› added 12 years ago

323

TIL 1 out of every 3 people sneeze when exposed to bright light.

Read more scientificamerican.com

via reddit.com

eEPb TIL that in 1994, a disgruntled FedEx employee tried to hijack and crash a cargo flight, using hammers and a spear gun. Despite serious injuries during the attack, the pilot and crew were able to land the plane. The pilot flew the DC-10 upside down at times in an attempt to stop the hijacker
4X6PR TIL that Rachel Carson, the scientist that discovered DDT's effect on wildlife, was seen as a threat to agricultural business. To discredit her, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture wrote a letter to President Eisenhower arguing that since she was unwed and attractive, she must have been a Communist.
b9vYN TIL in the 1970’s a man in his mid-30’s committed suicide by jumping off the Gold Gate Bridge. The suicide note that he left behind in his apartment wrote “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.”
m1xYv TIL of Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese Opera Singer turned spy who obtained secrets from a French embassy worker for twenty years by masquerading as a woman during their sexual affair. He even took a child and pretended it was theirs.
Yp7N7 TIL that when Andy Samberg's comedy trio, The Lonely Island, was making a TV pilot in 2000 they were filming a scene in which an elderly lady is getting mugged when Kiefer Sutherland happen to walk by and tried to stop it thinking it was real.