› added 3 years ago

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TIL Current theory is Venus initially spun anticlockwise. In a way, still does, but upside down. It flipped its axis 180 degrees at some point. Theory: Sun's gravitational pull on Venus' atmosphere caused strong atmospheric tides that combined w/ friction between Venus' mantle and core, flipping it.

Read more sciencedirect.com

via reddit.com

LKKQ TIL that in the 1920s a Chicago man convinced his wife to pull out all her teeth then refused to get her dentures because it was ‘cheaper to feed her with soup than solid food’. She took him to court and he was ordered to get her 2 new sets of teeth and a beefsteak a week.
bjrE TIL the band They Might Be Giants wrote a song, “Why Does the Sun Shine?” explaining that the Sun is mostly gas. After learning that isn’t true though, they made another song called “Why Does the Sun Really Shine?” to rectify their mistake.
XElNR TIL that P.T. Barnum's famous elephant Jumbo got his name from the Swahili word for chief. It was the elephant who caused the word "jumbo" to mean something large - not the other way around.
4kkAo TIL of 'brood parasitic' Cuckoo Bumblebees - they don't make nests or form colonies; their queens aggressively invade the nests of other bumblebee species, kill the resident queens, and then lay their own eggs, which are cared for by the resident workers.
6aMJ TIL that Nickleback’s manager instructed Jimmy Kimmel Live director Bobcat Goldwait not to shoot Chad Kroeger from profile because of his big nose. Goldwait waited until there were 10 seconds left in the band’s live performance, then ordered all cameras to shoot Kroeger’s nose.