› added 9 years ago

106

TIL that a physicist made his cat the co-author of his scientific paper to avoid replacing “we” with “I” throughout his paper.

Read more books.google.co.uk

via reddit.com

X0kE6 TIL Rani-ki-Vav is an inverted, underground temple in India from the 11th century going 30m deep through a series of seven levels of stairs and four pavilions. With 1,500 sculptures designed to honor the sanctity of water, it is one of the best known examples of subterranean water architecture
kjNg TIL In 1980 after a simple miscalculation, a drilling company accidentally punctured the roof of a salt mine on Lake Peigneur, draining 2.5 million gallons in less than 3 hours. The whirlpool was so strong it sucked barges to the bottom and reversed the Gulf of Mexico.
R5wOw TIL the military helped invent Cheetos as they needed shelf-stable food for WWII and ended up with a mountain of dehydrated cheese after the war ended.
KOyV4 TIL that "decimation" means "removal of a tenth" in Latin, and refers to a Roman practice in which military commanders punished units for capital offenses by having soldiers execute 1 in 10 of their comrades.
p8bAe TIL a patient was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder triggered by excessive internet role play. Doctors concluded that cyberspace's anonymous interactivity may offer the possibility to explore one's identity while also putting at risk identity coherence.