› added 1 day ago

TIL that a cigarette lit in frustration by a Swiss physicist led to the accidental invention of modern smoke detectors.

Read more nrc.gov

via reddit.com

mwNE TIL there was a famous 18th century racehorse named Potoooooooo. His original name was Potatoes. Potatoes acquired the strange spelling of his nickname, Pot-8-Os, when a stable lad was asked to write it on a feed bin. The lad’s version, Potoooooooo, was said to amuse his lordship so he kept it.
mnmP TIL Sigourney Weaver actually made that ‘impossible’ basketball shot in Aliens: Resurrection.
wLdGP TIL “Atheistic Satanists” have an interesting take on religion with their belief that “God is not an external entity, but rather something that each person creates as a projection of their own personality—a benevolent and stabilizing force in their life.”
PYOWZ TIL that a practical joker once set 70 old tires on fire inside Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano in Alaska. Local residents thought the volcano was erupting until they saw "APRIL FOOL" spray-painted in 50-foot letters around the rim of the crater. He had been planning the prank for four years.
YKXZ TIL George Lucas refused to identify what species Yoda is, once jokingly answering that he is “the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy”.