› added 12 years ago

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TIL that in the summer of 1995, the Nickelodeon show Rugrats surpassed reruns of even Seinfeld and Frasier to become the most watched show among adult males aged 18-31

p8bop TIL that the details of the Manhattan Project were so secret that many workers had no idea why they did their jobs. A laundrywoman had a dedicated duty to "hold up an instrument and listen for a clicking noise" without knowing why. It was a Geiger counter testing the radiation levels of uniforms.
gM6N4 TIL about trinonyms: pairs of compounded words, each of which individually means the same as the full compound word. Some examples are bathtub, kittycat, taxicab, and forefront.
neVBr TIL that the personality domain of "Openness to Experience" (which includes openness to new ideas, tolerance of different ways of life, and appreciation of art and music) is strongly associated with higher levels of intelligence
OwBa TIL that coastal Alaska (where most people live) is warmer than during the winter than Chicago or other parts of the US Midwest. The average winter temperature in Anchorage is 26°F, compared to 10°F in Minneapolis. Some areas are so warm that bears don’t hibernate; they instead eat all winter.
GR4j TIL in 2005 PBS gave pictures of ‘Tank Man’ to students at Beijing University - where the Tiananmen Square activism started - and they were mystified. One said, “I don’t know; maybe it’s a parade or something,” and another said politely, “May I ask if this is a piece of your artwork?”