› added 12 years ago

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TIL that the Library of Congress was able to purchase the personal papers of Carl Sagan because of a financial donation provided by ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane, and that MacFarlane is working on a “Cosmos” follow up project.

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via reddit.com

W7xm9 TIL about The Stroop effect, our tendency to experience difficulty naming a physical color when it is used to spell the name of a different color.
d8rG7 TIL a Vietnamese soldier and his one year old son fled into the jungle during the war and remained there for 40 years, until 2013.
grreL TIL Homo Erectus existed for 1.9 million years and is by far the most successful humanoid species. Homo Sapiens (us) have only been around for 300,000 years.
yVoep TIL Japan's real name as it's called in the Japanese word "Nihon" (日本) literally translates as: The "Land of the Rising Sun"/"The Origin of the Sun". This name was apparently given because the sun rose over Japan from China's POV. The English word "Japan" comes from a different early Mandarin word.
lnxA TIL Volvo invented the three point seat belt and then gave free license to all other auto manufacturers to use it