› added 11 years ago

79

TIL in the 1980’s, a black piano player single-handedly dismantled the Maryland KKK chapter and collected over 20 robes simply by talking and being a friendly guy.

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NXXNe TIL that B.F. Skinner, in his work on superstitious behavior in pigeons, trained pigeons to guide missiles in WWII by pecking a key. Despite working very well it was never used in combat.
1axGO TIL Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and Zelda, came up with the idea of Pikmin when gardening. He saw a line of ants carrying leaves towards their nest and wondered what the scene would look like if they were tiny people instead.
n679 TIL that the average university student in 1979 only had to work 182 hours per year (a part-time summer job) to pay for tuition, whereas the average 2013 student had to work 991 hours (a full-time job for half the year)
oReZL TIL During the 1800s, Hawai‘i became one of the most literate nations in the world with over 90% of the population able to read and write. Even King Kamehameha III proudly declared, “He aupuni palapala ko‘u” (“I have a kingdom of education”).
xvM7 TIL Don King killed two men. One was shot in the back while robbing one of King’s gambling houses. The other was an employee stomped to death for owing him $600.