man) was the longest surviving human ancestor that we know of. The span of time they were alive on the Earth is estimated at 1.5 million years, compared to modern humans, at around 400,000 years!
91vQ TIL that glass is transparent because of quantum mechanics, not due to the density of the particles. Basically since there are discrete energy states, if the photon can’t excite the electron up to the next orbital, it just falls back down and shoots the photon out with the same momentum as before.
oBX8L TIL people would come and go during movies before Psycho. Hitchcock required theaters to not allow people in after it started. It was after that when people would watch entire movies more regularly from start to end
r1ed TIL that the guy who offered the 100,000 Jews a safe haven in the Dominican republic was a bloodthirsty dictator
gLEA TIL when Facebook users voted for Taylor Swift to perform at a school for deaf students as a prank, the school was removed from the contest, but Swift donated $10K to the school, 4 companies matched her donation, VH1 gave $10k in instruments, & Swift gave the students tickets to her Boston concert.