› added 8 years ago

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TIL that if we had a spacecraft that could “simply” accelerate at a constant 1g (the acceleration rate of free-falling objects due to gravity), then the passengers would be able to travel through the entire KNOWN universe, not merely the observable universe, in just one lifetime.

b9NE4 TIL that the early 19th-century American interpretation of Santa Claus was part of a movement to tone down the wild Christmas celebrations of the era, which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing (caroling), substantial premarital sex, and public displays of sexual deviancy
VMeMk TIL the instruction "rinse and repeat" on the shampoo bottle is not a gimmick to sell more shampoo and, in fact, to get the same lather on one attempt requires more shampoo than using a small amount on the first application to rid the dirt without lather and then achieving lather on the second.
R7677 TIL that when the allied forces were at the edge of the city, Hitler ordered the destruction of Paris. The Nazi commander of Paris couldn’t bring himself to execute the order and surrendered the city a few days later.
J1dBj TIL that in sociology, there's the notion of the "third place". The 1st place is your home. The 2nd place is your workplace and the 3rd place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place").
VBOY0 TIL the Federal Reserve hosts central bankers in Jackson Hole because Paul Volcker liked fly fishing and they wanted him to actually show up