› added 13 years ago

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TIL Bill Waterson based Calvin off of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes and based Hobbes off of theologian John Calvin.

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ne64b TIL about Runit Island the forgotten nuclear waste paradise, a place the US conducted nuclear tests around the WW2
JYpRk TIL that drug smugglers have SUCCESSFULLY used carrier pigeons to smuggle drugs. Wow.
DGWv TIL: Dr Barry Marshal was convinced that H. pylori bacteria caused stomach ulcers, but no one believed him. Since it was illegal to test his theory on humans, he drank the bacteria himself, developed ulcers within days, treated them with antibiotics and went on to win a Nobel prize
8eyYb TIL that of the 195 UN member and observer states, just 5 aren't party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Of these, 4 are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons, while the fifth is South Sudan.
laDK TIL Titanic was predicted to be a monumental flop. Even director James Cameron thought he was “headed for disaster” at one point during filming. “We labored the last six months on Titanic in the absolute knowledge that the studio would lose $100 million. It was a certainty,” he stated.