› added 11 years ago

112

TIL Yann Martel ripped off a Brazilian writer for the inspiration for ‘Life of Pi’.

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wE4Y TIL that mosquitoes prefer certain blood types, and people with the “O” blood type are more likely to get bitten.
PYb1Z TIL that the first eBook was created by Michael S. Hart in 1971, while he was a student at the University of Illinois. He typed the entire text of the Declaration of Independence onto a computer and made it available for others to download.
XpZE TIL that there is a species of fungus from the Amazon that feeds on plastic. It can live on plastic alone, and can do so without oxygen, potentially leading to new techniques for bioremediation.
bbA7 TIL that the most senior officer to survive the sinking of Titanic, Charles Lightoller, went onto serve in World War I where he rammed a German U-boat as commander of HMS Garry, and helped evacuate British soldiers from Dunkirk in World War II
NeDE TIL a German abbot wrote a book on magic in 1499. A century later, it was discovered to be one of the first books on cryptography, carefully encrypted disguised as a book on magic.