› added 8 years ago

580

TIL barns are painted red because red paint is cheap. The paint is cheap because iron is plentiful, and iron is plentiful because it is the final element formed out of a star’s death.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via ift.tt

OGMv1 TIL The Collective Noun is the term used for the noun that denotes a group of individual animals. Usually a colorful and descriptive noun that lets people know you are talking about a group and not one. Vultures have one of the Largest Numbers of Collective Nouns based on what they are doing.
N7EDQ TIL After flying 65 combat missions over North Vietnam (144 total), Guion Bluford became the first African American to qualify as a NASA astronaut in 1979. He also became the first African American in space in 1983, ultimately logging over 688 hours across four Space Shuttle missions.
x60VB TIL that Mel Brooks won his first Oscar as a narrator in a short animated cartoon depicting an elderly gentleman in a wrong movie theater watching an abstract movie, who struggles to understand what he's actually looking at
j6GME TIL Taiwan has one of the highest oral cancer rates in the world. The cause is mainly a culturally consumed nut called Betel. Betel nuts are carcinogenic and cause a stimulating high when chewed. Mainly consumed by blue-collar and indigenous Taiwanese, the practice remains legal but discouraged.
YpeEB TIL that there was another general Paulus responsible for the fall of an empire. After revolting against the western roman emperor, the Heruli stormed on Italy. General Paulus was leading the remainder of the roman army. The Battle of Ravenna was the finishing blow to the empire.