› added 11 years ago

72

TIL that slaves and serfs made up around three-quarters of the world’s population at the beginning of the 19th century.

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WkpP9 TIL that in a group of 23 random people there is a 50% probability that a pair of the individuals share a birthday - despite there being 365 separate days each person can be born. This is referred to as the birthday paradox. With a group of just 70 people, this probability goes up to 99.9%!
mM1x TIL JJ Abrams was going to go to Film School but went to an academic college on his father’s advice, “it’s more important that you go off and learn what to make movies about than how to make movies.”
LQr1p TIL "once in a blue moon" is around every 2.7172 years and is coincidentally close to the number e.
od4r TIL Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s father was named Homer, Mother was Marge, and had sisters named Maggie and Lisa. Bonus: His mother’s maiden name was Wiggum.
kOMZe TIL the Ancient Greek poet Sotades made fun of Ptolemy II of Egypt for marrying his own sister. For this the poet was imprisoned. He briefly escaped before being recaptured on the island of Caunus, shut up in a leaden chest and thrown into the sea.