› added 1 year ago

126

TIL the name Teddy Bear comes from President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear

Read more nps.gov

via reddit.com

GxME TIL 13 paintings were stolen from an art museum in Boston in 1990 by two thieves dressed in police uniforms, who tricked museum security into letting them access the gallery. Value of the paintings lost was over $500 million, making it the largest private property heist in history, still unsolved
9YK9X TIL that human subjects have been shown to grossly underestimate exponential growth. "Neither special instructions about the nature of exponential growth nor daily experience with growth processes enhanced the extrapolations."
VMwPB TIL that bill Watterson was strongly opposed to merchandising calvin and hobbes, claiming that displaying images on commercially sold products would devalue the characters and their personalities. Bill's stance against commercialism is the main reason why the series never made it to TV or movies.
LnY0 TIL before the 1800s, people had “first” and “second sleep”. They would sleep 3-4 hours, wake up for 2-3 hours to do some type of activity, then go back to sleep until morning.
pYmBA TIL that in 1956, the US Air Force lost control of an unmanned drone and tried to shoot it down. Jet fighters fired 208 rockets at the drone. They all missed; the rockets started fires on the ground, and the drone crashed by itself when it ran out of fuel.