› added 10 years ago

204

TIL scientists asked people to guess who won senator/governor elections (involving candidates they knew NOTHING about) by simply looking at pictures of the candidates faces. The people guessing got it right 70% of the time.

Read more sciencedaily.com

via reddit.com

DV1D TIL at 11 years old, Stanley Burrell was a batboy for the Oakland A’s. He was nicknamed “Hammer” because of his resemblance to Hank Aaron. The nickname stuck, and he would later assume the rap name “MC Hammer”
6EKNY TIL that in the 1904 Olympics marathon various competitors were high and/or mildly poisoned, a competitor came out in 4th after stopping to eat apples and take a nap, and the first black African to compete in the Olympic games ran 2 kilometers out of the course because he was being chased by dogs.
PYWAg TIL an Eastern Air Lines flight crashed because the entire crew was so occupied with a burnt-out landing gear light that they failed to notice that autopilot had disconnected.
WkbL4 TIL the longest jury deliberations lasted 4 1/2 months after 6 months of testimony in the McClure vs City of Long Beach trial. Jurors drank before testimony, took unauthorized vacations, and even lied about an illness to see a horse race.
7rXe7 TIL of the Zoo hypothesis. Life is common in the Universe, but extraterrestrial civilizations intentionally avoid communication with Earth to allow for natural evolution and sociocultural development, and to avoid interplanetary contamination, similarly to people observing animals at a zoo.