› added 12 years ago

512

TIL that AIDS was originally called GRID, short for Gay Related Immune Deficiency

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

loRP7 TIL that the first message ever sent over the internet was “LO” in 1969. A programmer at UCLA attempted to send each letter of the word “LOGIN” to the Stanford Research institute, but the machine crashed after the first two.
Wk9w4 TIL that when Clennon King applied to study at the University of Mississippi in 1958 he was arrested and placed in a mental asylum because he was black and therefore considered insane since no other black person had ever tried to enter the university.
XE0P6 TIL of Richard Turner, a true American badass. One of the best card magicians in the world, he also earned a karate black belt in the toughest karate school in the country, hunted sharks, climbed cliffs without securing and became a trapeze artist. Oh, and he lost his eyesight at the age of 9.
oRdkK TIL the first 2 Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve were written by Mario Puzo, who also wrote the Godfather movies
9YQlp TIL John Steinbeck’s dog, Toby, ate his manuscript of Of Mice and Men. There was no other draft. Steinbeck said of the incident, “I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically. I didn’t want to ruin a good dog for a ms (manuscript), I’m not sure is good at all.”