› added 11 years ago

623

TIL when Charles Darwin first discovered the Galapagos Tortoises he tried to ride them

Read more history1800s.about.com

via reddit.com

M7yv8 TIL about the death of Mary Jane Barker. She was a 4-year-old who disappeared alongside her friend Maria Freitta's dog in February 1957. In March, Maria found her corpse alongside the still-alive dog in a closet in a new vacant house near the Freittas' house.
b9D6j TIL researchers have found that the ‘spring forward’ to daylight savings time (i.e. putting your clocks forward an hour) causes a 6% increase in fatal car accidents in the US during the workweek following the adjustment, and results in about 28 additional deaths each year.
9Yg1G TIL The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust is a grain reserve of commodities and cash. In 2008 the USDA sold the remaining stocks into an all cash reserve. Since it no longer holds commodities, it can respond to local food crises outside the US, but not to a global one that affects the USA itself.
ZpXav TIL At the height of his fame, Billy Squier's career was abruptly destroyed by the music video for his hit song "Rock Me Tonight." Squier believes its homoeroticism alienated a significant portion of his fanbase.
a845M TIL sci-fi author Issac Asimov contracted HIV in 1983 through a blood transfusion.