› added 8 years ago

173

TIL that the Earth’s day/night cycle is growing longer year-by-year and 620 million years ago, the Earth day was 21.9 hours.

Read more scientificamerican.com

via reddit.com

E1xwd TIL In 1969 Forrest Parry, an IBM engineer, had the idea to affix magnetic tape to a plastic card. Every adhesive failed. He went home frustrated. His wife was ironing when he walked in. She suggested he fuse the tape onto the card with the iron. It was a success, and the magstripe card was born.
J1dr4 TIL that the first bees emerged over 120 million years ago, surviving the dinasour wipe out. It is revealed in a recent study in Current Biology. Surprisingly, bees diversified and spread much faster than previously believed.
Pw4O TIL that a young stripper named Shelly Bauman lost her leg in a freak confetti cannon accident. She sued and used the money from the settlement to open Seattle’s first gay bar, which she named “Shelly’s Leg.”
X0Ea6 TIL Sanrio, the company responsible for Hello Kitty, started out selling silk in the 1960s. When they started to sell sandals, the founder noticed that sandals with cuter designs sold better. This caused him to hire cartoonists to create cute characters for his company.
697vJ TIL that when Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes, he was working as a doctor in the NHS. On the day he broke the record, he had already worked a morning shift at St Mary's hospital in London, and then caught the train to Oxford where he ran the race.