› added 1 week ago

2

TIL Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland and were originally carved from turnips instead of pumpkins

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

MejPB TIL Clarence Birdseye, inventor of frozen foods, had previously worked as a hunter for the US government. Seeking to find a cure for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Birdseye was assigned to collect small animals and search them for the ticks which transmitted the disease. He found nearly 4,500 ticks.
WyA9 TIL Ian Fleming named James Bond after an American bird expert and stated he chose the name because he wanted Bond to be “an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened…I thought by God, James Bond is the dullest name I ever heard.”
LkKrp TIL that organs are not only older than pianos, but have existed as early as ancient Greece and required multiple people to play them.
b6YG9 TIL At the height of the Berliner Luftbrücke, a plane landed in West Berlin every 30 seconds to supply the besieged city with food, coal and other necessities.
oBADL TIL Straight lines and sharp angles in paintings are considered unfortuitous or negative because negative energy travels in a straight line.