› added 6 years ago

66

TIL of the McNamara fallacy: choosing whether or not to do something solely based on statistics, and ignoring non-quantifiable confounding factors. It is named for US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's assumption that a greater personnel count would have lead the US to victory against Vietnam.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

8avnZ TIL when actor Ving Rhames won a Golden Globe in 1998, he called fellow nominee Jack Lemmon to the stage and gave him the award, saying, "I feel like being an artist is about giving, and I'd like to give this to you, Mr. Jack Lemmon."
BrAyy TIL: In the 1800's James F O'Connell was marooned on Pohnpei Island where he was coerced into getting tattooed head to toe by the locals. When he was eventually rescued, he joined PT Barnum's Circus as "The Tattooed Irishman" and became the world's first tattooed showman
Oo7B7 TIL Martin Luther King Jr. studied Gandhi and practiced "satyagraha"
rN6G0 TIL a fungus infects ants' central nervous systems. Once it has been in an insect for 9 days, it acquires full control. It forces the ant to climb trees, then convulse and fall into the moist soil. Once there, the fungus waits until solar noon to force the ant to bite a leaf and wait for death.
KOw16 TIL that Tupac's godmother, Assata Shakur, was a Black Panther, Black Liberation Army member, revolutionary and bank robber. She was convicted for the murder of a police officer, escaped prison, found asylum in Cuba, and is still alive with a 2 million dollar American bounty on her head.