› added 9 years ago

206

TIL that American Space Shuttle Astronaut John Grunsfeld, while in orbit, called in to NPR’s Car Talk posing as a stumped caller.

Read more cartalk.com

via reddit.com

epkmJ TIL: there is a lake in Uttarakhand (India) called Roopkund Lake or the "Skeleton Lake" which has he skeletal remains of an estimated 600-800 people, some of them date back to around 1,200 years.
gMgW9 TIL that the US once spent $1.3 million dollars to see if beer koozies really worked
loJvr TIL New Line Cinema gambled their entire company on the success of the Lord of The Rings franchise, by committing to all three films for > $270M up front.
dAEK TIL New York City is turning its old payphones into “time machines:” Pick up a payphone, call 1-855-FOR-1993 and hear a story, about what that neighborhood was like 20 years ago.
xVvJg TIL in 1898 Andrew Carnegie was so opposed to the American annexation of the Philippines he offered to personally refund the $20million the US spent purchasing it from Spain in exchange if it meant the islands would be granted independence.