› added 11 years ago

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TIL X and Y chromosomes weren’t named for their shapes, it’s entirely coincidental that they look that way during mitosis!

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jLLp TIL the cross-dressing character “Corporal Klinger” on MAS*H was inspired by the ‘50s/'60s counterculture comedian Lenny Bruce who was dishonorably discharged from the Navy during WWII for wearing a woman’s uniform and claiming homosexual tendencies
dGMr TIL that Canada’s new Governor General-designate is an astronaut, spent time on the ISS, speaks 6 languages, did research at the IBM lab in Zurich, played piano and sang with several orchestras, and has helped make space robots.
6Em6X TIL the term “square meal” comes from the British navy where plates were square with raised edges to stop food spilling in rough seas.
RJoa TIL of the ‘Radium Girls’ who worked in a factory where they worked with luminescent radium. Not knowing it was dangerous, they oftenpainted it on their lips and teeth for fun. They began to develop radium necrosis, causing their jaws to rot and develop disfiguring tumors, and eventually died.
xDJB TIL that given Sean Connery’s rugged appearance and rough charm, a former lover of his initially thought he was “a most appalling person” and was not attracted to him until she saw him in a kilt, upon which she declared him to be “the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life.”