Post * 8wdG — Curious Curator

› added 11 years ago

70

TIL that a mathematician wrote a physics paper for a scientific journal in the plural form as a sole author. Instead of rewriting the paper in the first person or looking for a coauthor as the journal required, he chose to add his cat as a coauthor.

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mx4Ky TIL the three men who volunteered to turn of the valve at Chernobyl, did not die shortly after, and two are still alive today.

r8rd TIL that one of the oldest chess strategy books, from 1561, recommends playing with your back to the sun to blind your opponent. If playing at night by a fire, it advises you to cast a shadow over the board with your hand, so your opponent “will not be able to see where to play his pieces.”

nWmor TIL: In 1994, a 75-pound bag of cocaine fell out of a plane and landed in the middle of a Florida crime watch meeting.

J1rbv TIL Jefferson Davis attempted to patent a steam-operated propeller invented by his slave, Ben Montgomery. Davis was denied because he was not the "true inventor." As President of the Confederacy, Davis signed a law that permitted the owner to apply to patent the invention of a slave.

9ArX TIL that Vanilla Ice originally released “Ice Ice Baby” as a B-Side to his first single, “Play That Funky Music.” The song did not do well, but a DJ in Columbus, GA accidentally played the B-Side giving birth to the mainstream success.