› added 10 years ago

169

TIL that since 2002, there have been more African-Americans in college than in jails. This is opposite of what is often quoted by politicians.

Read more acenet.edu

via reddit.com

mxZXR TIL that Otto von Bismarck challenged a scientist to a duel, but backed out after learning that his opponent choose to fight with two pork sausages, one infected with roundworm.
6xyQ TIL The term ‘Rat Pack’ was coined by Lauren Bacall. After a long night of partying in Las Vegas with Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Angie Dickinson, Bacall surveyed the party’s aftermath and declared to it’s participants, “You look like a goddamn rat pack.”
rRPB1 TIL that German chemist Friedrich Wöhler was the first person to synthesize an organic compound in 1828 by accidentally crystalizing urea. This refuted a widespread belief (vitalism) that organic compounds contained a mysterious, soul-like "vital spark" and could never be synthesized.
0DL5 TIL that more than half of scientific studies’ findings can’t be reproduced by the original research team or by others
a6kA TIL Tolkien didn’t write the Elvish languages to fit into the Lord of the Rings, but wrote the Lord of the Rings as a history for his over 15 different languages