› added 12 years ago

128

TIL that suicide rates aren’t highest among teens or young adults, but the elderly in their seventies/eighties

Read more 50thingstonotknow.blogspot.com

via reddit.com

p8GxN TIL that George Wallace was reelected as Governor of Alabama in the 80's by winning over many black voters. He would then appoint over 160 African Americans into positions of power in the state
b9bA4 TIL that the reason people didn’t smile in old photos is because early photography was inspired by painting, where smiling was seen as inappropriate while stern looks appeared more formal for portraits.
9wOg7 TIL that there's a species of ant called "Colobopsis explodens" that can explode on command to defend its colony. These "exploding ants" rupture their abdomens, releasing a sticky, toxic fluid to incapacitate threats
Y78YW TIL A microscope can simply be reversed to make a telescope. Both telescopes and microscopes were in use in Holland by the end of the sixteenth century
9Y1lG TIL that the musician Lenny Kravitz is named after his uncle who was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his actions during the Korean War