› added 11 years ago

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TIL when Anders Celsius invented the temperature scale, he put 100 degrees as the point for freezing and 0 degrees as the point for boiling. Another scientist, Carl Linnaeus, waited until Celsius had died to change the scale to the way we read it today.

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W7e1B TIL that when the Nazis threatened to execute Archbishop of Greece Damaskinos for speaking against the deportations of the Greek Jews he replied: "According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our leaders are hanged, not shot. Please respect our traditions."
epdg TIL Bayer sold millions of $ of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs with a high risk of transmitting AIDS to Asia & Latin America in the mid-80s, while selling safer product in the West.
kJ0r1 TIL there has been only one spacewalk with more than two people, which was on the STS-49 space shuttle mission. Astronauts Pierre Thuot, Rick Hieb, and Thomas Akers performed an unscheduled spacewalk in order to capture a faulty satellite after several previous two-man attempts had failed.
O4L4 TIL That the highest fighter ace during the Battle of Britain was so ill-disciplined that he was seen as a danger to his colleagues, so he flew a ‘spare’ aircraft and flew his own patrols crediting 17 kills within a month. He was then killed in a crash while attempting to impress his girlfriend.
jNYyp TIL professional baseball player Rupert Mills played a non-existent 1916 season for his disbanded Federal League team by showing up to the empty ballpark every day, ready to play, in order to earn his salary