› added 7 years ago

72

TIL of the "Bucket of Crabs" mentality. It is best expressed as "if I can't have it, neither can you." This is because any crab could get out of the bucket, but they prevent each other from escaping instead of focusing on it.

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OoOae TIL that a USSR physicist published his equations for solving reflected electromagnetic waves from surfaces, as the Soviet authorities considered them insignificant for military purposes. His work was found by Lockheed in the 1970s, leading to a breakthrough in developing their stealth plane F-117.
nJ4G TIL that there were only two black combat pilots in the First World War. Eugene Bullard was an African-American who served with the French Air Force and Ahmet Ali Çelikten, an Arab-African who flew with the Ottoman Air Force… placing them both on opposite sides of the conflict.
ZpdoR TIL That Alawites, a branch of Shia Islam present in Syria, believe that humans were once stars in the firmament that were casted out of it due to divine punishment and have to go through several reincarnations before they can return to the sky
xVRVo TIL that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the BBC apologised for a live political debate show where some in the audience told the US Ambassador that America had brought 9/11 on itself as a result of its foreign policy .
5YjEr TIL about the Secret Museum in Naples that houses artifacts taken from Pompeii that were deemed too pornographic and unsuitable for the public by archaeologists. Until 1980 only men with written permission from a minister of the king’s household could view the collection.