› added 7 years ago

169

TIL that the Omaha zoo had a prairie dog exhibit and when they got out, the zoo let them roam free. Omaha is actually a perfect natural climate and the prairie dogs interact with visitors and often take their food.

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

LkNNp TIL of Mary Blagg--an early 20th-century astronomer who pioneered the field of lunar nomenclature. She was tasked with naming every discernible feature on the moon, leading her to create a list detailing thousands upon thousands of craters, fissures, and gullies along its surface.
RQA9 TIL that Walmart takes in $236,804 annually per employee in the US. The average annual income of a full time Walmart employee is $15,576.
e0LK4 TIL about the inventor of Cosplay, Myrtle R. Douglas, aka Morojo. A Science Fiction fanzine editor, in 1939 she created costumes, based on an H.G. Wells movie, for her and her boyfriend to wear to the first World Science Fiction Convention. Within several years costumes became integral to Worldcon.
4k88J TIL that purple became associated with royalty due to a shade of it named Tyrian purple, which was created using the mucous glands of Murex snails. Even though it smelled horrible, this pigment was treasured in ancient times as a dye because its intensity deepened with time instead of fading away.
LkedP TIL Robert Moses at one point held 12 titles simultaneously (including New York City Parks Commissioner and Chairman of the Long Island State Park Commission). However he only held these positions as an appointee. When he ran for governor of New York as a Republican in 1934 he lost in a landslide.