› added 12 years ago

81

TIL in 2011 researchers let 100 paper planes go 23 miles above Germany. Some have since been found in Canada, USA, Australia and South Africa.

Read more projectspaceplanes.com

via reddit.com

vPZjj TIL In 2014, China's first astronaut Yang Liwei joined Buzz Aldrin at the International Planetary Congress to explore possibilities for expanding human spaceflight cooperation. The movie "Gravity" was part of a discussion on rescuing astronauts in peril between space stations
gM514 TIL in Renaissance Italy courtesans were known as cortigiana or "courtier". These women were well-educated more so than women of nobility & simultaneously artists, dancers & singers. These women were often treated as equals to women of nobility.
nLOo TIL the word cereal comes from the the Roman goddess Ceres, and her association with edible grains.
jYbM TIL America’s first serial killers were the Bender family in 1800s Kansas. They targeted westward settlers, had them sit in a seat of honor at their inn, then hit them in the head with a hammer and cut their throats. They are suspected of killing 21.
nD69 TIL that the identical triplets Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm have tiny black dots tattooed onto their bottocks, which their parents used to distinguish them when they were babies.