› added 4 years ago

117

TIL Ajay V. Bhatt, an Indian-born American computer architect who led the Intel team that invented the USB (Universal Serial Bus), regrets not making it reversible. It would have doubled the cost, which was a hard sell at the time, "[b]ut in hindsight, we blew it." He holds 132 patents and counting.

v1G47 TIL Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of women who were familiar with Dana Scully say the character increased their belief in the importance of STEM, half (50 percent) said Scully increased their interest in STEM, and nearly all (91 percent) said the character is a role model.
8exQ8 TIL about Turbonique, a company that marketed rocket and turbine engines to drag racers. In 1965, a VW Beetle fitted with a Turbonique TB-28 Drag Axle ran a 9.2 second quarter mile before going airborne at 183 mph.
gbaW TIL that the English word “much” and the Spanish word “mucho” are not related at all, despite having similar definitions. “Much” comes from Proto-Germanic “mikilaz”, while “mucho” from Latin “multum”. Their similar appearance is a complete coincidence.
KYYlQ TIL Mark Twain declared that he discovered the right way to do an autobiography by talking about whatever interested him at the moment rather than writing it chronologically. From his bed, Twain dictated nearly 2,000 pages of the book to his stenographer over three years
Ol6X TIL midway through the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849), a group of Choctaw Indians collected $710 and sent it to help the starving victims. It had been just 16 years since the Choctaw people had experienced the Trail of Tears, and faced their own starvation.