Post * 5g7n — Curious Curator

› added 12 years ago

102

TIL with over $8.5 billion worldwide film earnings, Tom Hanks is the highest all-time box office star.

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epEvD TIL Howard Hughes once refused to leave a hotel room in Las Vegas. Instead of leaving, he decided to purchase the entire hotel. Hughes then expanded his holdings in the city, became the largest employer in Nevada, and was thought to be largely responsible for the modern transformation of Las Vegas.

JYkeB TIL that South African inventor Charl Fourie invented a car-mounted flamethrower in 1998 to deter carjackings. The device was legal in South Africa when used in self-defense, but proved to be unprofitable, leading the inventor to design a pocket-sized flamethrower instead

j6R6E TIL Doctors are required to have their appendix removed before being stationed in Antarctica. This is to avoid the repeat of a 1961 situation, when the doctor at a Russian station removed his own appendix with the help of untrained expeditioners.

wNVP TIL Charles Darwin’s cousin invented the dog whistle, meteorology, forensic fingerprinting, mathematical correlation, the concept of “eugenics” and “nature vs nurture”, and the concept of inherited intelligence, with an estimated IQ of 200.

QNGR6 TIL that Liechtenstein and Haiti had the exact same flag for decades, with nobody realizing it. Then, confusion arose when they both waved their flags at the 1936 Olympics. Both countries were shocked, and quickly modified their flags; Liechtenstein added a crown, while Haiti added a coat of arms.