› added 8 months ago

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TIL Charles Lindbergh was involved in the three largest “media events” to occur between WWI and WWII: his trans-Atlantic flight; his son’s kidnapping/ransom; and the Sand Cave incident.

grENA TIL that the oldest surviving creation myth (the Sumerian Eridu Genesis) written in 1600 BCE tells of a massive flood. There is also archaeological evidence that a ‘continuity disrupting’ flood occurred at around 2900 BCE.
b9YWZ TIL the reason why NASA (and later the Russians) use a specialised space pen instead of pencil in space is because the graphite of pencils is conductive and can cause short circuits and even fires. The pens have been used since the Apollo era and are still being used right now on the ISS.
EgJl7 TIL: weight gain happens because fat cells become larger in both size and number, while weight loss only reduces the size of fat cells, so you end up with a larger number of fat cells than before.
kO5eg TIL that names like escalator, heroin, flip phone, and videotape where all once trademarked before they were genericized which is when a trademark becomes so important and synonymous with a type of product that it becomes a generic term
Eoex TIL the winner of 1904 Olympic marathon hitched a ten mile ride in an auto. The 2nd place finisher attempted to boost his speed with brandy and rat poison. The 4th place finisher was sickened by bad apples and took a mid-race nap. The 9th place finisher was driven off the course by aggressive dogs.